5W1H2C5M – The Secret to Perfecting Effective Project Plans

As a data analyst working in a data analytics team to support projects, I have found that preparing detailed, comprehensive, and feasible effective project plans is extremely important and imperative. This is because without proper and viable effective project plans, implementing projects in reality would be very difficult, and could even lead to failure and waste of resources.

With a spirit of continuously improving and enhancing productivity as well as creativity, my team and I have started applying the 5W1H2C5M model in order to develop concrete and actionable effective project plans. This helps optimize the decision-making process and significantly save time, effort and cost for the company.

Using 5W1H to define objectives

• What: What are the objectives and scope of work?
• Why: What are the reasons and purposes of implementation?
• Who: Who is in charge and responsible for execution?
• Where: Where will the project be carried out?
• When: What is the timeline for work implementation?
• How: How will it be organized and executed?

By asking and answering 6 fundamental questions of “What“, “Why“, “Who“, “Where“, “When” and “How“, we can outline in details the objectives, rationale, people in charge, locations, action steps as well as specific timeline of a project.

Comprehensively and thoroughly answering those 5W1H questions lays the foundation for us to establish a project with clear goals and directions. This allows us to identify suitable resources, personnel, and processes for each implementation stage, ensuring smooth project operations according to the right timeline.

Applying 2C for checking and controlling quality

• Control: How to monitor work progress against the plan?

Determine a method to control and monitor progress of project implementation process, including metrics, tools to control work progress such as software, Gantt charts or reports, coordinating with the company’s quality control department.

• Check: Who will inspect and assess work quality?

Identify a dedicated team to check, review and evaluate work quality according to predefined criteria, evaluate alignment with and adherence to processes and procedures to ensure the highest quality outcome.

At the end of each stage or conclusion of the project, the quality team will conduct evaluations to provide measures and recommendations for quality improvement. These two factors of controlling and checking in 5W1H2C5M model are effective tools to objectively evaluate our work quality, enabling timely risk mitigation and ensure meeting project objectives with quality deliverables on schedule.

Utilizing 5M to evaluate human resources

• Manpower: Who will participate in project implementation?
• Money: How much budget is allocated for the project?
• Material: What raw materials need to be prepared?
• Machine: What equipment or tools are required?
• Method: How will the work be carried out?

The assessment of 5 human resource factors of Manpower, Money or financial capability, Materials, Equipment and Method will ensure that a project has sufficient financial capacity, high-quality human resources, advanced facilities and optimal management method to meet timeline and quality according to plan.This is an extremely important step in evaluating suitability and feasibility of project plans.

By considering all human resources factors, our plans are supplemented with logical contingency measures to ensure smooth execution of a project.

Conclusion

By flexibly applying the 5W1H2C5M model, our project plans are developed in a detailed and prudent manner to ensure meeting timeline, quality objectives, effectiveness and optimize cost saving. This harmoniously combines the strengths of 5W1H – Define Objectives, 2C – Check and Control and 5M – Manpower and Resources. With that our team’s work productivity and effectiveness have been significantly improved.