April 15, 2009 (Computerworld) Every race to the finish line begins with similar instructions: “Get ready, get set, go!” Every race, that is, except the race to the deadline assigned at work. In business, the starting gun is sometimes shot without any heads up (“get ready” or any project planning (“get set”). People seem to run with it, but not successfully.
But if you take just an hour out of your schedule to “get ready” and “set,” you’ll get to the finish line faster and without stumbling. Before starting a project, you must first gather all of the information so you can assess what needs to take place.
Outlining deliverables and acceptance criteria
First, you must identify the high-level deliverable for each main subset of the project. A deliverable is something concrete (defined by a noun) that you need in order to progress to the next stage of the project.
You must also deliver the acceptance criteria. These are the measurable characteristics of what makes the final and interim deliverable acceptable. This is often defined by what the client is expecting. If you don’t know the answers, then you need to ask more questions and learn more about the goal of your project.
There are two approaches you can take when defining the interim deliverables. These steps are a means of discovery and discussion for the project team. The team learns more from each other by laying out the project this way than if one person creates the whole thing and then shares it with other team members.
If you know the high-level breakout of deliverables to create your final deliverable, then use the Top-Down Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria. This means beginning with the ultimate output of the project and then working down into the details of the project to see how they will create that output.
If you are unsure, then try the Bottom-Up Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria technique. This begins by brainstorming and identifying all the aspects of the project that must be completed in order to create the final deliverable. These aspects are then grouped into logical order to create the final deliverable. This approach can be spearheaded by the team leader through a technique called affinity diagramming.
With your team, group the related items near each other. Try to create no more than five main groups. This should take your team about five to 15 minutes. If you think an item belongs in more than one group, make a note of it. Develop titles for your groups, and then break them out into subgroups (also with titles). Now you can see your high-level deliverables, your interim deliverables and your acceptance criteria. Next, identify who will be responsible for each high-level deliverable.
Identifying process and conflict
Processes to create deliverables. Now that you’ve identified the deliverables and their acceptance criteria, move ahead to identify existing processes — if any — that need to be used to create your interim deliverables. Team members who have been through this drill before can lend insight into what processes exist and work well versus what processes do not exist or just do not work well.
Conflicts that affect creating the deliverables. Identify conflicts with other projects that might affect creating the final and interim deliverables. This part of the planning section is the place where you specify what else is going on in your environment and identify how it will affect your project. The team members should communicate how that will affect the project and offer a solution or work-arounds to continue moving forward. By including the team in these decisions early on, they will be vested in solving issues and keeping the project afloat throughout its lifetime.
Smart tools: Tree diagrams and milestone reviews
Building a tree diagram. You’re almost there! Next on the agenda, examine and assess the responsibilities for the entire project. This will help you distribute work evenly and match it up with the ability of the project team members to complete the interim deliverables. One smart tool is a tree diagram. This exercise summarizes each team member’s task for creating each interim deliverable. The team can use a tree diagram to check for overlap or duplicate deliverables. The team can also identify situations where one team member is better suited than another for an assigned interim deliverable.
Milestone review. If one to two people are relying on the successful completion of an interim deliverable to move their part forward, the project team should consider having a formal review of the deliverable. To do this, create a chart with five columns:
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Project Milestone Review (interim deliverable)
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Purpose of Review
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Reviewers
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Approval to Move Forward
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Date of Review
Formal reviews are perfect for keeping an open dialogue between the team members to discuss what is or is not going well.
Taking a risk
The last step is to assess and quantify the risks for creating each of the interim deliverables. This is an important step, as it allows the team to take the findings and apply them to whether the project agreement needs to be revised. Studying the risks also puts you in the driver’s seat to troubleshoot any issues that could arise through the duration of the project.
An hour of your time
This project-planning plan should take a little over an hour to complete:
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30 minutes — Identify deliverables and acceptance criteria
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10 minutes — identify processes
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10 minutes — identify conflicts
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10 minutes — tree diagram
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20 minutes — milestone reviews
The next time you hear the gun go off, make a beeline to your desk and identify what’s up ahead. Not only will you save time and aggravation for you and your staff, but you will also save money and resources, which will provide a greater impact on the company than racing through the finish line first.
Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is the founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning and author of Cheetah Negotiations and Cheetah Project Management.
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