Making a Party out of Project Management: Chapter 2 - Planning the Party - Part 1 of 3

Project Planning

Abby was so excited to get started on planning Nathan’s big party! She could hardly wait to get to work, but soon she realized there was too much to do by herself, and there were way too many details to try to keep them all in her head. She would need other people to help her put on this party, and she would need to make a plan for how to get everything done and make good use of everyone’s help. How could she do this? After a few minutes of pondering how her friends and relatives could help, she decided for sure that she should ask them for assistance with some of the tasks. These helpers would become Abby’s project team.

Reviewing the list of friends she identified in her stakeholder register, Abby figured it would be better to ask all of her friends for help at the same time and then ask older relatives for help later if she needed to, since asking some friends for help first and then asking other friends later on could make them feel less important than the friends who were asked to help first. Soft skills like helping everyone to feel included and valued are critical to good project team performance.

It was hard to know exactly how much help Abby would need, but she knew she would need some help to figure out many details of the party and potentially would need a few more people to provide help with some special tasks. So, Abby used information in her stakeholder register to create a simple communications plan that she would elaborate in further detail later. For now, she wanted to plan how she could communicate on a basic level with those who would help her to plan and set up the party.

“Hey, everybody!” began Abby with a group text to her friends. “I’m throwing a big party for my little brother next week, but it’s a lot of work and I need to ask for some help. Would any of you be able to come over and talk through it with me this afternoon and help with some of the work between now and his birthday?”

Abby was so appreciative of her friends coming over to help with the party, and she wanted to ensure she made good use of their time. She knew that the best way to do that would be to keep her plans organized, and that there would be a lot to keep track of for this party. So, before making a bunch of plans for everything, Abby stopped to consider what the different plans might be, and how they would fit together to achieve the overall goal of throwing a successful party. What Abby needed was a plan for her plans; she needed to develop what is called a project management plan.

The project management plan embodies the overall flow of the project. It is all the different pieces like the project’s scope, schedule, team members, cost and several other factors melded together to holistically explain how the final product will be created. This plan is a living document that changes and develops over the entire project, as progress is checked and adjustments and changes are made. Accordingly, project documentation must be regularly updated as the project develops.

The project management plan includes several subsidiary plans; there are several significant subsidiary plans within the project management plan to address the different facets of managing a project (don’t worry about memorizing these, you’ll remember them with practice):

-        Scope Management Plan: What is the plan for keeping track of what the project should produce?

-        Schedule Management Plan: What is the plan for tracking and managing the project schedule?

-        Cost Management Plan: What is the plan for tracking and managing the project cost?

-        Quality Management Plan: What is the plan for determining quality standards and assessing project quality?

-        Human Resources Management Plan: What is the plan for leading the team performing the project work?

-        Communications Management Plan: What are the tools and techniques the project manager and project team should use to communicate internally and with other stakeholders?

-        Risk Management Plan: What is the plan for identifying, tracking, and managing project risks?

-        Procurement Management Plan: If needing to hire vendors to help complete the project, how will those relationships be managed?

-        Stakeholder Management Plan: What is the plan for identifying, interacting with, and managing expectations of anyone who impacts or is impacted by the project?

               There is another significant output of the project management plan aside from the subsidiary plans, a set of baselines, which are essentially standards of expected performance on the project. Scope, schedule, and cost are the three different baselines in a project. A scope baseline is the agreement of what will be produced by the end of project. Schedule baseline is the agreement of when different phases of the project, including the final one, will be completed. Lastly, the cost baseline is how much the project is expected to cost, often at the end of each phase and at the very end of the project.

Soon, Abby’s friends started to arrive. They hung out for a little bit until everyone was there and Nathan left for baseball practice, and then Abby announced that she wanted to start working on this party with them. She held a kickoff meeting for the first hour to overview what she had in mind for the project [2]. Abby reviewed the project charter with them and explained the key objectives, possibilities and limits of the party, so they would have a very basic idea of what Abby was thinking. After a general overview of the idea for the party and a short break for a snack on the deck, Abby brought everyone back to the table to start off with a stakeholder management meeting and an introduction to the main stakeholder groups that she had identified.

[2] On most real-world projects, this meeting usually takes much longer than one hour.

