BASICS of Project Management

PROJECT MANAGEMENT RECAP

2 3
The application of A set of knowledge, practices,
knowledge, skills, tools and techniques, and tools aimed at
techniques to project delivering project goals in a
activities to meet project timely and predictable manner,
requirements. making you better prepared if
ever problems crop up.
BASICS of Project Management

PM Triple Constraints Project Management Triangle

1 RECAP
Time

2
Cost

3 Manage these or
Scope they will manage you!
Course Topics PRELIM
1. The Architect as a Project Manager; SPP Documents
2. Construction Management vs. Project Management
3. Basics of Project Management
4. Project Identification and Selection
5. Project Planning
6. Organizational Structure and Organizational Issues

MIDTERM
1. PERT and CPM
2. Resources Considerations in Projects
3. Project Risks Management
4. Project Quality Management and Value Engineering

FINALS
1. Project Management Information System
2. Purchasing and Contracting for Projects
3. Project Performance Measurement and Evaluation
4. Project Execution and Control
5. Project Close-Out, Termination and Follow-Up
6. Project Management Software

ARCHI COURSE OUTLINE

PROJECT PLANNING
PROJECT PLANNING definition
• is part of project management, which relates to the use
of schedules to plan and subsequently report
progress within the project environment

• is a discipline for stating how to complete a project

within a certain timeframe, usually with defined
stages, and with designated resources

• is a procedural step in project management, where

required documentation is created to ensure
successful project completion

Documentation includes all actions required to define,

prepare, integrate and coordinate additional plans.
PROJECT PLANNING
The project plan clearly defines how the project is
executed, monitored, controlled and closed.

Project planning requires an in-depth analysis and

structuring of the following activities:

1 Setting project goals

2 Identifying project deliverables
3 Creating project schedules
4 Creating supporting plans

Supporting plans may include those related to: human

resources, communication methods, and risk management.
PROJECT PLANNING

in SUMMARY:

A project plan is an essential

document for keeping a project on
track.

In your project plan, you identify the

scope, goals, deliverables and
deadlines of your project.
PROJECT PLANNING
• can be done manually or by the use of project
management software

• Tools popularly used for the scheduling part of a

plan include the Gantt chart and the PERT chart.

Gantt chart PERT chart

TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
1 Start with a flexible
project plan template
Why not just make a roadmap in Excel or
Word and call it a day?

Well, you could, but the end result will be

pretty lackluster (boring).

• use a more flexible project

plan template
• for easier time editing
• more opportunity to give it
an engaging design
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
2 Plot your project timeline visually

GANTT CHART
templates

• show tasks over a

period of time

• handy because it
shows different
timelines that run
concurrently with
each other, even if
their start and ends
dates are different
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
2 Plot your project timeline
visually
TIMELINE templates

When you’re first outlining your project timeline, it can

be pretty overwhelming. That’s where a visual can help
people get a better sense of what needs to be done and
by when.

• is a versatile way to visualize

milestones, processes, and goals

• organizing the dates on timeline can

get a bit confusing, it is recommended
to start it with a timeline template.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
2 Plot your project timeline visually

TIMELINE templates

A timeline is a good way to map out high-level goals

TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
MIND MAP templates

• shows relationships between pieces of a whole

For example,

you could use a

mind map to break
down the different
components of your
project or marketing
strategy, like in this
mind map template
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN • you could use a mind map to
show the different parts of a
MIND MAP templates process
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
3 Use color to categorize tasks
Color selection plays an important role in your project plan design. Beyond making your project
plan look nice, color can also help you organize and communicate information effectively.

• you can use color to categorize tasks by type, week, team involved, and a ton of
other ways.

For example,
this Gantt chart template
uses different colors to
categorize tasks for each
week. Notice how each
tasks bar corresponds
with the same colored
text in the side bar and
the legend below. This
made it easy to scan the
chart for specific weeks
and tasks.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
3 Use color to categorize tasks

• You can also

categorize your
tasks by priority.

• Simply pick a
corresponding
color for each
level of priority
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
4 Illustrate steps in a process using icons
Multiple studies have found that people tend to remember images better than words. With that
in mind, look for ways to incorporate visual memory-prompters in your project plan design.

• Icons are one type of visual

that can be used to make
information more memorable.

• Pair an icon with an important

piece of text to help it stand
out and stick in the reader’s
mind.

