Project planning and management
Proper project planning and management is essential for a successful project.
Below
are two videos created for you by August Associates, a leading
strategy consultancy company in Finland. In these videos the consultants
are sharing the key principles of project planning and management.
Hopefully you find these videos helpful when planning and managing your
Capstone project.
You may want to consider the following steps when creating your action plan and schedule for the project:
Problem framing (Video I)
· Define the research questions properly
· Break down the problem into several hypotheses that can be analyzed
Project plan
· Create a project plan (using excel, power point or any other tool that you are comfortable using - for example, the Simple Gantt Chart template in excel is very good and easy to use)
· Structure the timeline based on the deliverables and meeting times of the project (see Capstone - course introduction and instructions for dates)
· Five tips for filling in the project plan (Video II)
- Understand the objective and outcome that you are working towards
- Break down the work into work streams and associated tasks
- Identify the logical sequence of the individual tasks and any interdependencies between them
- Estimate the duration of each task and assign responsibilities
- Execute the plan, and be prepared to adjust it as you go along
· Plan your work also according to other commitments outside the Capstone course (other courses' deliverables, exams, Master's thesis, work, etc.)
· Remember that the hours allocated for the project are 120 per student so adjust your plan accordingly if the project becomes too big