Project Planning Process

After project initiation, begins the process of planning, with the end goal of achieving a successful, timely, and efficient completion of the project. Responsibilities, schedules, directions, and details for the team need to be laid out, and clear. The process of planning the project however needs a considerable care and attention.

It is crucial that the project’s objectives be clearly tied to the overall mission, goals, and strategy of the organization, such as might be reflected in the project portfolio process. Senior management should take the responsibility to delineate the firm’s intent in undertaking the project, outline the scope of the project and how the project’s goals are aligned with the organization’s goals and how the project has a positive influence on the organization. It is very important that the top management has confidence in the project and should be in constant check throughout the project. The senior manager should also be present at the project launch meeting, an initial coordination meeting, as a visible symbol of top management’s commitment to the project. The individual leading the launch meeting is first to define the scope of the project. The success of the project launch meeting absolutely depends on the existence of a well-defined set of objectives. Unless all parties to the planning process have a clear understanding of precisely what it is the project is expected to deliver, planning is sure to be inadequate or misguided. The precise nature of the scope statement depends on the nature of the project itself, and because of this, it reflects the fact that all projects are, to some extent, unique. At the launch of the meeting, the project is discussed in sufficient detail that potential contributors develop a general understanding of what is needed. If the project is one of many similar projects, the meeting will be short and routine, a sort of “touching base” with other interested units. If the project is unique in most of