3. is an attempt to identify and define
project work (rough goals and
objectives) and to establish an
efficient decision making process for
managing further planning and
development of the project. It is a
sub-phase of the Initiation phase to
check and evaluate certain
preconditions for appropriateness
before the project is allowed for
moving to the Planning stage.
4. Preparation sub-phase comes after identification sub-
phase which aims to define a problem and select the
most feasible solution to that problem. Project
preparation can be also regarded as a process that aims
to complete the following tasks:
ď‚› Conceptualize the project
ď‚› Establish goals and objectives
ď‚› Issue Project Charter
ď‚› Outline an implementation strategy
ď‚› Develop preliminary cost estimates
ď‚› Identify possible risks
ď‚› Define roles and responsibilities
ď‚› Select and appoint the project team
ď‚› Carry out the kickoff meeting
6. The ability to invent or formulate an idea
or concept. The conceptualization phase of
a project occurs in the initial design activity
when the scope of the project is drafted
and a list of the desired design features
and requirements is created.
8. To help you better understand how you can set goals
and objectives, you first need a good foundation for
what the two are.
ď‚› Goals establish where you intend to go and tell you
when you get there. They help improve your overall
effectiveness as a company — whether you want to
increase your share of the market, for example, or
improve your customer service. The more carefully
you define your goals, the more likely you are to do
the right things and achieve what you wanted to
accomplish in the first place.
ď‚› Objectives are the specific steps you and your
company need to take in order to reach each of your
goals. They specify what you must do — and when.
Think of goals and objectives this way:
ď‚› Goals tell you where you want to go; objectives tell
you exactly how to get there.
ď‚› Goals can increase your effectiveness; objectives back
your goals and make you more efficient.
9. ď‚› Goals are typically described in words; objectives often
come with numbers and specific dates.
Suppose that your goal is to double the number of
people using your web-conferencing service. Your
objectives may be as follows:
ď‚› Gain awareness by placing print ads in four regional
markets and by airing radio ads in two major markets
(by June 10)
ď‚› Attract first-time customers by offering an online
giveaway of $1,000 (by June 1)
ď‚› Cultivate prospects by implementing a permission-
based weekly e-mail to 2,500 targeted contacts (by
July 10)
ď‚› Convert 10 percent of prospects to clients, using e-
mail reminders (beginning July 25)
Together, goals and objectives form the road map for
your company’s future. Without them, you risk making
wrong turns and wasting precious energy.
11. The project charter is a document that officially
starts a project or a phase. It formally authorizes the
existence of the project and provides a reference
source for the future. The charter gives a direction and
a sense of purpose to the management from start
to end. As Randy Tangco, a business driven project
practitioner, mentioned in one of his articles: “Take
great pride and care in your project charter because
this is where you sow the good seeds. It will
eventually take care of you.
13. Implementation is the process that turns strategies
and plans into actions in order to accomplish strategic
objectives and goals. Implementing your strategic plan is
as important, or even more important, than your
strategy. The video The Secret to Strategic
Implementation is a great way to learn how to take your
implementation to the next level.
Critical actions move a strategic plan from a document
that sits on the shelf to actions that drive business
growth. Sadly, the majority of companies who have
strategic plans fail to implement them. According to
Fortune Magazine, nine out of ten organizations fail to
implement their strategic plan for many reasons:
 60% of organizations don’t link strategy to budgeting
 75% of organizations don’t link employee incentives to
strategy
ď‚› 86% of business owners and managers spend less than
one hour per month discussing strategy
 95% of the typical workforce doesn’t understand their
organization’s strategy.
14. A strategic plan provides a business with the roadmap it
needs to pursue a specific strategic direction and set of
performance goals, deliver customer value, and be
successful. However, this is just a plan; it doesn’t
guarantee that the desired performance is reached any
more than having a roadmap guarantees the traveler
arrives at the desired destination.
Avoiding the Implementation Pitfalls
Because you want your plan to succeed, heed the
advice here and stay away from the pitfalls of
implementing your strategic plan.
Here are the most common reasons strategic plans fail:
ď‚› Lack of ownership: The most common reason a plan
fails is lack of ownership. If people don’t have a stake
and responsibility in the plan, it’ll be business as usual
for all but a frustrated few.
 Lack of communication: The plan doesn’t get
communicated to employees, and they don’t
understand how they contribute.
15. ď‚› Getting mired in the day-to-day: Owners and
managers, consumed by daily operating problems, lose
sight of long-term goals.
ď‚› Out of the ordinary: The plan is treated as something
separate and removed from the management process.
ď‚› An overwhelming plan: The goals and actions
generated in the strategic planning session are too
numerous because the team failed to make tough
choices to eliminate non-critical actions. Employees
don’t know where to begin.
ď‚› A meaningless plan: The vision, mission, and value
statements are viewed as fluff and not supported by
actions or don’t have employee buy-in.
ď‚› Annual strategy: Strategy is only discussed at yearly
weekend retreats.
ď‚› Not considering implementation: Implementation
isn’t discussed in the strategicplanning process. The
planning document is seen as an end i n itself.
16.  No progress report: There’s no method to track
progress, and the plan only measures what’s easy, not
what’s important. No one feels any forward
momentum.
ď‚› No accountability: Accountability and high visibility
help drive change. This means that each measure,
objective, data source, and initiative must have an
owner.
