leheplanning.com

Project management is the discipline of planning, executing, and closing a temporary effort that produces a specific outcome—distinct from ongoing operations, which repeat indefinitely. You "run" a project by moving it through five phases (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, closure), maintaining four core artifacts (scope, schedule, budget, risk register), and choosing a methodology (waterfall, agile, or hybrid) that matches how much uncertainty you face. This guide explains each piece and where projects typically break.

Project vs. operations: the line that matters

A project has a defined start and end, a unique deliverable, and a temporary team. Operations are continuous and repeatable—processing payroll, running a support desk, maintaining a production line.

The distinction changes how you manage:

If the work never "finishes," you are managing operations and should use process-improvement methods instead of project controls.

The five phases, and what each produces

Initiation

Define why the project exists and who owns it. Outputs: a project charter (problem, goal, sponsor, high-level constraints) and a stakeholder list. Without a named sponsor with authority to remove blockers, projects stall at the first conflict.

Planning

Turn the goal into a workable plan. Outputs: scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), schedule, budget, resource plan, and risk register. Planning is where scope creep is prevented—or invited—by how precisely you define what is out of scope.

Execution

The team does the work. Your job shifts to coordination: assigning tasks, unblocking people, and keeping communication flowing. Most of the project manager's time is spent here.

Monitoring and controlling

Runs alongside execution. You compare actual progress against the plan and correct course. Outputs: status reports, change requests, updated risk register. This is not a separate phase in time—it is a parallel activity.

Closure

Deliver, get formal acceptance, release the team, and capture lessons learned. Skipping closure means the next project repeats the same mistakes.

The four artifacts that hold a project together

• Scope — what is included and explicitly excluded. The WBS decomposes scope into deliverable-sized chunks.
• Schedule — tasks, dependencies, durations, and milestones. Critical-path tasks have zero slack; delay them and the whole project slips.
• Budget — estimated cost by category, with contingency for known risks.
• Risk register — each risk with likelihood, impact, owner, and a response (avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept).

A change to any one of these usually affects the others. That relationship is the "triple constraint": scope, time, and cost trade off against each other, with quality as the outcome.

Waterfall, agile, or hybrid: pick by uncertainty

Choose waterfall when change is expensive and requirements are clear. Choose agile when you can deliver in increments and learn as you go. Choose hybrid when a fixed milestone (e.g., a compliance review) must coexist with iterative build work.

Documenting current state and keeping people aligned

Before you can plan change, you need a shared picture of how things work today. Teams often map the current state—processes, systems, dependencies—so that everyone, including new contributors, works from the same reference. Lucid positions its capabilities around documenting the current state of a business and keeping people and AI agents aligned as work moves forward, which fits the "shared reference" problem that derails projects when it is missing.

Practically, alignment requires:

• One source of truth for status, not five.
• A visible owner for every open risk and decision.
• A cadence (daily standup, weekly review) that matches the project's pace.

Where projects actually fail

• No sponsor authority — decisions stall; escalate early or the project drifts.
• Vague scope — "improve the portal" becomes infinite. Write exclusions.
• Optimistic estimates — no contingency, no buffer on critical-path tasks.
• Silent risks — a register nobody updates is decoration.
• No closure — lessons lost, team not released, benefits never measured.

Troubleshoot by returning to the artifact that is weakest: if dates keep slipping, re-examine dependencies and estimates; if scope keeps growing, reassert the change-control process; if the team is confused, the problem is usually communication cadence, not effort.

Getting started

Pick your methodology based on uncertainty, write a one-page charter, build a WBS before a schedule, and keep a live risk register. If you need a shared place to document current state and keep contributors aligned, Lucid offers a free sign-up and published pricing for its charting plans—check the current terms on its pricing page before committing a team.

Lehe Planning, LLC is a professional planning and project management consulting firm led by James E. Lehe, AICP. According to its website, the firm provides planning and project management services through a personable approach intended to deliver effective results, and it has served municipal and county governments, local emergency management agencies, fire departments, nonprofits, and other clients since it was founded in October 2000.

