Creating the planning for a digital project

How is a planning structured?

In a digital project, there are three components of planning that influence each other:

• Time (the amount of time available/can be allocated)
• Scope (what you are creating)
• Resources (technology, people)

This is called the scope triangle.

If you change one of the three, it almost always affects the other two. In an ideal world, time, scope, and resources are always in balance. In practice, there are often one or two that take precedence. So, keep in mind that there are one or two such focal points in your project that will affect your planning.

What else does your planning depend on?

If you are developing a product with a supplier, the development itself may not always be complicated, but certain components do take a lot of time, such as testing parts by colleagues within your organization. Discuss this in advance with the technical partner you are collaborating with; how much time will that take (and how much time will your colleagues have for it)?

Create a realistic planning and build on it in consultation with internal and external team members. Making a detailed planning early on gives you the levers to adjust. More time? Then X Y Z can be done. Less time? Then maybe only X and Y are possible.

Don't forget the internal planning!

Creating a briefing also means thinking about the internal planning. A digital project not only requires time from the contractor but also from your team. Therefore, try to schedule the project internally first. Who will lead the project? Which colleagues need to provide feedback? And are there crucial team members who will be on vacation?

Scope creep: How do I create a realistic planning if the scope/requirements can still change?

Projects often experience 'scope creep': the fact that requirements or needs may still change during the project, causing the workload to increase. This can affect the planning (and also the budget).

Determine in advance which points cannot change. These requirements form the basis of a realistic planning (remember: your MVP, minimal viable product). Should-haves and Could-haves can still change, but they should not jeopardize the deadline.

How do I allow room for adjustments without losing sight of the deadline?

At the start of your project, distinguish between requirements (the elements without which the project cannot proceed), wishes (long-term goals, but not feasible in the first phase of the project), and Nice-to-haves (nice to have, but not essential).

During the development of the product, keep track of the minimum requirements for delivery: your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Continuously check during a project whether a decision leads to your MVP.

Project planning to get started

An important point of attention is to consider both the technical and human aspects of the project. The digital project will likely bring about a change for users. Make sure to give this enough attention and involve users in the project. We delve deeper into this in the chapter: Involving users in change management.