A Project Plan

Project Plans are the bane of my life. Just about everything that I do is in response to a series of milestones that are documented in one or more project plans. But most of the people that I deal with have zero knowledge about what a project plan is - or how to create and interpret one.

And my main problem is that I deal with a lot of people who should know.

A project plan is just that. It is essentially a mixture of tasks, resources, dates and milestones that document the sequence of activities that are needed to complete the project.

It does usually require some specialised software to create but only needs an open mind to understand. But open minds are sometimes hard to find in this neck of the woods.

I often work with people who are required to provide the resources to complete the tasks to the timeline that is agreed in the plan. And that is sometimes too much for them.

Hey Virginia, I do understand that corporate life has a huge range of existing pressures and we can't always respond to a new one without a few months worth of navel gazing ;-)

What I usually find is that if people are encouraged to educate themselves then they will - and they will work out what a project plan is - mostly these people then become enthusiastic supporters.

But if there is no pressure to learn then usually they won't. And the boss will then complain bitterly because his project goes off the rails. Management is often the problem - and not always the solution.

I could write a book about this - and perhaps one day I will.