Chapter 9: Plans

Question 1

What is the purpose of the Plans theme?

Answer 1

The purpose of the Plans theme is to facilitate communication and control by defining the means of delivering the products.

The where and how, by whom, and estimating the when and how much.

Question 2

Define Plan.

Answer 2

A plan is a detailed proposal for doing and achieving something which specifies the what, when, how and by whom it will be achieved.

Question 3

What are the types of plans defined by PRINCE2?

Answer 3

Project Plan
Stage Plan
Team Plan
Exception Plan

Question 4

Why should you have a plan for a project?

Answer 4

To enable the team to understand:
* what products need to be delivered
* the risks
* any issues with the definition of scope
* which people, specialist equipment and resources are needed
* when activities and events should happen
* whether targets (for time, cost, quality, scope, benefits and risk) are achievable

The project plan provides a baseline against which progress can be measured and is the basis for securing support for the project, agreeing the scope and gaining commitment to provide the required resources.

Question 5

Why should a project have both a project plan and a stage plan?

Answer 5

Because it is often impossible to plan the whole project from the beginning. The stage plan allows to plan within the planning horizon (when you can plan with reasonable accuracy), while the project plan is more of a high-level plan providing the indicative timescales, milestones, cost and resource requirements based on estimates.

Question 6

What is the difference between a project plan and a stage plan?

Answer 6

A project plan is for the project as a whole. It is a high-level plan, providing indicative timescales, milestones, cost and resource requirements based on estimates.

A stage plan for the current management stage is aligned with the project plan timescales, by is in more detail.

Question 7

Define Project Plan. What should be included in a project plan?

Answer 7

A project plan is a high-level plan showing the major products of the project, when they will be delivered and at what cost.

Question 8

What document is the project plan initially in?

Answer 8

The PID. But it should be revised as information on actual progress appears.

Question 9

Define Stage Plan.

Answer 9

A detailed plan used as the basis for project management control throughout a management stage.

Question 10

What is the idea of product-based planning?

Answer 10

Product-based planning lays on the philosophy that what needs to be delivered should be identified before deciding what activities, dependencies and resources are required to deliver those products.

Question 11

What is a Product Flow Diagram?

Answer 11

A PFD is showing the sequence of production and interdependencies of the products listed in the product breakdown structure.

Question 12

What are the minimum requirements for the Plans theme?

Answer 12

1. Ensure plans enable the business case to be realized.
2. Have at least two management stages.
3. Produce a Project Plan for the project as a whole and Stage Plans for each management stage
4. Use product-based planning for project, stage and exception plans (optionally for team plans)
5. Produce specific plans for managing exceptions
6. Define the roles and responsibilities for planning
7. Use lessons to inform planning

Question 13

What are the documents (management products) that are produced within the Plans theme?

Answer 13

1. Project product description = description of the overall project product’s output, incl. customer quality expectations, acceptance criteria and acceptance methods for the project
2. Product description = a description of each product’s purpose, composition, derivation and quality criteria
3. Product Breakdown structure = a hierarchy of all the products to be produced during a plan
4. Plan - all levels of plan: project, stage, team, and exception (if applicable)
   Additionally: a Product flow diagram

Question 14

What is the difference between a Project Product Description and a Product Description?

Answer 14

A Project Product Description describes the main project output at a high level. Helps clarify the overall project objective and quality expectations. It contains customer’s quality expectations, acceptance criteria and acceptance methods.

A Product Description provides detailed information about an individual product or deliverable within the project, focusing on its specific attributes, functionalities and quality requirements. It contains the product’s purpose, composition, derivations and quality criteria.

Question 15

When is a Project Plan created?

Answer 15

During the initiating a project process; but it is updated towards the end of each management stage during the manage a stage boundary process.

Question 16

When is a Stage Plan created? What are the benefits of that?

Answer 16

Stage Plans are created near the end of the current management stage when preparing for the next management stage.
This allows for:
* stage plans to be created close to the planned events that will take place
* exist for a much shorter duration than the project plan, overcoming the planning horizon issue
* be produced with the knowledge of the performance of earlier management stages.

There is one exception - the Initiation Stage Plan - which is created during the starting up a project process

Question 17

Define Exception Plan.

Answer 17

An Exception Plan follows an Exception report. An Exception Report is a description of the exception situation, its impact options, recommendation and recommendation impact. It is prepared by the Project manager and approved by the board (when the exception is to stage plan), and I think it is prepared by both Project Manager and Executive and approved by the Corporate, Programme Management, or Customer (when the exception is to project plan).

Question 18

Define Team Plan and Work Package.

