Module 1: Beginning the planning phase

Hello! Welcome to this course called
“Planning: Putting It All Together.” If you’ve already completed our previous
courses, then you have a great foundation for what it takes to initiate a project
and kick off the planning phase. Before we get started,
let me introduce myself. My name is Rowena, and
I’ll be your instructor for this course. I work as a senior program manager in
Google Cloud on a variety of projects. I mostly focus on systems and productivity
enhancements for my team, which consists of around 100 full time employees and more
than 300 contractors around the world. Some of the largest-scale projects that
I work on impact Google Cloud sales and global sales support teams, which
are made up of a thousands of people. But I didn’t start out
building solutions for thousands of people at a global company. I left school at the age of 17 with
no college degree and no real plan. Before Google, I worked in retail,
hospitality, and even in the airline
industry as a crew member. When I joined the corporate world,
I noticed something. The processes were just as messy as
the stock rooms of the retail stores where I’d worked. There was so much room to improve. I came to realize that every
business is complicated and that there’s always room to create order. So I started thinking about ways
to automate my day-to-day tasks. I was emailing ideas to my manager and
colleagues, working with teams across the company, brainstorming solutions
to problems, coordinating training for my coworkers, and so much more. That’s when it became clear— I was project managing. I transferred into a role focused entirely
on program management at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. In my job interview, I focused on
examples of how I applied these transferable skills from
my previous roles, and how I could leverage the knowledge
I gained from my experience. Four years later, I’m here and I’m so excited to be partnering with
you on this learning journey. From the outside, big, global companies can seem as
though they have it all figured out. But there’s always room for new processes,
and you likely have the skills and insights from your previous
experiences that can be useful. So keep going—
you’re heading in the right direction. This course is focused
on the planning phase. I’ll share the tools and
techniques to complete this phase. First up, I’ll demonstrate how
to kick off the planning phase. Then we’ll explore the importance
of setting and reaching milestones. For every milestone,
there’ll be a set of tasks to complete, so I’ll teach you some tips for breaking
down and distributing the workload. Later, we’ll discuss the budget and
how the overall budgeting process works. We’ll learn about people or companies
outside of your organization that may play a role in determining the budget, and we’ll discuss the importance of
sufficiently documenting your budget. Then we’ll discuss the various risks and the possible impact those
risks can have on the project. Nothing ever goes quite as planned, but risk management is a great way to make
sure you know what could go wrong and how you’ll address it. This includes communicating possible
risks to your stakeholders, creating a mitigation plan, and then keeping an eye on those risks to
make sure they don’t stall your projects. Last but not least,
documentation ties it all together. Keeping all your project plans documented
and organized not only helps you, but it also helps those involved
knowing their responsibilities. Documentation also provides stakeholders
with a window into the development of the project. It has always been important to
the success of my own projects at Google, and I’m excited to explore
this topic with you. Ready to get started? Meet you in the next video.

Project Planning: Why It’s Crucial for Success – A Comprehensive Tutorial

Launching a project without a plan is like embarking on a road trip without a map. You might have a destination in mind, but the journey will be riddled with detours, delays, and frustration. This tutorial will guide you through the importance of project planning and equip you with the knowledge to create a roadmap for success.

Why is Planning Crucial?

Imagine a construction crew building a house without blueprints. They might hammer some walls together, but the structure would be unstable, inefficient, and potentially dangerous. The same applies to projects. Planning provides a clear vision, structure, and direction, ensuring your project:

• Achieves its goals: Planning defines your objectives and breaks them down into manageable tasks, ensuring everyone is aligned and working towards the same outcome.
• Stays on track: A well-defined plan with timelines and milestones keeps your project moving forward efficiently, avoiding costly delays and missed deadlines.
• Manages risks effectively: Planning helps you identify potential challenges and develop contingency plans to mitigate their impact, minimizing disruptions and ensuring smooth execution.
• Communicates clearly: A shared plan fosters transparency and understanding between stakeholders, team members, and external parties, leading to better collaboration and decision-making.
• Allocates resources efficiently: Planning helps you determine the resources needed (people, budget, equipment) and allocate them effectively, avoiding waste and maximizing return on investment.

Key Steps in Project Planning:

1. Define project goals and scope: Clearly articulate what you want to achieve and what’s included (and excluded) from the project.
2. Identify stakeholders: Recognize everyone impacted by the project and their interests.
3. Break down tasks: Divide the project into smaller, manageable tasks with clear owners and deadlines.
4. Develop a timeline: Create a realistic schedule outlining key milestones and dependencies between tasks.
5. Estimate resources: Determine the personnel, budget, and equipment needed to complete each task.
6. Identify and manage risks: Recognize potential challenges and develop mitigation strategies.
7. Document your plan: Create a clear, concise document outlining the above steps and share it with all stakeholders.

Planning Tools and Techniques:

• Gantt charts: Visualize project timelines and dependencies.
• Work breakdown structures (WBS): Break down projects into manageable tasks.
• Risk registers: Identify, assess, and plan for potential risks.
• Project management software: Utilize specialized tools for comprehensive planning and tracking.

Remember:

• Planning is iterative: Be prepared to adapt your plan as the project progresses and new information emerges.
• Flexibility is key: Unexpected circumstances may arise, so be prepared to adjust your plan accordingly.
• Communication is essential: Regularly communicate your plan and updates to all stakeholders.

