[c]

The Project Plan What needs to be done? How are we going to do it?

Individual Action Plans Who’s doing what? (roles and responsibilities)

Communications strategy How do we work together and communicate effectively?

 

The Project Plan

The importance of comprehensive Project Plan cannot be over emphasised. It will form the basis upon which the research team will operate in order to achieve the goals of the project. It is important that all research team members contribute to its creation. Additionally, remember it is a working document and may change over the period of the project. It can be used as a tool for establishing trust and respect amongst team members.

Using the Project Start-up Checklist  will assist with creating the Project Plan by identifying all the components necessary to complete the project. It would also be useful to identify milestones and points at which to check progress towards achieving the project’s objectives e.g. when to complete an effective team work matrix .

Roles and Responsibilities

Once all the components of the project have been identified, completing the Project Roles and Responsibilities Matrix (link to resource PS6) will enable project roles and responsibilities to be discussed, allocated and agreed. When generating individual action plans, the SMART principles  can help in phrasing better goals and objectives.

Communications Strategy

Use the Group Member Background Information (link to resource S1) to gather details about team members and to establish the opportunities for communicating effectively. Move on to discuss preferred methods of communication, which may include different methods for different purposes such as:

• meetings of the whole project team bi-monthly to monitor project progress and to take key project decisions.
• e-mail communication, using differentiated distribution lists to keep research team subgroups and the whole group informed in the interim.

Aim to reach overall consensus, make a record and ensure each member has a copy for their files.