Plans are Useless, but Planning is Indispensable
Lisamarie Babik, Menlo Innovations · 2005
Project planning at Menlo is a series of ongoing activities, rather than a single event at the beginning of the project. In addition to a project baseline that is established at the start of each project, the project plan is regularly revisited and actively modified throughout the duration of the project. This iterative process actively acknowledges that new data comes in from the team and the sponsor, in the form of re-estimated work packages, new priorities and changes in direction from the project sponsor. This process is meant to stimulate rather than replace the important conversations that must happen during the life of the project, something that a static requirements document sitting unread on a shelf does not produce.