from the editor

Editor in Chief: Steve McConnell

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Construx Software

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The Nine Deadly Sins of Project Planning

Steve McConnell
t a time when some software organizations have achieved close to perfect on-time delivery records,1 others continue to suffer mediocre results. Surveys generally indicate that poor project planning is one of the top sources of problems. How can you recognize a badly planned software project? Here are nine of the deadliest sins Ive found in project planning.

1. Not planning at all

By far the most common planning problem is simply not planning at all, and this sin is easily avoided. A person need not be an expert planner to plan effectively. Ive seen numerous instances of projects planned by rank amateurs that have run well simply because the people in charge had carefully considered their projects specific needs. Forced to choose between an expert project planner who doesnt carefully think through his plan or an amateur who has thoroughly evaluated his project needs, Ill bet on the amateur every time.

create setup programs, convert data from previous versions, perform cutover to new systems, perform compatibility testing, and other pesky kinds of work that take up more time than we would like to admit. Some late projects propose to catch up by reducing their originally planned testing cycle; they reason that there probably wont be very many defects to detect or correct. (I leave as an exercise for the reader to determine whyif this is really the casethey didnt plan for a shorter testing cycle in the first place.)

3. Failure to plan for risk

In Design Paradigms,2 Henry Petroski argues that the most spectacular failures in bridge design were generally preceded by periods of success that led to complacency in the creation of new designs. Designers of failed bridges were lulled into copying the attributes of successful bridges and didnt pay enough attention to each new bridges potential failure modes. For software projects, actively avoiding failure is as important as emulating success. In many business contexts, the word risk isnt mentioned unless a project is already in deep trouble. In software, a project planner who isnt using the word risk every day and incorporating risk management into his plans probably isnt doing his job. As Tom Gilb says, If you do not actively attack the risks on your project, they will actively attack you.3

2. Failing to account for all project activities

If Deadly Sin #1 is not planning at all, Deadly Sin #2 is not planning enough. Some project plans are created using the assumption that no one on the software team will get sick, attend training, go on vacation, or quit. Core activities are often underestimated to a great degree. Plans created using unrealistic assumptions like these set up a project for disaster. There are numerous variations on this theme. Some projects neglect to account for ancillary activities such as the effort needed to
Copyright 2001 Steven C. McConnell. All Rights Reserved.

4. Using the same plan for every project

Some organizations grow familiar with a particular approach to running software projects, which is known as the way we do things around here. When an organization uses this approach, it tends to do well as long as the new projects look like the old projects. When new
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projects look different, however, reusing old plans can cause more harm than good. Good plans address specific conditions of the project for which they are created. Many elements can be reused, but project planners should think carefully about the extent to which each element of a previous plan still applies to the new project context.

embrace prepackaged methodologies whole-hog are sometimes reluctant to change them midstream when theyre not working. They think the problem is with their application of the plan when, in fact, the problem is with the plan. Good project planning should occur and recur incrementally throughout a project.

5. Applying prepackaged plans indiscriminately

A close cousin to Deadly Sin #3 is reusing a generic plan someone else created without applying your own critical thinking or considering your projects unique needs. Someone elses plan usually arrives in the form of a book or methodology that a project planner applies out of the box. Current examples include the Rational Unified Process,4 Extreme Programming,5 and to some extent (despite my best intentions to the contrary) my own Software Project Survival Guide6 and my companys CxOne. These prepackaged plans can help avoid Deadly Sins #1 and #2, but they are not a substitute for thinking about and optimizing your plans to the unique demands of your project. No outside expert can possibly understand a projects specific needs as well as the people directly involved. Project planners should always tailor the experts plan to their specific circumstances. Fortunately, Ive found that project planners who are aware enough of planning issues to read software engineering books usually also have enough common sense to be selective about the parts of the prepackaged plans that are likely to work for them.

