Lesson 4: Planning the Project — Requirements, Assumptions, Constraints & WBS
The Planning phase turns the project idea into a plan of action. In this lesson we meet the planning deliverables, dive into the four stages of Requirements Gathering, distinguish assumptions from constraints, and build a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). These are the tools that translate a goal into
In brief: before building, you gather requirements in four stages, write down what you assume versus what is imposed on you, and break the work into a tree of tasks (WBS) to see what can run in parallel.
- Planning phase
- The phase where you define how to reach the goals, what the tasks are, which resources are needed, and plan each phase. It produces a suite of deliverables: project, resource, financial, quality, risk, acceptance, communications, and procurement plans.
- Requirements gathering
- A critical skill for every analyst and PM. Poor requirements gathering is a leading cause of project problems. It comprises four stages: elicitation, validation, specification, and verification.
- Elicitation
- The stage where requirements are gathered for the first time. The analyst asks the right kind of questions and listens well, using interviews, facilitated sessions, prototyping, questionnaires, and diagrams.
- Specification
- The stage where the analyst prioritizes and formally documents the requirements in a requirements-definition document. Requirements are numbered so they can be tracked through the lifecycle, and checked to ensure they can be tested.
- Assumption
- A belief about what will be true in the future, based on knowledge, experience, and available info — an event or circumstance expected during the project (e.g., staff work 8:00-17:00; spare parts arrive within 4 hours).
- Constraint
- A limitation imposed on the project, forcing work within given bounds — e.g., cost, schedule, or resources. Every project has constraints defined at the start: scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources, and risks.
- WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
- An exhaustive hierarchical breakdown of the project into a tree of phases, activities, and tasks needed to complete it. It shows which activities can run in parallel and is a basis for planning — especially with the Critical Path Method (CPM).
- Project plan
- The single most important document in the project. It details phases, activities, tasks, schedule, resources, and milestones; through it you identify the WBS, effort, and resources, giving the PM a roadmap.
