There are certain events in our life which take careful thought and planning. For example, getting married or moving or renovating a house. There are too many moving parts that its impossible to remember them all. For these big projects its essential that you write things down and make a plan. Building hardware is one of those projects.
Any plan is better than no plan. Plans can come in all shapes and sizes and they do not need to be complicated. A plan only needs to convey sufficient information so that when you show it to people they ‘see’ the scope of the work that lies ahead. A plan could be as simple as a to-do list or as complex as a Gantt chart which is a visual type of plan showing all the elements of the project as bars.
One of the simplest ways to convey the plan to the team, investors and customers is by using a list of the key milestones. Milestones are way points along the journey where you have demonstrably created or achieved something of a value for the business and the customer. Think of a milestone as the end of a major phase where you have moved the project one step closer to the finish line.
Using your answers from ‘Start at the end’ you can quickly build a list of the main phases of work and their respective key milestones. Don’t worry about details at this stage. Typically for a project you may end up with 8 or more key milestones. By estimating how long each phase of the project will take you can put a date against each key milestone for its completion.
Once you’ve locked in your project phases and key milestones you can then dive deeper into the planning process and breakdown each phase into individual tasks or jobs. It is important to remember that a plan is ultimately only a wish list of best intentions. The plan needs to be willed into action by people. Now is a great time to involve the people who will be involved in making it all happen.
People love to be involved in the planning stage and have their say. Their input can be invaluable and often make for a better plan. They will be able to give you unique insights and ideas from their perspective and experience. Sometimes they can even give you a completely different approach to a particular part of the project.
The plan does not need to be perfect and cover every element or eventuality. What it does need to be is logical and cover all the main blocks of work. Just by having a plan will greatly increase the chances of success. For a project manager or founder, it can be incredibly satisfying watching the team succeed by following the plan they made.
One final note. It is unlikely that you will be able to define every part of the project in detail. This is normal. If there is any doubt about a part of the project or how to tackle a particular block of work, think about the constraints you are working within. We seldom start a project with a blank sheet of paper. Every project has its constraints and it is important to identify them as soon as you can. To find out more on contraints click here.
