Lightweight Process Improvement Project Plan

The project plan has two main objectives: to develop a reasonable action plan for the project's R & D and management work internally so that all relevant personnel can carry out their work in an orderly manner in accordance with the plan; externally, a unified view of the project is provided to the customer to ensure that all stakeholders can work together and synchronize the progress according to the plan, and ultimately improve the customer's satisfaction and recognition of the project implementation progress. This article mainly describes the main procedures, possible problems, analysis and corresponding improvement measures involved in the project planning process.

I. Project Plan procedure

The project plan involves a wide range of processes. According to the concept of integrated project management, in addition to the project implementation plan, the Project Plan also needs to integrate various seed plans, such as the configuration management plan and quality assurance plan, however, this article advocates Lightweight Process Improvement and does not expand these sub-plans. The project plan in this article is a combination of the traditional project time and scope. At the same time, the cost factors of software projects are also relatively weakened. In this article, cost is generally not a constraint for project planning.

I personally think that the core principle of Project Plan Management is "information asymmetry", that is, filtering and filtering of information transmitted between customers and R & D teams, ensure information asymmetry between the two, so as to provide a buffer for the project manager to grasp the project process and reduce risks. The method of asymmetric information management is to split the Project Plan into two dimensions. This article uses the customer-oriented project implementation plan and R & D-oriented project R & D plan to represent these two dimensions. The project plan and information are transmitted as follows:

Based on the above ideas, the Project Plan generally includes the following procedures:

1. Develop the project implementation plan

• Objective: The project implementation plan is oriented to the customer, which provides the Progress Foundation for project initiation and implementation tracking, and provides a unified project view for the sales, marketing, and operation teams. The project implementation plan is the main input of the project kickoff meeting. For details about the project kickoff meeting, refer to Lightweight Process improvement project kickoff.
• Main role: Project Manager leads project implementation plan formulation
• Main steps: the Project Manager determines the project implementation plan through communication and coordination with the sales and R & D team leader, including the project implementation lifecycle division, milestone time, and third-party supplier integration, the project implementation plan is based on project estimates. The main tool for project estimation is coarse-grained WBS and analogy estimation, that is, estimation is obtained based on the function scope of the project through customer category analysis and previous project implementation experience. The project manager Prepares the project implementation plan based on the project estimation and submits it to the project management team. After the evaluation, the Project Manager publishes the plan to the customer and relevant stakeholders.

2. Develop a project R & D Plan

• Objective: The project R & D plan is oriented to the R & D team. It provides time basis for project development, testing, deployment, and release, and provides a unified project view for the entire R & D team.
• Main role: the R & D team is responsible for formulating the project R & D plan. The Project Manager promotes the formation and improvement of the Project R & D plan according to the project implementation plan, note that the implementation plan in the eyes of R & D personnel and the project manager's external implementation plan should be asymmetrical.
• Main steps: the project R & D team should be divided into detailed time and human resources according to the R & D process model (such as waterfall and agile) in the project implementation plan. Generally, R & D tasks are organized based on functional modules and functional points, and the progress is arranged based on system development, integration, testing, and other steps to form the project R & D plan. System integration is a key part of the Project R & D plan. A fine-grained plan is required for the R & D Task Arrangement of third-party suppliers to ensure the smooth implementation of the project.

3. Review the Project Plan

• Objective: To obtain the commitment of internal and external stakeholders of the project, review the project plan. Because we use two dimensions of Project Plan Management, we also adopt two Review modes.
• Main role: project stakeholders review the project plan together, and the project manager is responsible for reaching an agreement on the project plan.
• Main steps: for external project implementation plans, the Plan Review is more of a plan validation, although the pre-and constraints in the project implementation plan can be coarse-grained confirmation to start the project, however, the customer-oriented plan cannot be changed as needed after it is given out, so the project implementation plan should be the focus of the Plan Review; for the internal project R & D plan, reaching an agreement between the project line and the development line is the main work of the review. Generally, the internal plan management can be more flexible than the external implementation plan.

