Project Schedule Planning

The bulk of the work in the planning phase revolves around the project scope, schedule, and budget. As you read through this chapter, pay special attention to how the work of the project is defined, how project resources are identified, how deliverables are decomposed into tasks that are logically sequenced, and how the work breakdown structure helps a project manager stay on top of the work of the project.

Milestones

All of the important checkpoints of your project are tracked as milestones. Some of them could be listed in your contract as requirements of successful completion; some could just be significant points in the project that you want to keep track of. The milestone list needs to let everyone know which milestones are required and which are not.

Some milestones for Susan and Steve's wedding might be:

Invitations sent
Menu finalized
Location booked
Bridesmaids' dresses fitted

As you figure out which activities will need to be done, you may realize that the scope needs to change. When that happens, you need to create a change request and send it through the change control system.

Some things that could go wrong:

Wedding planner	We just got the programs back from the printer and they're all wrong.
Steve	The quartet cancelled. They had another wedding that day.
Susan	Aunt Jane is supposed to sing at the service, but after what happened at her uncle's funeral, I think I want someone else to do it.
Steve	Should we really have a pan flute player? I'm beginning to think it might be overkill.
Susan	Apparently! Maybe we should hold off on printing the invitations until these things are worked out.
Wedding Planner	OK, let's think about exactly how we want to do this. I think we need to be sure about how we want the service to go before we do any more printing.