The Krong method is how the course builds one board-ready project plan: one shared structure, eight planning threads, five principles and one integrated check. This page explains each part in plain terms.
The problem it solves
A project plan can be complete and still not hold together. The schedule is sound, the budget is sound, and the two do not agree. The risk register names an owner who is not in the responsibility matrix. The contingency is a flat ten per cent that has nothing to do with where the risk sits.
A board, a client or a funder usually finds that gap before the author does. The Krong method is built to close it. It gives you one structure to plan around, eight questions to answer, five principles to hold the plan to, and one check to run at the end.
Integrated project planning
Integrated project planning is the practice of building the major project planning artefacts around a shared project structure, so that scope, deliverables, activities, schedule, responsibilities, stakeholders and risks can be traced back to one another.
In practice, the work breakdown structure is the spine. Cost, schedule, owners and risks all hang from it, so a change in one place shows up in the others. The course teaches this by building a single plan, section by section, beside a fully worked case. Read the full explanation of integrated project planning.
The eight planning threads
Each thread answers one question a board will ask. They follow the order in which the plan is built. Every thread also names the threads it depends on, because that is where plans quietly break.
| Thread | The question it answers | What you build | Connects to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandate | Why this project, why now, and who decides, including changes to the plan? | Three-tier governance, change control, problem statement, root cause analysis, business case, charter. | Outcomes, People, Money |
| Outcomes | What will be different, and how will we prove it? | SMART objectives, results chain, logical framework, four-tier indicators, KPIs, benefits realisation, success metrics. | Mandate, Adoption, Work |
| People | Who is affected, who owns what, and who hears what, and when? | Power-Interest Grid, weighted scoring, stakeholder register, RACI, communication matrix. | Work, Time, Uncertainty |
| Work | What will be delivered, to what standard, and what is left out? | Scope and acceptance criteria, WBS (100 per cent rule), WBS dictionary, handover plan. | People, Time, Money |
| Time | In what order does the work happen, and which tasks cannot slip? | CPM, float, critical path, Gantt chart, network diagram. | Work, Mandate, Uncertainty |
| Money | What will it cost, what is held in reserve, and how is spending controlled? | Bottom-up cost baseline, risk-weighted contingency, earned value management, procurement criteria. | Work, Uncertainty, Time |
| Uncertainty | What could move the plan off course, and what have we taken on trust? | Assumptions register, probability and impact matrix, risk register with linked assumptions, escalation triggers, scenarios and signposts, pre-mortem. | Money, Time, People |
| Adoption | Will people use what is delivered, and will it be run responsibly after handover? | Change management, AI governance workflow, regulatory watch, data protection, ESG assessment, long-term monitoring. | People, Outcomes, Time |
One link from the worked case: Caldera Freight does not hold a flat ten per cent contingency. It allocates contingency by each component’s risk exposure, so Money is tied to Uncertainty and the plan shows the tie.
The five principles
The principles are the standards the finished plan is held to.
- Connect the threads. Plan the links, not just the parts. A decision in one thread is checked against the threads it touches.
- Prove it. Every claim, figure and assumption traces to evidence, or is flagged and tested.
- Value is measured, not claimed. Define the benefit, set the baseline, and check it after delivery.
- Built to last. Judge the plan by what still works after handover, for the organisation, its people and the environment.
- People decide and own. AI drafts. A named person checks, decides and answers for the result.
The integrated planning check
The last test the plan passes before the executive summary is Annexure A, the integrated planning check. It has two tables. The first tests the plan against the eight threads. The second tests it against the five principles.
Every row has to name a specific table, figure, owner or threshold in your own plan. A general claim such as “risk is managed” gives a board no assurance, so it does not count. If two threads disagree, you fix the plan, not the annexure.
The check turns a plan from a collection of tasks into one document whose parts can be traced to each other. It is also the quickest way to see where a plan is thin.
Where AI fits
AI drafts. You verify and decide. The course holds every AI step to the Triple Standard:
- Augmentation. Use AI to work through data quickly and to find gaps in your logic.
- Verification. Check every AI draft against your own source material before it enters the plan.
- Integrity. You own the decision and the accountability.
You ask with the RACF structure: Role, Ask, Context and Format, plus a verification instruction. Each prompt is followed by a human-in-the-loop review that you complete before the output goes into your plan. The course does not require any one AI tool.
How the Human Audit uses it
If you choose the Certificate of Applied Practice, an experienced, certified project management reviewer reads your plan against five dimensions: Rigour, Integration, Application, Professional judgement and AI responsibility. Integration asks the same question this method asks: do the sections work as one plan? Each dimension is scored from 1 to 4, and a section meets the standard only when all five are 3 or above. The full standard is published in the Scoring Model, and you can read a sample feedback report before you decide.
What this is, and is not
The threads and principles are Krong Academy’s own frame, drawn from practice. They are a teaching method, not a standard, a licence or an accreditation, and Krong Academy is not affiliated with any professional body.
Planning in an integrated way is not a new idea, and we do not claim to have invented it. What the course adds is a fixed definition, a named check and a worked example you can inspect.
Krong Academy is an independent training provider. Caldera Freight is a fictional organisation created for instructional purposes.