ENGR10006 Chap.3 Team Management Plan and Project Planning
Team Management Plan and Project Planning
Lecture 5 asks teams to organise themselves before technical work starts. The Project Team Management Plan records that in five parts: the goal with its objectives, each member's roles and duties, the tasks and their schedule, the risks and how they will be handled, and the plan for team communication.
This chapter follows the drafting guide and the marking rubric, which scores the plan out of ten across six criteria, explains SMART goals with the guide's own annotated examples, sets out the administrative and technical roles, resolves the difference between the rubric's six meetings and the guide's eight, and shows why Microsoft Teams is the only channel that counts as evidence.
It also explains how the plan and meeting minutes return as a required appendix in the final report. A worked example scores a draft plan band by band.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Five components of the plan
- 02
Rubric criteria and marks
- 03
SMART project goal
- 04
Objectives as a breakdown list
- 05
Administrative and technical roles
- 06
Meeting schedule and availability
- 07
Risk planning
- 08
Communication and conflict rules
Worked example · free
Scoring a draft plan against the rubric
- +1Goal and objectives meet the good band: 1 of 1. Tasks are specific: 2 of 2.
- +1Roles exist but responsibilities are generic, the acceptable band: 1 of 2. Four meetings fall in the three-to-five band: 0.5 of 1.
- +1Realistic risks with responses earn the acceptable band at least, 1 of 2; generic behaviour rules sit in the lowest communication band, 0 of 2. Total about 5.5 of 10.
- +1Cheapest gains: schedule at least eight dated meetings, and replace generic rules with specific triggers and responses.
Key terms
- Team Management Plan
- The team's five-page plan of goals, roles, tasks, risks and communication, worth 10 percent.
- Project objective
- One item in the breakdown list of tasks and deliverables needed to reach the project goal.
- Technical lead
- The member responsible for research, design and results in one defined technical area.
- Secretary
- The administrative role that keeps minutes and organises submissions and team files.
- Risk planning
- The plan section that names realistic risks and the response the team will take to each.
- Task conflict
- Disagreement about the work itself, one of three conflict categories named in Lecture 5.
- Meeting minutes
- The written record of decisions, owners and dates from each team meeting, appended to the final report.
Team Management Plan and Project Planning FAQ
How many meetings should the plan schedule?
The rubric gives full marks for at least six meetings and half a mark for three to five, but the drafting guide asks for at least eight meeting dates covering each assessed workshop. Scheduling eight or more satisfies both documents and also produces the minutes the final report appendix needs.
Why can't we coordinate in a group chat app?
Lecture 5 and the drafting guide make Microsoft Teams the project channel and say other platforms are not accepted as evidence of participation. The FAQ applies the same rule to late submissions, which can only be reviewed against files kept in the team's Teams folder.
Does the plan matter after it has been marked?
Yes. The final report compliance checklist requires the team management plan and the minutes of all meetings to be appended, and the method criterion asks how the team worked with reference to the plan. A missing appendix costs 4 marks.
What makes a project goal SMART?
The drafting guide asks for one sentence that is specific about what is designed, measurable by a stated success measure, achievable by a described approach, relevant to why the team is doing it, and time-bound by a completion date. Its business example marks each letter on the matching phrase.
Assessment move
Treat the plan as a working document rather than a submission. Start with the goal sentence and test it against each SMART letter, then list objectives that cover both workshop tasks and deliverables. Assign each member one administrative and one technical role and write two concrete responsibilities for each, avoiding words such as help or support.
Build the schedule from the assessment timeline backwards: list each due date, set an internal deadline a few days earlier, and name one responsible person. Put at least eight meetings in the calendar and use the same minutes template every time, recording decisions, owners and dates.
For risks, think about what has actually gone wrong in your stream: damaged robots, booked-out laser cutters, software versions or illness, and write a response for each. Finally, keep everything in Microsoft Teams, because that folder becomes your evidence and your report appendix. Review the plan at the halfway point of semester and note any changes, because the report can then explain them.
