• I don't have time to do extensive planning; my charter is to LEAD the project.
• I'm not very proficient in developing WBSs and project flowcharts.
• I don't have/know how to use the software that could generate project flowcharts and task lists.
• I save time by leaving the generation of specific tasks lists to the participants after I tell them what their milestone(s) is.
• I don't spend time that nobody has to give by asking for participant input after I've generated an approved project plan.
• I believe that it's unnecessary to ask for work commitments from employees, regardless of who they work for, because we all get a paycheck that pretty much commits us all to do the work that's needed.

Why You Should

By knowing which groups, teams, vendors and/or departments will be involved in your project, you're able to take the steps required (eg. mend fences, buy lunches, revive relationships, etc.) to make sure you have access to managers and/or supervisors who can help you get what your project needs when it needs it.

Your project schedule isn't trashed when you belatedly realize that you've overlooked the contribution of a necessary function (it happens!).

You can show your Prime Mover(s) and your project team what the project schedule looks at a level of detail that is appropriate (a Gantt overview for Primes and, in many cases, a PERT or C/PM flowchart for participants). (The benefit here is that they're informed and enabled to provide input that is either accelerating or cautionary.)

Your task of managing multiple, time-sensitive tasks done by people who don't report to you is made much more possible, particularly if you're managing more than one project.

You can use your project flowchart to pinpoint high risk handoff days and make the necessary contingency plans.

By showing participants the complete project flowchart, you can drive home the point that the work of many people is dependent on each person completing what they've committed to on schedule and at acceptable quality levels.

You can enhance your Prime's level of confidence in you and in the project by showing him/her that you have all the foreseeable details accounted for.

You can enlist participants in a much more tangible version of the "what could go wrong" game than you were able to during more preliminary, non-charted periods.

You can nail down a much more specific "On this date, I promise to . . ." type of commitment from participants with a project chart and with their task lists than is possible when you were talking with them about their contribution during preliminary scheduling discussions. (If the commitment wording above makes you feel uncomfortable when you consider saying those words to a participant, try to envision how uncomfortable everyone will feel when the schedule is pushed back because the participant "Didn't realize that you actually needed it by . . .")

 

Some Tips On How To

Track down the company-approved project planning software application and learn how to use it. It is possible to use graphics packages or even a database program like Excel© to build charts, but the power and versatility of modern project planning software makes developing, changing and communicating project plans MUCH easier than any other approach.

Don't just write task lists! While task lists are great for individual participants to work off of, they do absolutely nothing to help project managers manage. For that, you need a chart.

Be very careful about using Gantt charts exclusively. This overview type of project chart is fine for very well known projects (aperiodic business processes), but they aren't nearly detailed enough to effectively manage projects that participants and/or managers have not done before.

Use Gantt charts to highlight status/progress for Prime Movers. The 'A' level detail (and some significant trust in the project manager) are all that's typically required for project review meetings.

Use one or several cascading flowcharts to manage the project. Relatively simple projects can be done with one flowchart (PERT and C/PM are the best known) that indicates and coordinates the work that generates milestones. More complex projects often require an overview flowchart that is backed up with detailed flowcharts for each functional milestone trail.

Keep your project charts current and, if at all possible, avoid committing them to paper if your organization has the technical capability to maintain the chart(s) on an intranet. If you must print project charts, date each revision carefully and prominently.