todolist#20 - Document and release the plan

Many people think that schedule is the plan, which is not correct. Schedule is only part of the plan. A typical project plan will contain;

1. Project charter (either as a separate document or as part of the plan itself)
2. The scope of work
   
3. Roles and responsibilities of the team and the reporting structures
   
4. Milestone chart
   
5. Cost management plan - work package level budgets, team expenses and how to manage them
   
6. Shortlisted risks and the risk management plan
   
7. Schedule management plan, explaining the tools, templates, change management of schedule.
   
8. Scope management plan - explaining how the changes to the scope will be manageged
   
9. Human resource management plan - explaining the team ramp up and the ramp down pattern, strategies for acquiring the team, induction programs, training, motivational strategies etc.
   
10. Quality management plan - containing the quality goals and the strategies to meet them, the metrics to be collected and the frequency of collection.
    
11. Procurement plan - explaining what, where, when, how, how much of the purchases required for the project.
    
12. Contract management plan - explaining how the contracts with the subcontractors and the customer will be managed.
    
13. Communication management plan - explaining how the project communications will be managed.

A cut and paste plan just to meet the organizational norms is a waste and it does not add any value to the project. Inorder to develop a meaningful plan, the planner should get lost in the project's objectives and then draft a plan from ground zero to meet those objectives.

I have come across teams, who does a brainstorming at the beginning of the project and theme is 'How can we ensure that this project is a failure?". Based on the brainstorming outcome, the team develops strategies to counter the risks and that becomes their project plan. Not a bad idea !. Once the plan is reviewed and approved, then it, along with the scope document forms the scope baseline.