Importance of Thorough Project Planning
Planning to Succeed The red light on my phone flashes insistently. ... This deathmarch was due to woefully inadequate planning on my part. My software upgrade project had failed for reasons I should have projected and planned for. ... We managed to get fully operational almost two days later, but the experience led me to seek project management training before attempting a project of that magnitude again. ... The top reason given for failure of IT projects, either in cost overruns, schedule overruns, or reduced scope of the product delivered, was lack of planning. My project management training led me to the conclusion that effective planning with input from and involvement of all affected team members is absolutely essential to successful implementation of any new project. Why the Project Failed About the only thing clear in the library upgrade “plan” was management’s operational goal. ... The most glaring omission in my project planning was not involving my team in creating a structured work breakdown. ... But because the tasks were not well understood nor practiced in a testing environment, sudden changes in resource allocation, schedules and priorities made everyone involved feel uncertain, unclear on their goals, resistant to working on the project, and refusing to take ownership of any part of the project. The triple constraints of time, cost, and scope were all violated by the attempt to force this project through. The time frame was not met, cost was increased in the attempt to patch the system together, and not all modules given in the project scope were available. In these terms, and according to the Standish Group’s criteria, this project was a classic failure. Effects of Proper Planning In January 2002, the public library would again upgrade their automated checkin systems. The difference between this upgrade and the failed previous installation would be planning. ... Using what I learned from my project management training, I was able to plan well enough to finish the project ahead of schedule, under budget, and with all scope met. The main goal for my extensive planning was to make all necessary information available to team members before we began implementation.