Project Planning- Introduction
From Norfolk RCC
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"Failing to plan is planning to fail"
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Properly planning your project is essential to it success. Although it requires an investment of time upfront that investment will pay dividends when your project reaches implementation. The analogy is perhaps watching a house being built, it seems to take ages before anything substantial appears as the foundations are laid however after they are the walls shoot up with ease but without strong foundations the house would just fall down.
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Basics of Project Planning
It is possible to make project planning very complicated but the basis is asking a few simple questions. Problems tend to happen when people don’t ask questions to start with so don’t be afraid to ask what seems like dumb questions after all they are easier to deal with than dumb mistakes.
What follows are a look at various stages and tools in planning a project. However there are two important things to remember firstly that tools are exactly that tools to be used, some people will prefer different tools to others and some tools are more appropriate in certain situations than others. The other thing is that project planning needs to be scaled so that it is appropriate to your project, clearly a new village hall needs more planning than a new coffee morning, but both still need planning.
Basic Questions
The most basic questions that need answering for any project are:
- What are we trying to achieve?
- Why?
- How are we going to do it?
- Why? (and why this way)
- Has it worked?
- Why? Why not?
The Planning Cycle
The process of posing and answering these questions can be expressed in terms of the planning cycle. In reality life never works a neatly as this, we don't all neatly sit in a room decide what the problems are and develop solutions, real life is messy. Very often there are trigger events such as the shop closing or the roof starting to leak that force us into action. However, it is still important to properly plan and whilst you might not follow the exact order of the planning cycle it is important to cover all the points. For example if the local post office were to close we might think instantly our aim is to reopen it, but in reality how many people used it and what for, is it easy to access the Post Office down the road? Do we need to think more in terms of our aim being to ensure people have access to key services than reopening the Post Office because if so then options might include community transport as much as a Post Office store. Equally what do we know about other things going on or being planned is it worth doing our own consultation if a Parish Plan is already underway? Each element of the planning cycle forces us to answer questions that it is important to know the answers to and even if not its a lot easier to deal with dumb question than dumb mistakes.
Articles on the aspects of the planning cycle
The purpose of these articles is to guide you through the process of project planning, implementation and evaluation.
- Project Planning- Introduction
- Project Planning- Understanding the current situation
- Project Planning- Identify an Aim
- Project Planning- Identify, Explore and Select Options
- Project Planning- Detailed Planning
- Project Planning- Implementing, Monitoring and Evaluating your plan
Closure of a project
It is always important to finish what you start. Very often groups get into a situation where they have a number of different projects on the go at once. The best way to ensure a project is closed correctly is to plan it correctly, in particular balance your resources (time, money and enthusiasm) against your priorities and potential project. This will help you only take on what can be achieved and what is important for your organisation. Even when this is done its human nature to put off some of the boring administrative bits of a project but they need to be done are useful end of project check list is:
- Ensure all project tasks have been completed and all loose ends are tied up
- All invoices have been paid
- Any work has been completed to the appropriate standard and fulfills the specification
- Any permissions or documentation have been obtained
- Any paper work (policies, agreements, guarantees, contracts, invoices) have been gathered and filed where they can be found again.
- The plan has been properly evaluated
Once these have been completed it is good practice to formally sign off the project. This can be done in the normal course of your meetings or as an excuse for a celebration!
Continuing the Cycle
The project cycle is an ongoing process. We all know there is always something else to do so at the end of your project its importnat to look again at the current situation. What's changed? For one you have completed your project and an important reason for evaluation is so that you can take what you have learned from your project and apply it to the next one. So as well as asking yourself what's next, also ask what worked, what didn't and as always why?
Documenting the Plan
Anyone who has ever played Chinese whispers knows that communicating verbally can lead to inaccuracies. There are three main reasons for documenting a plan.
- The first is to act as a formal record of what has been decided for future refernce
- The second is it make sure it is clear in your head (its strange how something that seemed logical in your head no longer makes sense on paper)
- The third is so that it can be communicated accurately to others; these may include members of your organisation, stakeholders or funders so it is important that the plan is clear enough that it can be understood by someone who doesn't know about the project already. All too often a situation has arisen where every member of a committee thinks a project's aim is different, when its in black and white there can no arguments (well we can hope!).
Click here to download a template with headings to structure your plan with and prompt questions
Note: This is designed to be used together with the information provided on these pages
Everyday Projects
Not every project requires this level of planning. Many everyday items can be covered be a disscussion within a meeting, however the same questions apply as with more complex projects. When it comes to detailed planning in meetings its worth checking you have all of the three D's covered:
- Decision- What has been decided, what needs to be done?
- Delegation- Who will be responsible for undertaking the task?
- Deadline- When must the task be done by (no date or ASAP usually results in things not getting done)
It is worth building this into your meetings by formatting your minutes with three columns to cover the three D's. When you are writing your notes ensure you have something under each column for every agenda item, this is a good way of making sure your meetings are productive.
