All projects go through some form of planning at the start regardless of whether they are a waterfall or an agile project. This initial planning which is considered the initiating phase of the project may exist at the highest level of the organization where high-level planning takes place and during which time the business needs are assessed, stakeholders’ expectations are identified, high level requirements are established, project is approved, and funding is provided. Also, during this phase is when high-level scope, estimates, risks, assumptions and constraints, key deliverables, and summary milestones are all established. However, considering the project is still in its early stage, the team may not have all the details or specific information relevant to start the project work.
When the team has successfully completed the initiation phase of the project, gathered stakeholders’ requirements and the project is approved, then planning could start. Planning a project means identifying the goal(s) and establishing that of which is required to deliver the product or result(s) through a collaborative effort of the project team, stakeholders, customers, and organization leaders. The planning phase of the project is where the team gets together to define the project scope, the efforts and the appropriate actions needed to be carried out to deliver the result(s). During this time, the team drills down to the details of the project by using the information gathered in the initiation phase to establish a plan that is more accurate. This too will depend on the complexity of the project as well as what is involved, and the approach may be different for an agile oriented project.
Having an accurate project plan means simplifying the scope so that the project is well defined and to a certain level the team understands what they are in for. This may include creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), detailed schedule and cost estimates, more refined risk analysis with triggers, owners and response strategies and, new assumptions and constraints may also be established. The team could also establish a stakeholder engagement approach, identify resources, plan quality management and create other relevant tools and templates. If the project is to have multiple phases or the high-level duration estimated to be over a year or maybe 2 years, the project team may have good enough information to plan the project in detail for the first 3 to 6 months. As the team works through the first phase of implementation, they collect performance data and develop reports while reaching certain milestones, and continuously assessing and mitigating risks. As more information becomes available, the team can now develop more detailed plans for the next 6 months of the project. This approach is called Progressive Elaboration. The PMBOK described Progressive Elaboration as “The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project plan as greater amounts of information and more accurate estimates are available".
When I first initiated a project called “Learning Never Stops''. I had a good idea of what the end results for this project would look like. The goals were to establish a continuous learning program by bridging the gap of professional knowledge and enhancing the knowledge of young professionals in developing countries through lecture seminars, consultancy, and knowledge-sharing-forums. When I initially developed the project plan, there was lots of information that I did not have on hand from the start. But I was still able to develop a high-level plan. Since the implementation of the project was to take place in a developing country, I selected Liberia. Liberia was an ideal place to start because it is my original country of birth, I understand the culture and the people and have an established network within the professional environment. To successfully complete this project, I needed to create a website where people could learn about the program, register for events or volunteer to speak at one of our lecture seminars. I needed the website to carry an image or theme of the local professional environment, people, and culture.
To fully communicate the right message and tailored my solutions to the right business case, I needed to gather analysis which means acquiring firsthand information about the professional arena and how my idea could be feasible. I also needed my contact information to be a local phone number, local address and an email domain. Moreover, my critical success factors included me doing at least three engagements; one lecture seminar, one case study, and inviting another industry expert (maybe Engineering or Information Technology) to lecture on current trends regarding their unique areas of expertise. I knew I needed to market myself in the country to establish the right contacts to promote my agenda. I also needed to select a topic and develop a presentation with supporting documents for the lecture seminar and select a topic for the case study as well as hire an event planner. All these requirements plus cost and schedule estimates as well as risk factors and other analysis was captured in my high-level project plan. However, I did not have all the relevant information necessary to start implementing the project, so I broke it down into three phases. Phase1: Technology and Integration, Phase2: Networking and Event Planning, and Phase3: The Engagements.
The scope for the Technology and Integration phase required the website to be built with the relevant futures and integration. Because my high-level plan required the website to carry the local professional image or theme, I could only purchase the domain name, host feature, design the workflow, site map and create a web template. I could not fully develop the contents until I gathered firsthand information about the professional environment which required me to be present in the country. This phase was completed when the website was fully developed and published. The scope for Networking and Event Planning phase required establishing connections with colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and other government institutions. Since I did not know what specific institution or organization would buy into my idea, I needed to network and set up some appointments with the right individuals in charge and pitch my idea. Being in the country myself would’ve allowed me to gather firsthand information, do in-person networking and add value to my approach. Lastly, the scope of the Engagement phase requires me to host the actual event at a venue with attendance of individuals willing to listen and acquire knowledge on a specific professional topic. I could not have established a topic for this engagement unless I had established a network with various institutions or organizations, gathered firsthand information, identified a knowledge gap, had a mutual agreement, and planned the event.