What the firm does

The site describes two core service areas:

• Professional planning — the firm's stated specialty, backed by its leader's background in municipal, county, and regional planning.
• Project management — offered alongside planning as a way to carry client work through to results.

The stated approach is a "personable" one, which the site frames as the reason clients get effective outcomes rather than a purely technical deliverable.

Who it works with

The website lists the following client categories:

This mix suggests the firm's work sits at the intersection of public-sector planning and community-serving organizations, rather than private real estate development alone.

Who leads it

James E. Lehe, AICP is the team leader and firm manager. The site reports:

• Over 40 years of experience in professional planning.
• Consulting part-time since 1993, moving to full-time practice in 2000 when Lehe Planning, LLC was established.
• Prior professional planning roles with municipal and county planning departments and regional planning agencies.
• A Master of Planning degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia (1982).
• An M.S. in Public Administration from Florida State University (1979).
• A B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Central Florida (1977).
• Charter membership in the American Planning Association since 1978 and membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1985.
• Service on the Executive Committee of the Alabama Chapter of the APA as President, Treasurer, and Section Representative.

The AICP credential matters here: it is a professional certification in planning, so a firm advertising an AICP team leader is signaling adherence to that field's standards rather than general consulting.

How to engage or learn more

The website's navigation points to Home, Contact Us, Services, and Our Clients. If you want to know whether the firm fits your project, the practical next step is to use the Contact Us page to describe your planning or project management need, and to review the Services and Our Clients sections for the scope and track record the site presents.

What the site does not say

The available page content does not list pricing, fee structures, contract terms, or a service area beyond the Alabama APA affiliation mentioned in the leadership bio. If cost or geographic coverage is a deciding factor for you, those are questions to raise directly through the contact page rather than assume from the site.

Lehe Planning, LLC is a professional planning and project management firm founded in October 2000. To reach them or explore what they offer, start at their website (leheplanning.com), where the main navigation includes Home, Contact Us, Services, and Our Clients. The Contact Us page is the intended route for getting in touch; the site does not publish a phone number, email address, or contact form details in the material available here, so you will need to open that page directly to see the current contact options.

What the Firm Does

The company describes itself as providing "quality professional planning and project management services through a personable approach that delivers effective results for our clients." Its stated client base spans:

• Municipal and county governments
• Local emergency management agencies and fire departments
• Nonprofits
• Other clients served since its founding

If your organization falls into one of these categories, the Services page is the place to check whether your specific need — a comprehensive plan, a hazard mitigation or emergency management plan, project oversight, or similar — matches what they do.

Who Leads the Firm

James E. Lehe, AICP, is the team leader and firm manager. His background, as described on the site:

The AICP designation matters if you are a public agency that needs to document the qualifications of a planning consultant, since it is the professional certification body within the APA.

How to Learn More

1. Open the Services page to see the scope of planning and project management work offered.
2. Open the Our Clients page to see the types of organizations they have worked with — useful for judging fit if you are a municipality, county, emergency management agency, fire department, or nonprofit.
3. Open the Contact Us page to find the current way to reach the firm. Because the site's contact details are not listed in the summary available here, treat that page as the authoritative source rather than relying on third-party directories.
4. If you are evaluating them for a project, note that the firm has operated since 2000 and that its principal has prior experience inside municipal, county, and regional planning agencies — relevant if you want a consultant who understands the public-sector side of the process.

What to Have Ready Before You Reach Out

The site does not describe an intake process, so there is no published checklist. Based on the services described, a first message is more likely to get a useful response if it states:

• The type of organization you represent (municipality, county, agency, nonprofit, etc.)
• The kind of planning or project management work you need
• Any deadline or funding-driven timeline
• Whether the work is tied to a grant, regulatory requirement, or comprehensive plan update

Common Points to Watch

• No pricing is published. The site shows no rates, fee schedules, or payment platforms, so cost has to be discussed directly.
• Contact details are behind the Contact Us page. Do not assume an email or phone number from an old directory is current.
• The site is a small-firm site, not a portal. There is no client login or self-service area described, so expect direct communication rather than an online system.

The fastest path is simply: go to leheplanning.com, read Services and Our Clients, then use Contact Us to start the conversation.