By following these steps and embracing the importance of planning, you can set your project up for success and avoid the pitfalls of a chaotic, unplanned approach.

Bonus Tip: Encourage team participation in the planning process. This fosters ownership, buy-in, and valuable insights from diverse perspectives.

Start planning your next project today and experience the power of a clear roadmap to success!

Hi again. In the previous course, you learned about the
initiation phase. During the initiation phase, the project manager
is gathering all of the necessary
preliminary information needed to get stakeholder
approval and plan the project. A few key things need to
happen during this time. First, the project manager
gets assigned—that’s you! Then, the goals of the
project have to be approved, as well as the scope of the
project and its deliverables. A number of people
will need to be assigned to the project, and you’ll have a good sense of their individual roles
and responsibilities. You’ll also need stakeholder sign off on your project charter. If all of these
criteria have been met, then you’re set
to begin planning. Planning is a significant part of ensuring a project’s success, so let’s take some time to
discuss why it’s so important. Planning is important for
any project, large or small. While planning your project, you and other members
of the team will determine the processes
and workflows needed to meet your
goals and put together ideas about how to make
the project a success. While planning, you might draw from previous project experience, but don’t be afraid to think
of new ways to get results. Every project is different, so new and different approaches may be just the thing you need. Planning has many benefits. As we’ve discussed, planning helps you map out
the full project. It helps you understand the work needed to
achieve your goals. Planning also helps
coordinate efforts and timelines with other teams,
contractors, and vendors. Another huge benefit of planning is that
it gives you time to identify and prepare for risks that could
impact your project. Those might include things
like a delay in the timeline, the departure of a
critical team member, or a change in project direction from a primary stakeholder. Planning also gives
you the chance to brainstorm ways to mitigate
or address those risks. There are less
obvious benefits too. For example, the
planning phase can help you get “buy-in” from key
members of the project team. Getting buy-in means that you’ve gained their support
for your plans. Planning also demonstrates
to stakeholders that the team is taking care to start the project with a detailed plan. But one of the most
significant benefits of planning is teamwork, which will help you push your project across
the finish line. By working together in
the planning phase, individuals assigned to
the project can become a strong team by the
time the planning is done and the work
is about to start. Planning together creates
a shared understanding among all parties
involved in the project. So to recap, planning
has many benefits from helping the
team to understand the work needed to
achieve their goals, to providing project plans
to the stakeholders. Now that you know a bit
more about planning, we’ll learn how to launch
the planning phase. Meet you in the next video.

Launching the Project Planning Phase: Mastering Schedule, Budget, and Risk Management

Congratulations on taking the next step towards successful project management! This tutorial will guide you through launching the crucial planning phase, focusing on the three pillars: schedule, budget, and risk management.

Understanding the Landscape:

Before diving in, remember that planning is fluid. Your initial plan won’t be perfect, and it will likely evolve as the project progresses. Embrace flexibility and stay prepared to adapt. Additionally, communication is key: keep stakeholders informed and involve your team in the planning process to leverage their valuable insights.

The Three Pillars of Project Planning:

1. Schedule:
   • What it is: A roadmap outlining your project’s timeline, including start and end dates, key milestones, and intermediate deadlines for tasks.
   • Building your schedule:
     • Gather your team: Collaborate to estimate task durations and identify dependencies between tasks.
     • Utilize time estimation techniques: Consider factors like team experience, project complexity, and available resources.
     • Visualize your plan: Tools like Gantt charts can effectively illustrate your timeline.
   • Example: Let’s revisit the “Plant Pals” project. Your schedule should include key dates for vendor proposals, website development, plant deliveries, and the service launch.
2. Budget:
   • What it is: A comprehensive breakdown of the total cost required to complete your project.
   • Creating your budget:
     • Identify all cost elements: Consider personnel costs, materials, equipment, software, and marketing expenses.
     • Allocate funds strategically: Assign budgets to each project phase and task based on their importance and complexity.
     • Be realistic and transparent: Include buffer funds for unforeseen expenses and communicate potential cost adjustments to stakeholders.
   • Example: Your “Plant Pals” budget should account for website design costs, plant vendor fees, marketing materials, and potential delivery charges.
3. Risk Management:
   • What it is: Proactive identification and mitigation of potential problems that could impact your project’s success.
   • Developing your risk management plan:
     • Brainstorm potential risks: Consider scheduling delays, budget overruns, vendor issues, and resource constraints.
     • Assess the impact: Evaluate the likelihood and severity of each risk.
     • Develop mitigation strategies: Create contingency plans to address identified risks, such as buffer timelines, alternative vendors, or cost-saving measures.
   • Example: You might identify a potential launch date delay due to website development challenges. Mitigation strategies could include adjusting project scope, negotiating a new deadline, or seeking additional resources.

Putting it all Together:

While these pillars stand independently, their true power lies in their interconnectedness. Schedule delays can impact budgets, and risks can affect both. Regularly assess how changes in one area impact the others and adjust your plan accordingly.

Next Steps:

Now that you understand the fundamentals, prepare to officially launch your project with a kick-off meeting. This meeting sets the stage for collaboration, clarifies expectations, and aligns your team towards achieving your project goals.

Remember:

• Embrace agility: Be prepared to adapt your plan as you learn and new information emerges.
• Communicate effectively: Keep stakeholders and your team informed throughout the planning and execution phases.
• Leverage your team: Encourage participation in planning to foster ownership and generate valuable insights.

