Knowing tools and techniques for creating a project management plan is essential because they help project managers streamline the planning processes, enhance accuracy, and improve the overall effectiveness of project management. This article will explore some tools and techniques needed for creating a project management plan.
Table of Contents
What Is a Project Management Plan?
A project management plan (PMP) is an important document that defines how a project will be implemented, monitored, controlled, and closed. It serves as a roadmap for managing a project, detailing processes, timelines, resources, tools, and stakeholder responsibilities to achieve the project’s objectives. This document often includes a set of subsidiary plans and project documents that cover various aspects of the project, such as scope, time, cost, quality, procurement, resources, communication, risk, and stakeholder management.
Pro tip💡 Creating a project management plan is the second step in the integration management process. As an output of this process, the project management plan outlines how all aspects of a project will work together for its successful delivery.
8 Tools and Techniques for Creating a Project Management Plan
The following are essential tools and techniques for creating a project management plan.
Expert Judgment
Expert judgment is a technique that provides judgment based on expertise in a knowledge area, application area, industry, etc., that is suitable for the activity being performed. Such expertise is often provided by a person or group with specialized knowledge, skills, education, career experience, or training. Therefore, project managers can hire appropriate experts when developing a project management plan for:
- Tailoring the project management process to meet the project needs and requirements;
- Determining the tools and techniques for processes;
- Creating additional components of the project management plan if required;
- Determining resources and skill levels needed to execute project work, and
- Prioritizing the work on the project to ensure the project resources are allocated to the right time and appropriate work, etc.
Checklists
Checklists serve as a data-gathering technique when creating a project management plan. Many organizations have standardized checklists based on their own experience or use checklists from the industry. This technique may guide project managers to create the plan or may support verifying that all the required information is included in the project management plan.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a data-gathering technique often used when creating a project management plan to collect effective ideas and solutions regarding the project. Attendees include the project manager, invited team members, subject matter experts (SMEs), or stakeholders may also participate.
Focus Groups
Focus groups serve as a data-gathering technique that helps project managers bring appropriate stakeholders to discuss the project management approach and the different components, such as scope, time, quality, procurement, risks, communication, and stakeholder management of the project management plan.
Interviews
Interviews are a data-gathering technique that helps project managers obtain information on high-level requirements, assumptions, constraints, approval criteria, or other specific information from appropriate stakeholders to create the project management plan or any other component plan.
Conflict Management
Conflict management is a technique that helps project managers bring diverse stakeholders into alignment on all aspects of the project management plan.
Meetings
When creating a project management plan, project managers can conduct numerous meetings to discuss the project approach, determine how work will be implemented to accomplish the project objectives, and establish the path the project will be monitored and controlled. For example: The project kickoff meeting is often associated with the end of planning and the start of executing. This meeting’s purpose is to;
- Communicate the project objectives,
- Acquire the commitment of the project team members, and
- Clarify the roles and responsibilities of primary and secondary stakeholders.
The project kick-off meeting often may occur at different points in time depending on the characteristics of the project.
Project Management Software
When creating a project management plan project managers can use tools like Microsoft Project, Asana, Jira, and Monday Work Management to centralize project data, enhance collaboration, provide real-time updates, and offer templates for quick plan setup.
Read More: Importance of project management software
Conclusion
Knowing tools and techniques for a project management plan (PMP) is essential because it streamlines the planning processes, enhances accuracy, and improves the overall effectiveness of project management. Expert judgment, checklists, brainstorming, focus groups, facilitation, interviews, conflict management, meetings, and project management software can be used as tools and techniques when creating a project management plan.
