Create An Action Plan

Demystifying Project Management

Step 3: Create An Action Plan

PMI Talent Triangle: Technical

What is an Action Plan?

When someone decides they want something they have one of two options. They can blindly start grabbing for it, or they can develop a plan of action to get it. The first approach is very common and quite useful when what you want is fairly easy to get. But as project managers, we rarely face a situation suitable to a complete lack of planning, so we develop action plans.

If you engage a party planner to set up a birthday bash for your 7-year-old child, you would be pretty disappointed if the planner reserved a facility, bought decorations and arranged catering, then left the boxes of decorations at the facility and said, “There you are, the food will arrive at 11:00.” You fully expect the planner to set up and decorate the venue, send out invitations, make sure the food is served properly, and that all the guests have what they need for a good time. If the party planner does not consider all this in the party plan, he will be out of business in short order. His action plan should consider everything including approaching you after the party to make sure that you are satisfied before he requests payment.

The important thing to notice in the above example is that it is not sufficient for the project manager (party planner) to create the deliverable (the birthday party), he must also DELIVER the deliverable (throw the party) and make sure the customer is satisfied. Forgetting any of these three elements is disastrous for a project manager. 

Developing an action plan is Step 3 in the 7-Step Project Management (PM) process. First, you establish your marching orders. Second, you clearly define your deliverables. Third, you create an action plan that sees each deliverable created and provided to the customer. 

The action plan is just what it says, a set of actions you will take. Every action should contribute to creating the products, services, and information you are responsible for, then delivering them to the customer. If any actions don’t maintain a focus on the deliverables, you should seriously question why they are in your plan. They may be good things to do in general, but are they necessary to the success of this particular project? If not, you should move them to another action plan for a different project. 

Before I explain the mechanics of putting together an action plan, I would like to include a note for professional project managers. In the PM world, we call the “Action Plan” a “Schedule”. A schedule is a collection of action statements (activities) organized into a plan that leads to successful completion of a project. This is the very definition of an action plan. You can think of them interchangeably throughout this blog.

Creating an Action Plan

The easiest way to explain how to create an action plan is to work through an example. In keeping with the thread from previous blogs, I will continue to use the electric bicycle example. The customer is my company’s new product development team. They want a prototype of an electric bicycle and a set of training and maintenance manuals to evaluate for the Christmas product line. The action plan will lay out exactly what must be done to design and build the bicycle, the steps it will take to put together the manuals, and when the package is actually delivered to the customer. 

As we mentioned in a previous blog (to view previous blogs go to 7steppm.com), Step 1 in the 7-Step PM process is to establish the marching orders for the bicycle. In that same blog, we came up with the following:

Step 2 of the 7-Step PM process is to define the deliverables. Also in another blog, we developed this deliverables document for the project: 

Step 3 in the 7-Step PM process is to take the marching orders, the list of deliverables and the acceptance criteria, and develop a good action plan. The emphasis in Step 3 is to look at each deliverable and carefully identify all the activities that have to happen to get to successful completion. 

This might sound obvious, but the key to writing a good action plan is to write good “action statements” - the building blocks of the action plan. You would be surprised at how many people don't write good action statements.  Action plans with poorly written action statements probably cause more chaos than no plan at all.  There are two steps to writing an action statement. First, always start with a verb. Then second, clearly identify what is to be acted upon, a noun. Be clear enough about what needs to be done so that someone can pick up the action plan and do an activity without further direction from you.

The party planner might “buy decorations,” but this is an incomplete action statement. Instead, the action might be written, “Buy 40 balloons and 20 yards  of crepe ribbon.” This is much more actionable. If the instructions are detailed enough there are two options. The statement can be broken into a separate action for each item, like “Buy 40 balloons assorted colors” and “Buy 20 yards of pink crepe ribbon.” Or the statement can refer to the deliverables description where the decorations are called out in elaborate detail, like “Buy decorations for July 12 party.” In this case, the July 12 party deliverables description would have a sheet with all the decorations called out. 

