Project Planning: An Interview with Experts

Ever felt like you're juggling too many balls, and they're all about to drop? Welcome to the world of project management, where attention to detail and visionary thinking come together to turn abstract concepts into tangible plans. Whether you're preparing for Cyber Week, introducing new ways of inspiring storytelling or implementing new EU regulations (e.g. GDPR),

To uncover the art of effective project planning, I interviewed three program managers - Katia Vara, Maike Kuhnert, Nena Olsen - at Zalando from different levels, backgrounds and business units. Here is what they shared with me:

1. Why is Project Planning crucial?

The participants agreed that effective planning is critical to project success. Katia emphasised that project planning is the foundation of a project. It brings together relevant information such as cost, scope, time, and risks. She also posed a fundamental question: can a project really deliver on budget, on time and on quality without a plan? Following on from Katia, Nena emphasised the need for a well-structured plan to ensure timely completion, as she had never worked on a project that was able to make the required progress and meet its deadlines without a plan. Maike expanded on this by emphasising that project planning goes beyond providing structure; it promotes effective communication and creates clarity and transparency for team members and stakeholders.

Considering these perspectives, it is clear that project planning is a fundamental driver of project success. As Maike put it, ‘the better the plan, the better the execution’ captures the essence of effective project planning. It is therefore important for project / program managers and organisations to have a sound planning process in place. It will help them to achieve project objectives efficiently, mitigate risks effectively, and foster collaboration and clarity among project stakeholders. Ultimately, the input provided shows that project planning is a must if you want your project to succeed.

2. What are the different approaches you consider while planning your project? How do they influence project planning?

There are several different approaches to project planning, each with its own advantages and suitability depending on the type of project and its objectives. Both Katia and Nena emphasised the importance of flexibility and adaptability in project planning, considering different approaches depending on the project objective. Katia highlighted her preference for a flexible approach, combining methodologies such as Waterfall, Lean and Prince depending on the intended outcome. She emphasised that project planning requires a tailored approach and that there is no 'one size fits all' solution. She draws inspiration from Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and GANTT to structure the planning process.

Nena contributed to the discussion by highlighting the importance of timelines in project planning. She presented two approaches - top-down and bottom-up. In projects with a fixed deadline, the priority is to meet the deadline. Therefore, the scope is adjusted and prioritised accordingly to ensure timely completion. This top-down approach ensures that the project stays on track to meet its predetermined schedule, even if it means compromising on certain features or functionality. In fixed scope but flexible deadline projects, the focus is on delivering the optimal solution within the predefined scope. Here, the schedule is adjusted as planning progresses to accommodate any changes or unforeseen challenges. This bottom-up approach allows for a more adaptive and iterative process, ensuring that the final product meets the desired requirements while allowing for flexibility in the schedule.

Overall, the choice of a project planning approach will depend on factors such as project objectives, schedule, complexity, scope, resources and organisational culture. Effective project planning requires careful consideration of these factors and the selection of the approach that best suits the project's objectives and constraints.

3. How do you work towards a Work Breakdown Structure? What works best for you?

The responses highlighted the collaborative and iterative nature of developing and maintaining a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for effective project planning.

Katia sees the WBS as the foundation for the project schedule and relies on input from subject matter experts and stakeholders to create it. To ensure the team is working towards the same goal, she provides the framework for the WBS by breaking down the project goal into subgoals, deliverables, epics, and milestones and prioritising them. Once the tasks have been identified, Maike emphasised that it is important to decide whether the tasks will be performed in parallel or sequentially, depending on several factors such as project requirements, dependencies, resource availability and project constraints.

Maike also emphasised the collaborative aspect of involving the core team and stakeholders in reviewing, challenging and validating the WBS to identify any missing tasks, dependencies or risks.

What works best may vary depending on the project, team dynamics and organisational preferences. However, early stakeholder involvement, regular review and flexibility are generally effective strategies for developing a comprehensive and useful Work Breakdown Structure to ensure alignment with project objectives.

4. How do you get to estimations that you can build a plan with? Can you share an example that worked well?

Project estimation is an informed prediction of the time, resources and costs required to complete a project within defined parameters. All three program managers shared their different approaches to obtaining estimates to create a robust plan, emphasising collaboration with their teams as important to the estimation process and considering potential risks to ensure accurate results. What they all had in common, however, was that they used a hybrid estimation technique rather than one particular method. They mix top-down, bottom-up, expertise-based approaches, three-point estimation (PERT) and confidence levels combined with team commitments.

Katia starts the estimation process by agreeing with the core team on a common metric (e.g. T-shirt sizes) for time, effort and complexity and its dimensions. She then builds in a 30% buffer for work packages with dependencies on other work packages, based on expert input, her own past experience and worst case scenarios. Meanwhile, Nena works closely with senior team members who use different estimation techniques. She facilitates discussions with the teams to assess the reliability of their estimates and suggests the addition of buffers where necessary, taking into account factors such as confidence levels and resource constraints. Adding buffers can help account for uncertainties, risks and potential challenges that may arise during project execution. However, Maike concluded the discussion by stressing the need for regular schedule reviews during the execution phase to proactively prevent delays.

In summary, obtaining estimates for a project plan involves first breaking a project down into smaller components and identifying the dependencies and risks for each component. Estimating time, cost and effort then requires past experience, consulting with subject matter experts, incorporating risk by building in buffers, and continually refining estimates as more information is gained to develop a realistic project plan that can deliver the project on time, scope and within budget.

5. Is there a success story that you can share how you got teams to commit on timelines so that reliable planning was possible?

In the pursuit of reliable schedule planning, Nena, Maike and Katia shared unique perspectives and collectively emphasised the importance of effective leadership in guiding teams through complex projects. This includes clear communication, empathetic understanding of the team's needs, fostering trust, encouraging collaboration, and providing guidance and support throughout the project.

Nena spoke about a data protection project where 40 teams had to pseudonymise data within a set timeframe. The challenge was that the teams had no experience of pseudonymisation, which made estimation difficult. The key to success was to give the teams time to study the documentation, clarify questions and pseudonymise the data. The project team then negotiated timelines in line with the project schedule to meet the deadline. Nena's experience highlights the importance of understanding each team's unique circumstances, and how relationship building was critical to achieving reliable planning within a complex, multi-team project. Maike also emphasised the key role of relationships and creating clarity for teams to gain commitment, while Katia holds teams accountable and actively supports them through the process.

Conclusion

In project management, as in sailing, a good plan is the compass that guides us. Insights from experienced program management professionals have highlighted the importance of project planning to the overall success of a project. The key ingredients of project planning are: teamwork to get a holistic plan, flexibility in choosing the right approach, and regular reviews.

In the fast-paced world of project management, these principles not only ensure that we stay on track, but also that we navigate through challenges and uncertainties with a solid plan and a united team to successfully achieve our goal. It's like the sailors say: "Smooth sailing doesn't come from calm waters”, it comes from a good navigator, a great crew and a good ship.