Project Time and Quality - Coursework Example

Also, a project has a definite product or service that it creates at a given point in time. This defines the uniqueness of projects in the world of business. Projects come with inherent issues and problems. First of all, a project is temporary and due to that, the team members and project stakeholders are not used to working with each other. In practical terms, most projects entail the collaboration between complete strangers who are unified by the need to work together to attain certain defined objectives.

Secondly, a project aims at creating a specified deliverable and measurable end and this demands specified processes and activities that must be completed to attain this specific end. Also, projects involve resource constraints. This means that the time, budget and resources for the execution of the project are not infinite but limited. To ensure that these three issues are controlled and optimum results are attained from the project, there is the need for proper planning, co-ordination and monitoring (Woodward, 2009).

In other words, there should be a plan that will ensure that all team members, irrespective of their diverse backgrounds can work together and attain the objectives of the project. Secondly, there is the need to use planning to ensure that the specific deliverable is created and created according to specification. Finally, there is the need to plan to ensure that resources are judiciously and optimally used for the attainment of the objectives of the research. Thus from the onset of a project, there is the need for the project plan to draw the bottom line or yardsticks and define the scope of the project.

This should be spelt out clearly in unambiguous terms and preferably in writing. Personally, I identify three main planning stages in projects. There is the initial planning phase, the contingent planning stage and the monitoring/corrective planning phase. These three planning stages are important in the proper management of projects in organisations. Initial Planning Phase Project Management is about initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and control and closing processes (Portny, 2010).

However, for the attainment of all these stages of project management, there is the need for good planning and monitoring of the project. “Project Management Plan is a document used to co-ordinate all the project planning documents and help guide the project's execution and control” (Schwalbe, 2010). This means that the Project Management Plan is an integrated set of documents that accommodates all the sub-plans of the project (Knutson, & Bitz, 2006). It is a centralised plan that includes all the various plans for the handling of issues pertaining to the project at hand.

Aside being an integrated document, it contains certain centralised matters like the identification of project planning assumptions, decisions on choices and the definitions of resources and constraints (Schwalbe, 2010). So the Project Management plan sets the benchmarks for operations and activities in a project. It identifies the yardsticks and defines 'Where We Are” (WWR) and “Where We Want to Get” (WW2G). It creates the standard measures for the various activities related to the project at hand.

As it sets the standards for what must be achieved through the project, it spells out and clarifies stakeholder rights and responsibilities. In other words, the Project Manag