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Subject:Re: Project Plan From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:09:13 -0700
Mark-
I don't want to clutter the list with an actual file, but I'll describe
the most recent project plan my group has been working from.
The first part contains an approval sheet for the doc plan itself. This
got signed by the manager to whom the project was assigned, as well as
the project manager (me) and the other participants. The same page
contained this wording: "The Review Team for this document as listed
below is committed to reviewing the draft(s) of the document in a timely
and technically accurate manner according to the review schedule
attached." It then listed members of the review team, along with email
addresses and phone numbers. The doc plan itself listed the writers,
the product, the due date, purpose of the project, audience, project
scope, and format, and then gave as detailed an outline as we could
muster at the time (this was for an 8-chapter book). Following that was
a milestone schedule, showing the beginning of research, delivery of
first draft to first review, return of first review, second draft,
second review return, and preparation of production files (as it turns
out, in Frame, .pdf, .ps, and .html).
All of this spelled out our intentions going in. And OF COURSE things
changed while the project was in process. We built in weekly status
meetings, and we were constantly in touch via phone and email. We still
managed to make our delivery deadlines, although there were some 80-hour
weeks in there.
In my experience, you can build a project plan (or outline, depending on
how you structure things) into a proposal and when it's signed, you have
a contract. Because it spells out what you plan to do, what you plan to
deliver, and the schedule for everything (and the projected cost, in
some cases), you have most of the elements of a contract, and certainly
the elements of an agreement that management usually finds comfortable.
Good project plans vary widely, depending on the project and the company
structure. The more thorough they are, the more managers seems to
appreciate them.