Another factor I considered were cost and schedule estimates as well as risk analysis that were not fully determined in the beginning. 60% of the project cost came to be known after more information had been gathered. At the initial planning phase of the project, I could only accurately account for costs such as airline ticket, lodging, domain name and hosting subscription. The remaining cost such as getting a phone service, internet data usage, means of getting around, feeding, booking the venue, compensating event planner, and other resources was known after a certain period into the project. The same goes for the schedule as well. Risk analysis was fully developed after I was present in the country and started gathering firsthand information about the professional environment. Eventually, through a logical path and by way of a well drafted project plan and implementation, the project was successful utilizing the approach of progressive elaboration. Therefore, the approach of progressive elaboration is unique in the practice of project management.
We cannot discuss progressive elaboration and ignore the term “Rolling Wave Planning” which is a form of progressive elaboration where the earlier part of the project is planned in sufficient detail for the work to begin. Remaining phases of the project work is planned at a high level. As the project progresses and more information impacting the project becomes available, the work can be planned in sufficient detail to accomplish the project. As I started earlier, progressive elaboration would depend on the complexity of the project and what is involved. Do not be conflicted with the concept of change order while working through a progressive elaboration or rolling wave approach. You cannot do a change order for something that does not have an established and approved plan in place of how the result(s) should look when the tasks are completed, especially working with a predictive or waterfall approach.
A project can be planned to a certain degree but at some point, in the project, it should be known that additional planning will be required to fully complete the entire project. This is one reason why incorporating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) into the project plan can set the team up for success. Within the WBS, the team could decompose high level requirements into small manageable tasks based on the information that is available now. Through establishing small manageable tasks, the team could outline and sequence the project activities which would facilitate the development of the schedule and cost estimates as well as other appropriate analysis needed to carry out the project work. Once the team has reached a certain milestone(s) and sufficient information has been gathered, they could decompose the remaining high-level requirements into more manageable tasks needed to be performed to deliver the overall project.
How do you identify progressive elaboration? Below are a few things to know that would help you understand how progressive elaboration could work for your project team and how it could impact your project.
Progressive elaboration is an approach that can be used when the goal of the project is known but all the information to carry out the project work is not available at the time of planning.
Progressive elaboration does not mean change order. Change order comes into play when the project team realizes that the planned scope or activities within the scope will not fully meet the end result(s) of the project. So, a change order is created through a formal change order process to control the project scope and keep performance or productivity in alignment with the anticipated goal(s).
Being aware of progressive elaboration could help avoid scope creep. When the project is being implemented and new information is gathered, it increases the scope, cost, and time in an uncontrollable manner. With the progressive elaboration approach, the project team can work through an iterative process of appropriately managing the new information gathered by developing a detailed scope and accurate estimates for the next level of implementation, while keeping their project in alignment with stakeholders' requirements and expectations.
Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) will help the team decompose the high-level requirements of the project into a certain detail level so the work could begin. As more information is available, more detailed planning can be done for the remainder of the project.
Progressive elaboration could be applied to predictive, waterfall, agile or hybrid projects. Working through progressive elaboration means the project team has good agility and the project can adapt to new processes, tools, and techniques throughout its duration.
Progressive elaboration requires continuous planning, adding, and improving the project plan as information becomes available, while mitigating risk to deliver the project goals(s) successfully.
For progressive elaboration to deliver the right project, the team should be aware of the approach or have an agreement that this method will be used for the project. When the project team is aware of this approach, they can appropriately align themselves to the process and adapt to how things flow throughout the project.
Stakeholders with high expectations and influential power should also be made aware of this approach to avoid conflict further down the line.
Progressive elaboration helps establish lesson learned and historical data that the team could utilize to plan similar future projects with sufficient details, especially for predictive or waterfall projects.
There is the visual illustration of my Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the Learning Never Stops (LNS) Project (2017 - 2018).
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