Project Planning

1. Project Planning TECM 3200 Dr. Chris Lam

2. Phases in Project Planning Determining project goals and objectives Outlining project deliverables Creating a project schedule Create a project plan

3. What do you need in your project plan? • Project plan is a document written for your team, but also to the client. Your project plan will be around 5-7pages • Cover Page • TOC • Team Description • List SMART Objectives • Team Roles and Structure– Graphical Representation would be appropriate • Project Background • Describe the website’s audience • Describe the website’s purpose • Project Schedule (includes Task, Start Date, End Date, Responsible parties, and resources needed)- This will be a spreadsheet or gannt chart created in EXCEL or Microsoft Projector WORD.

4. Project Objectives • Each sub-team should first audit the site • Create a list of objectives based on the results of your evaluation • We already know that we’ll work on the site’s design, architecture, and content, but objectives should be more specific than just that. • E.g., What about the design needs fixing? Is it cluttered? Does it appear generic? • Let’s look at some examples

5. Project Goals and Objectives • Create SMART goals • Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Realistic • Time-bound

6. Specific • Identifies a specific action or event that will take place • Addresses 5 W’s (who, what, where, why, when) • Not Specific: Improve the website’s architecture. • Specific: Improve the site’s architecture by dividing the content into smaller chunks to better reflect the needs of the audience.

7. Measurable • Include quantitative or qualitative measures • Answers whether you have successfully met a goal • Not Measurable: Test the usability of the site. • Measurable: Conduct usability test with at least 3 end users by April 4th.

8. Achievable • Goals should be within the team’s control and influence • Is the goal achievable with available resources? • Is the goal achievable within the specified time frame? • Not Achievable: Test the website materials with 20 end users. • Achievable: Test the website functionality with 3 users recruited on campus by April 14th.

9. Relevant • Goals should be instrumental to the overall objective of the project • Why is the goal important? • How will the help the team achieve it’s objective? • NotRelevant: Design a website and iOS app for the site. • Relevant: Design a website using responsive layouts that is accessible on multiple resolution devices.

10. Time-Bound • Identify a definite target date for completion and/or frequencies for specific action steps • How often should a team member work on a specific assignment? • By what date should this goal be accomplished? • Not Time-Bound: Provide support and customer service for the end user. • Time-Bound: Provide support and customer service on-going for two weeks after the completion of the project.

11. Outlining Project Deliverables • Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • WBS is a hierarchical representation of activities • Begins with major project areas • Breaks the project areas into actionable pieces of work

12. Work Breakdown Structure • May want to create one for each sub-team and then combine them all into the final project plan • Begin by writing down all major deliverables • Break the deliverables down into a series of tasks • Break each task down into a series of sub-tasks

13. Work Breakdown Structure Example • Deliverable: User Test Report • Develop user test • Select scenarios • Write facilitator script • Create data collection worksheet • Recruit three users • Determine target audience and identify potential users • Contact users • Schedule user tests • Conduct user test by November 27 • Write user report • Consolidate and digitize data • Analyze the data • Determine findings and recommendations and include them in the report

14. 3. Project Schedule • Begin with list of deliverables, tasks, and sub-tasks • Work chronologically first: • Assigning a time estimation/deadline for each deliverable • Assigning a time estimation/deadline for each task within each deliverable • Assigning a time estimation/deadline for each sub-task

15. Scheduling Example

16. Project Schedule • Determine your resource needs • Labor • Time • Technology • Information

17. Final Schedule Example

18. How specific should you be? • Does the WBS contain enough detail to evaluate progress? • Do you have clear accountability for each deliverable, task, sub-task, and so on? • Are there start and end dates? • Can you easily estimate time and resources for each task? • Is the deliverable clearly defined?

19. What do you need in your project plan? • Project plan is a document written for your team, but also to the client. Your project plan will be around 5-7pages • Cover Page • TOC • Team Description • List SMART Objectives • Team Roles and Structure– Graphical Representation would be appropriate • Project Background • Describe the website’s audience • Describe the website’s purpose • Project Schedule (includes Task, Start Date, End Date, Responsible parties, and resources needed)- This will be a spreadsheet or gannt chart created in EXCEL or Microsoft Projector WORD.