Planning the implementation of projects involves care regarding the definition of scope, work packages, schedule, staff and infrastructure. These topics are discussed below.

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Project scope

Implementation planning starts with a clear understanding of its scope. The scope of a project is the detailing of all the work necessary to deliver the “final product” within the expected specifications. If the scope of a product is to understand the characteristics it must have, the project scope involves mapping the work needed to establish these characteristics in the resulting product of the project. Therefore, first the product scope is defined and then the project scope is defined: you need to know WHAT needs to be done to define HOW it should be done. Proper definition of scope is important, as it implies better conditions for:

• Mitigate impacts arising from errors that could negatively affect other areas of project management, such as cost, risk, quality and schedule management, for example.

• Improve communication, as the scope must be documented and this document will guide the work, improving communication, as everyone is expected to know what will need to be done.

• Reduce the risk of differences between what was requested and the end result.

• Prevent changes being requested in the middle of the project due to inadequate planning. The further along a project is, the greater the costs associated with changes and delays.

 

To elaborate the project scope, the following activities are recommended:

1. Scope Management Planning: Involves planning and documenting how product and project scopes will be defined, controlled, and validated. To do so, project managers can use expert opinion, data analysis and meetings to develop the plan.

2. Requirements Gathering: refers to documenting and managing stakeholder needs and requirements in order to meet project objectives. Requirements must be documented in sufficient detail so that they are measurable and can be included in the scope baseline (time, cost and quality.)

3. Definition of the project scope: detailing all the work required to carry out the project. The main items that must be present in a scope statement are:

   • Identification

   • Project Scope Description: Details about each stage of the project. Some key items in this description are the start and end date, staff required for execution, and infrastructure required.

   • Project deliverables: description of each deliverable, objective, who is responsible, expected benefits, characteristics they must present.

   • Acceptance criteria: specification of expected standards upon delivery

4.  Creation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): organization in visual form of all the work to be done on the project. EAP is a subdivision of work into smaller parts, thus facilitating execution.

5. Project Scope Validation: Involves formalizing acceptance of project deliverables. This must occur whenever a delivery is completed and, if any of them is not accepted, changes will be requested.

6. Scope Control: Monitor scope progress and manage changes. This helps track work progress and change requests.

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Some common mistakes when developing project scope include:

• Ignore project risks: the identification of risks must be carried out in the project and task planning, in order to reduce their impacts or even to avoid them. They must be listed in the project scope and the respective contingency actions must be included in the schedule.

• Lack of communication: Lack of clear communication can occur in all spheres of stakeholder interaction, causing damage to the project and even to the final product.

• Lack of technical knowledge: can lead to the scope not being well planned, creating the need for many changes.

 

Work Breackdown Structure - WBS

When starting the structuring and planning of the operational aspects of the project, one of the fundamental management elements is the definition of the Work Breakdown Structure. The WBS is the division of the project into manageable parts, representing the project deliverables in the form of a diagram. It is one of the most important Project Management tools, serving as a basis for the development of other project plans, such as schedule and costs. The WBS structure guarantees the project manager visibility of the main deliverables; defines the work required for the project; promotes a common view of the work to those involved and supports other project management processes, such as resource planning and risk identification. It should be noted that the WBS does not correspond to the schedule, as it does not list the definition of activities. Its last level of deployment is the work package, which, in turn, is a set of activities, usually assigned to a specific person, department, or sector. Work packages must be independent of each other and must not be repeated throughout the WBS.

 

As a characteristic, the WBS refers to the understanding of how to do it, while the schedule defines what to do, that is, the activities and their details. It is recommended that, before starting the definition of the WBS, the identification of the project requirements is carried out, aiming to define the characteristics of what will be delivered by the project. Basically, for the elaboration of the WBS, there are four strategies:

1. By phases: considers the phases of the project cycle.

2. By deliveries: considers the project's products.

3. By sub-projects: considers the “mini-projects” that make up the project.

4. Hybrid: by phases, deliverables and subprojects

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Also, for the development of the WBS, it is recommended the deployment of up to three levels, namely:

1. Level 0: project product

2. Level 1: project phases

3. Level 2: components (work packages)

 

The unfolding process must use a numerical coding system that helps to identify and relate the hierarchy in the WBS, using the 3 levels of unfolding and the correct identification of the element at a given level. As an example: 1.1.2: shows that a certain element is a work package that is part of the WBS's third hierarchical level. Another important element is the so-called WBS Dictionary, which corresponds to a table describing work packages, those responsible for them and acceptance criteria. This is where expectations regarding the results of project deliverables are made explicit. It must contain the following items: 1) Work package with identification; 2) Description; 3) Responsible; 4) Participants and 5) Acceptance Criteria.

 

Schedule

A schedule is an activity planning and control tool that organizes the tasks to be performed in a certain period of time to reach a final objective. An important aspect is the time, which must be sequenced so that deliveries are made within the estimated or expected time. Creating a schedule is much more than distributing tasks over time. It needs to be executable, which requires alignment with other areas of project management and also with the team. As a proposal, here are some steps to build a schedule:

1. Define the project scope.

2. Build the WBS.

3. Create a sequence of tasks: with the WBS defined, it is easier to sequence tasks. To create this sequence, it is necessary to observe the hierarchy between them, represented in the EAP: which tasks need to be performed first (predecessors), which will be performed later (successors) and which ones can be performed in parallel. It is important to analyse the dependencies that may exist between one activity and another. It is also important to detail the activities so that it is understandable to everyone involved.

