One Big Dump
On any project the detailed project plan is your road map of how to get from A to Z. It should be as detailed as possible with tasks and subtasks listed. The tool you use is not as important as the process of creating the plan and the ultimate deliverable that is created.
I use the “one big dump” method of creating these plans. I just start typing in tasks into my project planning software. I do not organize the tasks; I just try to get them all out of my head. This is the hardest and most important part.
Once I get most of them out of my head, I start the process of organizing them into coherent groups. The last steps are to assign people or groups to the tasks and to include beginning and ending dates.
As you create the final plan, be mindful of the concept of “critical path.” A task is on the critical path if its delay creates a corresponding delay in the ending of the project.
Let’s assume our project scope is to complete the evaluation of a new software product by March 31. If the vendor demonstrations are delayed by six weeks, that will mean that the ultimate decision gets pushed back as well because the vendor demonstrations are toward the end of the process.
That task is on the critical path.
Purchasing hardware for the eventual implementation is not on the critical path, although it is a task in the detailed work plan. A delay in this purchase has no effect on the final decision regarding a software vendor.
Tasks that are not on the critical path are not necessarily handled differently and they are not fundamentally less important. They just don’t have an effect on the end date of a particular milestone or of the project as a whole.