John BaconProject Manager /Agile Product Owner| Not DisclosedFl, United States
I was looking at trying a new collaborative project planning technique by holding a 2-3 day workshop where the project team and other key stakeholders help by providing input into the various project planning artifacts produced in the planning phase of a project. Has anyone done these before and offer tips, advice, sample agendas? Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
How big is your project team? Mine sits at over 120 persons. You have to be considerate of people's ability to add value to the project planning. It may sound like a good idea but you may find that half of the people are less than engaged in that process. Saving Changes...
John BaconProject Manager /Agile Product Owner| Not DisclosedFl, United States
I would be keeping the participants down to just probably 10 people plus maybe inviting a couple of the business SMEs who will be using the new system Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
We do that each time we have opportunity.
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1 reply by John Bacon
May 04, 2019 3:59 PM
John Bacon
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Do you have any artifacts you could send like a sample planning workshop agenda?
Saving Changes...
John BaconProject Manager /Agile Product Owner| Not DisclosedFl, United States
May 04, 2019 3:40 PM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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We do that each time we have opportunity.
Do you have any artifacts you could send like a sample planning workshop agenda? Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Those numbers are a bit small to have breakout sessions on specific sub-topics. Your best bet is to break it down to subsidiary management plans: scope management, quality management, schedule management... and so on.
Use each SMP's table of contents to further break down the content development.
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1 reply by Joseph Pangan
May 05, 2019 9:20 PM
Joseph Pangan
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I agree with Stéphane.
An Implementation Planning Study (IPS), that is what we call it in organizations I have been with. To summarise, we set the agenda. The idea is to at least come with a baseline or the first iteration of the project plan (at least high level). The agenda may depend on what you think is important. We usually include the following topics in the agenda; a. Project Governance and Resourcing b. The scope/Product Scope/Project Scope: What is in and what is out c. Methodologies d. WBS e. Dependencies f. Scheduling g. Testing h. Quality assurance i. Risks j. etc., that you may think is important to come up with a baseline plan.
We then break the topics and schedule sessions. As the workshop may take time and so you could avoid people from losing interest, break and group the topics into sessions and invite only people relevant or interested to those topics in each scheduled session.
In my company and for construction projects, we use to do those group plannings at the beginning of the designing phase and the beginning of the construction phase. It only takes half a day of meeting. I believe it should be done not only once at the beginning but whenever it is necessary after major changes, but we rarely do that. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
John, think it is a good idea.
As with all experiments, I would limit the risks.
Try it on a project where you are not yet under pressure. A colocated team would be good. Prepare the session with key people, get their buyin and ideas how/what to do. Ensure necessary infrastructure (visualization, projector, ..) and food. Do it with a team smaller than 10, best 6-7. Invite diverse people. Build in some networking time, physical activities. Make sure someone gathers lessons learned, makes a video, ..
Be clear about WHY you are doing this. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Good feedback from Thomas.
Experimenting is good, but want to have a valuable outcome from it, like a POC. Pick an opportunity that has the flexibility needed to absorb the different inputs. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
You could always take an agile approach, using iterations and continuous improvement. Saving Changes...
This is a good way to address small project situations where you are dealing with a single, small team with a limited number of key stakeholders. Unfortunately, it doesn't scale really well, and the larger or more complex the project, the less you'd want to invest in big, heavy planning upfront and take more of a rolling wave approach. Saving Changes...