4. Define the duration of activities: There are many ways to estimate the duration of an activity. Next, the four main ones are detailed:

   • Estimate by analogy: based on previous experiences, on projects within the organization or on the context or market in which the organization operates. This type of estimate raises parameters from old projects, such as duration, complexity, weight and budget, and then applies them to future projects that have similar characteristics. This is an inaccurate technique.

   • Parametric estimation: is a technique that consists of a relationship between the use of statistics and historical data, calculating the parameter estimate. One of the basic formulas for this type of analysis is the multiplication of the amount of work by the hours of labour for each work unit, that is, a relationship between the number of available employees and the duration of the activity.

   • Expert Opinion: Recruitment and use of the knowledge of professionals who already have experience in the team, or hiring technical and specialized training regarding the type of project that will be developed. These professionals can identify demands and difficulties that other techniques may not cover, allowing for a reduction in the degree of uncertainty in the estimates.

   • Three-point estimation: This type of estimate is improved when estimating uncertainties and risk are considered. The concept originated with PERT (Program Review and Evaluation Technique), developed with the US Department of Defence. This technique uses three scenarios to define an approximate range for the duration of each activity. These scenarios are “most likely”; “optimistic”, and the “pessimistic”. This technique helps to better recognize the parameters that can help define the duration of the activity and its associated risks.

5. Assign tasks to those responsible: it is important to establish a person responsible for each activity, so that he is responsible for the execution.

6. Build a schedule: There are many graphical ways to build a schedule, from using post-it notes on a wall, spreadsheets and even management software.

​Ideally, the schedule should be accessible to everyone involved and that the project's progress over time can be viewed by everyone. Among some indications of programs to build a schedule, it is possible to cite the most usual:

• Excel: Gantt chart templates available for different needs.

• MS Project

• Monday.com.

 

Team and infrastructure

When defining the scope, work breakdown structure, and schedule, the next step involves consolidating responsibilities for meeting activities and deadlines. It is important to remember about the profile of those involved in the formation of the team, considering their diversification, knowledge and skills. Observing these conditions in the composition of teams is essential for good performance and contributes to mitigating the risks associated with the development of projects, especially the most innovative ones.

 

The assignment of responsibilities must be communicated in an explicit, clear and comprehensive manner. For this, some tools or models to organize these responsibilities may be relevant. Among the usual tools that can understand the main factors for monitoring projects is the 5W2H matrix. This acronym represents questions regarding the key defining elements, which are derived from English, and represent: What (what) should be done? Why (why) should it be implemented? Who (who) is responsible? Where (where) should it be run? When (when) should it be implemented? How (how) should it be conducted? How much will the implementation cost? When organizing the planning through the 5W2H matrix, the attributions and other elements necessary to carry out the activities are evident. It is also a visual and representative way to clarify the objectives of each stage / activities and to analyze possible internal and/or external interferences of the organization.

 

Another tool that can be useful for visualizing the assignments of team members during project development is the so-called RACI Matrix, also from English, which means: Responsible (Responsible), Authority (Accountable), or Consulted (Consulted) ) and the Informed (Informed). Here are the attributions of the RACI matrix:

• Responsible: is the individual responsible for the execution, development, completion and delivery of the activity.

• Authority: refers to the coordinator or person who has the authority to organize the task, carry out follow-up and make the necessary decisions that define the approval and completion of the delivery.

• Consulted: people who can contribute to improving the development of the activity or improving delivery.

• Informed: These are people who need to be informed about the beginning and completion of an activity (or a delivery), mainly aimed at those who generate certain changes arising from these activities or deliveries.

The recommendation for the organization of a RACI Matrix is ​​to use a table or matrix and the letter referring to the role/attribution of each person in relation to the activity or delivery. It is noteworthy that, for each activity/delivery, there must be at least one person in charge and one authority, and in the case of “authority”, it is not recommended that it be assigned to more than one person. As for the people to be consulted and/or informed, there is no requirement, however, each matrix will present its respective attributions, according to each project.

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Considering both tools, 5W2H and the RACI Matrix, it is possible to reconcile the information and make even more evident the role of each person on the team in the development of activities and their deliveries, according to the other elements, especially in the schedule. In addition, to the development of these steps for the good performance of the project, it is important to foresee the need for the infrastructure to carry out the planned steps/activities. Assigning responsibilities to teams and providing the necessary infrastructure will provide an overview of the demands for meeting those deliverables. Thus, together with the team, the available and necessary infrastructure must be part of the planning. Among the items most associated with infrastructure in project management, one can list the availability of personnel, as well as the demand for physical and material resources, such as: equipment, tools, software, high-performance internet access, among others. Certainly, in certain projects, according to defined scope and products, there will be a need for more specific or sophisticated resources, and for that, it is important to define your forecast, including costs and availability of use in the project development time, aiming to guarantee an adequate structure for the execution of the activities foreseen in the plan.

 

Just as complementary information, to implement the conditions to innovate in the public sector, the creation of innovation laboratories has been encouraged, with the objective of providing a space for people and resources (infrastructure) to be guided towards the creation of experimentation environments in the sector. public. This logic is especially aimed at open and collaborative innovation, involving not only intra-organizational teams, but other external actors in the proposition of innovative projects based on agile methodologies and co-creation. There is no single design or specification for the innovation laboratories, however, these environments have been implemented in the public sector aiming at the development of innovation, from the generation of ideas, construction of prototypes and even its implementation in a controlled scale.