Forgive me for saying this but IMO you need to completely re-think your plan
and objectives. A project plan is NOT a list of goals and objectives. It
is a list of the activities that go into creating deliverables, whether the
deliverable be physical or intellectual, that achieve those objectives.
"Improve Profitability" (IMHO) does not belong in the plan at all. A list
of specific actions that will be done by people, that can be scheduled, that
will *lead* to improved profitability on the other hand, does. Things like
"Select Representative Customer Sample" assigned to Fred to be accomplished
during the 2nd week of May. "Hold Focus Groups" taking two weeks to be done
after the samples are selected. "Analysis Customer Dissatisfaction Points"
taking 3 weeks done by the Marketing Department. "Meeting with Engineering
on Product Design revisions based on focus group findings" taking 1 day to
be done next ... etc etc
A product plan is a *Work* Breakdown Structure, not a Goal Breakdown
Structure. You correctly identify Improve Profitability as a goal. But
your lowest levels, "Control Overtime" and "Control Over/Shorts" are also
goals, not tasks. And goals belong in the project justification, business
case analysis, and scope statement documents, NOT in the schedule that
you're developing in MS Project.
Given that it's decided that we're doing the project in order to increase
profitability, what exactly must we do to achieve that? Reduce costs,
expand our product line, increase market share? If it's reduce costs, as
reflected in "Reduce Overtime" and "Control Over/Shorts" then what is it
exactly that will achieve those controls? What is required to be done by
what people in order to control overtime, for instance? What specific
actions? Conduct supervisor surveys? Renegotiate collective agreements?
Devise new timecard system? Increase regular staffing levels? Hire
part-time workers? If it's decided to reduce overtime by increasing staff
so enough people are there in the regular shift hours as to get all the work
done by straight time work instead of time-and-a-half OT, that would require
"Place Want Ads", "Meet with Shop Steward" "Negotiate Contract with
Recruiting Firm" "Interview Candidates" "Present Interview results to
selection committee" "Write Letters of Offering" etc etc etc. The Project
task list thus consists of the step-by-step breakdown of the phases of the
project into smaller and smaller units until you get to the specific actions
that must take place *by people* in order to achieve the goals outlined in
the project scope statement. And it's only at the lowest levels of phases
of activity and specific work assignments - your top level task would
probably be "Hire Additional Staff" with all the things required to do that
underneath it - that any of it would appear in your task list in MS
Project. All the task entries will thus have dates because even the broadest
possible phases will have concrete start and end points in time - you expect
to start the hiring process the 1st of June and will develop the schedule so
that you can have the new staff in place by the end of August.
A trick of the trade that I suggest to my classes to help keep your mind
focused on what should and should not be in the project plan is that every
task name should begin with an action verb that describes some physical
behaviour of a resource that you could actually see taking place if you
watched them - write the report, paint the room, dig the hole, install the
program, attend a meeting.
Hope this helps -
