The project manager is frequently asked to conduct a project launch effort. As such, he or she acts as a facilitator and meets with all the participants who will be involved in the project planning process. The primary purpose, as we executives know, is not to make a presentation, specifically, or participate as a member of the audience. Rather, this is the time for the facilitator to effectively determine expectations and establish accountability for the implementation of a successful project. This goal is achieved with three specific objectives:
- First, a schedule plan must be produced in the shortest amount of time as possible in order to meet specific requirements—determine needs and expectations.
- Second, functional representatives must be organized into a workable and effective project team. Keep in mind the term “organize” is used to indicate a project team is created not by magic but, rather, by the use of consciously employed consideration and concentration—establishing responsibility and accountability.
- Third, after both the schedule plan and project team are beginning to develop, it is essential for the project manager to prepare the project team for post-planning roles and responsibilities.
Facilitation: What Is It?
To facilitate means to make something easier. In the case of the project management planning process, facilitate means to simplify or ease the use and understanding of the project management tools and the building, itself, of the project team. Facilitating means leading others through a process, frequently referred to as indirect training. This culminates in the development of concrete deliverables.
Why Facilitation?
Facilitation is relevant in cases where participants are already familiar with the project management tools, as well as the project management process. The objective is not, literally, to train the participants. The objective is to help them work through the planning process in order to develop the first cut of a schedule, and if indicated, a resource load and budget. However, it is crucial that there be an understanding of the basic tools and the use of major milestones in the planning process.
Let's look at the key process points or milestones.
Positioning of the Project Planning Facilitation Process. The facilitation process requires the project planning facilitator to “elicit,” or “draw” information from the team. To accomplish this, the project facilitator must first “break the ice” in a new situation, with the objective of putting team members at ease. The team members must:
- Know who is on the team and why
- Know what will be expected of them in the meetings
- Be convinced that the facilitator will successfully guide them through the process.
This might best be accomplished by the facilitator conducting private meetings with individual team members in advance of that first meeting.
Meeting 1 – Orient/Prepare the Project Team. The facilitator needs to reach an understanding and agreement with the members of the team on the major objectives of the project planning facilitation process. The capacity and willingness on the part of the facilitator to help must also be demonstrated.
- Define your relationship to the other members of the team.
- Precisely describe the goals of the project and the role of these meetings in contributing to this effort.
- Discuss how you will proceed to achieve these goals.
The facilitator will contribute to ensuring that the team understands and agrees upon future agendas for the planning meetings. The tangible benefit will be to establish the contract between the facilitator and the team members to accomplish the following:
- Develop project objectives and scope
- Develop work breakdown structure
- Identify key functional leaders
- Produce a schedule, resource load and budget, if appropriate.
It is essential to secure a commitment from all contributors to attend the meetings and to support the planning process.
Meeting 2 – Develop the Objectives and the Scope of the Project and Conceptual Levels of the Work Breakdown Structure. Before they come to this meeting, request the team members to consider both the objectives and the scope of the project, and to draft the first two levels of the WBS.
The objective of this meeting is to set the boundaries of the project by going beyond the tip of the iceberg. Take the necessary steps to define a contract of what is to be accomplished by the project. Confirm that all leaders are present. Elicit the perspective of each leader as to the draft of the objective statement and the first two levels of the work breakdown structure.
There is no single way to develop a work breakdown structure. However, you should confirm that the work activities at Level 1 truly roll-up to the project scope and objectives, and that the tasks at Level 2 roll-up to accomplish the activities at Level 1. Use validation both to ensure accuracy and as a facilitation tool to establish agreement among the key players.
Request the team members reevaluate and reaffirm their commitment to the scope definition as well as the first two levels of the WBS.
Meeting 3 – Develop Final Work Breakdown Structure and Team Organization. The first segment of this meeting is to re-address the scope definition and reconfirm that everyone does, in fact, agree on the end-product that is to be generated. If there is any area of disagreement, the facilitator needs to address it without delay.
Once there is agreement upon the project scope and the first two levels of the work breakdown structure, development of the WBS will be furthered. Since the scope and the first two levels of the WBS represent the conceptual plan, they provide the direction for the rest of the WBS development. It is worthwhile to note that the functional leaders must develop and agree upon the conceptual levels since they are responsible for providing functional direction.