By mastering these core elements and adopting a flexible approach, you can launch a successful project planning phase and pave the way for a smooth and successful project execution. Good luck!

Which planning phase component includes the total cost to complete the project?

Budget

Often, the project manager breaks down the project’s total cost to determine how much will be spent on different elements of the project.

Hello again. In the last video, we discussed the
importance of planning. Now let’s get into the details of how to launch
the planning phase. As you learned earlier, the planning phase is the second phase of a
project’s life cycle. This can be a
challenging time for a project manager because
there’s so much to consider. But it’s important to know that project plans don’t have to be perfect the very first time. And, even if you do a great job with your plans the
first time around, it’s likely that the plan will change as the project evolves. The planning phase may differ
from project to project, but generally three
big things are worked out during this
stage: the schedule, the budget, and the
risk management plan. We’ll discuss each of these in greater detail later
on in the course. But for now, here’s some
general information so you can understand why
these three elements are so crucial to planning. Let’s start with the schedule. The schedule is basically
a timeline of the project. It includes the start
date, the end date, and the dates for things
that will happen in between. You will use time
estimation techniques to determine these dates. Let’s imagine scheduling in our example project
at Office Green. As a reminder, you are the lead project manager
for project Plant Pals, a new service that will provide top clients with desk-friendly
plants. You want to launch the service
by the end of the year, so the planning phase
for this effort should include a
number of key dates. Those dates might
include when you’ll request proposals
from plant vendors. They might also include the
date you’ll kick off with the web designers and
developers who are creating a new website
for the service. It should also include important dates during the
project execution phase, like when the plants
need to be ready for delivery or when the
new webpage design needs to be approved, and you’ll need to include the target date for the
launch of the service. Another part of the planning
phase is setting the budget. The budget will account for the total cost to
complete the project. The total cost needs to be
broken down to determine how much has to be spent on different
elements of the project. For project Plant Pals, the budget will need
to include items like the cost of designing
and launching a webpage, the cost of hiring your
plant vendor, and much more. The third component of the planning phase
is risk management, which means searching for
possible problems and planning ahead to
mitigate these risks. Let’s face it, risk is
inevitable in every project. What’s not inevitable is how the risk impacts
your project. Good project planning means
searching for places where trouble might occur. Where might the schedule get off track? Where might the budget
exceed your estimates? You’ll work with your team to consider answers
to these questions and prepare a risk
management plan based on whatever you discover. Let’s go back to the
Office Green example. While putting together
the initial schedule, you may realize that
your estimates from your developers put you way
beyond your launch date. To manage that risk, you might try to reduce or adjust the project’s scope to still meet your deadline or even negotiate a new launch date
with your stakeholders. These are two simple
examples of how you might mitigate
a scheduling risk. So to recap, you’ll spend the planning phase
building your schedule, setting your budget, and preparing your risk
management plan, but first you need to get
the whole team on board. Next, we’ll discuss the
project kick-off meeting, which is where the
project really gets going. Meet you there.

Project Kickoff Meeting: Your Guide to a Successful Launch

The project kickoff meeting marks a pivotal moment where your team officially embarks on the exciting journey of bringing your project to life. It’s your chance to set the stage for collaboration, align everyone on the goals, and lay the foundation for smooth project execution.

Why is a Kickoff Meeting Important?

Think of it as the opening ceremony of the Olympics, where all athletes and participants gather to understand the competition, their roles, and the path towards victory. Your project kickoff meeting serves a similar purpose:

• Shared Vision & Goals: Ensure everyone understands the “why” behind the project, fostering buy-in and commitment.
• Aligned Scope & Roles: Clearly define project boundaries and clarify individual responsibilities, preventing confusion and duplication of effort.
• Team Building & Communication: Establish rapport, communication channels, and collaboration tools to ensure a cohesive and efficient team dynamic.

Who Should Attend?

• Project Team: All individuals identified in the RACI chart, responsible for various project tasks and deliverables.
• Stakeholders: Anyone with an interest in the project’s success, including sponsors, clients, or decision-makers.

Crafting Your Agenda:

While agenda templates abound, here’s a flexible structure you can adapt based on your project’s needs:

Introduction (10 min):

• Project Manager welcomes everyone and sets the meeting’s expectations.
• Team members introduce themselves, roles, and (optional) fun facts for icebreaking.

Project Background & Vision (5 min):

• Briefly explain why the project originated and its significance to the organization.
• Articulate the project’s overarching vision and desired outcomes.

Goals & Scope (5 min):

• Clearly define the project’s goals and objectives, ensuring they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
• Outline the project’s scope, highlighting what’s included and excluded.

Roles & Responsibilities (5 min):

• Review the RACI chart, ensuring everyone understands their individual roles and accountabilities.
• Allow opportunities for clarification and address any questions.

Collaboration & Communication (10 min):

• Introduce the chosen tools for project management, communication, and information sharing (e.g., Asana, Slack).
• Establish communication protocols: meeting frequency, email etiquette, etc.

Next Steps & Action Items (10 min):

• Outline upcoming key milestones and deadlines.
• Assign clear action items to individuals with due dates.
• Address any immediate concerns or questions.

Q&A & Feedback (15 min):

• Encourage open discussion and address any remaining questions or concerns from the team.
• Gather feedback and ensure everyone feels heard and understood.

