Identifying a Project's Supporting Details

Supporting details are another important aspect of organizational planning. Supporting details vary by application area and project size but typically include items such as organizational structure, job descriptions, and training needs.

Organizational structure
One aspect of compiling supporting details is to understand the limits imposed on you by the company's organizational structure. You may, for example, need to plan more time for executive approval if it is required for all project decisions. These are elements you typically can't change. When it comes to structure-imposed limits, your best strategy is to focus on what you can do within the confines of the organizational structure.

Job descriptions
Job descriptions are another aspect of supporting details. They help your project run smoothly by telling team members what is expected of them. Effective job descriptions eliminate potential conflicts over job duties, roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures. The best job descriptions provide details about competencies, responsibilities, knowledge, authority, and the physical job environment.

Training needs
Another aspect of supporting details is recognizing the training needs of your team members. Sometimes your job descriptions outline competencies your team members don't currently have. In this case, you need a plan outlining your team's training needs. Training ensures your team has the most up-to-date skills and is constantly ready for new challenges.

Supporting details are the final ties that bring a project together. Using this output from organizational planning allows you to move ahead with your project, secure in the knowledge that you have laid your plans carefully. Now you only have to follow through with those plans.

What Does a Staffing Management Plan Include?

Jumping into your project without a staffing management plan is like jumping from a plane without a parachute. It might be the fastest way to your destination, but it clearly is not the safest or smartest decision.

The people you select to work on your project will either contribute to its success or its demise. To ensure the success of your project, you will want to identify your staffing requirements and come up with a staffing management plan.

A staffing management plan is an output of the organizational planning process. This kind of plan includes your basic staffing requirements and provides details about how people will be brought on board and released from the project.

• staffing requirements
  Staffing requirements describe the team members you need to carry out the tasks your project requires. Objective and subjective criteria are used to match the team members to various positions that need to be filled.
  
  Objective criteria outline the technical competencies needed from a potential team member to successfully fulfill a project task. Subjective criteria deal with the needed personality traits to successfully fulfill a project task.
  

• information about how people are brought on to the project
  Planning for your team members before they even come on board will help you to take better advantage of their expertise. Bringing people onto a project can be chaotic. New team members have many questions about their project tasks, roles, and responsibilities. You can help make this transition as smooth as possible by anticipating team members' questions.
  
  Job descriptions, training, project information, and reward programs, and a closing meeting are just some of the items to include in this part of your plan.
  

• Job descriptions - When team members know the parameters of their position, they can focus on exactly what they are there to accomplish. Job descriptions eliminate confusion and provide direction.
• Training - You want your team members to work as efficiently as possible. For this to happen, your team members require proper training. Training takes time up front, but saves you time in the long run.
• Project information - Project information allows team members to see where their tasks fit into the big picture. The more fully informed team members are, the more focused their tasks will be.
• Reward programs - Reward programs work as productivity incentives for your team members. This creates good morale, as team members feel they are recognized for a job well done.
• Closing meeting - A closing meeting, reviews both the positive and negative elements of a finished project. It allows you and your team members to make better plans for the next project, as well as capitalize on the strengths demonstrated in the finished project.

• Information about how people are released from the project
  Creating a plan to move people off projects is also beneficial. This type of planning provides direction, focus, and smooth transitions.
  
  Your staffing management plan should include a plan for re-assigning your team members as soon as the project is completed. Your team members should know when and where their next assignment begins.
  
  Properly releasing staff reduces costs by reducing or eliminating the tendency to make work to fill the time between this assignment and another. It also improves morale by reducing or eliminating uncertainty about future employment opportunities.
  

Completing a staffing management plan before jumping into your project will save you time and trouble later in the project. The plan you develop will help you to see how to put to the best use the skills, expertise, and talents of each and every team member. And this will allow you to execute the project sure and steady with fewer surprises.

Assigning Roles and Responsibilities

Do you cringe at the thought of responsibility? Many people do. Having something fall on your shoulders may seem daunting. However, it is also through responsibility that a certain amount of freedom is gained.

Freedom through responsibility? It's true. Responsibility gives you the freedom to use your skills, talents, and intellect. Most people thrive on responsibility and blossom when they believe they have handled their responsibilities well.

Successful projects have clearly defined project roles (who does what) and responsibilities (who decides what). Most roles and responsibilities are assigned to stakeholders who are actively involved in the work of the project. These can include the project manager, other members of the project management team, and the individual contributors. Roles and responsibilities may vary over time.

Project managers bear the majority of the responsibility for the success of the project. It is their job to ensure that a project comes in on time and on budget. To succeed in this capacity, project managers must delegate roles and responsibilities to their team members. And the tool they use to do this is called a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM).

A RAM links project roles and responsibilities to the project scope definition. A RAM can be developed at various levels. Generally, they fall into two categories: low-level RAM and high-level RAM.

A low-level RAM delegates roles and responsibilities for specific activities to particular individuals within your team.

The more phases you have for your project, the more complex your matrix is going to be. A high-level RAM is very complex and shows many phases of a project. It may define which group or unit is responsible for each element of the work breakdown structure.

Responsibility is an essential component of project success. A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) shows where you and your team members' responsibilities lie.

Assigning responsibilities reaps huge benefits. Your team feels it has control and authority for specific tasks. Progress happens when team members focus on their own responsibilities.