7. Planning in too much detail too soon

Some well-intentioned project planners try to map out a whole projects worth of activities early on. But a software project consists of a constantly unfolding set of decisions, and each project phase creates dependencies for future decisions. Since planners do not have crystal balls, attempting to plan distant activities in too much detail is an exercise in bureaucracy that is almost as bad as not planning at all. The more work that goes into creating prematurely detailed plans, the higher the likelihood the plan will become shelfware (Deadly Sin #6). No one likes to throw away previous work, and project planners sometimes try to force-fit the projects reality into their earlier plans rather than laboriously revising their prematurely detailed plans. I think of good project planning like driving at night with my cars headlights on. I might have a road map that tells me how to get from City A to City B, but the distance I can see in detail in my headlights is limited. On a mediumsize or large project, macro-level project plans should be mapped out endto-end early in the project. Detailed, micro-level planning should generally be conducted only a few weeks at a time and just in time.

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6. Allowing a plan to diverge from project reality

One common approach to planning is to create a plan early in the project, then put it on the shelf and let it gather dust for the remainder of the project. As project conditions change, the plan becomes increasingly irrelevant, so by mid-project the project runs free-form, with no real relationship between the unchanging plan and project reality. This Deadly Sin is exacerbated by Deadly Sin #5project planners who

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8. Planning to catch up later

For projects that get behind schedule, one common mistake is planning to make up lost time later. The typical rationalization is that, The team was climbing a learning curve early in the project. We learned a lot of lessons the hard way. But now we understand what were doing and should be able to finish the project quickly. Wrong answer! A 1991 survey of more than 300

Editorial: All submissions are subject to editing for clarity, style, and space. Unless otherwise stated, bylined articles and departments, as well as product and service descriptions, reflect the authors or firms opinion. Inclusion in IEEE Software does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the IEEE or the IEEE Computer Society. To Submit: Send 2 electronic versions (1 word-processed and 1 postscript or PDF) of articles to Magazine Assistant, IEEE Software, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, PO Box 3014, Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314; [email protected]. Articles must be original and not exceed 5,400 words including figures and tables, which count for 200 words each.

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projects found that projects hardly ever make up lost timethey tend to get further behind.7 The flaw in the rationalization is that software teams make their highest-leverage decisions earliest in the projectthe time during which new technology, new business areas, and new methodologies are the least well understood. As the team works its way into the later phases of the project, it wont speed up; it will slow down as it encounters the consequences of mistakes it made earlier and invests time correcting those mistakes.

mortem review.8 A postmortem review might not erase the sins of projects past, but it can certainly help prevent sins on future projects.

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Steve McConnell 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314 [email protected] EDITOR IN CHIEF EMERITUS: Alan M. Davis, Omni-Vista
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References
1. S. Ahuja, Laying the Groundwork for Success, IEEE Software, vol. 16, no. 6, Nov. Dec. 1999, pp. 7275. 2. H. Petroski, Design Paradigms, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K., 1994. 3. T. Gilb, Principles of Software Engineering Management, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1988. 4. P. Kruchten, The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 2000. 5. K. Beck, Extreme Programming: Embrace Change, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 2000. 6. S. McConnell, Software Project Survival Guide, Microsoft Press, Redmond, Wash., 1997. 7. M. van Genuchten, Why Is Software Late? An Empirical Study of Reasons for Delay in Software Development, IEEE Trans. Software Eng., vol. 17, no. 6, June 1991, pp. 582590. 8. B. Collier, T. Demarco, and P. Fearey, A Defined Process for Project Postmortem Review, IEEE Software, vol. 13, no. 4, JulyAug. 1996, pp. 6572.

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9. Not learning from past planning sins

The deadliest sin of all might be not learning from earlier deadly sins. Software projects can take a long time, and peoples memories can be clouded by ego and the passage of time. By the end of a long project, it can be difficult to remember all the early decisions that affected the projects conclusion. One easy way to counter these tendencies and prevent future deadly sins is to conduct a structured project post-

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