Planning a project is rather clear - define scope, build estimates, perform risk analisys, go back and forth till final, approved, realistic, bough-in plan is created. But how can anyone estimate the planning process itself? Can it be estimated only based on experience and expertise of PM, or some special means do exist? Looking forward for any thoughts.
Regards
Krzysztof Saving Changes...
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The planning process should be built into your project schedule from the start. I've always scheduled projects from initiation on and I include all the details of planning. Usually I assess time for interviews, data collection, and analysis based on my past experience (i.e., how long has it taken for me to write a business case in the past) as well as the project parameters. It's an imperfect science but should get done upfront since it's a part of the project. Saving Changes...
Hello,
I wounder how u cleared ur PMP without knowing this basic!!!
Go through PMBOK!! Saving Changes...
George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Hi Krzysztof,
Despite previous derogatory comments, clearly not appropriate for a forum like Gantthead, what you’re facing is not a trivial problem (and, by the way, there is nothing in PMBOK describing how to estimate the planning or estimating tasks).
I would go even a bit further than Ed and say that, at this time, estimating the planning process is more part of the “art of project management” rather than the “science of project management“, as there is no generally accepted formula or process to plan the planning stage. In my case, I also use my previous experience and the projects history repository (including lessons learned) to perform an analogous estimating through similar projects. If I do not have enough similar history or personal experience I do a trimmed down Delphi technique to pool experts’ opinion (other PMs from the organization), asking the 3 PERT values (min, max, most likely) and apply a customized PERT analysis as described in Estimation Blueshttp://www.gantthead.com/content/articles/227718.cfm and associated tool. Please note that the article clearly specifies that this method estimates effort not duration – the duration also depends on how many other things you have to do in the same time.
I found that in projects where a lot of unknown is involved, such as many IT projects, it is advantageous to have a smaller project, which I often call "discovery", dedicated to understanding of the problem domain, gap analysis and other activities dedicated to planning of the main project.
What this gives you, is that when you get into the main project, there is so much more certainty about the subject that it is much easier to schedule time and people accurately.
Ilya suggested a good option. Another way of going about his is something called "Analogous Estimating". What it involves is find an implementation similar to yours from the vendor that you may be using. For Eg: If you are planning to implement a SAP module, talk to the SAP consultant/rep to provide contacts of other customers which would give you information about how they went about implementing a similar project. It will not only give you a good idea about how to go about the planning but also a ball park estimate about a budget. Make sure you adjust the project plan to your needs since this method provides a rough order of estimate but is not as accurate as some people like.
hope this helps! Saving Changes...
Khader BeshaySenior Business Analyst| Estata SolutionsAmman, Jordan
I usually estimate planning phases based on our previous statistics and very depending on the project size, however some of the standard methodologies can help resolving the time gaps in this, for example you can refer to the MSF methodology Version 3.0. Saving Changes...
It's kind of interesting reading all the various replies. Each PM has there own approach.
My approach is to think about all the various inputs to the output of completing planning. I think about what it takes to create the scope document, the communication plan, risk management plan, resource management plan, training plan, project kick off .ppt, issues management plan, etc... all the documentation I need in order to ultimately have the team create the WBS and thus the schedule. I factor in how many iterations I may go through (depending on size of project team and project sponsor involvement, etc) and viola - there is my schedule for planning...
I'm curious if anyone has or can point me to a workflow that follows those basic to PMI? I'm PM in a new company that is trying to compare the companies current PM processes with the PMBOK ones and I'd like to compare it in a simliar format for them.
Thanks! Saving Changes...
George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
PMBOK Guide is a collection of best practices, not a methodology, so there are no workflows etc. The figures only show relationships between processes, from which you can derive your own process adapted to your company’s specifics. This is why you’ll see many PMBOK “compatible” or “aligned” methodologies out there. They might include process diagrams etc, but please remember they are not official PMI flows.
When I perform alignment assessments I decompose the particular methodology in processes and actions. Then I take the actions and locate them in PMBOK Guide – they will not show up as such (a.k.a. activities) but should be linked either to something in the process description or an input/output/technique. I check the following major issues:
- All processes in assessed methodology should map to PMBOK Guide processes (I make note of 2-to-1 or 1-to-2 situations)
- What activities do not map to something in PMBOK Guide
- All activities from a process are linked to PMBOK Guide elements from a single process
- What else is in PMBOK that’s missing in the assessed methodology
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMISterling, Va, United States
Hi Trish,
Please take a look at gantthead's PMBOK-integrated PM process, Project HEADWAY. Gantthead has licensed the PMBOK (carried on the site in its entirety) and maps each stage, task, and step of the process to the relevant PMBOK requirement. As George mentions below, the process also describes in detail the variances between Project HEADWAY and the PMBOK guidelines.
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