According to Chapter 6, write in your own words what is the purpose of a project plan? Can a project have a successful outcome without a plan?

I a a Early in my career as a project manager , I participated in creating a project plan. Specifi- cally , I was to build a schedule for a residential construction project, one component of the overall plan. Knowing that my training would serve me well in improving the schedule, I rigorously , and a bit religiously, applied every scheduling technique I could-lead time, laddering, and lag timesto build a best-in-class project schedule. When I had added all the deliverables and activities, created a closed network diagram, estimated duration and effort, and assigned resourcesa combination of employees and subcontractorsI had successfully reduced an expected build time from an average of 140-160 days to 115 days based on similar past projects. Was I proud of myself. Imagine the joy the customer would have with a quicker delivery time, and the improved return on investment by the company closing the contract sooner. What was wrong with everyone else's schedules at this company? Why couldn't they be as competent as I? The company was incredibly fortunate that I had joined them, or so I thought. For those of you who have any experience, you started shaking your head when reading the first part of the second sentence, and you knew where this little story was going. have your own story. If you are new to project management and cannot see where this story is going, keep reading and may someone have mercy on your employer. Thankfully, the schedule was reviewed by my boss prior to anyone else seeing it. Being one for understatement, he said it was a bit optimistic, which I naively took to mean possible. Rather than crush me with reality, he offered an experiment. He would update the schedule based on his experience and use the updated schedule for the project. But we would use both schedules as a baseline for comparison purposes, Likely, you WHAT CONSTITUTES A PROJECT PLAN The project plan includes the who, what, when, how, and to what extent, if you will, of the work of the project. What is considered part of the project plan may vary depending on the industry, the planning approach chosen by your organization, and the scope and/or size of the project. Here is an outline of what one might typically see in some fashion in an integrated project plan: I. Scope Management Plan a. Scope Statement b. Work Breakdown Structure c. Stakeholder Register II. Time Management Plan a. Milestone List b. Project Schedule III. Communication Plan IV. Cost Management Plan a. Project Budget b. Contingency Funding V. Risk Management Plan VI. Quality Management Plan VII. Performance Evaluation Plan VIII. Procurement Management Plan IX. Human Resource Plan a. Responsibility Assignment Matrix X. Integrated Change Control Plan XI. Project Close Plan a. Closing Processes, including Lessons Learned Plan b. Operational Handoff Plan Some get quite distracted with the question of whether or not cre should use an agile approach or a more traditional, waterfall approach to planning a project. To some, an agile approach is the answer to all that has ailed project schedules, while others see agile as something that they have been doing for years in principle. The question is not which is best, but which is appropriate for the type of project one is planning and executing. Regardless of which approach is chosen, including a hybrid approach, one still needs to create a project plan that addresses all of the areas noted above in some manner. WHO CREATES THE PROJECT PLAN? The project plan is a team affair. The project manager does not create a plan in isolation in projects of any size or scope. If he does, he is asking for failure. It is built through , engagement with the various stakeholders, including the sponsor, the project team, the customer, end users, subject matter experts, functional resources, and a host of other stakeholders who can add value to the plan's development. The project manager may author it in the sense that she gathers, compiles , and structures the plan, but the plan should be developed in community. More junior project managers, and some more senior ones who should know better, think that creating the plan is only about creating a plan. It is not. One should use the creation of the project plan, and the project charter for that matter, as an opportunity Dractice