For example,
this project timeline template
uses an icon to illustrate each
step in the process.
This helps reinforce the
information, and gives readers a
visual to refer back to.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
5 Use a timeline to show an
overview of your project plan

While your project plan should include the details of

your project, offering a visual summary will help keep
your team on track.

Create a timeline that offers an overview of the

phases in your project and the expected
beginning and completion dates. Your team will
be able to refer back to the timeline quickly,
without needing to read through a bunch of text.

For example,
this project plan timeline template outlines
that tasks and milestones for each month in a year.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
6 Report on your
progress, visually
Once your team dives into working on a
project, there will almost certainly be
changes that need to be made to the
project plan. Unforeseen obstacles
come up, certain tasks take longer to
complete than expected, and other
snags will happen.

That’s why it’s important to not only set

your goals, but to also report on your
progress throughout the process.
Creating a project status report will help
you keep track of your progress, while
also communicating it effectively with
other parties.

Your project status report could be a

simple one-age snapshot:
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
6 Report on your progress, visually

But if you’re submitting a status

update to your stakeholders,
you may want to include more
context. That’s where a multi-
page status report template may
be necessary:
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
7 Incorporate the theme of
your project into your design
While your priority when designing your project plan should be function, finding
ways to make your design engaging is still important. After all, your project plan will
help inspire confidence in your team–and the people who will be funding your
project.

Adding surprising design

elements will help engage and
excite readers. An easy way to
do this is to include icons and
images that reflect the theme of
your project.

For example,
this project plan template for a
baking company incorporates a
donut into the design
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
8 Use a chart to track your project’s process
Certain phases of your project may end up taking more or less time than
anticipated. That’s why it’s valuable to track your progress, so you can adjust your
goals. Tracking your progress will also help you make informed decisions when
planning future projects.

You can track your project using a

flexible chart that’s easy to update, like
the chart templates offered by
Venngage. Our process infographic
templates can also come in handy
here, if you want to visualize the
phases in a project.

For example,
this project plan template uses a
simple bar graph to track the duration
of each phase. The updates are
tracked in the top right corner:
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
9 Create a calendar of tasks
or events to be completed
Are there specific dates that certain tasks needs to be completed on? You may
want to create a calendar that specifies what should be done on what day.

For example,
if your team is executing on
an event like a conference,
then a calendar is necessary
for keeping events for
specific dates organized.
The events are color-coded
by type, making it easy to
scan the calendar
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
10 Rate your process
using an icon chart
An icon chart uses (you
guessed it) icons to represent
units of measurement. When
coming up with ways to
embellish your project plan
design, look for opportunities
to visualize information that
you want to emphasize. An
icon chart is a creative and
effective way to do that.

For example,
this project status report
template uses check mark
icons to rate the success of
three different aspects of the
project:
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
11 Keep things in perspective with a Next,
Now, Later project timeline plan
When your team is working on a large project it’s sometimes hard to keep
everything in perspective. You may have been working on a certain part for so
long that you forget what came before it. Or what tasks come after that you need
to be aware of.

Without all of this information,

mistakes will be made and
delays are guaranteed.

This is where a Next, Now, Later

plan can really help your team
out. As you can see below, this
project plan example keeps each
of the steps extremely simple
and easy to follow.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
12
Give each step or process
a simple name

Communicating across teams can be a nightmare

sometimes, especially as your company continues
to grow. It’s common for different people to call a
certain thing many names, and that can cause
unneeded confusion. Like how people in call a soft
drink: “soda”, “coke” or “pop”, but it means exactly
the same thing.

So assigning common titles for each part of your

simple project plan can make communication a bit
easier.

In the sample project plan infographic below, they

used eight simple keywords for each step of their
project.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
12 Illustrate how each project
is connected with a flowchart
In the project plan example above, they used a flowchart to work through their
productivity plan.

This approach allowed the

designers to show how each
step was related, and how it
affected the other steps. If
they would have just listed
all of that information, the
relationships between all of
it would be lost.

We would recommend using

a flowchart to help explain
how a single part works, not
for an entire project plan.
TIPS FOR DESIGNING AN
ENGAGING PROJECT PLAN
12 Use this simple chart
to help you create a
clear project plan
Actually starting the process is one
of the hardest parts of project
planning. This is because there’s so
much potential, you might not know
what to begin with.

Your team may have so many ideas,

that it becomes overwhelming and
unorganized in a manner of minutes.

However, with this simple chart, you

can kick off the planning in a more
structured way.