This lesson module teaches students the importance of planning ahead when completing all kinds of projects — at work, at school, and in their personal lives — and covers material from factors that impact project planning to project planning tools. This lesson modules contains a student narrative, discussion guide, individual and group activities, and a posttest with descriptive key.

This lesson module guides students through the ten steps of the planning process:Identify your project stakeholders.Plan your communications and meetings.Define the project scope.Break down the work.Identify resources.Create a schedule.Develop quality standards.Identify risks.Develop a draft plan by combining dates, deliverables, and resources.Obtain feedback from your team and refine the plan. This lesson module contains a student narrative, discussion guide, individual and group activities, and a posttest with descriptive key.

Completing the SBE certification process is a time consuming and rewarding project. Your school-based enterprise will be better because of the work that you do. It is highly recommended that you use project management tools to organize, plan, and execute the completion of the SBE certification documentation. The project management tools you will need are included in this packet. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” (Benjamin Franklin). Before you create your project management plan, you first need to understand what work needs to be accomplished. Each of the modules is set up the same. Completing the tasks in order will help you learn and understand what you need to know and keep you on track for completing the tasks. A downloadable version of this lesson can be found in the Resource Library. More school-based enterprise modules can be found here: https://mbastatesconnection.mbaresearch.org/

Students take an in-depth look at what goes into planning a research project, which prepares them to take the lead on their own projects. Examining a case study, students first practice planning a research project that compares traditional cook stoves to improved cook stoves for use in the developing world. Then they compare their plans to one used in the real-world by professional researchers, gaining perspective and details on the thought and planning that goes into good research work. Then students are provided with example materials, a blank template and support to take them from brainstorming to completing a detailed research plan for their own air quality research projects. Conducting students’ AQ-IQ research studies requires additional time and equipment beyond this planning activity. Then after the data is collected and analyzed, teams interpret the data and present summary research posters by conducting the next associated activity Numerous student handouts and a PowerPoint® presentation are provided.

The project plan is one of the most important documents you'll create when managing a project. In this video, Jennifer Bridges, PMP, shows you what needs to be included to run a successful project.