Initiation and Planning

• Team Kickoff
• Communicate
• Scope
• Requirements
• Planning
• Risks
• Budgeting
• Trade-offs
• Commitment

Purpose: Define and Plan the project. Identify and kick off a cross-functional project team to define the detailed scope and requirements for the project; plan and estimate the work and costs involved; make trade-offs as necessary; and commit to an agreed-upon balance among scope, time (schedule), and costs that will meet customer and company goals.

Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda and Guidelines
Multi-Project Kickoff Meeting Agenda
Team Roles and Responsibilities List
Project Team Organization and Assignments
Responsibility Allocation Matrix
Software Release Team Member Glossary

Communications Plan
Project Stakeholder/Influencer Assessment and Communication Plan
Stakeholder Analysis Summary Table
Team Meetings Descriptions Sample
Team Meeting Agenda
Team Meeting Minutes
Agile Technique Guideline: Standup Meetings
Agile Technique Guideline: Information Radiators

Business Process Modeling Technique Brief
Project Scope Definition: Deliverables
Project Scope Definition: Vision Document
Project Scope Definition: Statement of Work (SOW)
Use Case Specification

Requirements documents for different types of projects
Business Requirements Document
Marketing Requirement Document
Product Requirements Specification
Software Requirements Specification

New System Request for Proposal (RFP) Outline
IT Project Request for Proposal (RFP)
RFP for Training Program Development

Related Guidelines
Software Requirements Capture Guideline
Requirements Interview Checklist
Requirements Workshop Planning Guide
Training Needs Assessment Guidelines
Requirements Change Management Guideline
Requirements Measurement Plan
Requirements Management Plan
Technique Brief – Context Diagrams
Requirements Walkthrough Checklist

Planning Process Guidelines
Planning and Scheduling: Task Identification and Work Breakdown
Planning and Scheduling: Identifying Dependencies
Planning and Scheduling: Assigning Resources
Planning and Scheduling: Estimating Work and Costs
Planning and Scheduling: Project Schedule and Critical Path
Planning and Scheduling: Create Project Plan Document
Task Responsibility Matrix Formats
Estimating Process and Methods
Pete's Estimating Laws
Scheduling Checklist
Milestone Table with Driver Tasks

Project management plan documents – example variations
Generic Project Plan Document
IT Project Plan Document
Development Project Plan
Software Project Plan
Project Plan Example – Small Project

Example WBS and Schedules
Department and Project Level WBS Example
MS Project Template for IT Software Development
WBS Example: A Holiday Dinner
WBS for Electromechanical Systems Project
WBS for Large Network Software Project
WBS & Gantt for 802.11 Master Development Schedule
WBS & Gantt for USB Development Schedule
Software Release Life Cycle WBS
Software Bug Fix WBS

Special planning approaches
Agile Technique Brief: Agile Planning
Spiral/Iterative Project Phase Approach
Software Release Life Cycle Overview
Introduction to Software Release Trains
Collaborative Milestone-Driven Planning Process
Planning and Managing Multiple Small Projects

Related Functional Plans
Marketing Plan
Discontinuance End-of-Life Planning
Project Overview Test Plan
Beta Test Plan
User Acceptance Test Plan
User Documentation Plan
New Product Manufacturing Plan
Maintenance Planning Guidelines and Plan Outline
Training Plan - High Level
Localization Guidelines

Product and Project Risk Assessment and Mitigation Tables
Project Risk Checklist
Risk Management Model
Calculating Expected Monetary Value (EMV) of Risks
Risk Management Plan
Risk Management Process
Risk Strategy Selection Matrix

Project Budgets
Tools and Equipment List

Planning and Scheduling: Make Trade-offs and Optimize
Project Flexibility Matrix
Project Alternatives Tradeoff Table
Agenda for Preliminary Design Review Meeting
Review Checklists: Preliminary Design Review

End of Initiation Phase Checklist
Phase signoff process