We’ve all heard the adage, “Measure twice; cut once.” While it might be a cliché, it takes on a critical meaning in project planning: Rushing through or ignoring the project-planning process can be a formula for failure. Pick any significant event, trip, or undertaking in your life and think about the time, energy, and work put into making sure everything went off without a hitch. Then, think about the stress and aggravation you experienced when things didn’t go as planned.
Project management works similarly as a discipline, except on a grander scale involving many stakeholders and a larger pool of resources. It can include external vendors, several other internal and intradepartmental team members (as well as their schedules and input), and additional parameters like cost, quality, timing, constant coordination, communication, and associated risks.
Imagine the consequences of poor project planning if these things are not handled correctly. All of the above factors and many others impact—and are, in turn, affected by—the project planning aspect of project management.
Lack of strategic alignment
When it comes to planning and initiation, “EPMO participation is critical in company-wide planning sessions to transform the traditional PMOs into high-performing teams that deliver significant value. This will also help to establish a shared vision.” According to PMI research, the success rates of higher-performing PMOs also align with a company’s financial performance.
Cost, quality, time-constraint issues, and scope creep
Determining the scope of a project is difficult without spending a considerable amount of up-front time appropriately planning. Gathering requirements, developing comprehensive project-management plans, and determining and scheduling activities, among other things, require significant thought, coordination, and a lot of time.
Without planning activities, these key project elements can lead to a lack of stakeholder commitment and resources because poor planning does not instill confidence or credibility. This can discourage stakeholders from proceeding with the project manager or even with a project altogether. Strong project leaders instill confidence by keeping on top of project planning activities, removing the need for costly, time-consuming rework, and increasing success ratios throughout projects company-wide.
Inefficient use of resources
Estimating costs and activity levels, scheduling resources, and continually monitoring and adjusting them require intense planning to ensure that a project moves in the right direction. Effective planning identifies the tools and techniques needed to accomplish these tasks and reduces the risk of having unclear roles and responsibilities. Resources, whether financial or human, are usually limited these days and of high value to any business, so squandering them unnecessarily can be disastrous. Given the consequences, this is an area where companies should carefully plan how, when, and where to employ limited resources to maximize effectiveness best.
Communication issues
I previously covered more details about the communication skills of highly effective project leaders. These top communication characteristics and skills are the following:
- Trustworthiness
- Transparency
- Focus and stability
- Objectivity and fairness
- Confidence
- Ability to lead by example
- Energy and motivation
- Consistency and flexibility
- Accessibility
- Clarity
- Respect
These are underscored as essential communication characteristics. It takes considerable thought and careful planning to ensure that communication plans consider stakeholders’ needs; without these, there is potential for communication barriers, which can translate into reduced confidence and jeopardize buy-in from team members and stakeholders.
Increased risk
Identifying risks, performing qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, and developing risk management strategies are critical to successful project outcomes.
These activities can require a lot of time and considerable coordination because they can range from simple to sophisticated and complex, depending on the project’s scope, size, and other factors. The more significant the risk points or consequences, the more planning is required.
Project planning does not guarantee that projects will go according to plan. In fact, despite all the planning surrounding a project, uncertainty is always there, lurking in the background and waiting to jump in and disrupt those plans. The key to having excellent project outcomes is to recognize from the project’s inception why careful planning is critical to reducing risks and increasing success. It may seem more time-consuming up front, but it will save substantial undue stress, time, and costly rework later.
Measure twice; cut once
Project planning with precision can be an iterative process, but it’s worth it to measure twice and cut once when compared to the risks associated with poor planning. The critical point here is to remember that planning is vital to reducing project risks and increasing the likelihood of success.
We started with one cliché; we can end with another. As Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It’s always better to measure twice and cut once.
In one of my TechRepublic articles, “Risks and Rewards of Making Project Decisions Based on Gut Feelings,” I cover the pros and cons of factoring in your gut while making project decisions. I also discuss things to consider, such as timing and the role of factual data in combination. While gut feelings are not a science, thought leaders often use them as a check and balance to reaffirm their direction. If used carefully, it can be a powerful aid in conjunction with business intelligence tools because it’s based on experience, knowledge, intuition, and common sense.
Tip:
Remember to leverage well-known project management software and tools like Wrike, Monday.com, Teamwork, Microsoft Project, Asana, and Trello. These tools provide a centralized platform for managing tasks, timelines, and resources. They enable project managers to create schedules, assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate with team members.
Copyright 2018 by CIO.com—IDG Enterprise Inc., 492 Old Connecticut Path, Framingham, MA. 01701.
ALSO READ: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT PLAN +TEMPLATE
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