Starting from Scratch

Planning a project—large or small—begins with three fundamental steps. Even if you have never done a significant project in the past, you can learn by following some simple guidelines. It helps if you have a mentor who can give you some advice, and that’s what iClarity Insights can provide.

 First, describe the project. This can be a single phrase, such as “build a house,” or “plan a wedding.” The next step is to define a budget. At first you may not have any realistic idea what the budget will be, but you can still identify what your budget is—based on how much you have to spend—and work from there. The third step is to determine how long the project will take to complete. This can also be a guess, based on some simple research. What you need is a starting place.

If you want to accomplish something that seems too big, complicated, expensive, or time-consuming you may be tempted to give up or hire someone else to do it. That might be your best strategy! But all good project managers started off as a kid with no experience. How did they become experts? It’s usually a combination of desire, guidance, opportunity, and luck. The way many of us became project managers is because we wanted to save money and we wanted to retain control. The way we actually learned was through practice. So let’s get started!

Step One: Describe the Project

You can think of this step as preparing your “elevator speech” where you answer a question with a short, succinct response. A professional architect might say “our next project is the expansion of a commercial building by twenty thousand square feet.” A wedding planner might say “my next project is a fully-catered wedding and reception for 300 people on the island of Maui in August.” You might say “I want to build a storage building in my backyard because I’ve run out of space in my garage.” The answer to the next two steps might be “it depends,” so we’ll come back to Step One later, but for now we have identified the project concept.

Step Two: Define a Budget

If you are the architect in the above example you will probably have some idea about what 20,000 square feet might cost, but the specific project could be much higher or possibly lower depending on the details. You take your best guess (and do a little internet research if you are starting from scratch) to get a starting point. This is where you can do a reality check.

For example, if your budget for the storage building is $250 you will not be able to accomplish your goal; the budget is inadequate. You need to give up or find additional funds. If your budget is $2,500 you might be able to pull it off as long as you are diligent in limiting your scope and material costs. If you have $25,000 to spend you will be able to build a larger structure with more features, such as lights, heat, windows, shelving, and a clean-up sink.

Start with your best guess and refine your budget as you collect further information. This process determines the order of magnitude—the difference between hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars. If you are in the “billions” category you are probably already an expert, or at least have experts who are giving you advice.

Step Three: Determine Your Schedule

Schedules are made up of tasks. You can identify a major task like “create the foundation” but it will be made up of smaller tasks, such as digging the trenches, building the forms, pouring concrete, and waiting for the concrete to cure. Some tasks can be done simultaneously; others must be done consecutively. You normally can’t build the walls until the foundation is completed, but if you are building a house in a factory you can frame the walls before the foundation is done.

The amount of time it takes to complete your project is limited to the “critical path” of your tasks. You need to allow for enough time to complete each step that must come before the following step. Understanding the sequence of your project helps define your schedule. It’s always helpful to allow time for things you can’t control, such as weather, inspections by others, illness, etc. Few projects fail because they were completed early; many projects fail because a deadline is not met.

A Word About Spreadsheets

Before we continue our discussion of project planning it’s worth considering the use of a spreadsheet. We take these tools for granted today, but not everyone is familiar with them and how powerful they can be if you know the tips for using them effectively. iClarity Insights has additional posts on how to use spreadsheets for project planning.

A Closer Look at a Project Plan

The three steps above provide a simple framework for planning the project, and now it’s time to figure out additional details. The three steps are entertwined—each one affects the other—so where do you start?

You can use a paper and pencil to capture and refine your plan, but we will proceed using a spreadsheet as the planning tool. Many projects include two specific cost centers—labor and materials. For a construction project this would include items like “roofers” and “shingles.” For an event this might include things like “waiters” and “beverages.”

There are techniques to estimate larger projects that are based on a per-unit cost. For construction there is information available online regarding “price per square foot.” If you want to build a 1,200 sq. ft. house and you have no other information to establish a budget you can look up an approximate price per square foot and multiply it by 1,200 to get a starting budget.

If you are planning a wedding you can use the same technique. You might use a factor of “price per person” for catering estimates. If the first estimate is more than you can afford you can either reduce the scope of the food provided (sometimes called “value engineering” an estimate) or the number of people attending.

You are using someone else’s prior experience to give you an idea of a realistic cost, without any details being supplied. Your project will come in higher or lower as you refine the details, but at least you have an idea about whether you should keep going.

 Unit pricing is the first approach to get a realistic assessment of the cost of a larger project. If you know that you can’t afford the amount in the first try you can decide to postpone or abandon the project. If the budget guesstimate is within your capacity it’s time to delve deeper.

The Role of Teamwork—Do You Have a Team?

Most projects involve teamwork of some kind, so let’s review roles and responsibilities. You are the Project Manager. Is there anyone else who has more authority for the project than you do? Someone owns the project. This is the person or organization that has the money, desire, and capacity to make a project happen. For small projects this might be you, the Project Manager.

For larger projects you may have been granted the authority to manage, but you can be overruled or replaced. Are you a business owner or contractor working for an owner? An employee working for a boss? A husband who wants to please a family? A member of a Homeowners’ Association charged with getting maintenance work done? These are roles that have a reporting structure, and you need to be sure that you are authorized to make and implement the decisions that are made.

You will almost certainly have people and organizations that answer to you. These roles include employees, consultants, suppliers, sub-contractors, and anyone else that you have the authority to select or remove from the project. As Project Manager you are responsible for the entire project, even if one of your employees makes a mistake.

Sometimes there are people or organizations that are not in the reporting structure but they still have an effect on the project. This includes government agencies such as the building department, health department, lender, local regulations regarding noise or design, and industry-standards.

We have set the stage—let’s move on to the next phase!