Guidance for Preparing a Project Management Plan

Every project manager should have a plan for how every project will be delivered because doing so vastly increases the likelihood of success. The process of planning the project is what is critical. Some projects follow standard processes and the planning is simple; other projects have more uniqueness and the planning is more detailed, involves input from more people, and benefits from being documented.

Here is a series of questions that a project manager ought to consider in planning a project. Documentation may be in the scoping report for minor or moderate scale projects. Major projects should get more detailed documentation. A template is available on the PM website, but any format will do.

  1. Scope
  2. What are the Goals & Objectives of the project? How will success be measured?
  3. What is the Scope of the project?
  4. Of what will be constructed?
  5. Of how the project will be developed?
  6. Will there be a new scope baseline after selection of a preferred alternative?
  7. Are there other Commitments?
  8. How will further definition of design details be tracked?
  9. How will the team verify that deliverables meet the scope?
  10. What are the thresholds and process for formal scope changes?
  11. Schedule
  12. What are the major milestones that form constraints?
  13. Letting
  14. Open to traffic
  15. Other
  16. Where will the schedule reside?
  17. How updates will be made? Who is responsible for updates?
  18. How will the team monitor the schedule?
  19. What are the thresholds for corrective actions?
  20. How will changes to constraints, durations or logic be made?
  21. Budget
  22. What is baseline cost estimate?
  23. What are the expectations of the PM with respect to the cost estimate:
  24. Is it a budget or just an estimate?
  25. Does the PM have the authority to use contingency?
  26. When should contingency be retired or converted to base costs?
  27. When/how will updates be made?
  28. How will actual costs be monitored?
  29. What are the thresholds and how will budget changes be made?
  30. Quality
  31. Who is responsible for quality checks at what stages?
  32. What special quality checks will be used (e.g. VE, constructability reviews)?
  33. Project Team
  34. Who is on the team?
  35. What are their responsibilities?
  36. Who makes decisions when there is disagreement?
  37. How will disputes be resolved?
  38. How often will the team meet?
  39. What are the meeting protocols (agenda, prep, send someone, on time, on task, notes, action item review)?
  40. How will information be communicated?
  41. Where will information be stored?
  42. Stakeholders
  43. Who are the key stakeholders?
  44. Where is their contact information kept?
  45. What are their issues?
  46. Will there be any special partnering efforts?
  47. Communications
  48. What communications methods will be used on a regular basis?
  49. Website
  50. Public meetings
  51. Facebook
  52. Twitter
  53. Newsletters
  54. Email list
  55. etc
  56. Who is responsible for those communications?
  57. What is the frequency of communication or response time?
  58. How will project performance be reported to management?
  59. Risk & Issue Management
  60. Where will the risk register reside?
  61. How often will the team review risks?
  62. How will issues be tracked?
  63. How will lessons learned by communicated?
  64. Procurement
  65. What will be the contracting method?
  66. What efforts will be done by consultant?
  67. Who will manage the consultants (PM or functional group)?
  68. Does the scope and schedule account for consultant procurement, innovative contracting, etc.?