How can you avoid planning pitfalls?

Part of the scope is also the timeframe - when is the project, plan or objective need to be done? The timeframe will either strongly narrow or broaden the scope of the plan. Second, make sure you have stakeholders or a representative for the stakeholders for the different aspects of the project or objective. Leaving out an essential element will result in lost time, lack of buy-in or worst case, failure.

Planning has always been an innovative and creative approach. The scope, vision, and mission combine to extract adequate definitions to monitor and control and stay under the battery limits of the project. EVM is not the only way to improvise or monitor KPIs for the project, but organizations' priorities play a vital role in it. Multiple metrics should be exercised to do Planning on a larger and longer scale. From all others, risk management, change management, and delay analysis create a major impact on all project KPIs. So, from my experience and learning, to do adequate planning to avoid pitfalls, we must understand organizations' priorities, risks to be engaged, what possible changes could come, and how to tackle delays.

Dont be fooled by over elaborate issues raised by a Planning Consultant which make the submission more complicated than it needs to be.

We must also understanding how this project fits into the short term and long term strategic plan. Is it a one time Procurement or will there be follow on requirements. We need to include terms to cover both short term and long term requirements upfront.

First and foremost, I believe it's essential to identify the motivation behind the set goals: creativity or fear. Fear can drive swift actions in the face of unexpected challenges, much like the moment when, encountering a bear, we reacted promptly by climbing a tree. However, creativity opens doors to new directions, urging us to find innovative solutions and explore areas untouched by fears.

In my experience, there can be used one or a couple of them depending on the project scope and complexity. Also, errors prioritizing task is one of the most common mistakes project managers make. It is important to acknowledge which tasks are urgent, which important and which not.

You can create a matrix between the work breakdown structure and your project process, which will determine how the work package is carried out by the project team, with this method you will define the outsourcing strategy of the project. You will also analyze the extent of outsourcing and stakeholder participation.

Work breakdown is an important step, needs a deep experiences with the task, timeline and the resources to perfectly do. Tasks should be measurable, managable, specific, and have a timeline to complete. What you cannot measure you cannot manage.

Build with the end in mind. Whether the results of your project is a product or service, ensure you have the right people at the table to provide various perspectives to build an inclusive and accessible product. Gaining initial insight to ensure a fully accessible and inclusive product will eliminate astronomical cost at the end. So consider who will sit at the table to help you co- create, develop, build and evaluate providing relevant feedback that helps deliver a more inclusive and usable product or service.

SWOT or TOWS analysis could be a useful tool to plan for contingency to mitigate any obvious risks Need to have alternative plans if the main one doesn't go well (plan B/C). Engage more teams on the risk mitigation plans, align with them to support you.

Conduct a thorough risk assessment. Identifying and managing risks is a critical aspect of project planning. Conducting a comprehensive risk assessment allows you to proactively identify potential pitfalls and develop contingency plans to address them. Assessing risks involves identifying possible threats and opportunities, analyzing their potential impact, and developing appropriate response strategies. Risks you should consider in your assessment are: Cost overruns Schedule delays Quality issues Stakeholder dissatisfaction Regulatory and Compliance Ethics (especially with AI Algorithms) By incorporating risk management into your planning process, you can minimize surprises and proactively address challenges.

A project failure or success depends on how risks due to uncertainties and changes are managed. Hence the importance for contingencies during planning.

Keeping the end goal in sight and defining clearly the scope. Factor in unplanned events from stakeholders and business changes and market dynamics. Think of opportunities and build them in. Planning is an alive function: agility is key.

1) Prioritization. 2) Assemble solid team. 3) Define the beginning and finish of the time line. 4) Always have a backup plan for significant tasks implementation. 5)Validation from decision makers.

In addition, it is important to get to know the people we are dealing with. Negotiation skills are useful when we are dealing with a multidisciplinary team and different kind of people. There is always a time when we need to communicate hard and difficult things and it is important to know how to overcome this without affecting the project outcome.

1) Company vision. 2) Arrange solid team with knowledge of planning and contract terms. 3) understand the time line. 4) backup plan for significant tasks . 5) avoid too much planning.

Develop a go-getter team. Trust you won’t be able to avoid pitfalls. Keep a contingent plan handy to bridge the gap Monitor the stakeholder Register Communicate & Re-communicate emphasising Vision & Mission. Carefully avoid micromanagement & conflicts.

E.g. To develop a budget-tracking app within six months, you define a user-friendly and secure app with key features, managed by a small team within a fixed budget. You organize the workload into specific tasks with set deadlines, prioritizing essential functions while preparing for unforeseen costs. Regular meetings and project management tools keep the team aligned. Post-launch, you use feedback and analytics to upgrade the app and refine project strategies for future initiatives. Here, ??Scope: ??User-friendly interface ??Secure transactions ??Features: receipt scanning, spending predictions ??Contingencies: ??Prioritize essential features ??Reserve budget for unexpected costs ??Evaluation and Improvement:Gather user feedback post-launch