Hi,

as I promised, I will start with a fictitious project. In fact, I will make two Projects. First Project will be “The Wedding”, and after I finish with this one I will continue with the second Project, and it will be “Home sweet home”. The Wedding Project is, as it says, to organize the wedding, and the second will be to build the brand-new house for the just married couple.

OK! What is the goal of The wedding Project? It is to organize wedding for the couple (John and Mary). John and Mary are dating for some time, they are in love, and they have decided that they want to live together in wedlock!

How will we start? With Planning, of course.

What do we have to plan? EVERYTHING, e.g.: Scope (what will be included in The Wedding), Time (when do we have to finish), Costs (how much money will we have to spend, or we intend to spend), Quality (will it be “Glamorous” wedding or not), Risks (where are the risks for the wedding, what can go wrong, which opportunities do we have), etc.

I have visited many countries and cities but I have never been in a wedding outside Croatia. So, I will make a plan for the Wedding like it usually is in Croatia.

I will not write The Project Charter. YES I KNOW that you will criticize me, because The Project Charter is basic document for the Project, and without it, I actually don’t have a Project, but I will suppose that I’ve got the Project Charter from my Sponsor, so it is actually done!

Who is Project Sponsor? In our Project it can be John and Mary (the wedding couple) or their parents (if they will make whole organization). In our Project John and Mary will be a Sponsor(s), and their parents will be also the Sponsor(s), because they will finance the whole project.

We also have to find out Project Constraints (or limitations). For example, the budget can be constraint (if you have $10.000, can you make a glamorous party for 350 people in “Burj Al Arab” hotel in Dubai?).

We have to find out and clear out Project assumptions. Those are things we consider to be true, but they might not be. For example, we assume that everyone from our guest list will come to the Wedding, because they are our good friends, and family, but on the other hand, maybe some of them will have some rapid obligation. So, we have to INVESTIGATE everything about our assumptions!

I will not make all the Planning today, nor I will  make a whole project Plan “on the paper” first, and then put it in the MS PROJECT 2010. I will do those things in parallel.

So, from my next post (Monday, 01.08.2011) I will start with using MS PROJECT 2010, and develop the scope!

Until then,

Best Regards!

P.S. In the next three weeks I will try to keep my posts regularly. I will be on the Adriatic sea cost, on my Vacation, so If I will be late for day or two please don’t be angry!

And, of course, give me your feedback!