When it comes to facility planning, the statement “spend a dollar today to save ten dollars tomorrow” could not be truer. The best time to influence a project with the least impact on cost is during the front end planning phase. It has been my experience that spending a little extra time on planning at project inception can pay large dividends on the back end of the project, in the form of met expectations.
Two primary Front End Planning steps that reap benefits include:
1. Developing a project charter
- Sets the business drivers
- Documents justification for the project
2. Clearly defining the acceptance criteria
- Used as the basis of design
- Helps differentiate between project requirements and “wants”
In my own project management experience, I’ve found that clarification of project needs and wants helps advance a project. Many projects get “hung up” trying to differentiate the required scope from the wanted (or nice to have) scope and thus struggle to get funded. Lastly, understanding the key project drivers early assures alignment of project scope, schedule, and budget.
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