The exact level of detail in any action statement is a judgment call for the Project Manager. Just remember to consider that you may be providing instruction to someone you never talk to, so be clear. 

In summary, all action statements should start with a verb and include the subject of the action, a noun, with as much detail as appropriate.

Using this “Start with a verb” approach, there are three steps to creating a good action plan. I like to summarize them as:

“List, Link, Duration”

First, “List” all the activities it will take to create and deliver each project deliverable. To come up with a complete list of actions, look at each deliverable and ask yourself what has to happen for each deliverable to be created and delivered to the customer. Also ask yourself what it will take for the customer to accept the deliverables with a “job well done” feeling. 

After all the activities are listed, “Link” (or sequence) them together to indicate the order in which activities should be done. For example, the party planner must “Buy Decorations” before he can “Hang Decorations.” So the link between the two would have “Buy Decorations” leading to “Hang Decorations.”

In project management nomenclature, “Buy Decorations” is called a predecessor to “Hang Decorations” and “Hang Decorations” is a successor to “Buy Decorations.” The terms predecessor and successor are used often in project management.

Finally, after all activities have been listed and linked, you estimate the “Duration” in hours, days, weeks, etc. for each activity, in other words, how long it will take to complete each action.  Enter the time it will take in the duration column, but DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THE DATE COLUMNS! (start and finish) The tool will adjust the dates based on the length of time you have put in for that action and if you enter the dates directly it cannot do this.

Creating an action plan, or project schedule, is easy if you focus on the deliverables, start your action statements with verbs, and follow the “List, Link, Duration” method. Also, keep the first version of a schedule short. Think of it as a framework to which details will be added later. The first version of the schedule is a very useful way to make sure every deliverable is accounted for.

The embedded video below takes you step by step through creating a simple action plan for building an electric bicycle prototype and accompanying manuals. 

There are several take-aways from the video in addition to the five main points.  The five main points are:

1. Cover all deliverables
2. Start all action statements with verbs
3. List
4. Link
5. Duration

Other important take-aways to consider when putting together an action plan include:

1. Add a text column on the left for deliverable numbers.
2. The entire schedule should be a summary task under the top line, which is the project name. This lets the PM see the overall project duration, start and finish dates, and cost (if resourced).
3. Always have start and finish milestones (0 days).
4. Every activity should have a predecessor and successor except start (no predecessor) and finish (no successor). Everything else must have a trigger to start the work (project start if nothing else) and something depending on it (if nothing depends on it, why did you do it?). 
5. Write all activities as action statements clearly explaining the action. Assume the person taking the action is someone you will never talk to. 
6. There should be no hard-wired dates, or the schedule will not self-adjust to changes.

Tools for Creating Action Plans

In its simplest form, the action plan can be a word processing document or a spreadsheet. More advanced action plans commonly take the form of a Gantt chart like those created in Microsoft Project, Primavera, and Deltek. I use MSProject for most of my work. Those software packages are expensive, however, and are usually purchased by corporations, being out of the price range of most individuals. 

There are several free, open-source software packages available. I like a program called GanttProject. It is an open-source freeware program with versions available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. You can download a free copy at ganttproject.biz. Two others I know of are Project Libre, which is very similar in look and feel to MSProject, and FastTrack Schedule. I’ve never used FastTrack Schedule but I hear it’s good. Project Libre reminds me of Apache’s OpenOffice in that it was created to be as close as possible in look, feel and function to MSProject.

An action plan is so important to project success. It doesn’t have to be complicated or elaborate. But it lets everyone on the team know what their job is and how their work fits into the larger picture. People need clear direction, and they want to know how their work has meaning in the larger scheme of things. An action plan, no matter how simple, does that. So don’t skip Step 3 of the 7-Step PM process. Create your action plan today!

Dr. Bill Carswell, PMP

Director of Programs

7-Step Project Manager

Please use the comments feedback area below to let us know your thoughts. What are your tips and tricks for creating good action plans and schedules? 7stepPM readers want to know!
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