With the initial list of stakeholders already made, Abby thought it might be good to consider the best way to engage each group of them; how to keep them informed, who has what needs, who could help or hinder the project, and how. Depending on how close the stakeholder was to the project, building a close working relationship with them during party planning and preparation could be very important to making it succeed. She thought about what these people would want from the party, and what the party would want from them. It was important to not only define the needs of different stakeholders, but to find a way to balance everyone’s needs during the entire project. How would Abby balance the interests of the project’s stakeholders to keep them happy?

Realizing that she had a variety of different people involved with the party, including a few different types of guests, Abby worked with her friends on categorizing stakeholders into general groups that each had unique things to offer and unique needs for enjoying the party. Their approach would be to identify the needs of these groups instead of every individual stakeholder, as that would be too much work to do along with everything else on the project. Each group would also be considered for their role in the party, even if it was just showing up and having a good time.

“And now that you know what kind of a party I want to put on for Nathan, and you know the main groups of stakeholders involved, I’d like your help working on the stakeholder management plan. We know who many of the stakeholders are, but how should we ensure they meet the project’s needs, and that the project meets their needs as well?” Abby explained.

“Last week, I overhead my mom talking on a work call about this very thing,” remarked Katie, one of Abby’s friends. “She talked about how you should make a table called a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix, with the stakeholder groups in a list on the left side, and to have five columns to the right to identify the level of engagement that each stakeholder had, and how that compared with the level of engagement you wanted from them.”

“Thanks, Katie!” Abby said, “What were the levels of engagement?”

“They were: unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive, and leading. Let me text my mom and see if she can give me a quick explanation of each.”

A moment later, Katie’s mom replied right back.

“Okay, here are the descriptions she gave for each…” Katie resumed.

As she briefly explained each type of stakeholder, Katie forwarded the descriptions on to Abby, so she could use them to start documenting her stakeholder management plan.

-        Unaware: The stakeholder isn’t aware that the project is happening or what it means.

-        Resistant: The stakeholder knows about the project and what it means and doesn’t want it to happen.

-        Neutral: The stakeholder knows about the project and its impact on them but is indifferent.

-        Supportive: The stakeholder knows about the project and its impact and wants it to happen.

-        Leading: The stakeholder not only wants the project to happen but also plays an active role in helping to complete the project.

With that, Abby and her friends were ready to make the table that Katie had described. They did so, using the “C” for current and “D” and for desired levels of engagement by each stakeholder group.

Abby’s initial stakeholder engagement assessment matrix (SEAM).

Next, Abby wanted to know what they should do to get the groups from their current level engagement to the desired one, as needed. Naturally, the project team would go from supporting to leading as they learned more and performed work to help plan and set up the party. Also, they knew that Nathan’s friends and other guests would be supportive once they got the invitation and were aware of the party. Luckily, those gaps would be easy to resolve early in the project.

One concern that Abby had was that some of the relatives might get overly excited and try to become too involved with helping, so Abby asked her mom if she could look at what they had done and offer some advice. She wanted relatives to be able to help but was concerned that some could try to become leading stakeholders to the point of getting in the way. Abby knew that with all the time Mom had spent hosting parties and knowing the people who would be there, she could provide expert judgment to recommend ideas that Abby and her friends probably wouldn’t think of on their own.

“Here’s what I would recommend to keep people from getting too involved, Abby,” her mom started. “First, you could put some details on the invitations about what will be at the party – food, games, cake and ice cream, and so on. Another thing you could do is reach out to those you’re concerned about and invite them to bring a specific item. You know how both of your grandmas always have to bring something to these parties. It’s how they show their love to you kids, and it also makes them feel like they’re contributing something. If you give them a specific thing to focus on bringing, they’ll be less apt to bring in their own ideas that detract from your plan.”

Abby’s mom continued, “Also, I know Nathan’s friends will be supportive stakeholders because he’s their friend, but if you provide some fun games for them and mention it on the invitation, they’ll be even more excited to attend.”

After a few hours of discussion with her friends and getting some input from Mom, Abby had a good stakeholder management plan to start working with. She had specific stakeholder groups and knew how different groups of people related to the party, as well as how she and her team should interact with them to make the party successful. By having a plan for how to keep the different stakeholders excited about the party and getting the desired level of engagement from them, Abby could get everyone to do what she needed, without them doing too much of a good thing or doing something that would make the party less successful [3].

