Project Planning Flow Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Planning Flow - Assignment Example The primary key to the success of a project lies in the thorough technical understanding of its main characteristics and goals as this will eventually facilitate the production of the project report and the meeting of the schedule(Lewis 45). The most important key to successful and effective project management is through planning. A logically constructed and orderly plan is essential to direct any type of project and to help in preparing a report from conception through completion. The key to good planning is in its turn founded on clearly defined project objectives. Project planning can begin with the identification of the client's needs, the development of a budget and work schedule that fit these needs, and the planning for resources, including staff and materials. Project Planning Flow A project manager's planning process begins with the full comprehension of the assumptions. The understanding of the assumptions is important given how the expectations for the final results of the project are based on the initial suppositions made. Furthermore, changing assumptions throughout the project can bring about lack of satisfaction about the final results among the senior management; a scenario that is rather frequent in the project management field. Therefore, and despite the fact that project length remains a critical factor in the eventual extent of satisfaction exhibited with regard to the final results, assumptions should be documented at project initiation and throughout using the project charter as a possible means. The project manager should from then on continue to challenge and revalidate the assumptions to ensure that the project is either redirected towards a different set of objectives or simply terminated fully in the event of changing assumptions. Among the assumptions that need to be considered are related to both enterprise environmental factors as well as organizational process assets. Assumptions related to the external environment, and which can affect any given project and should be therefore taken well into account, include for instance interest rates, changing customer demands and requirements, technology changes, market conditions, and even government policies. The assumptions about present or future company aspects which can impact the progress of a project include on the other hand the capability of a company's enterprise project management methodology, checklists, guidelines, forms, templates, and the project management information system. Other keys to effective project planning include the right sampling of the most effective people for the job. In fact, this is in many ways one of the most important first steps in building a human resource plan for one's organization or project. As a project manager you need therefore to determine the desired background of your team by setting up certain standards and requirements. This can include for example a specific amount of experience, knowledge and skills, the availability of the team and the ability of the assembled members to work well within a team environment. These set of standards will generally help in minimizing the number of possible candidates and the selection of the appropriate ones. Additionally, among the important considerations in building a project team is to establish the