The organic combination of project plan and product

Today, i would like to share with you the methods and methods of the project plan and the organic combination with the promotion of the product project, hoping to let everyone understand and formulate the project plan.

Project management, abbreviated as PM, is the abbreviation of project management, and the literal translation is the project management method. Its international standardization verification is PMP. Among them, the assessment content is mainly based on management disciplines such as time management, data management, and progress management, and product and demand understanding are supplemented.

on the whole, according to the stage of the life cycle, it is divided into seven parts: "demand", "feasibility", "planning", "design", "construction", "testing" and "handover", which are carried out interactively; however, from the perspective of project management, we are simply divided into six large-scale management: "key concept confirmation", "start project preparation", "planning", "implementation", "supervision" and "end project". of course, this also contains certain details, here we will slowly communicate with you in the future training





so back to the main topic, we are mainly talking about the production method of the project plan today, the most important way and method is actually not from the beginning of our project plan, and before this we must carry out multi-faceted preparation, it can be said that retrospectively, the origin of everything has begun in the demand collection stage of the product

the project plan mainly contains some information such as the following:

• agree and adopt the content agreed by both parties
• the thickness of the information source
• clear content segmentation
• clarity of acceptance criteria
• agree and adopt the content agreed by both parties
• the "agreed upon and agreed content" in the project mainly includes defining or clarifying it in the project regulations or the project charter. for example, whether it complies with national laws and whether it involves foreign industries are used to divide the content, and the content boundaries are specifically explained, which will not be highlighted here

the thickness of the information source
the attendance of information sources is actually a relatively important category, because the output here will be directly related to the direction of the entire project, the formulation of the plan, the clarification of the key parts and even the testing and acceptance stages have a crucial role. today, the content i share is also mainly aimed at this aspect

chapter <>: some key points in the requirements gathering section

first, we need to clarify what we are going to do?

when the product manager collects the user's needs, we can not think that it has been completed, and then design the prototype according to this. in fact, here we are missing the most important link, and the reason for the lack is actually very simple, this part of the work does not have any meaning for the product, but will increase the work, and for the subsequent project work is crucial, that is, the need for the coarseness of the division of confirmation.



second, how to manage the coarseness of demand division - the work elements of product managers
to put it simply, the collected demand is divided and clarified according to the assessment level of rights (demand-side requirements) and value (technical focus), and generally we use the second-line four-item chart to make clear distinctions and judgments.

for example, it is convenient for everyone to think:

WE NEED TO DO A PIAZ, THEN WE NEED THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL:

table, soda, gas/electric stove, oven, fire, pizza dough, tomato sauce, side dishes, cheese

then our demand side sorts:

• pizza dough
• cheese
• side dishes
• oven
• ketchup
• other (interest guidance)

our "cook" requirements:

• pizza dough
• cheese
• oven
• gas/electric stove
• ketchup
• other (development requirements guidance or feasibility guidance)
• then we can get the following graph

it is not difficult to see that the parts that both sides are concerned about are pizza dough, cheese, and then there are also the parts that they attach importance to, so after the differentiation is completed, we can formulate the operation of this direction and the specific content arrangement according to the corresponding demand

So someone must ask, why do we need this part of the information, because with this part of the information we can be clear about what type of product our project is, according to their own different aspects of the industry we generally divide it into ON-PREMISES, IAAS, PAAS and SAAS and integrated IPAAS type of products

well, we still use the above example to tell you the specific differences, using different types, there will be different ideas and solutions.

IaaS: Infrastructure-as-a-Service

With IaaS, you can outsource your hardware elsewhere. IaaS companies will provide offsite servers, storage and networking hardware that you can rent. Savings in maintenance costs and office space allow companies to leverage this hardware to run their applications at any time.

Some of the big IaaS companies include Amazon, Microsoft, VMWare, Rackspace, and Red Hat. But these companies have their own expertise, such as Amazon and Microsoft, which don't just give you IaaS, they also rent out their computing power to you to host your website.

