3 Planning and Managing Project Work
Learn how to authorize, plan, coordinate, monitor, and adapt project work while managing scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, governance, and change.
Plan for the project context
Project planning turns an approved idea into coordinated work intended to deliver outcomes and value. The project manager integrates scope, schedule, cost, , resources, and governance so decisions in one area are understood in relation to the whole project.
Choose a planning approach that fits the work. Predictive approaches plan more work in advance, adaptive approaches refine work as learning occurs, and hybrid approaches combine both. In all approaches, plans and forecasts should reflect the project’s context and be updated as information and performance change.
Authorize the project
Initiation clarifies why a project should proceed, who can authorize it, and what success broadly means. Before detailed planning, establish the business need, expected benefits, major constraints, assumptions, key stakeholders, and the authority granted to the project manager.
A business case explains the rationale for the work and compares options, costs, benefits, and risks. A formally authorizes a project or phase. It typically summarizes objectives, high-level requirements, measurable success criteria, major risks, summary milestones, budget parameters, the sponsor, and the project manager’s authority. The business case supports the investment decision; the charter authorizes the work.
For example, a company considering a customer-service platform replacement might compare upgrading its existing system with purchasing a new one. After leaders select an option, the charter can authorize the project, name its sponsor and manager, and set initial objectives such as reducing response time.
Authorization does not mean every detail is already known. For uncertain work, authorize a limited discovery phase, prototype, or first delivery increment, then use evidence and governance decisions to refine the plan.
Set up
defines how decisions, oversight, accountability, escalation, and approvals work. It connects project-level decisions to organizational strategy, policies, regulations, and investment priorities. Governance may involve a sponsor, steering committee, product owner, project manager, functional managers, and specialist or compliance authorities.
Agree on the following at the start:
Decision rights: Who can approve scope, spending, schedule changes, and acceptance?
Escalation paths: Which issues must be raised, to whom, and within what time?
Review points: When will leaders assess continued viability, risks, delivery results, and benefits?
Change authority: Which changes can the team approve, and which require formal review?
Acceptance and closure: Who confirms deliverables meet agreed criteria, and who takes over ongoing operations?
Governance should be proportionate to the project’s risk, complexity, and organizational context. It should enable timely decisions rather than create unnecessary approval delays. A project manager should not quietly approve a change beyond their authority; they should assess its impacts and submit it through the agreed decision process.
Define and control scope
Scope describes the work and deliverables included in the project, as well as relevant boundaries and exclusions. Requirements express stakeholder needs; deliverables are the products, services, or results created to meet those needs. Clear acceptance criteria explain how stakeholders will determine whether a deliverable is acceptable.
Define scope in predictive work
A useful sequence is:
Elicit and analyze requirements with relevant stakeholders.
Define deliverables, boundaries, assumptions, constraints, and exclusions.
Decompose the total scope into a and manageable work packages.
Define acceptance criteria and confirm how deliverables will be reviewed.
Establish a scope baseline and manage proposed changes through the agreed process.
The WBS organizes the total project scope; it is not merely a task list. Its components provide a basis for estimating, assigning responsibility, scheduling, and tracking work. is uncontrolled expansion of scope. Reduce it by clarifying requirements and boundaries, making changes visible, and evaluating their effects—not by automatically rejecting every request.
Refine scope in adaptive work
Adaptive teams may refine details over time. They can organize work in a product backlog using items such as epics and user stories, prioritize by value and risk, and define acceptance criteria for each increment. Flexibility in detailed requirements does not remove the need to manage objectives, constraints, dependencies, and stakeholder expectations.
Build and manage the schedule
A schedule turns project work into an ordered plan for when activities or increments will occur. For predictive planning, identify activities, dependencies, durations, milestones, calendars, and resource constraints, then develop and approve an appropriate schedule baseline.
Common dependency relationships are:
Finish-to-start: One activity must finish before another starts.
Start-to-start: One activity must start before another can start.
Finish-to-finish: One activity must finish before another can finish.
The is the longest-duration path through a schedule network and determines the earliest possible completion under the modeled assumptions. Activities on it have no schedule flexibility, or total float, although changes to logic, resources, calendars, or estimates can alter the path. The is not necessarily the most important work: a noncritical activity can still be high-risk or strategically essential.
If a forecast shows delay, first understand its cause and effect on the completion date. Options include changing sequencing, resolving a resource constraint, reducing or resequencing scope through authorization, overlapping activities, or by adding resources to shorten critical-path work. can increase rework risk; can increase cost. Consider the trade-offs with stakeholders before choosing.
Adaptive teams often plan near-term work in greater detail and use release plans, iterations, and prioritized backlogs for later work. Update schedule forecasts as estimates and actual performance change.
