ABSTRACT
How many plans are you likely to need at any particular point in a project? This is not intended as a trick question, but to raise an important point about plans and planning. Many practitioners and organizations are firm believers in the concept of having two levels of plans: the ‘soft’ and the ‘hard’ varieties. Project Plans tend to be ‘softer’, simply because there are often too many unknowns for the plans to be accepted as firm. Conversely, the plan for a stage you are in, or about to start needs to be clear, firm and detailed. These principles are fundamental to the process of breaking a project down into stages, one at a time. Note that many organizations use the terms ‘stage’ and ‘phase’ interchangeably. We will soon return to the initial question and suggest answers!
