Conclusion
This course has focused on planning a project. At this stage you may find it useful to recap on the learning objectives introduced at the beginning of the course and to think about some of the issues associated with them.
You should now be able to develop plans with relevant people to achieve the project's goals. This will involve identifying and finding ways of including the appropriate people in the project.
You should be able to break work down into tasks and determine handover procedures so that the work is manageable and progress can be tracked.
You should be able to identify links and dependencies and schedule to achieve deliverables. We introduced techniques that will help you to schedule and to identify dependencies so that you can plan using the concept of the critical path.
Estimating is part of planning and you should be able to estimate and cost the human and physical resources required, and make plans to obtain the necessary resources.
You should be able to allocate roles with clear lines of responsibility and accountability and to allocate tasks that are realistic and equitable and accommodate other work loads. It is important that the team feel that their tasks are achievable and that they know to whom they are accountable.
You should be able to plan for effective communications within the project activities by establishing appropriate and agreed meeting schedules and reporting control and communication methods.