project planning assignment

• Atlassian Guard
• Jira Service Management
• Continuous Delivery
• IT Service Management
• Inside Atlassian
• Project Management
• Work Management
• Company News

How to write an effective project plan in 6 simple steps

Contributing writer

If you’re a Type A personality, project planning might sound like music to your ears. Setting deadlines, organizing tasks, and creating order out of chaos — what’s not to love?

The reality is that project planning isn’t for everyone. In one survey by Association for Project Management, 76% of project professionals said their main project was a source of stress . Poor planning, unclear responsibilities, and overallocation are often the culprits behind the stress. 

An effective project plan helps teams stay within budget, scope, and schedule, while delivering quality work. In short, it gets you to the finish line without the stress.  

What is a project plan?

A project plan, also known as a work plan, is a blueprint of your project lifecycle. It’s like a roadmap — it clearly outlines how to get from where you are now (the beginning of the project) to where you want to go (the successful completion of the project). 

“A project plan is an action plan outlining how…[to] accomplish project goals,” says Jami Yazdani , certified Project Management Professional (PMP), project coach, project management consultant, and founder of Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation . 

A comprehensive project plan includes the project schedule, project scope, due dates, and deliverables. Writing a good project plan is key for any new, complex project in the pipeline.

Why Are Project Plans Important?

Project plans allow you to visualize your entire project, from beginning to end—and develop a clear strategy to get from point A to point B. Project plans steer stakeholders in the right direction and keep team members accountable with a common baseline.  

Project plans help you stay agile

Projects are bound by what is traditionally called the “iron triangle” of project management . It means that project managers have to work within the three constraints of scope, resources (project budget and teams), and schedule. You cannot make changes to one without impacting the other two.    

Modern-day project management has shifted to a more agile approach, with a focus on quality. This means that resources and schedules remain unchanged but a fixed number of iterations (flexible scope) helps teams deliver better quality and more value. 

A project plan puts this “agile triangle” in place by mapping out resources, schedules, and the number of iterations — sprints if you’re using a Scrum framework and work in progress (WIP) limits if you’re using the Kanban methodology . 

As Yazdani points out, “Project plans help us strategize a path to project success, allowing us to consider the factors that will impact our project, from stakeholders to budget to schedule delays, and plan how to maximize or mitigate these factors.” 

Project plans provide complete visibility

A project plan, when created with a comprehensive project management software , gives you 360-degree visibility throughout the project lifecycle. 

As a project manager, you need a single source of truth on team members and their project tasks, project scope, project objectives, and project timelines. A detailed project plan gives you this visibility and helps teams stay on track.

Project plans also help to get everyone involved on the same page, setting clear expectations around what needs to be accomplished, when, and by who. 

“Project plans create a framework for measuring project progress and success,” says Yazdani. “Project plans set clear expectations for…stakeholders by outlining exactly what…will [be accomplished] and when it will be delivered.”

Project plans boost engagement and productivity

A well-written project plan clarifies how each individual team member’s contributions play into the larger scope of the project and align with company goals. When employees see how their work directly impacts organizational growth, it generates buy-in and drives engagement , which is critical to a project’s success. 

“Project plans provide…teams with purpose and direction,” says Yazdani. “Transparent project plans show team members how their individual tasks and responsibilities contribute to the overall success of the project, encouraging engagement and collaboration.”

How To Write A Project Plan in 6 Steps

Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they’re available for the duration of the project. After all, you want to set your teams up for success with realistic end dates, buffer time to recharge or catch up in case of unexpected delays, and deliver quality work without experiencing burnout .

Based on organizational capacity, you can lay down project timelines and map out scope as well as success metrics, outline tasks, and build a feedback loop into your project plan. Follow these project planning steps to create a winning plan:      

1. Establish Project Scope And Metrics

Defining your project scope is essential to protecting your iron, or agile, triangle from crumbling. Too often, projects are hit with scope creep , causing delays, budget overruns, and anxiety.

“Clearly define your project’s scope or overall purpose,” says Yazdani. “Confirm any project parameters or constraints, like budget, resource availability, and timeline,” says Yazdani.

A project purpose statement is a high-level brief that defines the what, who, and why of the project along with how and when the goal will be accomplished. But just as important as defining your project scope and purpose is defining what metrics you’re going to use to track progress.

“Establish how you will measure success,” says Yazdani. “Are there metrics, performance criteria, or quality standards you need to meet?”

Clearly defining what your project is, the project’s overall purpose, and how you’re going to measure success lays the foundation for the rest of your project plan—so make sure you take the time to define each of these elements from the get-go.

2. Identify Key Project Stakeholders 

Get clarity on the team members you need to bring the project to life. In other words, identify the key stakeholders of the project. 

“List individuals or groups who will be impacted by the project,” says Yazdani. 

In addition to identifying who needs to be involved in the project, think about how they’ll need to be involved—and at what level. Use a tool like Confluence to run a virtual session to clarify roles and responsibilities, and find gaps that need to be filled. 

Let’s say you’re managing a cross-functional project to launch a new marketing campaign that includes team members from your marketing, design, and sales departments. 

When identifying your key stakeholders, you might create different lists based on the responsibility or level of involvement with the project:

• Decision-makers (who will need to provide input at each step of the project)
• Managers (who will be overseeing employees within their department) 
• Creative talent (who will be actually creating the project deliverables for the campaign) from each department. 

Give your project plan an edge by using a Confluence template like the one below to outline roles and responsibilities.

Define roles, discuss responsibilities, and clarify which tasks fall under each teammate’s purview using this Confluence template. 

Getting clarity on who needs to be involved in the project—and how they’re going to be involved—will help guide the rest of the project plan writing process (particularly when it comes to creating and assigning tasks).

3. Outline Deliverables

Now is the time to get granular.

Each project milestone comprises a series of smaller, tangible tasks that your teams need to produce. While a big-picture view keeps teams aligned, you need signposts along the way to guide them on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Create a list of deliverables that will help you achieve the greater vision of the project. 

“What will you create, build, design, produce, accomplish or deliver?” says Yazdani. “Clearly outline your project’s concrete and tangible deliverables or outcomes.” Centralize these deliverables in a Trello board with designated cards for each one, like in the example below, so you keep work moving forward.

Each card on a board represents tasks and ideas and you can move cards across lists to show progress.

Defining the concrete items you need your project to deliver will help you reverse-engineer the things that need to happen to bring those items to life—which is a must before moving on to the next step.