Estimate and manage cost
Cost planning identifies the resources needed, estimates their cost, and establishes how spending and forecasts will be monitored. Estimates should state their basis, assumptions, confidence level, and uncertainty. Early estimates are often less certain; refine them as scope and information improve.
A is the approved, time-phased budget used to measure and manage project cost performance. The overall funding requirement may include contingency reserve for identified risks and management reserve for unforeseen work, according to organizational policy. Keep reserves and authority to use them clear: a reserve does not authorize scope expansion without approval.
Use earned value to assess performance
combines scope, schedule, and cost information at a status date:
(planned value) is the budgeted value of work scheduled by that date.
(earned value) is the budgeted value of work actually completed.
(actual cost) is the cost actually incurred for completed work.
. A negative cost variance indicates the project is over budget.
. A negative schedule variance indicates less work was completed than planned, measured in budget units.
. A value below indicates cost efficiency is worse than planned.
. A value below indicates schedule progress is slower than planned.
For example, if and , then : the project has earned of budgeted value per dollar spent.
An estimate at completion (EAC) may use different formulas depending on whether current cost performance is expected to continue and whether remaining work will follow the original plan. State the assumption behind a forecast rather than applying a formula mechanically.
Plan for
means deliverables meet requirements and are fit for intended use. Plan before work is performed by identifying stakeholder expectations, measurable standards, applicable regulations, acceptance criteria, review methods, and responsibilities.
Distinguish three related activities:
planning: Decide what standards apply and how the project will meet them.
assurance (QA): Evaluate and improve the processes used to create deliverables.
control (QC): Inspect or test outputs to determine whether they conform to requirements.
Prevention and process improvement can avoid defects; inspection and testing can detect them. is not simply more testing or adding features beyond requirements. Define fit-for-purpose measures and make trade-offs visible. When a defect or failed test appears, investigate its cause, assess its impact, correct it through the appropriate process, and verify the fix.
Plan and coordinate resources
Resource planning covers people, equipment, materials, facilities, funding, and external expertise. Estimate the needed capabilities and quantities, identify when they are required, clarify roles and decision authority, and check availability against calendars and other commitments.
Useful tools include a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), such as a RACI chart, resource calendars, team agreements, and an organizational chart. Resource estimates should align with the WBS or other work structure, the schedule, and the cost plan. If a specialist is unavailable when required, the project manager may negotiate timing, find an alternative, acquire external support, or replan the work while respecting procurement, organizational, and governance rules.
People are not interchangeable units of capacity. Match work to skills, account for onboarding and learning, support collaboration, and resolve conflicts constructively. In adaptive teams, clarify shared accountability and needed skills while giving the team room to organize its work.
Integrate plans and manage change
Integration coordinates planning and decisions across the project. The project management plan, or an equivalent set of plans, explains how work will be performed, monitored, controlled, and adapted. It may include subsidiary plans, baselines, and supporting documents; its format should fit the organization and delivery approach.
A change to one constraint can affect others. For example, adding a feature may increase scope, require more testing, extend the schedule, consume resources, and raise cost. Before making a material change:
Clarify the request and its expected benefit or reason.
Analyze effects on scope, schedule, cost, , resources, risks, contracts, and intended outcomes.
Identify options, including deferral, substitution, or a smaller increment.
Obtain a decision from the authorized person or body.
If approved, update relevant plans, baselines, backlog, records, and communications.
Implement and verify the change; communicate a rejection or deferral clearly.
A baseline is an approved reference for comparison and control, not a guarantee that conditions will never change. In adaptive work, the product backlog and forecasts may change regularly, while governance still controls commitments, funding, compliance, and significant impacts. Integrated planning also means checking whether the project continues to support its business case and expected benefits.
Apply planning to project situations
A late feature request
A senior stakeholder requests a valuable feature shortly before a release, but it could delay testing. Clarify the request and assess its impacts and options with the relevant team and stakeholders. Then route the decision through the agreed change or prioritization process. A request from a senior stakeholder does not, by itself, authorize bypassing impact analysis.
A missed milestone
A critical-path activity is forecast to finish late because a required specialist is unavailable. Confirm the schedule impact and investigate feasible resource or sequencing options with the appropriate managers. Compare trade-offs, such as reassignment, an alternative specialist, resequencing, or an approved schedule adjustment, before committing to added cost or increased risk.
A failed test
When a deliverable fails an agreed acceptance test, record and assess the nonconformance, determine its cause and impact, arrange appropriate corrective work, and retest against the acceptance criteria. Do not accept a known defect merely to protect the schedule unless an authorized stakeholder makes an informed decision consistent with safety, compliance, and governance requirements.
Across these situations, identify the real issue, gather relevant information, involve the right decision-makers, assess impacts across the project, and choose an action consistent with value, governance, and the delivery approach.