THE PURPOSE OF PLANNING
The dictionary has several definitions of “plan” and “planning.” For our purposes, the most relevant one is: “any detailed method, formulated beforehand, for doing or making something.”
“Planning” is the process of establishing objectives and determining beforehand the best way of achieving those objectives. The dictionary also lists the word “project” as a synonym for “plan” and goes on to state: “project implies the use of enterprise or imagination in formulating an ambitious or extensive plan (they’ve begun work on the housing project).” Also, according to the dictionary, the word “plan” is derived from a French word meaning “earlier.” The key words here are “beforehand” and “earlier.” A plan is something you prepare prior to the work to achieve specific objectives.
Key Definitions
Definitions for frequently used terms that relate directly to planning and scheduling concepts include:
Activity: An element of work performed during the course of a project. An activity normally has an expected duration, cost, and resource requirements. Activities have defined beginnings and endings. The terms “activity” and “task” are frequently used interchangeably, but activity is preferred and is used in this book.
Deliverable: Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that must be produced to complete a project or part of a project. All work packages and most activities have output products that can be referred to as deliverables. The term is commonly used more narrowly in reference to an external deliverable, which is a deliverable that is subject to approval by the project sponsor or customer.
Milestone: (1) A significant event in the project, usually completion of a major deliverable; or (2) a clearly identifiable point in a project or set of activities that commonly denotes a reporting requirement or completion of a large or important set of activities.
Plan: An intended future course of action.
Program: A group of related projects managed in a harmonized way. Programs may include an element of ongoing work until the lifecycle of the program is completed.
Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
Project Schedule: The planned dates for performing activities and meeting milestones. Schedules or related portions of schedules list activity start or completion dates in chronological order.
Task: A generic term for the lowest level of defined effort on a project; often used interchangeably with the term “activity.” Tasks are sometimes used to define a further breakdown of activities.
Work Breakdown Structure: A deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total work scope of the project in a hierarchical structure. Each descending (or “child”) level represents an increasingly detailed definition of the project work, and the set of child elements under a “parent” includes 100 percent of the work represented by the parent element.
Work Package: The lowest level work element in the work breakdown structure, which provides a logical basis for defining activities or assigning responsibility to a specific person or organization.
The same dictionary defines the noun “schedule” as “a timed plan for a procedure or project” and the verb “schedule” as “to appoint or plan for a certain time or date.”
Planning is therefore the process of determining in advance the work to be done on a project, and scheduling is assigning specific times or dates to the work. Why a project manager should plan is another question. Three answers follow:
1. Koontz and O’Donnell explain it very concisely: “Planning is to a large extent the job of making things happen that would not otherwise occur.” They go on to state: “Planning is thus an intellectual process, the conscious determination of courses of action, the basing of decisions on purpose, facts, and considered estimates.”
2. The Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has another, but similar response:
“Cheshire-Puss, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—As long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Alice felt that this could not be denied.
Like Koontz and O’Donnell, the Cat suggests that if you want to get somewhere in particular, you need to know where it is and prepare a plan to achieve it.
3. A plan provides the basis for control. Without a plan, there is no basis for determining when variances occur and no basis for any corrective action. If it makes no difference which path Alice takes, then no control is needed, and eventually she will get “somewhere.”
There are three purposes of planning: (1) to think out the steps that should be taken to achieve an objective, (2) to give direction to the persons working on the project to help ensure that they are synchronized in working toward the same objective, and (3) to provide a basis for identifying variances so that you can take corrective action when necessary.
However, there are several reasons that more and better planning and scheduling are not performed:
1. Laziness: It is often more fun or interesting to start working than to sit down and plan.
2. To avoid accountability: If there is plan, there is no basis for measuring performance.
3. Inability: Some people have difficulty thinking out the logical steps in a process.
4. Ignorance: Some people may not know how to plan and schedule.
The first two items are management and internal discipline problems, and the third is a characteristic of some otherwise valuable project team member that needs to be worked around. The fourth is the purpose of this book—to provide a basis for developing plans and schedules.
When people are part of a planning effort, they develop ownership of at least a part of the results. This internalization is constructive and, perhaps more than any other single activity, builds a strong project team with a desire to have a successful project.
If they were not part of making the plan, they might not want to be part of executing the plan!
The work breakdown structure, Gantt charts, and activity networks are the key tools used in the planning and scheduling of projects. These will be discussed in turn.