PaaS: Platform-as-a-Service

The second layer is called PaaS, which is sometimes called middleware. All of your company's development can be done at this level, saving time and resources.

PaaS offers a variety of solutions for developing and distributing applications online, such as virtual servers and operating systems. This saves you money on hardware and makes it easier to collaborate between decentralized studios. Web application management, application design, application virtualization, storage, security, and application development collaboration tools.

Some of the big PaaS providers are Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, Force.com, Heroku, Engine Yard. Recently emerging companies are AppFog, Mendix and Standing Cloud.

SaaS: Software-as-a-Service

The third layer is also known as SaaS. This layer is the layer of daily contact with your life, mostly through web browsers. Any application on a remote server can run over the network, which is SaaS.

The services you consume enter these categories entirely from web pages like Netflix, MOG, Google Apps, Box.net, Dropbox, or Apple's iCloud. Although these web services are used for business and entertainment or both, they are also part of the cloud technology.

Some SaaS applications used as commerce include Citrix's Go To Meeting, Cisco's WebEx, Salesforce's CRM, ADP, Workday, and SubxessFactors.

that is to say, different types of products directly affect our clear direction and boundaries in product design and project cutting, so they play a crucial role in the project plan.

people's words are: you want to travel, you take the car to travel, you and your friends take the car to travel, in these 3 sentences, you go to travel is the core part. then it is necessary to prioritize the completion of the core parts, the thickness of the project plan, and the focused confirmation method.
chapter <>: some of the things in the project that need to be clear
how to plan your progress and how to use the above information is described in detail here

step 1.distinguish the severity of the requirements
we generally use the two vertical and four icons to prioritize and focus on the needs and content, and the specific styles and usage methods are as follows:

through reasonable splitting and cropping, you can better optimize the prioritization of projects, better provide definition reference, and plan the plan.

in human terms, it is that the requirements are prioritized and there is roi, and the positions of the two sides are inconsistent, and they need to be communicated and confirmed, and the core requirements and functions are basically recognized by everyone, and in the project preparation, the core requirements and functions are confirmed, and some framework deployment can be done first.

step 2.define milestones, 

activities and activity relationships through the output of evaluation criteria
a schedule management plan is an important part of a project management plan. it describes the flow of the process of managing progress, including metrics such as the following:

• the schedule methods and tools that will be used to develop the schedule model
• accuracy (this will include project progress)
• unit of measure (hours, days, weeks)
• control thresholds, such as precautionary or corrective action plans and feasibility when opportunities fluctuate or buffer
• MEASUREMENT METHODS. E.G. SCHEDULE DEVIATION (SV) BOUNDARIES OR PROGRESS PERFORMANCE INDEX (SPI)
• a guide to developing a network diagram
• estimation method for resource availability and duration estimates
• the frequency and format of progress status reports
• Defined by the above indicators, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be carried out

decomposition using decomposition or rolling planning can eventually produce the following data:

• activity list (task list)
• activity properties (task completion requirements)
• list of milestones (defining small implementation cycles)
• the list of activities includes: scope benchmarks

range benchmarks include:

• project scope specification (already formulated within the project charter)
• WBS PACKAGE
• WBS DICTIONARY
• Activity properties include explicit WBS properties and additional information

activity properties include:

• ACTIVITY IDENTIFIER OR CODE (WBS CODE)
• ACTIVITY NAME (WBS TASK NAME)
• ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION (WBS TASK DESCRIPTION, AND COMPLETION CONDITION DESCRIPTION)
• FRONT OR BACK ACTIVITY (FRONT-LOADING WBS TASKS, TRIGGERING WBS TASK ASSOCIATIONS)
• LOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS (WBS AFFILIATIONS)
• AMOUNT OF ADVANCE OR LAG (WBS ASSESSMENT COMPLETION PROGRESS)
• MANDATORY DATE (WBS MANDATORY COMPLETION DATE)
• constraints
• what-if condition (trigger condition)
• the level of resources and technology required
• fulfillment geographic location (performer or organization)
• type of input (mode or intensity of input)
• list of milestones: as the beginning and end of each life cycle stage, the completion of key payable results, passing a benchmark or test, or obtaining formal signs and acceptance.