Beyond the Meeting:

• Send a follow-up email: Summarize key points, action items, and meeting recordings (if applicable).
• Stay accessible: Be available to answer questions and address issues throughout the project.

Remember:

• Be flexible: Tailor the meeting to your project’s unique needs and adjust the agenda accordingly.
• Promote engagement: Encourage active participation and utilize icebreakers to foster a positive atmosphere.
• Lead by example: Be prepared, enthusiastic, and demonstrate your commitment to the project’s success.

By following these guidelines and actively engaging your team, you can transform your project kickoff meeting into a springboard for a collaborative, successful, and rewarding project journey!

What is the purpose of a project kick-off meeting? Select all that apply.

Align on the scope. Establish a shared vision. Build team rapport

A project kick-off meeting is the formal start to project planning. It is the first meeting in which a project team comes together to establish a shared vision, align on the scope, and build team rapport.

Hello again. In this video, you will learn how to
schedule a kickoff meeting, once you’re ready to
shift into planning mode. It’s important to schedule
a meeting that will serve as a formal start
to project planning. You might be wondering what a kickoff meeting is and how it differs from
other types of meetings. That’s a great question. A project kickoff meeting is
the first meeting in which a project team comes together to ground everyone in
a shared vision, gain a shared understanding of the project’s goals and scope, and to understand each
person’s individual roles within the team. So who’s invited to the
kickoff meeting? Well, that would be
the team members identified in a RACI chart, created during the
initiation phase. As a reminder, a RACI chart
helps to define roles and responsibilities
for individuals or teams to ensure that the
work gets done efficiently. During the kickoff meeting, team members will
learn more about how they’ll contribute
to the project and how they’ll gain a
deeper understanding of how the team will work together
to reach the project’s goals. You should also invite your stakeholders and your
sponsor to the meeting, so that they have a chance to understand the high-level
plan for the project, can share their perspective, and you can ensure that
everyone is on the same page. Now, you might be wondering, why do I need a kickoff meeting? Can’t my team learn everything
they need to know from the project charter? We get it. Meetings can be time-consuming, and there are definitely
situations when a quick email or a chat to
a teammate will suffice. But when you’re
kicking off a project, especially larger projects
with multiple people involved, it’s important to get together to establish a shared vision, align on the scope, and build team rapport. This is also an
opportunity for teammates to ask questions
and offer insights, and it’s a great time for
you to set expectations with the team about how
each person will individually contribute
to the project. Now, let’s discuss how to plan
and run a kickoff meeting. There are lots of templates for kickoff meeting agendas online, but most follow a
similar structure and last about an hour. Keep in mind that this
is just a suggestion, and you should feel
free to schedule as much or as little time for each agenda item according to the needs of your
project and the team. Most meetings start with
brief introductions. You can allocate about
10 minutes for everyone in the group to introduce
themselves and their roles, and if time allows, share a fun fact to help
build team rapport. Then you’ll spend about
five minutes giving an overview of the
background of the project. This covers details like how the project came to be
and why the project matters. You’ll also use this time
to set a shared vision. Next, spend about five minutes sharing the goals and the scope, which refers to the
boundaries around a project. That includes making it clear what work is considered in-scope, and what work is
considered out-of-scope. This is also a good place to
share the target launch date and highlight any
important milestones the team needs to be aware of. Once you’ve covered
goals and scope, it’s time to discuss
everyone’s roles. It’s a good idea to spend about five minutes making
sure that everyone is clear on what work they’ll be responsible for throughout the
duration of the project. Next, it’s time to
address collaboration, which is how the team will
work together on the project. This is a great time to
go over tools that will serve as a communal source
of information for the team, like a project plan
created in a spreadsheet or work management
software tool like Asana. It’s also a great
time to determine how the team will communicate
with one another, like through daily email updates, a team chat room, and weekly team
check-in meetings. You should spend about 10
minutes on this topic. When that’s all set, it’s time to discuss
what comes next. Now that you’ve discussed the details of the
project thus far, you should spend about
10 minutes setting expectations with your
teammates for what’s coming up. You’ll also use this
time to make clear to each teammate what actions
they will need to take next. Finally, it’s really
important to set aside about 15 minutes for
questions from the group. This is your team’s
chance to gain clarity on any of the topics
you’ve discussed so far. It’s also your
chance to hear from the team and ensure
that the project is benefiting from diversity of thoughts, experiences, and ideas. For example, in addition to fielding questions out
loud in the meeting, I might invite teammates to input their questions or feedback
in a shared document. This practice can help create
space for collaboration. I also like to poll
my teammates for confidence on the topics
discussed that day. I ask what their confidence level is on a scale of one to five: one being “I’m not
confident at all,” and five being “I’m
extremely confident.” If they’re not confident, I ask them what I can
do to help change that. This practice can give the team a stronger sense of support, because they know I’m there to help them through roadblocks. If you try this practice
in your meetings, be sure to deliver on any
promises you make there. Your reputation as
a project manager to get things done and
remove roadblocks is critical to building and maintaining
relationships. So to recap, the kickoff meeting will
cover introductions, project background,
goals and scope, roles, collaboration,
and what comes next, and the meeting
will leave time for questions from the
group at the end. Once you’ve finalized
the meeting agenda, document this information into
a meeting agenda template, and send it to attendees a day or two ahead of the meeting. As the project manager, you’ll be leading the
majority of this meeting, and when you’re presenting, it’s difficult to take notes and present at the same time. So, at the start of the meeting, ask a teammate to take notes on key points you discussed
throughout the session and to record each
teammate’s action items. In some cases, it may
be beneficial to record this meeting so that attendees
can revisit it later, especially if you have a
large or dispersed team. Just be sure to get each
attendee’s permission to record ahead of time. After the meeting, don’t forget to send a follow-up
email to the group, summarizing key points and
outcomes from the meeting, as well as any action
items to the attendees. In your follow-up email, be sure to also
invite attendees to reach out if they have
any additional questions. While there’s a lot that goes
into the kickoff meeting, remember that this is
an exciting moment for the team and especially for
you as the project manager. All of the careful thinking and hard work that you’ve done during the initiation phase comes together to form the
foundation of your project. Coming up, we’ll learn
about milestones, tasks, and how they differ. Meet you in the next video.

