This post is a check-list of what I would expect to see in a document whether that be a Project Initiation Document (PID) in the PRINCE2 world or Project Management Plan (PMP) in the Project Management Professional world.
In production of these documents I suggest that you keep in mind a Kipling poem:
I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN and HOW and WHERE and WHO.
I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest.
Note that in the check-list below I have used PRINCE2 terminology e.g. the document is referred to as PID.
What? - the Project Brief
I would expect to see the following in the PID:- Objective(s) - keep it brief
- Major deliverables / desired outcomes
- Scope (in and out sections)
- Method of approach
- Key Assumptions
- Constraints - what is constraining your planning? Often, these can be points of the Project Management Success triangle e.g. "the project must go live by date x"
- Quality and Acceptance Criteria
Why? - the Business Case
Depending on the scale of project I prefer this to be in a separate document - see a post on this subject
When, How and Where? - the Plan
- Plan description including use of Stages - see a post which considers the value of Stages
- Technical and Management Products listed with quality plan to assure these. Consider use of PBS and PFD - see this post of Product based Planning
- Gantt style plan at various levels - see a post with a scheduling example
- Key milestones in a table
- Resource plan - consider human and non human resources - see a post on this subject
- Risks - see a post on this subject
- Plan assumptions - see a post on this subject
- Issues if any - see a post on this subject
- Dependencies - see a post on this subject
- Budget including contingency - see a post on this subject
- Tolerances requested (may be defined in constraints)
Who? - Project Organisation, Governance and Stakeholders
- Project Team Organisation. Identify external suppliers.
- Project Board set-up - see a post on this subject
- Stakeholder analysis and Communications Plan - see a post on this subject
Other
- Quality - Expectations, Acceptance criteria, Standards, Responsibilities, Configuration Management, Tools
- Project Controls - Project File, Project Board meetings, Change Management, RAID management, Status reporting
- The definition should be clear about how the project owners will judge success delivered by the Project team. This is covered in a different post
- Order of priority of Project Triangle points. This confirms the Sponsor mindset around what is most important. So maybe Time is the most important point (hopefully explicitly defined as a constraint), Cost (budget) second and Quality/Scope third. So if this project isn't progressing to plan the Project Manager should look to maybe reduce scope but achieve the two other points
Conclusion
The Project Definition is the contract between the Project Manager and the Project Owner. It is important to establish as early as possible in the project life-cycle to give a stable foundation for execution of the Project. It will be used to judge one dimension of project success. So if you can't find six honest serving men, take these roles yourself and get defining!
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