4. Develop Actionable Tasks

Task management is an important component of any project plan because they help employees see what exactly they need to accomplish. Drill down those deliverables into actionable tasks to assign to your team. 

You can use either Confluence or Jira for different task management needs. If you want to track tasks alongside your work, like action items from a meeting or small team projects, it’s best to use Confluence. But if a project has multiple teams and you need insight into workflows, task history, and reporting, Jira makes it easy.      

“Let your deliverables guide the work of the project,” says Yazdani. “Break down each deliverable into smaller and smaller components until you get to an actionable task.” If a major deliverable is a set of content pieces, the smaller actionable tasks would be to create topic ideas, conduct research, and create outlines for each topic.  

Once you’ve broken down all of your deliverables into manageable, assignable subtasks, analyze how each of those tasks interacts with each other. That way, you can plan, prioritize, assign, and add deadlines accordingly.  

“Highlight any dependencies between tasks, such as tasks that can’t be started until another task is complete,” says Yazdani. “List any resources you will need to accomplish these tasks.”

When a task has multiple assignees, you need to streamline the workflow in your project plan. Say the content pieces you outlined need to be edited or peer-reviewed. A couple of articles may need an interview with a subject matter expert. Lay down a stage-by-stage process of each piece of content and pinpoint when each team member comes into play so you prevent bottlenecks and adjust timeframes.     

5. Assign Tasks And Deadlines

Assign tasks to your team and collaborate with employees to set deadlines for each task. When you involve employees in setting workloads and deadlines , you increase ownership and boost the chances of delivering quality work on time.  

After all, you want to move projects forward at a steady pace, but you also want to make sure your teams stay motivated and engaged. So, when writing your project plan, make sure to “set realistic and achievable deadlines for completing tasks and deliverables,” says Yazdani. “Highlight dates that are inflexible and factor in task dependencies. Add in milestones or checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate successes .”

Use Jira and Confluence to create tasks that live alongside your project plan or meeting agendas.

Once you map out all of your tasks and deadlines, you should have a clear picture of how and when your project is going to come together—and the initial writing process is just about finished.

But that doesn’t mean your project plan is complete! There’s one more key step to the process.

6. Share, Gather Feedback, And Adjust The Project Plan As Necessary

While steps 1 through 5 may make up your initial writing process, if you want your project plan to be as strong and complete as it can be, it’s important to share it with your team—and get their input on how they think it can be improved.

“Share the plan with your project team and key stakeholders, gathering feedback to make adjustments and improvements,” says Yazdani. 

A tool like Confluence helps knowledge flow freely within teams and departments, leading to better teamwork, higher collaboration, and a shared understanding of priorities. Coworkers can use comments, mentions, notifications, and co-editing capabilities to provide and discuss feedback. 

After you gather your team’s feedback —and make any necessary adjustments based on that feedback—you can consider your project plan complete. Hooray! 

But as your project progresses, things may change or evolve—so it’s important to stay flexible and make changes and adjustments as needed.

“Expect to update your plan as you gather more information, encounter changing requirements and delays, and learn from feedback and mistakes,” says Yazdani. “By using your project plan to guide your activities and measure progress, you’ll be able to refine and improve your plan as you move through the project, tweaking tasks and deadlines as deliverables are developed.”

Download a  template to create your project plan and customize it based on your needs.

Example of a simple project plan 

A project plan doesn’t have to be a complicated spreadsheet with multiple tabs and drop-down menus. It’s best to use a project planning tool like Confluence — or at least a project plan template — to make sure you cover every aspect of the project. A simple project plan includes these elements:

• Project name, brief summary, and objective.
• Project players or team members who will drive the project, along with their roles and responsibilities.
• Key outcomes and due dates.
• Project elements, ideally divided into must-have, nice-to-have and not-in-scope categories.
• Milestones, milestone owners, and a project end date.
• Reference material relevant to the project.

Best Practices For Writing Effective Project Plans

A project planning process can quickly turn into a mishmash of goals and tasks that end up in chaos but these best practices can give you a framework to create a project plan that leads to success.

Use Other Project Plans For Inspiration

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new project! Instead, look to other successful project plans for inspiration—and use them as a guide when writing the plan for your project.

“Review templates and plans for similar projects, or for other projects within your organization or industry, to get ideas for structuring and drafting your own plan,” says Yazdani.

To get started, use a Trello project management template and customize it for your project plan by creating unique lists and adding cards under each list.

Build your team’s ideal workflow and mark each stage of the project plan as a list, with cards for each task. 

Get Your Team Involved In The Process

You may be in charge of spearheading the project. But that doesn’t mean that you have to—or even that you should—write the project plan alone. 

“Collaborate with your project team and key stakeholders on crafting a project plan,” says Yazdani. “Input into the project plan supports buy-in to project goals and encourages continued engagement throughout the project.”

With Confluence , you can organize project details in a centralized space and build a project plan collaboratively.

Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good

You may be tempted to write (and rewrite) your project plan until you’ve got every detail mapped out perfectly. But spending too much time trying to get everything “perfect” can actually hold up the project. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good—and instead of getting caught up in getting everything perfect from the get-go, stay willing and flexible to adjust your project plan as you move forward.

“Focus on outcomes, not plan perfection,” says Yazdani. “While it would be awesome for the first draft of our plan to require no changes while also inspiring our team and ensuring project success, our goal shouldn’t be a perfect plan. Our goal is a plan that allows us to successfully deliver on project goals. Responsiveness to changing needs and a shifting environment is more important than plan perfection.”

Use the right tools to succeed with your project plan

Writing a project plan, especially if you’re new to the process, can feel overwhelming. But now that you know the exact steps to write one, make sure you have the tools you need to create a strong, cohesive plan from the ground up—and watch your project thrive as a result. 

Atlassian Together can help with project planning and management with a powerful combination of tools that make work flow across teams.

Guide your team to project success with Atlassian Together’s suite of products.

Advice, stories, and expertise about work life today.

Project Management Plan: Samples, Examples & Free Template

Learn how to create a project management plan that actually works and ensures you get your project over the line on time and on budget, with samples and examples

Table of Contents

What is a project management plan, what is a project management plan used for, what are the main elements of a project plan, how to write a project management plan, sample project management plan outline, using our project management plan template to build your project plan, project management plan: faq's.

A project management plan is a comprehensive document that outlines how a project will be executed, monitored, controlled and closed. For project managers and their teams, it's the ultimate toolkit for achieving their objectives while managing day-to-day pressures such as time, cost, scope, resourcing and risk. This guide outlines what a project management plan is used for, why it's important , and offers a step-by-step guide on how to make one that actually works.