Hi again. As we’ve discussed
throughout this program, the project manager is responsible for
assigning work to the team and keeping track of the project’s progress. When we discuss assigning work,
we’ll use a few key terms, project milestones, and project tasks. Let’s break these down. A project milestone is an important
point within the project schedule that indicates progress and usually signifies
the completion of a deliverable or phase of the project. These are significant checkpoints in your
project, and keeping track of them helps ensure that your project is on
schedule to meet its goals. For example, a milestone might include
completing the first draft of a report, and the goal may be to ultimately
publish the report. Another example of a milestone
is receiving sign off, or approval from your customer
on a major deliverable. Let’s discuss how milestones
differ from project tasks. A project task is an activity that needs
to be accomplished within a set period of time. The work of a project is
broken down into many different tasks. In order to reach a milestone, you and
your team must complete multiple tasks. For example, if a milestone is
completing the first draft of a report, the tasks required to get to that
milestone might include hiring a writer, conducting research, and
drafting different sections of the report. Let’s imagine milestones and tasks in the context of Project
Plant Pals at Office Green. One of your project deliverables is to
launch a website for your new service, where customers will be able to place
orders and get customer support. Some of the milestones leading up to that
launch will include securing approval on the website design and
implementing feedback from user testing. To achieve those milestones, your team
needs to complete multiple project tasks. For example, in order to reach the design
milestone, your website designer will need to create initial mockups
of the proposed website design. You’ll need to review those mockups, and the designer will need to
implement your feedback. Each of these items is a project task, and you won’t reach your milestone
until they’re complete. To review, milestones are important
points within the project schedule, and project tasks are activities that need to
be accomplished within a set period of time to help reach those milestones. Milestones and
project tasks are interconnected. Tasks ladder up to milestones, which
are crucial for project tracking. Now that you know more about milestones,
project tasks, and how the two differ, we’ll learn more about the importance
of milestones in the next video. I’ll meet you there.

How can setting milestones help you keep your project on track?

When you set a milestone, you assign clear deadlines for when certain project deliverables need to be completed.

When you set milestones, you assign clear deadlines for certain project deliverables. You can track these deadlines as your project progresses to ensure it is moving forward at the right pace. This helps you keep your project on track.

Great to see you again. So you’ve learned that
a milestone is an important point within
the project schedule that highlights progress
and usually marks the completion of a deliverable
or phase in the project. But now, let’s talk
about why setting milestones within your
project is so important. While it might seem
tempting to make a quick to-do list and
get on with the project, it’s really important that
you take the time and effort to break your project
down piece by piece. Here’s why. First,
setting milestones gives you a clear understanding
of the amount of work your project
will require. The act of setting
milestones forces you to break your project down
into more manageable chunks. The further you go, the
better you’ll be able to see how much work will be needed
to meet the project goals. At first glance, it might seem simple to launch
a new website, but it might be more
work than you think. If you break that
deliverable down into milestones and those
milestones into tasks, you will have a better sense of the true amount of work
that needs to be done. This will help you better
manage the project workload. Another reason milestones are so great is that they can help
keep your project on track. When you set a milestone, you assign clear
deadlines for when certain project deliverables
need to be completed. Then, as you work through
the execution phase, you can look back at
these deadlines to make sure that the project is
progressing at the right pace. A third reason you’ll want to set milestones is that they help you uncover areas where you
might need to adjust scope, timelines, or resources
to meet your goals. For example, if you
realize that reaching a milestone will require more tasks than
you’d anticipated, you might ask a stakeholder for permission to reduce the scope of the project and cut down
on the number of tasks. And finally, there’s one more reason milestones are so important. Actually reaching milestones
can seriously motivate your team and illustrate real progress to
your stakeholders. With big projects that
go on for months, you’ll want to keep the
team’s motivation high. A milestone signifies
the completion of an important chunk of work and provides a moment
of celebration for the team, even if there’s more work ahead. Milestones also serve
as a great check-in point to highlight your
progress to stakeholders. It gives them the opportunity to see the work that’s
been completed so far and lets them see everything is on track and
up to their standards. It’s also important to
remember that milestones must be completed on time and in
sequential order because, usually, reaching the
next milestone is dependent on completing
a previous milestone. Think about this in terms of Project Plant Pals
at Office Green. As we discussed earlier, in order to launch a website
for a new plant service, there are a few milestones
you need to hit, like securing approval
of a website design, completing development
of the website, and implementing user feedback. These milestones must happen
in this order. Here’s why. The web developer can’t
build the website if the design hasn’t been
approved by stakeholders, and you can’t implement
feedback from user testing if there’s
no website to test. So we know it’s important to reach milestones in sequential order, but it’s just as important
that you reach them on time. If the team misses
the mark to complete a deliverable tied to
a specific milestone, it could set back your
project schedule, meaning your team
might need to work overtime or add additional
resources to catch up. For example, if you need to secure stakeholder approval on a website design by Friday but the web designer hasn’t
completed the design yet, you might have to
wait until after the weekend to secure
stakeholder approval. This will delay the start
of the development phase, giving your team less time
to build the website. Even worse, this delay could
affect the project budget if completing this
deliverable directly ties to a payment
from the client. If you miss the deadline, you will likely delay
receipt of that payment. You might even risk losing
the payment altogether. Though deadlines are
sometimes flexible, it’s important to
be extra mindful of milestones where the
deadline is non-negotiable. And that’s that! Hopefully, you understand why milestones are
important to any project. Coming up, we’ll
discuss how to set milestones for your
project. See you there.

