Planning phase

Once we have created a project charter and it's signed off by the stakeholders it's time to start the project plan. The project plan consists of

• Defining the scope of work
• Defining the costs and budget
• Defining the schedule
• Preparing the project plan

The project plan is the road-map for how the objectives laid out in the project charter will be achieved. To begin the project planing phase, first the key personnel with the right skill sets required for the project must be selected, these team members will be leveraged for the planning of the project. The entire team is not necessary, however the key members should have input.

Kickoff or Startup meeting
The purpose of this meeting is to bring the team together, and review the project charter to make sure that everyone understands what the team is expected to deliver and why, if possible the project stakeholders and sponsor should be included; this is an excellent opportunity for the team to start building the interpersonal relationships that are essential for a project's success.

The kickoff meeting is intended to establish how the team is going to complete the planning phase of the project and may even begin the process. It's perfectly normal for these meetings to last from several hours to several days pending on the complexity of the project. It's not uncommon for project teams to take up to a full week to outline the project plan, by working on the project plan together it gives the team a common understanding of what has to be completed and why.

Defining the scope of work
The first thing that needs to be established in a project plan is the scope of work, the reason for this is because it creates a basis for the schedule of activities and the budget. A budget cannot be defined without knowing the activities and tasks that are required for the successful completion of the objectives. By focusing on the objectives from the get-go the team concentrates their efforts on solving the essential problems and not going off on tangents.

The project's scope defines the project in the terms of deliverables and the work required to produce those deliverables. It is comprised of the work required to manage the project as well as the work required to complete the project, they are two parts of the same whole and their purpose is to successfully deliver the product, service, or resultt. It is essential that the project plan contains all of the work required to fulfill the requirements to deliver the product, service or result because only the work within the scope will be completed.

Developing the Project's Scope requires that we identify the requirements and work for the successful delivery of our product/service/result. the Project scope is comprised of the following:

Project scope

• Requirements documentation
• Scope statement
• Work breakdown Structure (WBS)