Ii. Problems in the Project Plan

The project plan is closely related to the R & D team. A reasonable project plan can play a guiding role both internally and externally. However, a project plan is also one of the most difficult processes in project management. Possible Problems in the Project Plan process include:

1. There is a lack of two-dimensional Separation Concept in the Project Plan

I personally think this is the biggest problem in project plan management. It is because the information is too transparent and there is no filtering mechanism between the project line and the development line. As a project planner, the general strategy is to allow the R & D team to complete the project within one and a half months after the developer's development time is 2 months, then I have a cache for half a month, that is, I leave a retreat for myself. Project Plan Management is to leave a certain retreat for each step, which will eventually become a viable path. If there is no distinction between project implementation and project R & D, the information is directly transferred from the project line to the R & D line, which means that the development time is two months in the eyes of the project manager and the R & D personnel, if there are some unexpected situations, the project manager will not be able to leave.

2. obfuscation of project implementation plans and R & D plans

Obfuscation between the project implementation plan and the R & D Plan is also a common problem, as the Implementation Plan contains too many R & D details, or the R & D Plan contains implementation content. In fact, these two plans have completely different audiences. They are two independent planning processes that require different process models and planning methods. The project implementation plan is organized based on the full life cycle of the project. The project R & D plan usually only contains the part of the project implementation plan oriented to the R & D team and uses the process model of R & D management.

3. There is a lack of objective assessment and review for the formulation of project implementation plans

The project implementation plan is oriented to customers. What is oriented to customers is important and requires process control. However, in reality, project managers and management teams often make arbitrary decisions without team collaboration. This is wrong. The implementation of the project implementation plan requires a relatively objective evaluation basis and review process, because through evaluation and review, you will pre-determine the risks and technical traps in the plan in advance, ensure the integrity and rationality of the project implementation plan. The project implementation plan is the basis and basis for R & D. We usually get a reasonable R & D plan if we have a reasonable project implementation plan.

4. The project implementation plan is not based on the full life cycle of the project implementation

A project implementation plan may have a different style for each project management team, but the process model is based on the full life cycle of project implementation. The entire life cycle includes all the steps from the formal start of the project to the completion of the formal acceptance. These steps need to be analyzed and abstracted according to the characteristics of the project and service, such as service deployment and system trial run, there may be a big gap between Internet applications and enterprise applications.

5. unreasonable granularity of project plans

The time granularity of the project implementation plan and the Project R & D plan should be different, and the two should maintain a gap of an order of magnitude. The project plan granularity will have a great impact on subsequent project monitoring.

6. Lack of control over third-party suppliers in the Project Plan

The project plan only takes into account the project and the R & D team, and ignoring the participation of third-party suppliers in the project implementation is undoubtedly fatal. For system integration projects, it is usually not a big problem to control the progress of internal R & D teams, but it is difficult to control the supplier time, therefore, it is difficult to manage the project plan to include their time in the project implementation plan to ensure that customers, suppliers and US can reach a high degree of agreement on the system integration process during system implementation. The supplier schedule is not taken into account in the Project Plan. It is rare that the development cycle of the R & D team is interrupted by the unreasonable plan of the supplier.

3. Process Improvement of the Project Plan

Project planning can be said to be a constantly changing process, because different characteristics of the project are difficult to achieve a unified model, and it is difficult to achieve a plan is equal to reality. However, we need a systematic management methodology, starting with problem analysis and sorting. The entry points for improving the project planning process include:

1. Focus on the information transmission process

In the project plan and even the whole project management process, the information transmission between us and our customers must form such an effect: There is a piece of paper between us and our customers, which has a certain degree of transparency, the customer can see a cup behind the paper with water in the cup, but the customer cannot see how much water there is in the cup. The R & D team is the cup of water, and our project plan is the paper. The information passed through the Project Plan determines the transparency of the paper.