[3] Note that while stakeholder management is important to the success of every project, it’s one area that can be sensitive if information is shared too freely. If you manage a project someday, be sure that you know who should or should not have access to the stakeholder management plan or the stakeholder register. In Abby’s case, she was careful not to share with relatives her concern about some of them trying to get too involved with the party planning and setup, as she didn’t want them to hear about that and become upset for feeling excluded or finding out that Abby worried about their overinvolvement.

Next post in the series: Making a Party out of Project Management: Chapter 2 - Planning the Party - Part 2 of 3

Making a Party out of Project Management: Chapter 1 - An Idea for a Party

Project Initiation

One bright and sunny summer morning, fifteen-year-old Abby was eating a bowl of cereal with her little brother and watching the world begin the day outside. The birds were chirping, and the neighbor cat was out for a jaunt through the back yard. The neighbors behind the back yard were scurrying about, setting up tables, blowing up balloons and festooning their deck railing with colorful banners.

               “Hmm…”, Abby thought to herself. “That party looks like it’ll be a lot of fun. I wish I were invited to that!”

               Abby looked inside again as her mom came into the kitchen, stopping to flip the calendar over to the next month. There was a day with a big orange circle drawn around it, a day of big significance for the family. Little brother Nathan was hitting the big one-zero, and he couldn’t be more excited! His eyes popped as he saw the calendar flip and his birthday just over a week away.

               Then, he heard his favorite cartoon starting downstairs and raced off to watch it. As Abby was finishing her cereal, a great idea suddenly hit her.

               “Mom?”, Abby asked. “Would it be okay for me to throw the party for Nathan next week? I mean, you could still bake the cake, and Dad could still grill food, but I think I’d really like to try throwing a big party!”

               Her mom turned, “Sure, that sounds like a delightful idea! But you know, throwing a party is a lot of work, and this is your brother’s one and only tenth birthday. This is a big deal.” She bent to put Nathan’s bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. “Tell you what, let’s talk about it more this afternoon when your dad is home and your brother’s at baseball. We wouldn’t want him to overhear and ruin the surprise, would we?” she smiled.

               Late in the afternoon, Abby’s dad returned home and the three of them sat down to discuss Abby’s idea. They talked about what a great party for Nathan would be like. What kinds of food should there be? What kinds of games? What would make it the best, most unforgettable party possible for him? In project management, determining what to do on a project and why it’s worth doing is called the business case. This usually involves financial estimates to show that a project will be profitable for a company, but that’s pretty advanced and we’ll just skip over that in this story. The joy this party would bring Nathan made a plenty strong business case for Abby’s parents to want to do it. Let’s say the same about the common practice of writing a lengthy, detailed contract between the company performing the project and the company paying for it. We’ll keep it simple this time and say that Abby promised her parents she’d do a good job throwing the party and that Nathan would be thrilled on his birthday. To give them some extra peace of mind, though, she described her vision for the party in a written project scope statement and would share that with them as part of her first project deliverable.

               As more basic, high-level thoughts were discussed, Abby continued to put ideas on paper. She made the first big deliverable that project managers create when starting a project, the project charter. In it, a project manager shares the project scope statement, what the company needs from the project, who will be involved, and why the project is worth doing. There are also some other elements (risks, financial estimates, constraints and assumptions) included in the charter, which will be covered in more detail later. And while she didn’t know if she would need to hire any help yet, Abby knew she might need to add a section in the charter for procurement documents, which includes any contracts, invoices or receipts documenting hired help. The project charter is the document that officially brings a project into existence and would officially make Abby the project manager of the party once it was approved by the project sponsors, who in this case were Abby’s parents.

Abby’s project charter for throwing Nathan’s 10th birthday party.

               Now that Abby had a rough idea of what the party would look like, she had to summarize for herself, and for Mom and Dad, what work would be done to throw the party. What would be the key things for the project team to accomplish? What specifically would or would not be included as part of the work to throw the party? Abby knew her parents were trusting her with a very special day for her little brother, so she wanted to show them that she had a very clear idea about what she and her helpers were going to do. Writing the charter to show her parents a thoughtful plan was just what Abby needed to do to give them that reassurance[1].

