The Project Team Before your project-initiation plans are complete, you must fi nd personnel to fi ll certain responsibilities or roles, including: • “Project sponsor” – The “owner” of the project. The sponsor approves the resources, enforces timetables and deadlines, communicates with the “project review group,” and clears away any interference or resistance to the project. • “Project review group”– The people, including third parties, who keep the project on track. The review group evaluates the schedule and quality of implementation, manages business risks and makes sure that valid contractual documentation defi nes the company’s relationships with vendors. • “Project manager” – The person who oversees day-to-day progress. The project manager reviews documentation, gets resources to the right place at the right time, reports to the review group on performance and progress, advises others of escalating risk factors and, perhaps most importantly, adjusts the project plan when necessary because of unexpected obstacles or contingencies. • “Project team members” – The employees who do the work. They take direction from the project manager, complete tasks, report to the project manager as needed, update documentation and inform the project manager of risks. Match the skills, experience and qualifi cations of your personnel to the requirements of their roles in the project. “Planning” Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Make a plan for every aspect of your project, including these areas: • “Resource plan” – Every project activity requires resources, even if they’re intangible, such as time and energy. Resources also include labor, equipment and know-how. The resource plan lists everything you’ll need to keep implementation running smoothly. • “Financial plan” – One of your most important resources is money.
The financial plan helps you to determine how much money you’ll need and when you will need it. Customers expect you to deliver within your agreed-upon budget, so accurate fi nancial forecasting is important. • “Quality plan” – Quality means different things under different circumstances, so you need to defi ne it for your project. For each deliverable, set clear, specifi c, measurable quality goals. • “Risk plan” – Risk is unavoidable. Anticipate fi nancial, regulatory, legal or operational risks, and develop a plan to minimize them. • “Acceptance plan” – Delivering a great plan won’t do you much good if your customer refuses to accept it. Specify the “completion criteria for each deliverable” and schedule “acceptance reviews,” during which the customer reviews progress and formally accepts the deliverables, one piece at a time. • “Communication plan” – The communication plan describes what you will tell whom, and when, and designates a project team member who will be responsible for communicating information in each area. • “Procurement plan” – For some resources, you’ll need to turn to outside vendors. The procurement plan details the items you need and a delivery schedule. Develop requests for proposals and notify preferred suppliers.