Your project plan document is where you go deep on the ins, outs, overs, and unders of your project. It's where you break this vision down into the day-to-day execution of your project, covering everything you need to do to reach your project goals.

A detailed project plan will plot out everything from timelines to budget, resourcing to deliverables, and more, giving you a blueprint of what needs to be done (and when) that you can use to guide — and assess — your project.

The key components of a project management plan are:

Project Objectives

Scope Statement

Schedule Management

Cost Management

Resource Management

Communication Plan

Stakeholder Management

Procurement Management

Closure Criteria

Project Organization

Ready to get down to business? Here are 5 key things you need to do when writing a project plan.

1. Identify the baselines for your project

Before you begin writing a project plan, you need to make sure you have the basics down. Start by identifying the baselines for the project’s scope, schedule and cost, as the rest of your project planning will need to fit in around those constraints.

As mentioned above, these baselines should already be roughly outlined in your project charter — but here’s where you really start to map them out and create accurate estimates. And the more detailed, the better, because these are what you’ll be using for comparison to measure how your project performs.

2. Identify your project dependencies

Or in other words, ask yourself: what needs to happen before this other thing can happen? Identifying your project dependencies at the outset of your project means you can plan your timelines more efficiently, spot potential blockers, and ensure that you avoid unnecessary delays.

3. Identify project stakeholders

You’ll already have done the groundwork for this in your stakeholder analysis, but as you flesh out your project management plan and think through the phases of your project in more detail, you’ll likely start to find more project stakeholders at each phase.

Now is also a good time to go deeper on which stakeholders need to be informed and involved at which stages, for a more comprehensive stakeholder management plan you can use at each phase of your project.

4. Identify project milestones

What are the key markers of your project’s progress? It can be a concrete deliverable, the end of a phase in a stage-gate process — whatever milestones make sense to you, breaking your project down into manageable chunks, each with a defined goal, helps to keep the team motivated, allows you to celebrate each achievement, and signposts how the overall progress is coming along.  Learn more about using Milestones here .

5. Identify who’s responsible for what

Once you start to get a big-picture understanding of the work that’s needed and the resources you have to complete it, you can start deciding who should do what. Giving each item an owner is essential to getting things done. No more “oh, was I supposed to do that?” — once you identify who’s responsible for what, you can ensure accountability and transparency.

The 5 Stages of Team Development

All teams develop according to some natural patterns and using that knowledge, you can offer some guidance to build the kind of team that communicates well and finds better ways to collaborate and achieve the goals you’ve established. Here’s what you need to know.

Now let's go through a sample project plan. In the below example, we highlight the main sections of the plan and what needs to be included in each one to set your project up for success.

Section 1: Executive summary

The executive summary offers a concise overview of the entire project. It includes key highlights such as the project's purpose, objectives, scope, timeline, budget, and major stakeholders. It's often the first section stakeholders read to get a high-level understanding of the project.

Section 2: Project introduction

This section sets the stage by providing context and background information about the project. It explains why the project is being undertaken and introduces the main objectives and scope of the project.

Section 3: Project objectives

Here, the project's specific goals and objectives are outlined in detail. Objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to provide clarity and guidance.

Section 4: Project scope

The scope section defines what is included and excluded from the project. It helps prevent scope creep by establishing clear boundaries and also mentions any assumptions and constraints that may affect the project.

Section 5: Schedule management

This section details the project's timeline, including milestones and deadlines. It breaks down the project into tasks and identifies task dependencies. Often, visual representations like Gantt charts are used for clarity.

Section 6: Cost management

Here, the project budget is presented, including cost estimates for various project components. It may also outline cost control measures to ensure the project stays within budget.

Section 7: Quality management

This section focuses on the quality standards and objectives for the project. It describes quality control and assurance processes, as well as any inspection and testing procedures that will be implemented.

Project management template

Save time on setup without sacrificing attention to detail. With our project management template, you can quickly create project management plans that help you complete your project on time and on budget.

Section 8: Resource management

In this section, the project team is introduced, and roles and responsibilities are defined. It addresses resource allocation, scheduling, and, if applicable, procurement needs.

Section 9: Risk management

The risk management section identifies potential risks and uncertainties that could impact the project. It discusses risk assessment, prioritization, and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of these risks.

Section 10: Communication plan

The communication plan outlines how project information will be shared with stakeholders and team members. It specifies communication methods, frequency, and reporting channels to ensure effective communication throughout the project.

Section 11: Stakeholder management

This section lists project stakeholders and analyzes their interests, influence, and expectations. It also outlines strategies for engaging and managing these stakeholders to ensure their needs are addressed.

Section 12: Procurement management

If procurement of goods or services is involved, this section explains the procurement strategy, vendor selection criteria, and how contracts will be managed.

Section 13: Change management

Change management procedures are detailed here, including how changes to the project scope, schedule, or other aspects will be requested, evaluated, approved, and communicated.

Section 14: Closure criteria

Criteria for determining when the project is complete and ready for closure are specified in this section. It may also include plans for project handover and post-project evaluation.

Section 15: Project organization

This section describes the project team's structure, roles, and responsibilities, ensuring everyone understands their positions and reporting lines. It may also mention external stakeholders and their roles if applicable.

Once you’ve documented your project management plan, bring it to life with a project management tool that will help you to stay on track, keep your team accountable, and promote transparency.

Here are 3 ways you can use Teamwork.com to supercharge your project management plan.

Add your supporting documentation to Teamwork Spaces

Use the Teamwork.com and Teamwork Spaces integration to link a project in Teamwork.com with a space in Teamwork Spaces, so your important project documents are only ever a click away.

Some documents you might want to add in addition to your project charter and project management plan include:

Scoping documents

Risk assessments

Change management plans

SOPs for important project processes

List of stakeholders and their roles

Outline of approval processes

Communications management plan

Any other best practices documentation or supporting info as necessary

You can even embed task lists into your pages and mark tasks as complete right from Teamwork Spaces, so you can keep work flowing without even needing to switch tabs.

Start adding your Milestones

Break down your work into Milestones and task lists that are going to help you reach them. With Teamwork.com, you can assign an owner to each Milestone, map out your Milestone due dates and see them represented in the project calendar, and even get a full change history for milestones so you can track any edits.

Visualize your task dependencies with a Gantt chart

Gantt chart-style views are a useful way to get a visual representation of your tasks and their dependencies, allowing for better scheduling and resourcing. In Teamwork.com, you can drag and drop to quickly rearrange your project schedule , without throwing everything out of order or straying off-plan.