[1] On a larger project, this idea is detailed further in a document known as a Statement of Work (SOW).

             Abby’s parents wanted her to continue writing out her plan for the party so they could review it and help her to ensure it would be a big success. To do this, she needed access to some tools and resources. So, her mom took her to the office upstairs and showed her where the office supplies were. She also pulled up the family address book (sort of a database of information Abby could use to plan the party), so Abby would have addresses for sending invitations and phone numbers to call ahead and ask relatives to help with setting up the party. These resources, among other factors like the surrounding culture a project operates in and the skills that project team members have to offer are what project managers call enterprise environmental factors (EEFs).

               That evening, the neighbors out back had a great party. It was a big anniversary celebration for grandma and grandpa, and Abby was amazed at how terrific it looked and how much fun everyone had. The next morning, she went over to the Smith’s house and asked Mrs. Smith if she had written up a plan for the party. Sure enough, Mrs. Smith had made quite a few really helpful notes, including recipes and lists of supplies and a schedule of when to have everything ready. She offered to loan these to Abby and Abby graciously accepted, agreeing to bring them back after Nathan’s party was over. When she got home, Abby’s mom also shared some recipes and information from planning a party a year earlier, including some receipts to show roughly how much different things would cost. Templates, records and information or data from previous projects, instructions for how to complete elements of the project, and norms for what to do and when on a project are all known as organizational process assets (OPAs). They inform project managers on how they should expect to get a project done at their company.

               With a good general idea of a party in mind, it was time for Abby to start thinking

about the limits she had to work with, as well as what she didn’t know for sure and would require her to make a best guess. For example, what would be the maximum amount of money permissible to spend on the party? If she planned to hold the party at the local park, would she still have time to reserve a pavilion with a barbeque grill? The maximum amount of money available to spend is a boundary that project managers call a constraint, and the expectation that Abby can plan on a pavilion still being available to reserve is known as an assumption. For any project to be successful, it is imperative that a project manager always remain on the lookout for new constraints and assumptions affecting their project, as well as to ensure they stay within the constraints and that their assumptions remain true, or that a backup option is available if an assumption eventually becomes no longer true. As assumptions and constraints are accumulated, they are included (at least in summary) as part of the project charter.

After taking some time to consider those, Abby also wrote down some acceptance criteria, which was determined based on information in the project charter. The following had to be true for the party to be considered a success:

-        The party has to be safe

-        The party has to be inviting

-        The party has to be fun

-        The party has to be ready on time

-        The party has to stay within budget

Based on the acceptance criteria, Abby listed a number of deliverables for the party, which were things that had to be provided in order for the acceptance criteria to be met:

-        Shelter from weather

-        Timely invites with clear and accurate directions

-        Food safety measures in place

-        Games for the kids to play

-        A clean, comfortable seating area

-        A project schedule to keep planning and prep on track

-        A budget spreadsheet to track expenditures

Abby also wanted to be clear on certain constraints that limited what could be done for the party: there would be a budget limit, the deadline of Nathan’s birthday, and safety concerns, among other things that would put boundaries on the scope that could be completed for the party. She added these to a register (sometimes called a log) of all assumptions and constraints for the project, which also included the initial constraints listed on the charter.

It was tempting to think that everything would just happen as Abby was imagining it would, but she knew that was far from a guarantee. To be prepared for the unexpected, Abby acknowledged some assumptions she was making: the weather would be nice, or at least okay, enough people would be free to attend the party to make it a fun and lively time, and if she decided a vendor would be needed, that they would show up both on time and prepared to provide what was needed.

               Abby and her parents talked more about the main ideas they had for the vision of the party. Then, they had to think about who would be involved. Who would be invited? Who would help make the party happen? A project manager creates and then keeps adding to a master list of everyone somehow involved in or affected by the project, in a document called the stakeholder register. This document lists who the stakeholders are, what their role or involvement is in the project, and how much interest and influence they have. It also contains contact information for reaching these people when needed.

