193
10
Creativity and the Planning Process
INTRODUCTION
e planning process involves determining the roadmap to achieve the
goals and objectives of a project and provides the details for the output
identied from the dening process. It provides specicity in addressing
the who, what, when, why, where, and how that is oen lacking in the
output of the dening process.
BENEFITS
ere are many benets attributed to the planning process. Perhaps
most importantly, it provides a roadmap to achieve the vision, goals, and
objectives for projects. It also encourages greater communication and
coordination among stakeholders, enhances one’s ability to perform pro-
actively rather than reactively, and instills condence among the stake-
holders that the project manager knows what he or she is doing and where
the project is going.
CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
Failure to perform this process has tremendous impact downstream on
a project, especially during the executing, monitoring and controlling,
and closing processes. A considerable number of problems that occur in
subsequent processes and the latter part of the project life cycle manifest
194 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
shortcomings in the planning process. A poorly dened work breakdown
structure, an unrealistic schedule, unreliable cost and time estimates, and
no risk assessment are just a few common shortcomings that occur in
the planning process and permeate the latter processes and phases of a
project. Ultimately, such shortcomings impact cost, schedule, and quality
performance.
DELIVERABLES
e planning process has several project management deliverables (see
Figure10.1), including:
• Cost and time estimates
• Issue management
• Management plans
• Network diagram
Preparation
Ve
rification
and
Production
Concentration
Illumination
Incubation
- Budget
- Cost Estimates
- Management Plans
- Network Diagram
- Responsibility assignment
matrices
- Risk Assessment
- Schedules
- Time Estimates
- Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS)
FIGURE 10.1
Planning process and deliverables.
Creativity and the Planning Process • 195
• Responsibility assignment matrices
• Risk assessment
• Schedules (e.g., milestone chart, bar chart, precedence diagram)
• Work breakdown structure
IDEAL STATE
Ideally, project managers would like to have all the deliverables from
the dening process complete and available. Using the output from the
dening process, project managers have just the right amount of time
and resources. Enough time is available to determine the details to
achieve the vision, goals, and objectives of a project. Resources, which
oen include time, provide the knowledge, expertise, and experience
needed. Project managers would also like to have the tangible and intan-
gible support to develop meaningful plans. Tangible support might
include money, for example; intangible support might include being a
champion for a project. Project managers also have the latitude to work
independently with the team and other stakeholders to come up with the
best possible plan.
As usual, the reality oen prevails over the ideal state. Sucient time
and resources are unavailable; if they are, they may be inadequate (e.g.,
stakeholders lacking the requisite knowledge, expertise, or experience to
plan adequately). Not all signicant stakeholders may be supportive and,
in fact, may be hostile to the project or oer tepid support at best. Some
important stakeholders may not care about a project. Stakeholders provid-
ing oversight may not give project managers the latitude to work with the
team to plan the project and may impose unrealistic constraints that lay
the groundwork for failure.
CONTEXT
ere are several contextual factors that project managers oen face
during the planning process. Here are just a few: e environment in
which a project nds itself is oen in ux. Changes in stakeholders and
nancial conditions can impact the planning process. e output of the
196 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
dening process may be subject to change too, resulting in it soon being
partially or totally irrelevant to the project. For technology projects, such
environmental conditions can oen be the case due to competitive pres-
sures and market conditions. Budgeting can change due to a dynamic
environment. Issues like funding reconciliation can prove dicult as rev-
enue streams for the parent organization ebb and ow.
Ultimately, the context for planning is one of an ever- changing reality.
Like a new car coming o a dealer’s lot, a new plan can quickly lose its
value, and therefore must be reconditioned to reect reality.
CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS
Of all the project management processes, the one facing the most chal-
lenges and constraints is the planning process.
Planning takes considerable time, energy, and other resources that few
people have the wherewithal to apply to overcome challenges and con-
straints confronting this process. Some key stakeholders want action
right away and think too much time and eort spent in planning is a
waste. Others take the opposite view and see extreme detail as reecting
solid thinking. Some stakeholders view the insights, values, and so on of
others as not as signicant if coming from another discipline. Still others
prefer to “wing it” and leap to judgment rather than do much planning
at all.
Some common creative challenges and constraints confronting this
process are shown in Table10.1.
CREATIVE ABILITIES
Project managers and their team members must have a wide array of cre-
ative abilities to develop deliverables for this process. ey must exhibit
the abilities at strategic and tactical levels to ensure alignment of the
vision, goals, and objectives of their project with the parent organization,
while simultaneously creatively transcending accepted modes of business.
ese creative abilities must capitalize on both capabilities of the brain,
that is, le and right. ey must be analytical while simultaneously putting
Creativity and the Planning Process • 197
TABLE10.1
Planning Process and Challenges and Constraints
Creative Challenge and Constraint Example
Craving for predictability Lacking condence in generating time estimates
with minimal information
Embrace only what is known Taking work breakdown structure templates from
other projects and tailoring for a project
Fear Avoiding making time estimates with the
possibility of them being unreliable
Focus on the past or future, not
thepresent
Not addressing a problem aecting a project at the
moment but rather dealing with ones that have
occurred early on and ones that potentially could
occur in the future
Groupthink Experiencing extreme pressure by peers
toembrace an unrealistic time estimate
Having a compliant workforce Following a process that has no relevance to
solving a managerial or technical problem
Hierarchy Having a management that has no interest in
sliding a milestone despite a change in scope
Impatience Not permitting enough time for brainstorming
techniques to work
Inability to adapt Adhering to the contents of a management plan
despite the fact that a dierent approach is better
to achieve desired project results
Insecurity Avoiding making a decision about a key issue for
fear of being wrong
Lack of sharing Not providing key information to complete time
estimates for a specic set of activities
Leaping to judgment Resolving an issue in the Issues Management Log
before collecting key facts, data, and approvals
Management’s lack of
responsiveness
Causing a delay in schedule performance due to
management not making a key decision
Methodism Adhering strictly to accepted procedures for
estimating despite their inapplicability to the
content of the project
Mismatch Assigning people to a set of activities not
conducive to their knowledge, skills, or abilities
without having the appropriate training
Mores, beliefs, values Subscribing to a managerial style for projects that
may be inappropriate for a specic project
Not listening to inner voice Not seriously considering one’s gut feeling about a
potential risk that might occur on a project
despite evidence to the contrary
(Continued)
..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset