Project planning relies heavily on communication, especially when working with a team. In order for everyone to be on the same page and the tasks to be completed on time, everyone must be aware of what is going on. From the perspective of a project manager, it is important that the team understands what is required of them and the project and how it is all going to be achieved. This can be figured out in the planning process and this again is another crucial part of the beginning developments of any kind of project. Being able to plan out how certain things will go and how each deadline will be reached can make the overall giant goal into smaller, less intimidating tasks. The project manager must be someone who is able to lead their team through discussions and make sure that the planning that is happening is easy to understand and that each member will be held responsible for whatever their task may be. It is also important to understand that even though the project might be fully planned out, problems may still arise and it is important to have a plan on how to deal with them. Being stuck on a problem will just be overall inefficient for the entire group so it is important to plan for those kinds of problems too. Overall, being able to plan and prepare for the project with high quality will lead to a better outcome of the project as a whole.

As a project manager, it is important to iron out as many details as early as possible to set a solid foundation for the course of the project. The lecture this week illustrated a few different methods of planning out and allocating time for projects that I believe can be very effective if done properly. For one thing, I would meet with my team and hold as many brainstorming meetings as possible in order to sort all the details that the team can think of and compartmentalize them as much as possible. That way, once we begin developing a timeline we can determine how to simplify each process, determine all the dependencies, and identify our different routes of going from Point A to Point B by using a Network Diagram or Pert Chart. Once that network is laid out, the project manager should go about setting a rough initial schedule that incorporates the ES, EF, LS, and LF and bring that to the team in a meeting. In this meeting, the team should discuss any pre-planned contingencies that can have an effect on this timeline such as commitments to other ongoing projects, vacations, and holidays that come up within this period that prevent the team from working, such as religious holidays, and use this meeting to refine the schedule into a more manageable timeline and allocate team members and resources accordingly to account for vacations or religious holidays so progress is not completely halted altogether. After this schedule gets refined in a meeting, the project manager should then go about determining how much slack in the new timeline with new ES, EF, LS, and LF dates to see how much wiggle room there is to finish the project. Once this is accomplished, making a Gantt chart to get the best visual of the timeline and how the project will progress is the final step in making an effective project plan that has as many preemptive measures in place to ensure that tasks get done on time, after which it is up to the manager to actively be involved in the project process and hold routine status meetings to make sure the project stays on track and make appropriate adjustments as needed should the project run into any unexpected roadblocks.

i think when team get a project, all team member should seat down together and list all detail tasks in order to finish this project. assign each task to individual. there is a powerful software called Microsoft project. its really helpful to get on track with the project. it can help planning to schedule and remanding what to do next. once a task is done, the status can be changed in the software. also set late finish date several days before the deliver day. in case something happened you can have room to make change.

I believe it's important to set a glidepath for key deliverables to also be completed, which can even be done in the beginning of the project timeline. This will let the team know what you expect week after week or month after month. I've found that with my projects in my career, having a glidepath set does help me to get a big picture of the project progress, and I can see my deadlines and important dates at a glance. It's visible to the rest of the team as well so everyone can hold each other accountable. When deliverables need to be pushed - the glidepath can be edited in order to reflect that push but also comments can be made if support is needed or something needs to be revisited. For me a glidepath is a valuable tool for project completion.

Constantly communicating with your team members on their bandwidth and reprioritizing tasks amongst the team can help ensure the project stays on track. Overburdening employees with tasks can actually slow down overall progress as they are unable to get to everything with the number of hours in the day. By evaluating resources, you can dedicate more employees on a certain task to complete it quicker or even see that a task may have been completed earlier than expected and can use the additional time elsewhere. Working on a project is a complex task that involves many moving pieces and being aware of how each of those pieces can move efficiently is a valuable skill to have.

The posts above stress how vital communication is in project planning and I could not agree more. Constant communication with your team can help plan out how long it will take to complete the project. I would start off with the sticky note method mentioned in lecture where all possible tasks and sub tasks are written on sticky notes and then mapped out in order. After doing so, I would contact each team member regarding their specific part and ask them how long it would take the to complete their part and add an additional day or two to that timeline just to plan for any setbacks. Communicating with the team ensures that clear information on their timelines and schedules are being relayed which can make planning the duration of the project as accurate as possible.  

I would recommend creating a list of the tasks that need to be done in order to complete the project. Then I would set up a meeting with my team and divide the tasks and give them a timeline to complete the tasks in order to ensure we are in line with the project delivery date. I would stay in constant communication with the team during this time to allow my team members to ask any questions or help them solve an issue they may be encountering. 

I personally prefer a flow chart listing all the tasks and their dependencies. This helps me line up exactly what needs to be done. A Gannt chart is another tool that can be very beneficial in planning out a project as it can function as a modified flow chart with dates. Though it is rare that date and timelines for large projects stay fixed of from beginning to end. None these tools can help you with a major part of all planning which is estimating costs and resources. Many times costs of certain tasks can fluctuate wildly and that's something that you may have little to no control over. In cases like this it is ideally better to over budget than under budget and assign personal accordingly. 