Setting Milestones for Project Success: A Step-by-Step Guide

Achieving project goals starts with a clear roadmap. Milestones are crucial markers on that map, guiding your team and ensuring progress. This tutorial will equip you with the knowledge and tools to set effective milestones for project success.

Step 1: Define Your Project Landscape

1. Gather Your Charter: Start by revisiting your project charter, a document outlining your project’s goals, scope, and deliverables. Refresh your memory on the overall objective.
2. Break Down the Work: Create a comprehensive list of all the actions your team needs to take to achieve the project goals. Don’t worry about organization yet – just brainstorm!

Step 2: Identify Your Milestones

1. Spot the Checkpoints: Analyze your action list. Look for key points that signify significant progress, often associated with completing a major deliverable or project phase. These are your potential milestones.
2. Separate Tasks: Tasks are smaller, individual activities within a milestone, not requiring stakeholder review. For example, “write website copy” falls under the milestone “complete website content.”
3. Milestone Count: Don’t be constrained by a specific number. Some projects have only a few, while others benefit from many smaller milestones. Choose what works best for your project’s scale and complexity.

Step 3: Set Meaningful Deadlines

1. Task Time Estimates: Discuss each milestone with your team. Estimate the time required for each task contributing to that milestone. This helps gauge overall effort and timeline feasibility.
2. Milestone Spacing: For longer projects, avoid cramming milestones too close together. Consider the time needed for each task and allow breathing room for adjustments.
3. Stakeholder Expectations: Factor in stakeholder needs when setting deadlines. When do they expect deliverables? Align milestones with their anticipated checkpoints for transparency and progress updates.

Step 4: Tools for Milestone Management

There are various tools to visualize and manage your milestones and their associated tasks. Here are a few popular options:

• Gantt charts: Offer a visual timeline representation of your project, with milestones highlighted.
• Kanban boards: Provide a dynamic, drag-and-drop interface to track tasks and their progress towards milestones.
• Project management software: Many platforms offer comprehensive features for planning, assigning, and tracking tasks within milestones.

Remember:

• Milestones are living documents. Adapt and adjust them as your project evolves.
• Celebrate achieving milestones – they boost team morale and reinforce progress.
• Communicate milestones clearly to stakeholders, keeping them informed and engaged.

By following these steps and utilizing the suggested tools, you can confidently set milestones that guide your project to a successful completion. Now, go forth and conquer those project goals!

Hi again. Okay, so you know that milestones are
pretty important. They help give you
a clear picture of the amount of work required. They help your project
stay on track, uncover areas where you might
need additional resources, motivate your teammates, and show progress to
your stakeholders. So now, let’s talk about
identifying milestones within your project and how you can
set deadlines for each one. The first step to setting a milestone is to evaluate
your project as a whole. It helps to refer back to your project charter to remind yourself of
the project goal. Then, make a list of what your team needs to do
to achieve that goal. The big items that indicate
progress are your milestones. These are the key points within the project schedule that signify the completion of a
project deliverable or a phase in the project. Smaller items, like any item that a stakeholder
wouldn’t need to review, for example, are tasks. You’ll plan for these once you’ve separated them out
from the milestones. So let’s go back to our
Office Green example. One of the project
deliverables is a new website. And as we determined earlier, some milestones through
our Office Green website scenario include securing
approval of website design, completing development
of the website, and implementing user feedback. Mocking up initial
designs or building a landing page are smaller
items on your list, so those are marked as tasks. Try to keep in mind that
some projects might have many milestones, while others might just have two or three. There’s no one right number
of milestones to set —the number will vary
from project to project. Once you’ve determined
your milestones, the next step is to assign
each one a deadline. Reaching each of your
milestones is dependent on the completion of
multiple project tasks. So to make sure you give your team a fair amount of time to
complete each of those tasks, you’ll need to space your
milestones out accordingly. For a larger, months-long project like Project Plant Pals, you shouldn’t expect to meet multiple milestones in
the span of a week. Mocking up website designs
and collecting insights from user testing are big
tasks that take time. You need to space
milestones out to give your team room to
complete their work. To get a good sense of timing, you can connect with teammates to discuss the tasks required to reach each milestone
and get their estimates for how long
these tasks will take. With those estimates in mind, you can make an informed decision about reasonable deadlines
for each milestone. When you set deadlines
for milestones, you will also want to consider the needs of your stakeholders. Ask yourself when
they’ll expect to see a certain project deliverable, and consider the answer when
choosing a deadline. Your stakeholders
will want to see regular indications that the
team is making progress, and milestones are a great
way to show that progress. So to recap, you set milestones by looking
at your project as a whole and pulling out important checkpoints
that show progress. Then you assign deadlines to each milestone while keeping the needs of your
stakeholders top of mind. Next up, we’ll discuss a
helpful tool for breaking down the tasks that ladder up to each milestone. See you there.

