What goes into a good project management plan?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Scope baseline and WBS
- Schedule with milestones and dependencies
- Budget and cost baseline
- Risk, quality, communication and change management approaches
- Roles and responsibilities
- Tailored to the size and complexity of the project
Model answer
A good project management plan explains how the project will be delivered, monitored and controlled. It starts with the scope baseline, meaning the scope statement, WBS and WBS dictionary. Then it includes the schedule with milestones and dependencies, and the budget with a cost baseline and reserves. It sets out how we will manage risk, quality, communication, stakeholders, procurement and change control, plus who is responsible for what, often shown in a RACI. I always tailor it to the project. A small internal project might need a few pages, while a large regulated project needs much more detail. The plan is a living document: baselines change only through change control, but the supporting plans are updated as we learn. Most importantly, the team and sponsor should know it and agree with it, not just have it stored somewhere.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed easy round and get scored on every answer.
More easy Project Manager questions
- Describe the main phases of a project lifecycle.
- How do you manage risks on a project?
- How do you keep stakeholders informed during a project?
- What is the difference between agile and waterfall, and when would you use each?
- How do you track whether a project is on track?
- What is the difference between a project, a program and a portfolio?
- How is a Scrum Master different from a project manager?
- How do you make project meetings effective?
- How do you create a work breakdown structure for a new project?