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The Project Plan and Timeline

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • How to build a week-by-week plan
  • Why dependencies drive the timeline
  • The Clear View 12-week plan

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Roles and Responsibilities (RACI). You learned how a RACI shows who does what.

1 The Problem: Twelve Weeks Go Fast

Twelve weeks sounds like a lot. But one late item can push everything:

  • Scans can’t start without MID Server hosts.
  • Hosts can’t be used without firewall rules.
  • Firewall rules need a change approval.

🎯 The problem: Twelve weeks go fast, and one late dependency can push everything.

👉 The fix: Build the plan backwards from the gates, and start slow items first.

Table of weeks, work and gates.
Figure 1. The Clear View 12-week plan.

2 Building the plan

  1. Start from the gates and their dates.
  2. List the work each gate needs.
  3. Mark dependencies: what must finish first.
  4. Put slow items early, such as firewall changes.
  5. Add who is needed each week.

Key term: Dependency

Work that can’t start until other work is done.

Key term: Critical path

The chain of work that decides the end date. A delay here delays everything.

3 The Discovery critical path

On most Discovery projects, the critical path runs through the client’s prerequisites.

  • MID Server hosts → firewall rules → service accounts → readiness check → first scan.

⚠️ Heads up: If a firewall change needs CAB approval, add those weeks to the plan from day one.

4 Project Clear View: How We Implemented It

📍 Situation: The SOW gives 12 weeks. SNWR’s firewall changes take about three weeks.

🧭 Decision: Plan backwards from the gates, and start prerequisite requests in week 2.

🛠️ Steps we took:

  1. Placed the six gates on the calendar.
  2. Listed the work behind each gate.
  3. Marked the critical path: hosts, firewall rules, accounts, readiness check.
  4. Scheduled prerequisite requests for week 2, overlapping design.

✅ What we verified:

  • Hana and Anita accepted the dates.
  • Ravi confirmed the firewall timing fits week 5.

📁 Evidence: The Clear View plan, version 1, shared after kickoff.

5 Quick recap

  • Plan backwards from the gates.
  • A dependency is work that must wait for other work.
  • The critical path decides the end date.
  • In Discovery, prerequisites are usually on the critical path.

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 What is the critical path? Show answer

The chain of work that decides the end date. A delay there delays the whole project.

2 Why start prerequisite requests in week 2? Show answer

They take weeks, and scans can’t start without them.

3 What’s usually on a Discovery project’s critical path? Show answer

Hosts, firewall rules, accounts and the readiness check.

Nice work! Clear View has a realistic plan. 🎉
Next up: Risks, Assumptions and Dependencies

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