I personally prefer a flow chart listing all the tasks and their dependencies. This helps me line up exactly what needs to be done. A Gannt chart is another tool that can be very beneficial in planning out a project as it can function as a modified flow chart with dates. Though it is rare that date and timelines for large projects stay fixed of from beginning to end. None these tools can help you with a major part of all planning which is estimating costs and resources. Many times costs of certain tasks can fluctuate wildly and that's something that you may have little to no control over. In cases like this it is ideally better to over budget than under budget and assign personal accordingly. 

I agree with many of the replies above stating that communication and brainstorming are two good ways to ensure that all the tasks of a project are accomplished on time. When working on projects, however, I find that even after planning and brainstorming different problems arise that I had not accounted for proving Murphy’s law correct, anything that can go wrong will. One of the ways that teams I have worked with overcame these problems are weekly or as needed meetings with a superior, to get advice from a more experienced individual. By meeting weekly or often, it is easier to address problems as they arise instead of letting them spiral out of control. Weekly meetings set in stone I felt helped the most because even if there were no problems that week, we still went over progress made and were able to flush out problems before they became significant by getting other opinions. I also agree that is important that everyone understands their specific role in the project and that everyone knows who the point people are to ask for help when problems arise. There were times that if I would have just asked someone for help, the problem could have been solved in a fraction of the amount of time

In industry, do you feel that it is beneficial to meet with your project team often, or would as needed be a better use of everyone’s time?  

Like a lot of previous posts have mentioned, communication is key!! Without communication, there is no way the project can succeed. Constant communication between all relevant parties (i.e., project managers, team leads, team members, etc.) is vital to ensure that the project gets completed in a timely manner and meets all specifications. If a new timeline or goal comes from a higher up, it is the responsibility of the project manager to relay this and any other changes to the people executing the task. Using a shared cloud space (Google Drive or One Drive) and keeping track of tasks that are done is helpful so that everyone in the team can be on the same page. Assigning people to be "Subject Matter Experts" is also another aspect of project planning that should be considered. By doing this, this individual is tasked with all things that are related to "X". Since "X" may have multiple components, this individual will need to make sure that all of it gets done prior to the submission deadline. Having SMEs for a large scale project would be beneficial to make sure nothing gets forgotten. 

To make sure all the tasks finished on time, the project team should have a brainstorm regarding priority and urgency for each task. For the difficult tasks and urgent task, the project team should think about putting in some extra time rather than expect they could be finished on time or earlier. These difficult task might delay the whole project. For the project manager,  I think they should maintain good communication with the team members. Good communication could allow the manager to know the schedule of the members and the manager could have more time to deal with the issue.  To avoid the personal issue which might case the delay of the tasks, the team manager should inform the members that they need to report their vacation plan several weeks before the leave. 

In general, project planning is a subpart of the project management life cycle. In this phase, the project manager creates a project plan which includes information regarding all qualities of the project such as resources, budget, the risk involved, quality control, and procurement. Project planning plays a crucial role in project management because it acts as a chart for the project and gives all participants vital information about elements such as resources, deliverables, timeframes, milestones, and scope. To complete each task of the project in the given time one must plan the project as mentioned below:

1. Scope planning: Planning the project's scope is one of the most crucial tasks since it outlines what the team must provide for the project to be successfully completed.
2. Organizational planning: This part of the project plan includes the work breakdown structure, which is how a project manager breaks down a project's deliverables into specific tasks and activities. It also entails hiring personnel and allocating resources to project responsibilities.
3. Developing a schedule: Establishing a timetable entails making a milestone list, organizing project tasks, identifying interaction dependencies, and choosing timescales.
4. Resource planning: Resource planning is figuring out what resources, such as personnel, supplies, and equipment, you would need to finish the project and calculating their costs.
5. Budgeting: It's crucial to stay within your allocated spending limits when finishing a job. A project manager ties all project expenditures, including those for consumables, travel, lodging, consulting fees, and equipment, materials, wages, to the project's primary objectives and deliverables during budget preparation.
6. Planning for communication: Effective stakeholder communication is essential to a project's success. The techniques, channels, and frequency of successful communication must be formalized by the project manager.

I think the best way to ensure a successful project is to meticulously plan every phase of the project. The project goals need to be listed out, including what exactly the project needs to accomplish. Then, the costs and budget need to be laid out. The bigger goals can be broken down into smaller milestones, and the costs can be distributed to each milestone. For example, X amount is allocated to milestone 1 and it will have to be completed within date A- date B. It is also a good idea to have time set aside for any errors that may arise during the project. On top of this, weekly or frequent meetings, proper documentation, proper communication, distinguished team roles are all also important to ensure a successful project.