Conquering Chaos: Mastering Work Breakdown Structures and Task Assignment

Feeling overwhelmed by large projects? Fear not! This tutorial equips you with the power of work breakdown structures (WBS) and task assignment, transforming chaos into manageable steps towards success.

Part 1: Demystifying Work Breakdown Structures

Imagine a project as a mountain. Climbing it blindly feels daunting. But imagine having a map, breaking the ascent into smaller sections – achievable paths to the summit. That’s what a WBS does!

• What is it? A WBS is a hierarchical tool that decomposes your project into manageable chunks, starting with milestones (major achievements) and drilling down to individual tasks.
• Why is it useful? By visualizing the project roadmap, you gain clarity, identify dependencies, and estimate resources needed. It’s like having a blueprint for success!
• How to create one:
  • Define your project goals and milestones.
  • Break down each milestone into smaller, achievable tasks.
  • Use a tree diagram or software to visualize the hierarchy.
  • Refine and iterate as needed.

Part 2: Assigning Tasks – Delegating for Efficiency

Now that you’ve mapped the mountain, it’s time to assign climbing roles! Task assignment ensures everyone knows their part and the project flows smoothly.

• Who does what? Consider team member skills and workload. Match tasks to expertise for optimal results.
• Tools for the trade: Project management tools like Asana make assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and tracking progress a breeze.
• Best practices:
  • Start each task with a verb (e.g., “write report,” not just “report”).
  • Assign clear deadlines and owners.
  • Provide detailed descriptions and resources for each task.
  • Foster a collaborative environment where team members support each other.

Part 3: Beyond the Basics – Advanced Tips

• Estimating effort: Use tools like time tracking or expert judgment to estimate task duration and resource needs.
• Managing dependencies: Identify tasks that rely on others being completed first. Schedule accordingly.
• Communication is key: Regularly update team members on progress, roadblocks, and changes.

Remember:

• WBS is an iterative process. Refine and adjust as needed.
• Task assignment promotes ownership and accountability.
• Embrace collaboration – your team is your strength!

Bonus Tip: Explore different WBS formats and task management tools to find what works best for your project and team.

By mastering WBS and task assignment, you’ll transform complex projects into achievable goals, empowering your team and paving the way for successful project completion. So, grab your metaphorical climbing gear, conquer that project mountain, and celebrate the summit view!

Which tool sorts project milestones and tasks into the order they need to be completed?

Work breakdown structure (WBS)

Project managers often use WBS because it breaks down the intimidating challenges of a project into more manageable chunks. WBS creates a clear relationship between milestones and relevant tasks

Which software can help you manage tasks for your project?

Asana

Asana is a tool that some project managers at Google use to assign tasks to teammates and help organize a project.