Remember: software should support the way you work, not dictate it. So regardless of methodology or team type, create a project plan that works for you and your team — and find a tool that helps you put it into action.

Use our project plan template

Now that you know how to create a project management plan that actually works, you’re ready to implement using our team management software . To help you get up and running quickly, we’ve created a ready to use project plan template . Our project template will help you quickly create project plans that ensure all of your projects are completed on time and on budget

What is a project management plan template?

A project management plan template is a pre-designed framework that provides a structured format for creating a project management plan. It serves as a starting point for project managers and teams to develop their specific project plans, saving time and ensuring that key project management components are properly addressed.

How can a template help you build a great project management plan?

A template can help you build a great project management plan by saving time, ensuring comprehensive coverage of project management aspects, and incorporating industry best practices and visual aids for clarity. They also support collaboration, version control, and customization to fit the unique needs of each project, making them a valuable tool for project managers in achieving successful project outcomes.

What is the main purpose of a project management plan?

The main purpose of a project management plan is to provide a comprehensive and structured roadmap for successfully executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. It serves as a central document that outlines project objectives, scope, schedule, budget, quality standards, resource allocation, risk management strategies, and communication approaches.

What tools do I need to help manage a project plan?

To effectively manage a project plan, you'll need a set of tools and software that cover various aspects of project management. These include project management software, communication and collaboration platforms, file and document management solutions, time and task tracking apps, and budgeting and financial management tools.

What steps are involved in the project planning process?

The steps involved in the project planning process include defining specific project objectives and scope, identifying deliverables and key milestones, budgets, risk assessment and quality control measures. It should also include a communication plan and stakeholder engagement strategies.

You may also like...

Get started with Teamwork.com

Start working together beautifully. See how Teamwork.com can help your team with our 30-day free trial.

Advisory boards aren’t only for executives. Join the LogRocket Content Advisory Board today →

• Product Management
• Solve User-Reported Issues
• Find Issues Faster
• Optimize Conversion and Adoption

A guide to project planning (with template and examples)

“Hi, Aniket, good to see you again!” My manager greeted me after I came back from my two-month annual vacation to India. Back then, I was working as a product manager at Zalando, one of Europe’s biggest fashion e-commerce companies.

After coming back, I asked my manager if she knew what I would be working on next. We had a one-hour meeting and I learned that I’d be leading one of the most complex products — a completely new version of our in-house content management system. I was elated, to say the least.

At the end of the day, I was assigned the task of coming up with a rough project plan for this product. Even though I had worked on creating multiple project plans back then, I was nervous. This product was complicated and had hundreds of use cases. I didn’t know where to start. This was the first taste of building a project plan for a highly complex product.

In this blog, we’ll cover the importance of project planning and its key elements. We’ll look at a project plan template, walk through a realistic example, and cover tips for efficient project planning in your organization. Let’s get started!

Background information: The project management lifecycle

Before we get into project planning, it’s important to understand the lifecycle of a project:

• Initiation — this is the start of the project. Ideally, this is where the need of the project is identified and the project is defined
• Planning — this includes the end-to-end planning of the project. The main parts of the planning are defining project goals, scope, complexity, effort, timeline, budget, and risk management
• Execution — this phase is where all the relevant teams come together and execute their part of the project
• Continuous monitoring — throughout the project, progress is monitored and controlled. Any deviations or blockers are clarified for a smooth delivery
• Closing — this is the last phase of the project where the work is reviewed and, depending on the feedback, the project closes

Since we are focusing on project planning, we’ll deep-dive into its different elements. However, to do that, we first need to understand why project planning is important.

The importance of project planning

The project that I was given to lead at Zalando was a highly complex one. The estimated timeline for completing the project was one year — this is fairly high in the software development world.

There were three engineering teams involved each with 7–8 team members. When it comes to complex projects, it’s essential to have a strong project plan in place.

Here are a few reasons why project planning is important:

Clarifies goals and objectives at the beginning

As they say “without a goal, you can’t score.”

Every project needs a goal or outcome for the team to understand what they are supposed to do. Project planning helps achieve that.

Helps with timeline and budget

Initial project planning helps to understand how much estimated time the team will take and how much money the project requires. The latter includes salaries of employees, hardware costs, training, etc.

Over 200k developers and product managers use LogRocket to create better digital experiences

Identifies risks early on

This is an extremely important part of a project plan. Project planning helps identify potential blockers or risks , thereby enabling the project manager and teams to create a risk mitigation strategy.

Increases collaboration

A strong project plan helps everyone understand their responsibilities. This, in turn, helps the teams collaborate effectively and finish the project within the timeframe.

Key elements of project planning

Next, let’s review the key elements of project planning:

This is pretty self-explanatory, it’s what the project is going to hopefully achieve by the end. It’s important to have SMART goals so they’re as specific and unambiguous as possible.

This is the very first element of a project plan that the team decides on. Scope helps the teams understand what they need to achieve and gives direction to the product. Scope typically includes objectives, goals, expected deliveries, and project limitations.

This helps teams understand when they need to deliver the project and how to divide the project into small, executable milestones that fit into the total timeline. It also includes the allocation of resources, personnel equipment, and necessary training.

The budget details the financial part of the project. Questions like how much total money needs to be spent to finish the project, what are the funding sources, what are the revenue projects, etc. are answered via budgeting. This also includes the salaries of team members, training costs, equipment costs, etc.

Every project comes with its own risks. Risks are factors that could impact the project’s successful completion. These could be the availability of resources, legal and/or regulatory compliance, or technology limitations.

Assessing risks early on helps detail how they can be mitigated to successfully deliver the project. One point to note is that it’s not possible to identify all the risks early on. For example, no companies could predict the magnitude of the outbreak of COVID-19. This proves that some risks are beyond the control of the company and teams.

Communication plan

A project requires effective collaboration between different team members, such as designers, engineers, marketers, sales personnel, etc. To achieve this, a project needs to have a strong communication plan. This includes meeting schedules, modes of communication, and reporting requirements.

Change management plan

As mentioned in the risks section, there are times when the project needs to change because of unidentified or unplanned risks. These changes might affect the scope, timeline, budget, resources, or any other part of a project.

This is why a change management plan needs to be discussed. This plan outlines how a project can be changed, how to communicate changes to stakeholders, and how to address concerns or conflicts.

Stakeholder management plan

Every project has stakeholders. Stakeholders can either play an active role in finishing projects, such as engineering and designers, or simply may just be interested in the status of the project, such as higher management.