each milestone is defined again to redefine the requirements, risks, costs and other parts of the project management plan that need to be updated for the current phase of the activity, with reference to the activity attributes table


the activity property sheet is as follows:

step 3:use the above information to clarify the relationship between miles within the project

generally adjusted via the network diagram:

regional concepts within the network diagram:

area description

• GREEN AREA: THE ORDER IN WHICH THE TASKS ARE PERFORMED IN THE CURRENT MODULE (A~G)
• BLUE AREA: ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OR IMMEDIATE ACTIVITIES (F) REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN TASKS
• red zone: closely followed by the task to match the output
• the entire process completes the r&d schedule and development direction of the current milestone

an introduction to some of these characters

• FS-2d: 2 days in advance between the completion of activity A and the start of activity C
• +2d: There is a 2-day lag between the completion of the activity and the start of activity D
• SS: THERE IS A START-START (SS) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN E AND F
• FF: THERE IS A COMPLETION-COMPLETION (FF, I.E. SYNCHRONOUS COMPLETION) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN G AND H
• ALL OTHER UNLABELED RELATIONSHIPS ARE DONE-START (FS) RELATIONSHIPS

step 4.project activity cycle time estimate

most sponsors and clients tend to be aggressive estimates, and they want projects to be completed faster and better. but if your estimates are radical, you'll be behind plan at the beginning and will have a hard time catching up. more aggressive estimates carry a high risk over the course of the entire project, so the budget cannot be measured, resulting in an uncontrollable and unevaluable state of the entire project


so how we should evaluate the activity cycle time and even the cost of the project, which becomes a part of every project management that must be mastered


generally speaking, an accurate activity cycle estimate needs to have a stable core team as the basis for forming a feasibility estimate with relevant data, and other relevant data materials include:

• quarterly management plan
• list of activities
• activity properties
• activity resource requirements
• resource calendar
• project scope specification
• risk register
• resource decomposition structure
• business environment factors
• organize process assets
• then through expert judgment, similar comparative estimation, parameter estimation, three-point estimation, group decision-making technology, savings analysis ability and other methods to decompose and obtain the data we need

here we will highlight one of these methods:

Analogy estimation (RERT estimation).


the analogy estimation method uses standardized calculation methods to briefly estimate standardized bases such as "industry value" and "expected continuity"


the formula is as follows: (most optimistic + most likely *4 + most pessimistic) / 6


for example: you need to travel to shanghai on business, the ticket is 596, and then the fare is 300 when you inquire about the special price, and the price reaches 700 in the tight period, then the fare you can expect should be between 396 and 596. note here that the value you expect is not the ultimate actual value, but you can use this to reverse the expected value of party a and the time period of time period that can be received at each stage of the project

similarly, we can calculate the project cycle as well

for example: a function, if 1 person implements, then it takes 7 days (8 man-hours per day). if there are 2 people, it takes 3 days (8 working hours per day) to complete, if 3 people can do it in 2 days (8 working hours)

then the calculation work can be calculated using this as the ruler:

(8*7+8*2*3+8*3*2*4)/6=(56+48+192)/6=49.34 man-hours

it can be determined that the best configuration time scheme is completed for 2 people in 3 days

step 5. make a schedule

after the rules are processed according to the above information, we can get some specific information as follows: the process of the entire project needs to be executed and the time and period required by the individual nodes, so here we can initially develop the relevant schedule, and here we will continue to use the network diagram concept to complete



first of all, i need to develop a task card, which is in the following style:

WHERE ES = EARLIEST START DATE, EF IS THE EARLIEST FINISH DATE, LS IS THE LATEST START DATE, AND LF IS THE LATEST END DATE