Answer 18

A Team plan is an optional level of plan used as a basis for team management control when executing work packages.

A work package is a set of information that contains the description of the work, the product description(s), details of any constraints on production, and confirmation of the agreement between the project manager and the person or team manager who is to implement the work package.

Question 19

Explain the Responsibilities of Planning in short.

Answer 19

Project Manager prepares Project and Stage Plans with the assistance of Senior User and Senior Supplier. Executive approves

In case of an exception for a Stage plan, Project Manager prepares exception plan and the Executive approves.

In case of an exception for Project plan, (I think) the Project Manager and the Executive prepare the exception plan and the corporate, programme management or the customer approves (if this oversteps the authority of the Board).

Project assurance reviews everything.
Project support assist with creation of all plans except Exception.

Team Manager prepares Team Plans and schedules for Work Packages.

Question 20

Explain briefly the recommended approach to product-based planning.

Answer 20

Steps:
1. Design Plan - decide on number of management stages, length of management stages, delivery steps and how they overlap with management stages, and the format and the presentation of the plan.

2. Define and Analyse the Products
   
   1. Write Project Product Description
   2. Create Product Breakdown Structure
   3. Write Product Descriptions
   4. Create Product Flow Diagram
3. Identify Activities and Dependencies - identify what activities need to be carried out for each product within the project (from the Product Flow Diagram); and how the activities depend on each other - are there any
4. Prepare Estimates - how much time & resource are required to carry out a piece of work
5. Prepare a Schedule - look at the activities that were identified and define a sequence. Assess your resource availability and assign resources to activities. Make sure you level the resources and the workload on them. Calculate total resource requirements and costs.
6. Document the Plan - put all these into a document and add narrative
7. For each step explained above, identify and analyse the risks to the plan

Question 21

How should the Project Manager define the number of management stages and the length of these?

Answer 21

The number of management stages is dependent on the key decision points that need to happen in the project, the risk of the project, how much level of control there should be (the more stages, the more review opportunities, the more control).

The length of a management stage is dependent on the same things. Management stages should be shorter when there is greater risk, uncertainty or complexity.

Question 21

TRUE or FALSE:
The Management stages should be the same length across a project, but not across a Programme.

Answer 21

FALSE
The management stages can differ in length across a project.

Question 22

What is the difference between Management Stages and Delivery Steps?

Answer 22

In PRINCE2, “management stages” focus on project governance and decision points, while “delivery steps” relate to the actual activities and tasks to produce project outputs or products. Management stages are for oversight and control, while delivery steps are for execution.

Example of delivery steps: Designing, Building, testing, training etc…

Question 23

TRUE or FALSE:
For a PRINCE2 project, the management stages and delivery steps should coincide in terms of time.

Answer 23

FALSE.

However, I think it’s better when they do, as it allows for review of impact on business case as a result of Proof of Concepts (see p.104)

Question 24

What is the difference between an internal and an external dependency?

Answer 24

Internal dependencies are between two project activities; the project team have control over the dependency

External dependencies are between a project activity and a non-project activity; Project team does not have control over the dependency as the non-project activity is carried out by people who are not part of the project team.

Question 25

When defining an activity sequence, what is a float?

Answer 25

A float (or slack) is the amount of time that an activity can be delayed without affecting the completion time of the overall plan.

Question 26

What is a critical path?

Answer 26

A critical path is a sequence of activities where the float is 0 or minimum.

Identifying a critical path in the plan is essential, as it can help the Project Manager see which activities must be completed on time for the whole plan to be on schedule, and which can be delayed a bit.

Question 27

Give some examples of Planning risks.

Answer 27

• The plan contains a big proportion of external dependencies.
• There is not much float in the plan
• A large number of products are completed at the same time
• Lots of resources joining the project at the same time which can slow down progress

Question 28

Briefly describe the prioritization technique called MoSCoW.

Answer 28

MoSCow is a useful prioritization technique when projects do not have the money/resources/time to deliver everything the business, users or suppliers want (which is almost all the time).

The technique allows for prioritization of acceptance criteria and quality criteria based on their impact on the business justification of the project.

MoSCoW stands for:
* Must have - essential and critical to the business justification

• Should have - important, but not critical; their absence materially weakens the business justification
• Could have - useful, but not critical; their absence does not weaken the business justification
• Won’t have - will not be delivered

Question 29

Give some examples of Estimating techniques.

Answer 29

Top-down estimating, Bottom-up estimating, Three-point estimating (ask skilled people for their best case, most likely and worst case), Single-point estimating.

Question 30

Give some examples of Scheduling techniques.

Answer 30

GANTT charts, Critical Path diagrams, Spreadsheets, Product Checklists.