Having a stakeholder management plan will keep the stakeholders educated and engaged, thereby removing any blockers or concerns.

Team roles and responsibilities

As mentioned earlier, a project requires active collaboration between different teams and team members. This is why a clear definition of who will work on what is extremely important. It also helps to outline the responsibilities of every team member, project manager, project sponsor, etc.

Project plan template

Here is a free project plan template that I created. Feel free to use it at your convenience. This highlights all the points that are mentioned above in the key elements of the project planning section.

You can make a copy of this template to customize for your projects by going to File > Make a copy .

Project plan example

Let’s go through an example to create a project plan using the above template.

Project goal

We’ll start with the project goal. As mentioned earlier, the first part of a project plan is to understand the needs of the project. The outcome of this is to have a specific goal and outcome. This is the most critical part since it will drive the entire project.

For example, let’s say we work for an established e-commerce company that’s doing well in selling fashion products and we’ve already identified a need of selling second-hand products. In this case, the goal is to “enable sellers to sell second-hand products at their desired price.”

Once the goal is identified, the next step is to define the scope. This helps to deliver results faster. Here’s an example: to enable sellers to sell second-hand products at their desired price on an e-commerce shop, we need to: enable a new categorization “second-hand” on the website for the users to discover; build systems to enable sellers to sell the second product at their desired rates; and define return and exchange policies.

These are just a few of the things that the team will need to work on. And hence, it’s important to scope the project so that it’s easier for the team to deliver. For example, enable sellers to sell second-hand t-shirts at their desired price. This will help the team only focus on one category as compared to tens of other categories, thereby having a clear scope to work on.

Next, we have timeline. As mentioned previously, this helps the team know how soon they need to deliver the project. For our example, we could say that our goal to enable sellers to sell second-hand t-shirts at their desired price should be finished in three months. Every month, there will be a smaller release related to the project goal.

Next up is the budget. This falls in the bucket of the sponsor. Usually, that’s someone from higher management. We need to know what physical resources, human resources, and physical locations are necessary

For example:

• Six sets of hardware for six team members with the associated software
• Six team members: three backend, two frontend, and one project manager
• Office space for seating six

Risks are an extremely critical part of a project that helps identify potential risks early on and create a contingency plan. We can ask ourselves things like, “What if the project is not delivered within the timeline?” “What if the project requires more budget?” or “What if the company doesn’t find sellers to sell second-hand products?”

For the first question, we could de-scope the project depending on what needs to be finished. For the second, evaluate the reasons and find funding opportunities, And for the third question, we could understand the reasoning and iterate the product (or close it, depending on the feedback).

This is the backbone of the project and keeps the project audience together.

Here’s an example of a communication plan:

• A weekly check-in between all the stakeholders
• A bi-weekly newsletter to keep all the stakeholders informed
• A Google chat for the stakeholders to communicate daily

Questions such as “What happens if something goes wrong?” are taken care of in this section.

I nform the primary stakeholders, who, in this case, are higher management (including the CEO, CTO, and CPO) ASAP in case of changes. Also, evaluate the cost of the change and communicate the same.

This part talks about who are the relevant stakeholders, how should they be informed, and how often. In this case, the stakeholders are the higher management, engineering team, operations team, and design team. They should be informed via email once every two weeks.

Lastly, every project requires active collaboration between different teams. And hence why it’s necessary to understand who is involved in the project and what their roles are.

For example, engineering will work to build the software, the design team will design the features and the end-to-end flow, and the project manager will lead the project.

Here is the template with all the filled answers.

5 tips for effective project planning

The following are some lessons learned and advice I’d give for effective project planning:

• Involve all the relevant stakeholders from day one . Sometimes, engineering or design is included later, which impacts not only the timeline but even the scope of the project
• Create a realistic timeline . Include buffers, vacation days of team members, sick leaves, and holidays. Unexpected incidents happen and its best is to consider them in project planning right at the start
• Maintain active communication . It’s better to over-communicate than under-communicate. Also, having active regular communication can help identify the roadblock or risks earlier
• Identify the right stakeholders and prioritize them . Some stakeholders will be the sponsors or participants, and hence will be very active during the entire project. Others will be passive. Classify the stakeholders and communicate with them regularly according to priority
• Be agile . Always prepare for the worst case and keep the team agile. This includes creating a strong change management plan and determining the potential risks early on.

A good project plan can help the team sail the winds smoothly. It forms the backbone of the project. A project plan can give clear visibility to all stakeholders, thereby helping everyone accomplish the desired goal.

Featured image source: IconScout

LogRocket generates product insights that lead to meaningful action

Get your teams on the same page — try LogRocket today.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• #project management

Stop guessing about your digital experience with LogRocket

Recent posts:.

Creating a successful product launch plan: A step-by-step guide

Follow this 7-step checklist to maximize your chances at running a successful product launch.

What is DMAIC in Six Sigma?

Bring Six Sigma’s approach and its DMAIC process to your next product analysis to solve project problems and implement lasting solutions.

Leader Spotlight: The importance of understanding the customer, with Adam Cardarelli

Adam Cardarelli highlights the importance of deeply understanding the customer and creating awe-inspiring products that truly delight them.

What is a product designer? Skills, duties, and career path

Product designers bridge the gap between user needs, business goals, and technological possibilities. Let’s take a deeper look at the role.

One Reply to "A guide to project planning (with template and examples)"

Thanks a lot for your hard work and great samples! Really appreciate. I think project planning also requires digital tools for planning. Kanbantool.com seems to be a great match here. I bet you have heard about kanban 🙂 Thanks once again and wish you luck, and all smooth i professional life 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

How to Create a Realistic Project Plan with Templates & Examples

As a project manager, a huge part of your role is to write project plans that help you keep projects on track. But that’s not all a project plan should do. 

A project plan is arguably the most important document you’ll create for a project. At its core, a plan should communicate your project approach and the process your team will use to manage the project according to scope.

Let’s take a closer look at how you can develop a rock-solid planning process that guides your team and projects to success.

What is a project plan?

Project plan example: what to include, why you should always write a project plan, 5 steps to an effective project planning process, how to create a project plan in teamgantt, free project plan templates.

A project plan is a document that maps out the tasks, effort, timing, and resources needed to meet project goals within a predefined scope. It’s often presented in the form of a gantt chart because it’s easy to visualize the project timeline and ensure work stays on track.