THE TASK NUMBER IS THE SAME AS THE TASK NUMBER IN THE WBS PACKAGE, AND THE ESTIMATED TIME IS THE COMPLETION TIME BEFORE THE ASSESSMENT (SEE STEP 4 FOR DETAILS)

then we need to make the "earliest" (expected) condition estimate of the entire project network diagram (referring to step 3), which is deformed as:


after that, we further refine the "latest" (bottom line) condition estimate, which is deformed as:


the final output style is the following figure (the difference point is in free floating, and the marker description of the total float)

some of these nouns are explained:

float: the difference in data between the earliest (start-end) and the latest (start-end) is called floating
total float: without delaying the project completion date or violating schedule constraints, the progress activity can be delayed from its earliest start date to the current task state, the bottom line amount of time that can be delayed

free float: the amount of time that a progress activity can postpone without delaying the earliest opening date of the task's future activities or violating schedule constraints

• "earliest start date (es): the earliest point in time at which an unfinished portion of a progress activity may begin based on progress network logic, data dates, and progress constraints in the critical path
• earliest finish date (ef): the earliest point in time at which an unfinished portion of a progress activity may be completed based on progress network logic, data dates, and schedule constraints in the critical path
• last start date (ls): in the critical path, the latest point at which an unfinished portion of a progress activity may begin based on progress network logic, data dates, and schedule constraints
• latest finish date (lf): in the critical path, based on the progress network logic, data dates, and schedule constraints, the latest point at which an unfinished portion of a progress activity may be completed"

of course, under some necessary conditions, it may be necessary to urgently or prioritize the implementation of some functions, which we generally call the critical path state and express it through the critical path



this means that regardless of any change in work hours or activities, priority must be given to ensuring the implementation and completion of the relevant content in the current process

according to the above content, we can completely divide the specific content and time of the project, and use it after completing the division

Microsoft Project completes the description of the project plan, and supports the follow-up of the burndown situation and the issuance of the corresponding WBS task package. The overall schedule is based on the comparison difference of the output results, and the project schedule and cost management are completed

chapter <>: about the cost management section

in fact, the above has completed the method of the more important project plan content in project management, but if in the actual design process we will inevitably find a more awkward problem, why the cycle is only so, and how we can effectively have a basis for the program to our leadership or business side, so that it is clear the necessity and soundness of the cycle, here must include the content of the cost management part, in order to clarify the reasons for the definition of personnel and project cycles

HERE WE NEED TO MENTION SEVERAL NECESSARY ELEMENTS DEFINED IN THE PROJECT CHARTER, THEY ARE: RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI), PAYBACK PERIOD, NET EARNED VALUE (NPV), FUTURE VALUE (FV), INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN (IRR)

To put it simply, ROI is the return standard that investors need, and generally we still use RERT estimation, through the RERT estimation of the industry value of the product, roughly determine its software development cost and supporting value in general

• ROI = ESTIMATED COST * FUTURE VALUE
• future value = 1 + expected dividend on investment
• expected dividend on investment = net earned value / product input value
• net earned value = product payback period value - product input value
• INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN = (ROI - ASSESSED COST) / COST

There is a bit more to say here, just to tell you that the above content is used to transform the value of the product into a cycle of specific methods, through these conversions, we can clearly give us a unit of time value

we then assess the value of our own team, whether the corresponding cost requirements can be met during this cycle, so the corresponding staffing is carried out

for example, the cost of a pizza is 100 yuan, and the cost of a human resource is 5 yuan per minute. 1 takes 10 minutes to complete; if 2 people get it, it takes 3 minutes to complete

then the calculation is as follows

• the first type is completed in 10 minutes for 1 person
• net earned value = 100 - (1 * 5 * 10) = 50
• then the second kind of 2 people 3 minutes to complete
• net earned value = 100 - (2 * 5 * 3) = 70

then the second method is to be more efficient.

After the above calculation and collation, we can directly put the cost management to the intuitive level of management, better protection of their own interests, when there is a change in demand and major changes, we can give each other the cost or cycle after the evaluation cycle to choose the cost or cycle to invest, so that the business side more understand the value of our side. also by controlling the cost, optimizing the team and improving the efficiency will help.