2. Focus on plan decomposition and granularity

Plan formulation is based on range decomposition. The key to the decomposition lies in the granularity. As mentioned above, the project implementation plan and the Project R & D plan should maintain an order of magnitude gap in time. Generally, the former is weekly, the latter is a good practice in days. At the same time, because the project implementation plan is oriented to customers, it should be split around the entire project lifecycle and ensure that a proper planning view is provided for subsequent project monitoring.

3. Focus on team participation

The team should be involved in the formulation of the project plan, and have a clear understanding of the project, sales, R & D, marketing, operation, and other roles related to the plan, the decision makers, participants, and owners of the two plans have the best time to acquire or develop the project plan.

In view of the above starting points, we will sort out the methods and practices for improving the project startup process, including:

1. Establish a project line and R & D line Separation Mechanism

The separation of the project line and the development line is the first step in controlling the information transmission process. After the separation of the project line and the development line, the direct effect is that the two lines have their own plans, the two plans ensure a certain degree of information asymmetry. In terms of working mechanism, the project line should make decisions on any plan prior to the R & D line, and the project line's decisions should be sent to the R & D line after some information asymmetry processing. In terms of project management, I personally think that the greatest difficulty and challenge for the project line work is to block input from customers and external stakeholders, so as to ensure that the R & D line can focus on system R & D.

2. Create a project full lifecycle model and a range decomposition Template

The project scope decomposition template is used to guide WBS creation in the Project Plan. for implementation of the same type of projects, the template should be sorted in advance, whether it is an online project template or an online R & D template. A project scope template is generally organized based on a specific project full lifecycle model. A project full lifecycle template contains all stages of project implementation and is the basis of the project implementation plan.

3. both the project implementation plan and the Project R & D plan should be reviewed at the Project Plan Review Meeting, especially the project implementation plan. Once finalized, the project implementation plan is often difficult to change, the change of the project implementation plan is the change of the Project Plan. We will discuss the change in the project monitoring and improvement domain. Therefore, the review of the project implementation plan usually requires the participation of the project line, R & D line owner or senior personnel. For the initial project plan, it is recommended that the first draft and the revised draft should be reviewed in at least two rounds; if the project implementation process is mature, a round of review can be passed without any major problems. If the project implementation plan review is in place, the Project R & D Plan review mainly refers to the decomposition of the development and testing part in the implementation plan, and generally there will be no major problems.
Iv. process assets of the Project Plan 1. Project Implementation Plan

The project implementation plan mainly includes the following points:

• All phases from project initiation to project acceptance
• Time schedule in weeks, usually displayed in Gantt charts
• Major milestones, important milestones such as system launch
• Third-party supplier plans must be presented to stakeholders in a certain form in the project implementation plan

2. Project R & D Plan

The project R & D Plan mainly includes the following key points:

• System Function template, which sorts out the development modules required by the system
• The development model and its performance are embodied in the plan of the Development Process Model (such as waterfall and agile), including the development sequence, test time, and system integration solution.
• Arrangement of R & D personnel and arrangement of R & D personnel based on the project human resources plan

3. Project human resource plan

The project's human resources plan mainly includes the following points:

• Project Management Team member Arrangement
• Project R & D team member Arrangement

4. Project Scope decomposition Template

The project scope decomposition template mainly includes the following points:

• Standard project implementation Lifecycle
• Standard System function modules, methods for decomposing system functions, and results after decomposition

V. Summary

The project plan is the second improvement domain of project management. On the one hand, it supports the project implementation plan for project initiation, and on the other hand, it provides the basis for the Progress Management for subsequent project monitoring and requirement management. In fact, progress management is the most essential and most available part of project management. The project plan runs through the entire project management process, A good project plan and a poor project plan have completely different effects on the project implementation. This is why we need to focus on the project plan as an improvement domain. The next improvement domain for project management is requirement management.

Lightweight Process Improvement Project Plan