Any solid project management plan should answer the following questions:

• What are the major deliverables?
• How will we get to those deliverables and the deadline?
• Who’s on the project team, and what role will they play in those deliverables?
• Which stakeholders need to provide feedback on deliverables, and when?
• When will the team meet milestones?

A project plan communicates this information in a simple, straightforward way so everyone clearly understands the objectives and how they contribute to project success. It may also be accompanied by other planning documents, such as a project charter , risk assessment , or communication plan .

While no two project plans are alike, they all share the same common building blocks. Be sure to include the following components in any project plan you create:

• Project tasks : A detailed list of work to be done organized by project phase, process step, or work group
• Project schedule : A visual timeline of task start dates, durations, and deadlines, with clear progress indicators
• Key milestones : Major events, dates, decisions, and deliverables used for tracking forward progress
• Dependencies : A line connecting tasks that need to happen in a certain order
• Resources : Assignments that indicate the person or team responsible for completing a task

Here’s a simple example of what a project plan looks like with these basic elements highlighted:

Some people don’t understand the power of a good project plan. If you feel pressured to skip the plan and jump right into the work, remind your team and stakeholders that having a plan benefits everyone by making it easier to:

• Build consensus before work begins : A detailed project plan ensures everyone has a clear understanding of—and agrees on—the overall process, scope, staffing, and even communications from the outset. That goes a long way in keeping project confusion and pop-up requests from gumming up the works.
• Avoid scheduling conflicts : Project plans enable you to organize tasks so it’s clear who's responsible for what and when. If your team is juggling multiple projects, you can cross-reference other plans to see who’s available to take on new work before committing to a timeline.
• Monitor project goals and scope : When new tasks creep in, it’s easy to lose sight of the original objectives. Spelling out the work you need to complete in a time-based plan keeps project goals front and center so you can ensure project scope stays intact.  ‍
• Hold your team and stakeholders accountable : A good project plan sets expectations around the process and pacing you'll follow each step of the way. When plans are shared with teams and stakeholders, it keeps folks honest about what is—or isn’t—happening and forces you to resolve issues in a timely way.

Easy drag and drop features with templates for faster scheduling. Plan a project in minutes, collaborate easily as a team, and switch to calendar and list views in a single click.

Poor planning can lead to some pretty ugly consequences—from missed deadlines and budget overages to team burnout and client frustration. That’s why it’s important to establish a solid process you can use to plan any project. 

Planning a project doesn’t have to be difficult. These basic project planning steps can help you write a plan that’s both realistic and on target.

• Start with project discovery & definition
• Draft a rough outline of your plan
• Formalize your project management plan
• Present & confirm your plan
• Execute your plan & adjust as needed

Step 1: Start with project discovery and definition

A project plan is more than a dry document with dates. It’s the story of your project, and you don’t want it to be a tall tale! So make sure you know all the facts before you start creating a project plan.

Understand the project scope and value

Understanding the ins and outs of the project will help you determine the best process and identify any snags that might get in the way of success. Conduct your own research to dig deeper on:

• Project goals and outcomes
• Partnerships and outlying dependencies
• Potential issues and risks

Review the scope of work , and dive into any documents or communications relevant to the project (maybe an RFP or notes from sales calls or client meetings). Be thorough in your research to uncover critical project details, and ask thoughtful questions before you commit to anything. 

Interview key stakeholders

If you want to dazzle stakeholders with a stellar project delivery, you’ve got to know how they work and what they expect. Schedule time with your main project contact, and ask them some tough questions about process, organizational politics, and general risks before creating a project plan. 

This will give project stakeholders confidence that your team has the experience to handle any difficult personality or situation. It also shows you care about the success of the project from the start.

Be sure to discuss these things with your stakeholders:

• Product ownership and the decision-making process
• Stakeholder interest/involvement levels
• Key outages, meetings, deadlines, and driving factors
• Related or similar projects, goals, and outcomes
• The best way to communicate with partners and stakeholders

See a list of sample interview questions to ask stakeholders so you can develop better project plans.

Get to know your team

The last step in the research phase is to take time to learn more about the people who’ll be responsible for the work. Sit down with your team and get to know their:

• Collaboration and communication styles
• Availability and workload

Understanding these basics about your team will help you craft a thoughtful plan that takes their work styles and bandwidth into consideration. After all, a happy team delivers better projects.

Step 2: Draft a rough outline of your plan

Now that you’ve gathered the basic project details, the next step is to knock out a rough draft of your plan. Take some time to think about the discussions you had in the pre-planning phase and the approach your team might take to meet the project goals.

Sketch out the main components of your project plan

Sit down with a pen and paper (or a whiteboard), and outline how the project should work at a high level. Be sure you have a calendar close by to check dates.

If you’re at a loss for where to begin, start with the who, what, when, and how of the project. A first outline can be very rough and might look something like a work breakdown structure . Make sure your project outline includes the following components:

• Deliverables and the tasks required to create them
• Your client’s approval process
• Timeframes associated with tasks/deliverables
• Ideas on resources needed for tasks/deliverables
• A list of the assumptions you’re making in the plan
• A list of absolutes as they relate to the project budget and/or deadlines

Considering these elements will help you avoid surprises—or at least minimize them. And remember, you’re doing this as a draft so you can use it as a conversation-starter for your team. It’s not final yet!

Get input from your team on process, effort, and timing

You don’t want to put yourself or your team in an awkward position by not coming to a consensus on the approach before presenting it to your client. That's why a project manager can’t be the only one writing a project plan.

Once you’ve created a basic project outline, take those rough ideas and considerations to your team. This enables you to invite discussion about what might work rather than simply dictating a process. After all, every project must begin with clear communication of the project goals and the effort required to meet them. 

Be sure to get input from your team on how they can complete the tasks at hand without killing the budget and the team’s morale. As a project manager, you can decide on Agile vs. Waterfall approaches , but when it comes down to it, you need to know that the team can realistically execute the plan.

You can also use this review time to question your own thinking and push the team to take a new approach to the work. For example, if you’re working on a digital product, could designers start creating visual concepts while the wireframes are being developed? Or can you have two resources working on the same task at once?

Running ideas by the team and having an open dialogue about the approach not only helps you build a more accurate project plan. It gets everyone thinking about the project in the same terms. This type of buy-in and communication builds trust and gets people excited about working together to solve a goal. It can work wonders for the greater good of your team and project.

Step 3: Formalize your project management plan

You should feel comfortable enough at this point to put together a rock-solid project schedule using whatever tool works for you. 

