While many large corporations have teams of people dedicated to project management, quite often small-businesses and start-ups just wing it as they try to build new products, systems, and marketing programs. No matter how big you are, planning should most important phase of any project.

A thorough Project Management Plan (PMP) is critical for the success for any initiative. Many people mistake project management plan for a project timeline, but if you want to your project to be completed on time, on budget and with the vision you desire, your plan should be much more robust. You PMP should be your go-to document that outlines the vision for your project and how you’re going to go about getting it done.

Elements of a Project Management Plan

• Scope What is in scope, and sometimes more importantly what’s out of scope? The scope includes your vision for the project.
• Project Requirements These start out high level and become more detailed throughout the planning process. Requirements outline the features that must, should, or could be in your final product.
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) This is a breakdown of all the deliverables you need to create during the course of the project.
• Timeline Typically in the form of a GANTT chart, your project timeline details the tasks and activities must be done to complete the deliverables defined in the WBS. Who will be responsible for completing these tasks? What are the dependencies?
• Budget How much is budgeted for the whole project?
• Quality Management Plan How will you test and measure that the product is meeting quality standards that you set?
• Roles & Responsibilities Who will be working on the project and what are their responsibilities?
• Communications Plan How will you be communicating to key stakeholders and customers throughout the project?
• Risk Management Plan How will you manage risks?
• Change Management Plan How will you manages changes in the scope of the project?

Does this seem like too much work? Most project managers will argue that not taking the time out to do these tasks will lead to more work in the end (or worse yet, a poor product). While the more detailed the better, something is better than nothing.

The Triple Constraint

No matter how detailed your plan is, changes are inevitable. Moreover, every project is faced with the “triple constraint,” meaning that changes in scope, budget and timeline will have a direct impact on one another. For example, if you add new features to your project, then the timeline and / or budget. If you cut the budget, then most likely you’ll have to reduce the scope.

With this in mind, it’s important to remember that your project management plan is a living document that reflects the changes to your plan during the course of the project.

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