Michael C Hogan

Agile Product Development & Innovation Strategy

Jul
21

By

Creating a Project Plan

Category: Doing, Implementing

Lots of people use Microsoft Project or similar tools to create and analyze project plans. Here is my checklist for creating a project plan in Microsoft Project.

Source Node

Create a single, zero duration milestone used to represent the start of the project.

Sink Node

Create a single, zero duration milestone used to represent completion of the project.

Input Milestones

Create Milestones that represent receipt by your team of inputs from other teams. These are outside of your control and are the essential raw materials or information your team needs to do its work. These milestones represent contracts between your team and other organizations. These milestones are outside the main Activity Network and are used for reporting and forecasting.

  • Represent with a Milestone in MS Project
  • Zero Duration
  • Identifies organization responsible for delivery
  • Has no predecessors
  • Has one or more successor Activities
  • Due date

Activities

Create Tasks that represent the work your team will do. These tasks are inside the main Activity Network.

  • Represent with an Activity or Task in MS Project
  • Non-zero duration
  • Has one or more predecessors (input milestones or other activities)
  • Has one or more successors (output milestones or other activities)
  • Has resources (ideally a single resource)

Output Milestones

Create Milestones that represent the handoff of deliverables from your team to outside organizations. These milestones represent contracts between your team and other organizations. These milestones are outside the main Activity Network and are used for reporting and forecasting.

  • Represent with a Milestone in MS Project
  • Zero Duration
  • Identifies organization responsible for delivery
  • Has no predecessors
  • Has one or more successor Activities
  • Due date (a due date is a date after which an irreversible consequence will be suffered, for example if your college application has not been received then you will be unable to apply until the next semester)

Let the Tool Calculate Dates

  • Every schedule element should connect into an activity network
  • Avoid hard coded start and finish dates, these should be calculated
  • Use the planning tool to forecast and visualize late deliveries (Output Milestones with calculated finish dates later than due dates)
  • If an activity will take longer than planned, increase the duration