               Abby worked diligently on her stakeholder register to ensure it was as complete as possible. Of course, she needed to make sure all of Nathan’s friends were invited and knew when and where the party would be. The extended family would be there as well, and older relatives could be asked to help with some of the preparations for the day. Some of Abby’s friends were older siblings of Nathan’s friends, and they wanted to help the younger kids have a great time, too. So, Abby could get help from some of her friends. Of course, Mom and Dad could be counted on to help, not just with the work, but also with the very important matter of paying for the party. If Abby needed something, they could provide the funds to buy it and help to get the items from the store, provided they agreed with her that the items were a good buy. In this role, Abby’s parents would again act as the project sponsors. They would approve the budget she had for the party and provide mentorship when she ran into a challenge that would be unreasonable to try to handle herself, just like any good project sponsor would do.

A sample of Abby’s stakeholder register.

               With stakeholders identified and basic information about each one recorded, it was time for Abby to analyze the relationship each stakeholder had to the project. What was their role in the party? How interested were they in it? Did they have specific expectations or influence over the party? Thinking about this helped Abby to get a better sense of what working with each stakeholder might be like. This sort of analysis is important for ensuring stakeholder needs are met as well as possible, and for adjusting a stakeholder’s level of engagement when needed. For example, instead of just showing up to the party and having fun, a relative might wish to contribute some kind of help to make it a success. Thinking ahead about possibilities like this would help Abby to manage the party’s stakeholders well.

               After considering all of this, Abby had a good general idea of what would be needed for Nathan’s party. She would need to figure out details surrounding food, come up with some games for everyone to enjoy at the party, and think through where it would be and how everything would be set up at the party’s location. With the support of her sponsors and initial documentation of the project to be completed, our project manager Abby was ready to begin planning her project in detail. She would need to start by gathering her team and coming up with detailed requirements for setting up the party. Lots of planning would be needed to know exactly what everyone would have to do for the party and when. And that was before any party setup could begin. Nonetheless, Abby felt ready to get to work and knew that she didn’t have much time to waste before her little brother’s big birthday would arrive!

Next post in the series: Making a Party out of Project Management: Chapter 2 - Planning the Party - Part 1 of 3

Making a Party out of Project Management: Introduction

Do you like to par-tay? Is fun with friends your jam? If so, read on! This story is all about planning a great party, but really, it’s much bigger than that. This is a story that can open up a whole new world for you, giving you the keys to the castle in the real world after the party’s over, all while you learn to set up a great time with your friends and impress everybody else around!

But first, here’s some nerdy stuff you need to know…

This story is loosely based on terms and concepts from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) 5th Edition, with some extra terms and concepts that are also sometimes used in project management. Why base a story on the 5th edition PMBoK when the Project Management Institute (PMI) is now on the 7th edition? Because the 7th edition is broadened to accommodate a wide variety of project management frameworks, while the 5th edition focuses more specifically on waterfall. The broadening of PMBoK material is a good thing for including and acknowledging the value of other frameworks, but the goal of this story is to give you, the reader, an introduction to project management from its origin: the waterfall framework.

This story is meant to be as entertaining and relatable as possible, to help you decide if project management is a profession you want to seriously investigate further. You don’t have to wait until you’re a professional project manager to use this story! You can use it to accomplish plans you have in your life today; project management is all about having a goal, determining what’s required to reach that goal and what it will take to get there, and then taking the actions toward that goal, checking your progress every so often as you work toward that goal and readjusting when necessary to finally achieve it.

If you’re looking for a job that pays well and is secure, project management is a great way to go. This is a career field that will never be automated or outsourced, as it requires a lot of good people skills blended with good planning and technology skills. Every company always has projects to do. Project management is a career that is challenging and always offers new and interesting work, and it’s work that makes a significant difference for the world. As a project manager, you use a set of tools for a methodical, systematic approach to turn a dream into a reality, developing a new product that didn’t exist before you and your project team made it happen! This story will give you an extensive (albeit not exhaustive) outline of the terms, concepts, and tools and techniques you will want to know to get a good, practical introduction to project management.

Remember, this should be fun! You won’t be great at a career if you don’t like it. Project management is too hard to spend a career in if it’s not fun, so use this story to help you decide if you want to go further in project management, like looking for an internship or a job in the field.

Next post in the series: Making a Party out of Project Management: Chapter 1 - An Idea for a Party