If you want to use a bottom-up approach to planning, you can compile the activity schedule by drawing on the collective experience and knowledge of the project team that is going to carry out the tasks. Their ideas will produce a number of tasks that can be grouped to remove any overlaps or duplication.
You can then start to identify activities that have to run in a sequence and those that could run concurrently. Some tasks have to be sequential because they are dependent on one another. For example, you cannot put the roof on a house until you have walls strong enough to take the weight. You cannot build the walls until the foundations are in place. Other tasks can often run concurrently.
From the clusters of activities and tasks, you can begin to identify the project’s key stages by creating a ‘logic diagram’. First you have to group the activities and tasks into clusters that relate to an important milestone in the project. This will usually involve linking a number of tasks and activities that contribute to achieving something that is an important step in progressing the project. If you are not sure exactly how the clusters should be grouped and named, there is no need to worry, because you can go back and revise the groups later. Once you have put all of the tasks and activities into groups, label them as probable ‘key stages’.
The next step is to sort out the order in which the key stages have to be carried out to complete the objectives of the project. This exercise can be approached by writing the key stages on cards or coloured self-adhesive notepads, so that you can move the notes around and then arrange them on a whiteboard or a large sheet of paper. Put cards labelled ‘start’ and ‘finish’
on the board first and then arrange the key stages between them in the appro- priate sequence. Then draw arrows to link the stages in a logical sequence, taking care to consider the order in which the key stages have to be carried out. The arrows indicate that each stage is dependent on another. This means that the second stage cannot be started until the first is completed. The idea Outline planning 75
of ‘dependency’ is important in managing projects because if you do not work out the stages that must be completed first, people can be waiting around and wasting time until an essential earlier stage is finished and it is possible to start the next stage.
Example 6.2 Key stages
The HR department of a large retail organization responded to the demand for more frequent training opportunities by developing a proposal to produce a directory that could be distributed to its 150 retail outlets. Although it delivered some of the training courses using internal trainers, many were commissioned from external training agencies. The project team used a logic diagram to set out the key stages. The stages they identified were:
A. Secure funds.
B. Negotiate with other agencies.
C. Form advisory group.
D. Establish data collection plan.
E. Collect data.
F. Write directory text.
G. Identify printing supplier.
H. Agree print contract.
I. Print directory.
J. Agree distribution plan.
K. Organize distribution.
L. Distribute directory.
Figure 6.1 shows these stages in a logic diagram. Each stage has at least one arrow entering it and one leaving: for example organizing distribution (K) is dependent on agreeing a distribution plan (J), and collecting the data (E) cannot happen until a data collection plan has been established (D). However, preparatory activities for distribution (J and K) and printing (G and H) can run concurrently. We have as- sumed that the advisory group will make decisions about the acceptability of the data collection and distribution plans and will agree the printing contract.
76 Managing projects in human resources
START
Negotiate with other agencies
B Secure
funds
A Form
advisory group
C
Identify printing supplier
G
Agree print contract
H Collect
data E
Write directory
text F
Print directory
I Establish
data collection
plan D Agree distribution
plan J
Organize distribution
K
Distribute directory
L FINISH
Figure 6.1 Logic diagram for directory production
When you draw a logic diagram the following conventions may be helpful:
࿖ Time flows from ‘start’ on the left to ‘finish’ on the right, but there is no limited timescale.
࿖ Each key stage must be described separately. If you find that you have missed one out you can add it and rearrange the others if you plan your diagram with cards before drawing out the finished picture.
࿖ The duration of key stages is not relevant yet because you do not have to work within a fixed timescale at this stage of planning.
࿖ Different coloured cards can be used for different kinds of activities.
࿖ Take time to debate and agree the place of each card in the diagram.
࿖ Once you are fairly sure of the layout, show the dependency links with arrows.
࿖ When your diagram is complete, try working backwards to check whether it will work. Make sure that the project achieves all of its objectives.
࿖ Don’t assign tasks to people yet.
Keep a record once the diagram has been agreed, copying out the positions of key stages and the dependency arrows.
Outline planning 77
PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
Imagine that managers in your organization are considering devel- oping a directory to be given to new staff appointed, as part of the induction process. You expect that you will be asked to manage this project. You want to be well prepared for the meeting at which the potential project will be discussed. Draw up a list of the tasks involved in the project and organize them into key stages as a logic diagram.
Your diagram probably looked similar to the one in Figure 6.1. You should have noted that you would need approval to use resources (A), which might include approval to involve others in the organization and to interview people in each area of work (B). You might have decided to have some sort of steering committee (C) – this is often a good idea because it brings ideas from various perspectives to the project and it also helps to attract support for the project and its out- comes. You would have needed to plan for data collection (D and E), and someone would have to create the text (F) which would need to be printed or produced in an accessible electronic form (I) so that new people to the organization could easily access the information. The production process would need steps G and H, as in the earlier logic diagram. You would also need to consider how the directory should be distributed to each area of work in the organization (J, K and L).
There are essentially three sequences of activities that must be com- pleted in sequential order before the whole project can be completed.
In general, once you have an overview of the key activities and stages of the project, you have the skeleton of your plan. You can then work out the details in each of the stages. However, the plan will not be static and the world will not stop while you develop your plan. While planning takes place, other events are changing the situations that surround the project. Your under- standing of the project will develop and change as you become more familiar with the issues raised in each stage of planning.
Planning is a dynamic process, and one of your main roles in managing a project is to keep the balance between the need to have a plan to ensure that the project outcomes can be achieved within time, budget and quality requirements, and the need to respond to changes in the setting surrounding the project and in the understanding of all of the people involved in the project.
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In some ways the plan is like an idealized picture of what should happen, and you use it to help to keep the project on track while things inevitably change around you.
It is helpful to keep the project brief as the starting point for each stage of planning, to ensure that the purpose of the project is not forgotten in the practicalities of planning. As each part of the plan develops, use the project brief as a basis for checking that the key outcomes are still the focus of activity and that the balance of budget, schedule and quality are being maintained.