1. 3 Steps to a More Effective Work Plan (for your next #project) Based on the expert insights of Kevin Korterud, Accenture, originally shared on PMI’s Voices on Project Management blog. 2. "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." -Colin Powell 3. You can dramatically reduce the gap between plan and reality by taking 3 simple steps. 4. STEP 1: Design the work plan around the project goal. 5. What is the project goal? 6. Do you want to: 7. Implement a new process across teams? 8. Develop a new project or feature? 9. Manage a large scale event? 10. Define the desired outcome as specifically as possible so you keep your eye on the prize. 11. Task completion Orchestration of resources Some possible outcomes may be defined as: Task completion, Orchestration of resources, or Creation of deliverables. 12. Why does this matter? 13. If your project objective is to implement a newly defined process across multiple teams… 14. then team acceptance is the critical component to success. So, organize the work plan around teams and their needs, not around the process itself. 15. Makes sense, right? 16. STEP 2: Measure what you need to know. No more, no less. 17. For simpler projects, a straightforward percent complete scheme is great for measuring progress. 18. For more complex projects use: 19. Gantt charts (that show dependencies) 20. Resource management dashboard (to show and allocate team availability) 21. $ Earned value tracking (to ensure precise measurement of progress) 22. This keeps your reports clean, straightforward, and relevant. 23. STEP 3: Practice resource management. 24. Projects are powered by people. 25. So tracking team availability is critical to sticking to the work plan. 26. Project A requires 30 people, only 18 people are available, so your project will be late. 27. Avoid resource shortfalls; schedule a fixed time commitment for each person you will need on the team. 28. This ensures you will have the right people to complete the work plan on time and on budget. 29. Good resource management tools show you who’s busy, who’s not, and help you reallocate resources accordingly. 30. Conclusion: Elements of an effective work plan are 1. Align the work plan to the project goal. 2. Match reporting complexity to project scope. 3. Use resource management for team scheduling. Thank you to Kevin Korterud of Accenture & PMI’s Voices blog for sharing these insights. 31. Join the millions of project managers who use Smartsheet’s powerful, flexible online spreadsheets to keep projects on task and on time. www.smartsheet.com @Smartsheet #projectmanagement