Plans
Plans
The Plans theme tests product-based planning and the control of plans at project, stage, and team levels. The project plan covers the whole project; stage plans cover one management stage; team plans cover work allocated to a team; an exception plan replaces the remainder of a stage or project after a tolerance breach. Product-based planning starts with the project product description, then a product breakdown structure, product descriptions, and a product flow diagram showing dependencies. The planning approach defines planning tools, estimating methods, and levels. Plans include products, activities, dependencies, resources, estimates, tolerances, and assumptions. Rolling-wave planning allows later stages to be planned in less detail.
Worked example
A website project starts with the project product description: a site with a public catalogue and a secure checkout. The product breakdown structure separates catalogue pages, checkout, payment integration, and content migration. Product descriptions define the payment integration's quality criteria and interfaces. The product flow diagram shows that checkout cannot be built before payment integration is available. The first stage plan therefore includes payment integration design and catalogue content, while checkout build is scheduled for stage two. The board approves stage tolerances for cost and time. Reasoning: products and dependencies drive the schedule, not an arbitrary list of activities.
Traps
Do not start with a Gantt chart and call it product-based planning. Do not confuse a team plan with a stage plan. Do not omit product descriptions; without them, quality and acceptance are undefined. Do not use an exception plan to extend a stage without board approval. Do not plan every later stage in detail when rolling-wave planning is appropriate.