Lehe Planning, LLC is a professional planning and project management firm founded in October 2000, led by James E. Lehe, AICP, who brings over 40 years of experience in professional planning. The firm's credibility rests on its founder's combination of advanced education, professional certification, and decades of hands-on work with public-sector and nonprofit clients. If you are evaluating whether this firm has the background to handle municipal, county, or emergency management planning work, the qualifications below are the relevant ones to check.

Who Leads the Firm

James E. Lehe serves as team leader and firm manager. His career spans both public-sector planning departments and private consulting:

• Consulting since 1993 on a part-time basis, transitioning to full-time practice in 2000 when Lehe Planning, LLC was established.
• Prior public-sector roles with municipal and county planning departments and regional planning agencies.
• Over 40 years of cumulative experience in professional planning.

This mix matters because it means the firm's lead has sat on both sides of the table — as a government planner and as an outside consultant serving government clients.

Education and Credentials

The AICP designation is the key professional certification in this field. It requires passing an exam and maintaining ongoing professional development, so it signals a baseline of verified competency rather than self-described expertise.

Professional Leadership

Jim Lehe has served on the Executive Committee of the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association in three roles:

• President
• Treasurer
• Section Representative

Holding elected chapter positions indicates peer recognition within the planning profession and familiarity with the regional planning landscape in Alabama.

Who the Firm Has Served

Since its founding in 2000, Lehe Planning, LLC reports having served:

• Municipal and county governments
• Local emergency management agencies and fire departments
• Nonprofits
• Other clients

This client list is useful for matching your own situation. If you are a local government, an emergency management agency, or a nonprofit seeking planning or project management support, the firm's stated experience overlaps directly with those categories.

How to Weigh These Qualifications

The credentials are strongest for public-sector planning and project management engagements — particularly in or around Alabama, given the APA chapter leadership. The AICP certification and the University of Virginia planning master's degree are the two most verifiable signals of technical competence.

What the available information does not cover: pricing, current availability, contract terms, or the size of the firm beyond its founder. If your project requires a large team or a specific specialty not listed above, those are questions to raise directly through the firm's contact page.

Lehe Planning, LLC serves municipal and county governments, local emergency management agencies and fire departments, nonprofits, and other clients. According to the firm's website, it has served these client types since its founding in October 2000. If your organization falls into one of those categories and you need planning or project management services, this firm's stated client base suggests a potential fit; if you are a private developer or a for-profit business outside those categories, the site does not list you among its typical clients.

Client Types Listed on the Website

The firm's homepage names four broad groups it has "successfully served":

The phrase "and other clients" leaves the door open to engagements beyond the four named categories, but the site does not describe who those other clients are or what work was done for them.

What the Client Mix Suggests About Fit

The listed clients share a common thread: they are public-sector or mission-driven organizations that typically need planning and project management support rather than ongoing in-house staff. That pattern is consistent with the firm's self-description as a provider of "quality professional planning and project management services through a personable approach."

If you are evaluating the firm for your own organization, the practical question is whether your project resembles the kind of work these clients would commission — for example, a comprehensive plan, a county planning study, an emergency management planning effort, or a nonprofit project with a defined scope. The website does not publish a service-by-service breakdown or case studies, so the client list is the main signal available on the page.

What the Page Does Not Say

A few things are absent from the available page content and should not be assumed:

• No pricing information. The page lists no fees, rates, or payment details.
• No project examples or references. Specific engagements, outcomes, or client testimonials are not shown.
• No geographic limits stated. The page does not say whether the firm works only in a particular state or region, even though its team leader's professional history is tied to Alabama APA chapter activity.
• No intake or eligibility rules. There is no stated minimum project size or client requirement.

How to Confirm Whether Your Organization Fits

Because the site gives a client list but not a service catalog, the most reliable next step is direct contact. The homepage includes a "Contact Us" link, which is the entry point the firm provides for inquiries. When you reach out, it helps to describe your organization type and the planning or project management need you have, so the firm can tell you whether it is a match.

For background on the firm's experience and credentials — including team leader James E. Lehe's 40-plus years in professional planning and his AICP certification — see the related question on that topic. For a general explanation of what project management involves, see the separate explainer on running a project.