ď‚› Lack of empowerment: Although accountability may
provide strong motivation for improving performance,
employees must also have the authority, responsibility,
and tools necessary to impact relevant
measures. Otherwise, they may resist involvement and
ownership.
 It’s easier to avoid pitfalls when they’re clearly
identified. Now that you know what they are, you’re
more likely to jump right over them!
18. The Preliminary Cost Estimate is developed
based on the best available information,
considering that the project is typically at
approximately 30% completion. Preliminary cost
estimates should be conservative but realistic since
they are typically used to determine project
funding; therefore, in addition to calculating the
preliminary construction costs (costs incurred by
the contractor), the preliminary cost estimate
should also include costs for items such as
construction engineering, change orders,
environmental mitigation and right-of-way (ROW)
acquisitions including off-site land acquisition for
mitigation.
20. Assessing risks on a project, in a way that will add
value and help you manage the project better, is not
easy. Much of what will happen on a project is uncertain
anyway so when do uncertainties become risks? We have,
after all, merely estimated the resources we think we
need or we may not fully understand the business needs
so projects are inherently risky anyway. For some
projects, such as ones using new, untried technology the
whole project may be a risk.
22.  In many businesses, it’s difficult to define individual
roles and responsibilities. Many employees wear several
different hats, completing jobs outside the initial range
of their job description. Unfortunately, this can lead to
a great deal of confusion within the company. Clearly
defining roles and responsibilities, on the other hand,
can have a positive impact on the company as a whole,
particularly as it relates to team projects.
ď‚› Everyone knows what to do. When you set clear
roles and responsibilities, especially formal ones,
everyone knows what’s expected of them within the
group. They know how to behave, what they need to
accomplish, and how to reach the group’s goals.
 Everything gets done. When you’re short on time, it’s
easy for small pieces of the project to be overlooked.
This is especially true if no one is completely clear on
who is responsible for accomplishing those tasks. Less-
desirable tasks are often left alone because no one
wants to claim them. When people understand their job
responsibilities, on the other hand, nothing gets
forgotten in the process.
23. ď‚› People work together better when they
understand their roles. There’s less jockeying for
position, fewer arguments, and higher overall creativity
when everyone understands their responsibility as part
of the group.
 Less energy is wasted. Any time there’s a lack of
clarity, people waste energy dealing with things that
don’t matter. They argue over things that aren’t
important, fail to focus on things that are, and miss out
on opportunities. Define roles and responsibilities, and
a great deal of that energy becomes accessible for
other purposes.
ď‚› Defining roles and responsibilities within your business,
whether it’s an office-wide initiative or dedicated to a
single group, permits you to more effectively manage
your entire business. Everyone should understand their
role within the business and what they are expected to
accomplish, from opening the office in the morning to
the tasks that keep them busy throughout the day.
25. For your path project to be successful, it is important
to consider and appoint a project team to design, plan
and manage the project for you. The consideration of who
you appoint should happen at the early planning stage,
and their appointments made as early as possible, so
their involvement provides a real benefit to the project.
Regardless of your projects size, complexity and risks,
who you appoint into the project team will depend on
how many contractors will be involved in construction
stage. The CDM Regulations 2015 separates construction
projects into two types based on how many contractors
will be working on site at any one time.
26. The two types of project are:
ď‚› One contractor project - if your project only needs one
contractor to carry out all of the work, you will need a
designer and contractor. An example of where this
might happen - one contractor resurfacing a tarmac
path when no other contractors are required to do any
work.
ď‚› More than one contactor project - if your project needs
more than one contractor to carry out different parts of
the work, you will need a principal designer and
principal contractor. An example that might occur, a
contractor building the base layer of a new path
(including groundworks and landscaping works) and a
surfacing contractor laying the new tarmac surface -
that is two contractors involved. The contractor who
builds the base layer would be principal contractor and
the surfacing contractor a sub-contractor, under the
control of principal contractor.
28. Sometimes projects don't always go through an
organized sequence of planning and execution. On many
projects, you're forced to jump into execution and then
catch up with the planning later. Before you know it, you
find that team members and stakeholders have varying
levels of understanding about the purpose and status of
the project.
Regardless of how you start your project, you should
always hold a project kickoff. The purpose of the kickoff
meeting is to formally notify all team members, clients,
and stakeholders that the project has begun and make
sure everyone has a common understanding of the
project and their roles. Like all formal meetings, there
should be an agenda. There are a number of specific
things you want to do at this meeting:
ď‚› Introduce the people at the meeting.
ď‚› Recap the information in the Project Charter, including
the purpose of the project, the scope, the major
deliverables, the risks, the assumptions, the estimated
effort and budget, and the deadline.
29. ď‚› Discuss the project management procedures. It's
important for everyone to understand how the project
manager will manage schedule, issues, scope, risk,
etc., since many people play a role in these procedures.
For example, you need a process to surface scope
change requests, determine their impact, and bring
them forward for approval. You don't want to fight with
people about how the process works after the project
has started. The kickoff meeting is the time to make
sure every understands and agrees to the proposed
project management procedures.
ď‚› Discuss and answer any outstanding questions. The
purpose of the discussion is not to rehash the purpose
of the project, but to allow people to voice specific
questions or concerns they have as the project begins.
ď‚› Confirm that the project is now underway.