Plan

plan

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”
Benjamin Franklin

Once you have established what your project idea is and the goal(s) you wish to achieve, then you need to begin making plans to meet these. When making a plan for your project, it is helpful to set yourself specific objectives (sub goals) and milestones (by when). You also need to consider how you are going to capture your intended ideas, the planning and preparation required, potential testing/checking, implementation, presentation and evaluation.

Some obvious steps to start with are identifying:

  • The project start and end dates
  • Who is involved (for group projects establish agreed communication channels)
  • Major milestones
  • Potential stumbling blocks
  • Realistic outcomes

 

SMART Goals

SMART is a mnemonic acronym, which aims to act as a reminder for useful criteria when setting objectives. This is often used in the workplace for project management, employee performance management and personal development.

SMART_goals

download
Download a SMART Goal Planner HERE

 

DIGITAL TOOLKIT

Toolkit

Basecamp

Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration tool. To-dos, files, messages, schedules, and milestones.
https://basecamp.com/

Slack
Slack is a cloud-based team collaboration tool where chat rooms (channels) are organised by topic. It is also possible to create private groups and direct messaging. All content inside Slack is searchable, including files, conversations, and people.
http://slack.com/

Trello
Users can organise projects through the use of boards, lists and cards. Projects are represented by boards, which contain lists. The lists contain cards (corresponding to tasks). Cards are supposed to progress from one list to the next (via drag-and-drop), for instance mirroring the flow of a feature from idea to implementation. Users can be assigned to cards. Cards accept comments, attachments, votes, due dates and checklists.
https://trello.com/

Google Hangouts
Hangouts allows conversations between two or more users. The service can be accessed online through the Gmail or Google+ websites, or through mobile apps available for Android and iOS. It includes instant messaging, video chat and desktop sharing.
https://hangouts.google.com/

Skype
Skype is an application that provides video chat and instant messaging. Users may exchange digital documents as images, text and video
http://www.skype.com/

WhatsApp
WhatsApp Messenger is an instant messaging app for smartphones, which allows users to send text messages, documents, images, video, user location and audio messages to other users using standard cellular mobile numbers.
https://www.whatsapp.com/

Microsoft Project
A tool that allows users to design a graphical representation of the tasks and resources needed to complete a job or project; the ranges of possible start and end dates and the relationships between tasks; and can also be used to pinpoint bottlenecks and assign priorities.
http://office.microsoft.com/project/

Mind Map
Coggle is an example of a free mind mapping tool
https://coggle.it/

Sketchboard
A creative team sketching and diagramming on an endless whiteboard
https://sketchboard.io/

References

Doran, G. T. (1981). “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives”. Management Review. AMA FORUM. 70 (11): 35–36.