The Importance of a Project Management Plan

As the project manager, you’ve been involved in all the aspects of marketing, proposal, and contract negotiation for the project. You have the final signed contract in hand that clearly indicates the scope, schedule, and price for completing the project. So why do you need a project management plan? You already have it. Wrong! You may have a scope of work, but not the sequencing plan. In addition, the scope of work usually has not been developed in the contract to the level of detail that allows the desired level of project control.

Ironically, most project managers forget the sequencing aspect of planning. They spend lots of time creating task lists that break down the project’s scope of work to the finest level of detail, but spend little time planning (e.g., sequencing) how they will actually accomplish the work. Yet, without proper planning, it is difficult, if not impossible, to deliver a quality project on time and within budget. What’s more, the lack of planning often results in unacceptable profitability on the project.

The amount of time necessary for planning the execution of a project increases in direct proportion to the project’s size and complexity. Unfortunately, even on small projects there is some base level of planning activity that will be necessary to complete the job. Therefore, don’t be surprised that the percentage of the fee required for project planning is higher for small projects than for large projects.

Goals of a Project Management Plan

The primary goal of planning is to (1) divide broad contractual goals into manageable tasks that can be understood by team members and (2) begin to sequence them so that each is accomplished efficiently in the shortest period of time. Proper planning also provides the PM with the foundation for measuring progress toward the overall goals of the project and helps him or her to anticipate possible problems and possibly avoid crises.

The bottom line: it is impossible to coordinate and control a series of loosely defined objectives and the efforts of a diverse group of people over an extended period of time without developing and implementing a well-defined and sequenced plan.