So we’ve discussed how
to set milestones. Now we’ll learn
how to account for the many tasks that ladder
up to each milestone. You can do this by creating
a work breakdown structure. Let’s start with a definition. A work breakdown structure, often abbreviated to
WBS, is a tool that sorts the milestones and tasks of a project
in a hierarchy, in the order they
need to be completed. This is a helpful tool
because it helps break down the sometimes
intimidating challenges of a project into more
manageable chunks. Big projects like publishing a report or organizing a
conference seem a lot less daunting when the work required to get
there is broken down step-by-step with a clear pathway from the beginning of
the project to the end. Let’s look at an example of a basic work
breakdown structure. There are lots of
different ways to design a work
breakdown structure, but one common way is to create a tree diagram of project tasks. Let’s say that we’re creating a work breakdown structure for the Project Plant
Pals website launch. At the top of the diagram
is the name of the project. The second level of our diagram breaks the project down
into three milestones. These include securing
design approval, developing the site and
implementing user feedback. At the third level of the
chart, we can see each of those milestones
gets further broken down into a series
of project tasks. For example, tasks listed beneath your design approval
milestone include mocking up designs and
collecting feedback. This is a very simple example of a work breakdown structure. Here, we’ve only created a
work breakdown structure for a new website, which is just one of the Project Plant
Pals deliverables. Keep in mind that in future project
management roles, you’ll likely create a WBS that outlines the tasks for
an entire project. It’s also important to
know that while creating a work breakdown structure is a helpful exercise for visualizing the tasks
of the project, you wouldn’t typically
include this type of diagram in your
official project plan. Instead, you’d input the tasks identified through this
exercise into a spreadsheet or your chosen work
management software, where you can more easily assign
owners to each task. Okay. So after completing a work
breakdown structure and organizing those tasks
in a spreadsheet, a few things should
be clearer to you. First, you should have a set of discrete project tasks that ladder up to each
of your milestones. You and your teammates will
know exactly what needs to happen to reach your
first milestone and the milestones after that. Second, you’re now in
a good position to assign those tasks to
members of the project team. Each person should have a clear understanding
of the tasks they own and the order in which
they need to complete them. Let’s break down how
to assign tasks. Tasks are typically assigned according to a person’s
role in the project. For example, in our
Office Green scenario, the web designer is assigned to the task of mocking up the
initial website design, you are assigned to the task of reviewing that
design and providing feedback, and the designer is assigned to the task of
implementing your feedback. A web developer
will be assigned to the next task of developing
the site itself. Sometimes, your team will have multiple teammates working
in the same type of role. To assign tasks between two or more team members
with the same roles, you might take into consideration each person’s familiarity
with the tasks at hand. For example, if you have multiple web developers
working on the new website, you might task one developer with creating the landing page and task the other developer with creating the
“contact us” page. When assigning tasks, you should also consider each
teammate’s workload. Think about how much time they’re meant to be spending
on the project compared to work
outside the project that they may also
be responsible for. It’s important to keep
everyone’s workloads balanced. You’ll want to make sure that a single teammate isn’t
assigned more work than others. You’ll also want
to make sure that no one is assigned more
work than they can handle. When people feel overloaded, the quality of their work may suffer or they might need
more time to complete the number of tasks, putting the timeline and the overall
project schedule at risk. As the project manager, you will ensure that
your teammates are clear on their assigned tasks. You can do this by assigning
tasks with help from project management tools like Asana, which I use a lot in my
day-to-day role at Google. When you manage a
project in Asana, you’ll add tasks to represent actionable pieces of work
needed to complete the project. As a best practice, it’s good to start
each task with a verb. For example, instead of
just typing “website,” make clear the task is to “mock up the website” or “add
images to the website.” Another thing to think about when assigning tasks is timeline. Be sure to add an assignee
and a due date to each task so it’s clear
who’s doing what by when. Finally, be sure to
include as much detail surrounding the
task as possible to avoid miscommunication. In Asana, you can click into the task details to add
helpful information. Here, you can add a description, link to corresponding
files or attachments, or even comment on the
work related to the task. There’s so many benefits
to assigning tasks, but the biggest one is that it frees you up to focus on
managing a project. This way, you can feel
confident in the knowledge that your teammates are
responsible for specific work. But there’s also some
less obvious benefits of assigning tasks. Let’s explore these more now. One less obvious benefit of
assigning tasks is that it creates a sense of
personal responsibility for members of the team. When you assign a
teammate to a task, you enter into an agreement with that person that they’ll own the task until
it’s completed. Creating a sense of ownership
for members of the team is important because it makes them feel more invested
in the project. It also gives them space
for personal growth. Plus, it supports your
own skill-building as a manager who’s a
supportive delegator. And on top of that, it
keeps your team motivated and invested in
completing their work on time. While each team member
should have a sense of responsibility for
their assigned task, a complete sense
of ownership might feel overwhelming
for some teammates. If that’s the case, it’s a good idea for
a project manager to encourage teammates to support one another on their tasks. This is also great for building overall team rapport.
Got all that? Great. So to recap,
you’ve learned about work breakdown structures and how to assign tasks to
people on your team. Meet us in the next
video for a recap on what we’ve covered over
the past few videos.

Hi again. Over the past few videos, we’ve discussed how to launch the planning
phase of the project life cycle. This is where you’ll build your schedule,
set your budget, and prepare your risk management plan. You also learned about an important
part of the planning phase: the project kickoff meeting. This is a key moment where you
can meet with your team and stakeholders to establish a shared vision,
align on scope, build rapport, ask questions, and set expectations. We also discussed milestones, which
are important points within the project schedule that indicate progress. And we also learned about tasks, which are activities that need to be
accomplished within a set period of time. Then you learned about the value
of milestones and how to set them. And you learned how to take those
milestones, break them down into tasks, and record that information in
a work breakdown structure. Next, we’ll explore estimating time and
setting a schedule. See you soon.

Hi. My name’s Clennita, and I’m a Senior Engineering
Program Manager at Google. So the planning phase of
project management, is essentially the time
where you take a step back and you reflect on what’s
the scope of the project. So what are the problems
that we need to solve? When you look at
planning for projects, it’s critical to understanding
what you’re building, who you’re building for, and how long you
have to build it. We look at our risk, to make sure that we know what
potentially could derail the project.
And if possible, create mitigation that will circumvent any risk
that we may come in contact with. Or, just be
aware of things like scope. We also look at timing. Is there a deadline
that we need to hit? And if so, do we have enough
time to hit that deadline? We assess the work
that needs to be done, to understand if the work that needs to be done in order
to meet the requirements fits into the timeline
that we have. We also look at testing—what the testing plan looks like, what is success
going to look like—so we know what the target is so that when we hit the
target and we validate it, we already know what
metrics we expect to get. I’m a planner—it’s
just in my nature. Planning sets a tone for what we’re actually
doing together. It creates a sense of team. The planning also
aligns everybody, to understand what it is
we’re all shooting for, what it is our goals are, what success is
going to look like. It really is the
place where we come together to ensure
that we’re all on the same page, and we’re all
going in the same direction. When you don’t have
that, things get lost. You’re not talking
to the right people, you have miscommunications, things get delayed and you
don’t really understand why, people aren’t comfortable
communicating what progress is happening, they really aren’t comfortable in communicating when
their problem comes up. So you want to just set a tone of “We’re all in this together, we’re all going to be
successful together, and we are going to
run into roadblocks, we are going to
run into problems, but we’re going to work it out and figure it out as a team.”