Those who actually do the work, preferably with the assistance of the functional leaders who will join Meeting 3, will develop the detail levels of the WBS. Before actual work on the lower-level WBS begins, the entire team should be identified and associated with the functional organization to which they report. By making this identification, a project organization chart can be constructed. The chart can and should be broken down into functional sections, as required.
Encourage the participants to discuss any problems that they may have with this process. For example, they may not have the individual authority to make the decisions, or they may never have done a project like this and require additional support.
Assign each member the responsibility before attending the next meeting to analyze the order in which these activities will be performed, their dependencies, and the estimated durations of each activity.
Meeting 4 – Develop Duration and Dependencies. Every activity is in a dependent relationship with either its predecessor activity, a fixed point in time, the start of the project, the end of the project, or an assigned start date.
When explaining a relationship to its predecessor activity, it is important to define the three types of logical dependent relationships:
- Start-to-start: I cannot water the lawn until the hose is turned on.
- Finish-to-start: Put on your socks before your shoes.
- Finish-to-finish: The preparation of a baseball field for a game will not be complete until the last base is in place.
The assignment of durations by the small groups should be an intense commitment. It is difficult to assign durations with predictable accuracy due to the fact that the only existing guideline is a database based upon experience. Without a historical standard, the team can call upon a combination of their own experience, which is invaluable, and their most educated guesses. Experience has demonstrated that team members arrive at the most accurate durations when they work in small groups or workshops. Notwithstanding the time constraints imposed on the planning process, as much thought and consideration as possible should be spent developing the most accurate predictions possible for each task.
Meeting 5 – Produce a Schedule Plan. The small teams now have enough information to develop a schedule on a time scale. When the schedule is completed, request the participants to review it for:
- Schedule completeness
- Dependency relationships
- Reasonability durations
- Placement of float
- Assignment of responsibilities.
The most important aspect of this meeting is to identify problems with the schedule plan and then, during the post-planning meetings, assign responsible individuals to resolve the problems. For example, the critical path, which determines the duration of the project, may indicate that the project will take longer than the acceptable time to complete. Consequently, the critical path must be compressed. Those responsible for the critical path activities must reevaluate their assignments as a basis for recommending ways to shorten the duration.
There may be other deliverables that you want to create as a product of the planning process—for example, a dependency network, a resource loading chart, a risk management plan and, perhaps, a budget. Select those items that will be necessary to monitor and track the project.
As you are facilitating all these meetings, keep in mind that each deliverable must be facilitated with the team members throughout the preparation. Encourage them to develop the first cut of the deliverable in small groups. Suggest they keep a list of open items that must be resolved prior to the next meeting, and then request they resolve the open items and complete the deliverables. As a result of these actions, the team members will begin to see progress. You will be simultaneously developing positive feelings about the project management process and building a team relationship.
What Has Caused the Team Rapport?
Let's reflect for a moment and review what has been accomplished in building a project team. Team building begins prior to the first meeting when the facilitator establishes good communication and a positive rapport with the key players. Thus, the nucleus of the team has been established prior to the time when the full team is assembled. The team relationship is then expanded during the scope development stage, when a consensus on the project objective and WBS Levels 1 and 2 are achieved. This nucleus group contributes to establishing stability as the team building process continues.
Summary
Whether the facilitator will continue with the project, or only has the assignment of expediting the planning process, the initiatives described above will facilitate the timely and organized development of project plans. In conjunction with the creation of tangible project plans, team rapport, respect and synergy have also been established.
There are four elements of the team building or group process of which the facilitator must be aware of and responsive to:
- Adapting to the realities of the immediate situation
- Accomplishing the group's goals
- Unifying the group
- Responding to the members' needs.
Intangible as that team relationship may appear, the fact that this group of players has effectively and efficiently generated a schedule of time and, possibly, resources and budgets, sets the foundation for continued teamwork throughout the remainder of the project effort.
Joan Knutson is president and founder of Project Management Mentors, a San Fancisico-based project management consulting and training firm.
PM Network • August 1995