What is Design for Project Management

Project Design

A very critical phrase that is done early in the project life cycle to determine the success factors, criteria, features, structure, and major deliverables is called the project designplanned out. Usually, there is more than one design for the projects. The idea is to select the best design for the execution of the project. The output of the project design phase includes sketches, flowcharts, prototypes, demos, site trees, HTML screen designs, and photo impressions, etc. Register for PMP Certification Online at StarAgile to know more on the topic of project management.

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How to Design a Project

1.     Project Vision - The vision statement outlines the reason for the project and how the project vision and organization's vision are similar and complement each other. The vision statement is a formal document that describes the project's potential to the stakeholders and ensures that everybody understands the viability of the project. The project vision must closely match the organization's greater vision. This is generally drafted by the project manager and then confirmed by the project owner or the project sponsor.

2.     Identify the problem - The project owner or the project manager identifies what the initial problem is and how to overcome the problem in this project. The customer comes to us with the problem statement and the pain points that he has and provides us the project to solve the problem or remove the pain points. Thus this step is a very important step that is to identify the problem and plan how to solve the problem. Are you ready to solve the problems of the projects? We recommend you enroll in PMP Certification Course Online at StarAgile institute and learn more about project management.

Also Read: The Demand for PMP-Certified Experts in UK Finance

3.     Requirements - Design plan is made on how to execute the work as per the project requirement. For every requirement generally, there are more than 2 designs created. And after seeing the output of the design the best designs for each customer requirement are selected.

4.     Features - Once you have the best design you need to work on the features that the execution phase will come out with. The features of the project are the functional and aesthetic created and added values to any customer requirements. For example, you need a form to be filled by the user on the website. This is a feature of the website. Or you can have your website to do credit card/debit card transactions when created this becomes the functional feature. Another example is you want to have your website look in different such as background colour, fonts colour, size, type, etc this becomes the aesthetic feature.

5.     Resources - In the design stage you also work out what the resources needed such as staff, equipment needed such as software and computers, etc. We also plan in the design stage which staff will do what, what is the time frame, and how the definition of done is defined for the task to be completed. Resource design planning also involves working on cost, time, and efforts, and evaluating whether what is done meets the requirements with limited resources in place.

6.     Project Goals - The goals are part of the project which defines the benefits achieved, the definition of done for each task, and how to call the project closure. The goals need not be only the achieved customer requirements it can be the benefits reaped during the project completion to the business, organization, project guarantor, and the team. Goals are always measurable and observable. We can therefore apply the SMART method to accomplish the project goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

7.     Project strategy - A strategy is the process of achieving the goals created during the design planning stage. This is required as there are 3 constraints to any projects they are cost, time, and scope. Without deviating from the planned design we must achieve the goals. The strategies are made by looking at past projects or applying the best practices and then building the strategy and augment it periodically in the right way to success. We can help you to design the right strategy for your project. Enrol for the Project Manager Certificate Online at StarAgile institute know how to make the right strategy for a project.

8.     Contingency plan - There are no projects without risks, issues, and problems. So one must have planned the contingency plan for the project early before the start of the project. The negative risks are everywhere in the project such as lack of skills, unavoidable absences, cost underestimated, scope poorly planned and schedules with delays, etc. You need a backup plan to address these issues, risks, and problems in the project at the right time and quickly before the execution of the project.

9.     Evaluation Plan - With the right evaluation plan will help you monitor the progress of the project. There are 2 components for the project to be analyzed they are outcomes and impact. The outcomes are the measurable changes and impacts are how well the project goals are being achieved. The evaluation plan helps to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the project by tracking its progress. Know the best practices of project tracking for effective project design and management.

10.  Cost or the budget - Cost is a very important factor to be considered and one must know that it is one of the triple constraints along with scope and time. Underestimating the cost will make the money dry up soon and overestimating the cost will lessen the profit margin. So the cost must be optimized and you can take the experience from past projects and best practices to provide the right cost budget for the project.

11.  Project Proposal - Finally you must make the project proposal document that is competitive, with design features, and functional and aesthetic requirements, and explain how you are going to achieve the goals and requirements of the project. It must be competitive in terms of scope, time, and cost so that the customer chooses us when compared to others in the competitive marketplace.

Also Read: What is a Product Breakdown Structure?

Importance of Project Design 

The importance of the project design phase is as follows,

• It creates a repeatable formula for success.
• It ensures that we move in the right way during our project execution stage
• It helps not to miss any steps during the project execution stage
• You will instil the 'know-how' in the business and not in the employees.
• It reduces the impact of the risks, issues, and problems during the execution stage by having prepared the contingency plan.
• It lets you prepare the best strategies, goals, and requirements for the projects.
• It lets you thoroughly consider all the design steps so that there is no shock or negative surprise       in the projects.

Also Read: What is Project Termination?

Are you ready to Design for Project?

Now that we have considered all the important aspects of the projects and understood what is project design. Are you ready to take a plunge into the ocean of project management? If your answer is yes, there is still a lot of information and knowledge that you need to consider.

Also Read: RFP in Project Management

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