Project Planning 101

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Lessons Learned   Requirements Management   Scope Management   Stakeholder Management  

Sometimes it seems like a project will never get initiated. There are contracts to be signed, lawyers and accountants that need to sign off on everything, and executives who need to see the bottom line and the return on investment. But when all of those activities are finally completed, are you ready to plan out the project and start down the road to success?

Sometimes, people get a little overexcited and go from initiation to execution—but the planning process should never be shorted. You need to leave yourself time to plan the project in a way that helps everyone succeed and makes the execution easy.

Pin Down the Details
When you start planning, the most vital ingredient is the details. The details are also the hardest part to pin down; they tend to wiggle around and slide from one desk to another. While it may be difficult and you may be tempted to just skim over the details or provide some highlights and summaries, you need to spend some time pinning down the details for the planning process.

For example, how are you going to track people's work on the project, and how are you going to lead a team that might be spread out all over the world and matrixed in without a care to their other work? All of the little details that will keep the project moving forward need to be examined so that you are not caught by surprise later on.

The Processes
The …

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