Build out a detailed project schedule that’s easy to read

Any good online project planning tool will help you formalize your thoughts and lay them out in a consistent, visual format that’s easy to follow and track. (Ahem, TeamGantt works nicely for a lot of happy customers. ) 

Make sure tasks have clear start and end dates so there’s no question when work needs to happen to hit project deadlines. Organize work into phases, and use labels and/or color-coding to improve scannability. The easier your project plan is to understand at a glance, the better!

See how to create a project plan in TeamGantt

Consider how your team likes to work

Be as flexible as possible when it comes to how your project plan is presented. There's no absolute when it comes to how to format your plan as long as you and your team understand what goes into one.

Remember, people absorb information differently. While you might be partial to a gantt chart, others might prefer to view tasks in a list, calendar, or even a kanban board. You can make all of those variations work if you’ve taken the steps to create a solid plan.

For example, here’s an Agile project plan we built that lists each sprint as its own task group with milestones for sprint planning and deployment.

And here’s what that same project plan looks like if you turn it into a kanban board in TeamGantt. Simply click the Board tab and set up your columns so your team can manage their daily workflows more easily.

If your team currently prefers spreadsheets and isn’t quite ready to use TeamGantt yet, try our free Excel gantt chart template .

Step 4: Present and confirm your plan

You’re almost finished! Now it’s time to do your due diligence. It’s easy to throw stuff in a plan, but you have to make sure you get it right.

Run your final plan by your internal team

Your team needs to know the reality of your plan as it stands after you’ve built it out in TeamGantt. And you want to be sure they’re comfortable committing to the details. If they don’t, things will quickly fall apart!

Always review your final plan with your team before delivering it to stakeholders. Why? Because things like dates and tasks—and even assignments—will shift as you formalize the rough sketch of your plan. 

Here are a few things you’ll want to discuss with your team as you review the final plan together:

• Review times
• Team work times
• Dependencies
• Time off, meetings, and milestones
• The final deadline
• Any assumptions you’ve made
• Major changes since your last talk

There’s nothing more embarrassing than delivering a plan with an error or a promise you can’t keep. Taking a few minutes to get buy-in from your team will give everyone peace of mind about your plan.

Review your project plan with stakeholders

Once you’ve confirmed the plan with your team and have their full sign-off, you’re ready to share your project plan with stakeholders . 

When delivering your project plan, make sure you provide an executive summary. This might come in the form of a project brief . A short recap of the overall methodology, resources, assumptions, deadlines, and related review times will help you convey what the plan means to the project and everyone involved.

Project plans can be daunting, so schedule time to present your project plan to stakeholders at a high level. Here are some things you’ll want to point out about your plan during this review:

• Overall process and pacing
• Major deliverables and timing
• The time they’ll have to review deliverables
• Overall timing for task groups or phases
• How far off you are from the deadline
• Wiggle room on the final deadline

If a stakeholder is interested in the day-to-day details, feel free to walk them through the plan line by line. Otherwise, start by explaining overall sections or phases, and be sure to come back to your plan at intervals throughout the project to remind them of tasks, next steps, and overall progress.

Step 5: Execute your plan and adjust as needed

Some projects are smooth and easy to manage, and others are a complete nightmare that wake you up at 3 a.m. every other night. Thankfully, having a solid project plan is your best defense against project chaos once work gets underway.

Keep in mind that project plans are living documents. Projects change constantly, and someone has to stay on top of—and document—that change. Remember to:

• Update your plan regularly as work progresses and things change
• Communicate changes to your team, partners, and stakeholders
• Monitor and communicate risks as your project evolves

Ready to plan your project in TeamGantt? Follow these easy steps to build a plan that’s structured well and includes the elements you need for project success.

1. Enter your basic project details.

To create a new project plan in TeamGantt, click the New Project button in the upper right corner of the My Projects screen. Then enter your project name and start date, and select the days of the week you want to include in your plan. Click Create New Project to move on to the next step.

2. List out your project tasks and milestones.

Now the real planning fun begins! Enter all the different tasks it will take to get the job done. If there are any key meetings, deliverable deadlines, or approvals, add those as milestones in your project plan.

3. Organize tasks into subgroups. 

Scrolling through one long list of tasks can be mind-numbing, even to the best of us. Break tasks down into phases or sections to ensure your project plan is easy to read and understand. 

4. Add task durations and milestone dates to the project timeline.

A visual project plan makes it easy to see exactly what needs to get done by when. Make sure every task has a start and end date so nothing falls through the cracks. TeamGantt’s drag and drop feature makes this planning step quick and easy.

5. Connect related tasks with dependencies.

Adding dependencies between tasks ensures work gets done in the right order and also helps you plan for delay risks. If your plan shifts and you need to move tasks around, dependencies speed up the process.

6. Assign responsible team members to tasks.

That way there’s no confusion about who’s doing what, and your team can update and manage their daily tasks . Don’t forget to check team availability along the way to avoid overloading anyone with too much work.

7. Use the RACI chart to define task roles more clearly.

This feature takes accountability one step further by letting you assign more specific roles to each task: Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed . Learn how RACI charts work and what each role means.

8. Add hourly estimates and/or points to each task. 

This makes it easy to see the lift each task involves at a glance. Including hourly estimates in your project plan also enables you to manage workloads and track overages more accurately.

9. Color-code tasks for better scannability.

You can use colors to categorize tasks by project phase, priority, department, or team member—whatever makes visual sense to you and your team.

10. Add notes to clarify tasks or spell out important details.

There’s no such thing as too much information if it means your team has what they need to deliver quality work on time. Use the Notes section of your Discussion tab to enter any pertinent details your team will find helpful.

11. Upload important documents to the project.

This ensures project files are accessible to everyone in a centralized hub.  For example, you might attach your creative brief to the project so your content and design teams have clear direction for completing their deliverables.

If you’re planning a project for the first time or taking on a totally new type of project, you might be struggling to get your plan off the ground. We created a simple project management plan template to help you get started.

TeamGantt gives you the ability to quickly and easily build and adjust your plan using drag and drop scheduling. Plus, it comes with customizable views to fit every team member’s work style. 

Try our basic project plan template for free!

Looking for more specific project plan examples to jumpstart your process? Use these project planning templates to generate ideas and save time building out your plan:

• Construction project plan template
• Event planning template
• Strategic marketing plan template
• Tactical marketing plan template
• Software development plan template
• Video production schedule template
• Website project plan template

Plan your next project in minutes

Discover just how easy project planning can be with TeamGantt. Create your first gantt chart for free!

• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Facebook
• Share on Pinterest
• Share through Email

How to Develop a Project Plan: Template & Example [2024]

Liz is an agilist and digital project manager with a passion for people, process, and technology and more than 15 years of experience leading people and teams across education, consulting, and technology firms. In her day-to-day, Liz works as the Chief of Staff at Performica, an HR software company revolutionizing how people give and receive feedback at work. Liz holds a Doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership from The University of Southern California and teaches Leadership and Operations courses in the MBA program at the University of Portland. Liz holds numerous project management-related certifications including: PMP, PMI-ACP, CSP-SM, and a SPHR from HRCI to round out the people-focused side of her work.

Creating a project plan can be challenging, but it's essential for keeping your projects on track. These useful documents can help you navigate obstacles like scope creep, poor communication, inappropriate resource allocation, and more.

Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint or setting off on a road trip without a map. That’s exactly what it would feel like to manage a project without first creating a project plan.

A detailed project plan is essential to helping teams stay aligned and on track throughout a project. These important documents typically outline things like project budget, resources, timeline, deliverables, and more. Without one, misalignments in project scope and objectives are inevitable—along with project failure. 

That’s why it’s so important to get your project plan right from the start. Often, that means using project management software to get everyone aligned and ready to move forward.

Need expert help selecting the right tool?

With one-on-one help, we guide you to your top software options. Narrow down your software search & make a confident choice.

What Is A Project Plan?

A project plan is a document that outlines the project scope, project objectives , and project schedule . It serves as a road map for all project stakeholders by providing clear direction and expectations. 

A good project plan will provide clarity on:

• What needs to be done
• When it needs to be done by
• Who is responsible for each project task

It will help ensure that everyone involved in the project understands their role and how their work fits into the bigger picture of the overall goal.

Watch our TL;DR here:

Why Are Project Plans Important?

Project plans are probably the single most important piece of project documentation you’ll create. 

The benefits of project planning include:

• Stronger communication : The project planning process allows you to set expectations with stakeholders and team members from the outset about things like status update frequency, meeting schedules, and response times for emails and messages. It will also ensure there is agreement on the all-important live date.
• Less rework : Project plans should also define a project’s outputs and project scope , leading to less rework throughout. If you and your team understand your objectives in advance, it will help to guide your decision-making and task completion throughout the project. 
• Better resource management: Project plans enable you to visualize the entire project and see the interdependencies between tasks. This will help with resource management by showing you who will be doing what task when, and forecasting your resource requirements.
• Improved risk management : Part of the planning process involves brainstorming risks or issues that could arise on your project. You'll be aware of these in advance, so you can protect your project by coming up with mitigation plans. Project plans also outline milestones and timeframes, allowing you to make sure your project is progressing properly. 
• Higher-quality projects : During project planning, you'll define the metrics that will determine whether the project is successful. You'll have a goal to work towards throughout the project, and you'll know immediately upon completion whether your efforts were successful.

It's crucial to evaluate the different types of project management platforms before making a decision on which one best supports your project plan.

Step-by-Step Guide on How To Make a Project Plan

Here are 8 steps to writing a project plan:

Step 1: Gather Important Project Info

Step 2: define the project scope, step 3: understand your available resources, step 4: outline project structure and phases, step 5: create a project schedule, step 6: develop a communication plan, step 7: make a plan for when things go wrong, step 8: share your plan and collect feedback.

Before you start your project plan, you need to be clear on the:

• Why? The project’s strategic goals.
• What? The activities (or process), outputs, and project deliverables.
• When? The deadlines and dependencies.
• How? The process or methodology.
• Who? The client and their team of stakeholders.

Usually, a good project kickoff meeting will help you collect this information. You should also consult the project charter and/or statement of work (SOW).

One of the most important parts of developing a project plan is making sure the project scope has been clearly defined. Your project scope is basically the work you’re agreeing to deliver. It can also encompass the project boundaries, limitations, and assumptions.

To define your project scope, start by identifying the objectives of your project—what do you aim to achieve, and what are the expected deliverables? Then, focus on the boundaries, including what won’t be included in the project. This will help to prevent scope creep .

By clearly defining your project’s objectives and purpose, you’re establishing the groundwork for your project plan. 

Basic functionality of any project managment software should allow you to create a detailed project description, set objectives, and outline deliverables within a project plan or a dedicated project scope section.

Monday.com —an example of one of many freemium project management apps —allows you to create a project with distinct sections for scope and objectives, where you can also attach files and links for detailed requirements.

Sign up to get weekly insights, tips, and other helpful content from digital project management experts.

• Your email *
• Yes, I want to sign up to receive regular emails filled with tips, expert insights, and more to build my PM practice.
• By submitting you agree to receive occasional emails and acknowledge our Privacy Policy . You can unsubscribe at any time. Protected by reCAPTCHA; Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
• Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Before you can dive into creating a project schedule or laying out specific tasks, you need to understand the resources available to you. Your resources are the people, tools, and budget you’ll have to complete the deliverables outlined in your project scope.

If you don’t already have one, you should create a detailed budget that outlines the financial resources required for the project. Determine the estimated costs for each deliverable, and allocate additional funds for unexpected expenses. Using resource management software can be really helpful in creating budget forecasts and monitoring spending in real-time throughout the project. 

As part of your project plan, you can also create a RACI chart to help you clarify roles and responsibilities on your team. This will allow you to visualize how each of your team members will fit into the overall project.

When creating a project plan, the temptation can sometimes be to dive straight into your project planning tool or project management tool and add in all the tasks that need to get done. 

But before you add in specific tasks and project milestones, make sure you get the overall project structure right. This means first defining the workflow and what the different phases of the project will be.

Make a rough plan. Sketch out the overall flow of your project from initiation to completion. Map out each project phase and the likely activities and tasks required in each part of the project to complete the project.

Based on your scope, available resources, and project structure, you can start to solidify the timeline for your project. 

One thing that can be helpful for creating your project schedule is to create a work breakdown structure (WBS). This will help you narrow down the project into smaller, more manageable components, and organize the various tasks and responsibilities of your team. To develop a WBS, start by dividing each major deliverable into smaller tasks and sub-tasks. Then, allocate tasks to different team members or departments. With each deliverable, you should also set key milestones to ensure timely completion.

With a better understanding of your deliverables, you can create a detailed project schedule that outlines the timeline for each task and milestone. Gantt charts can be incredibly useful for visualizing the project timeline.

Collaborate with your team to share assumptions, dependencies, and work out who can do what, when. This will help you get as close to a realistic timeline as possible for your project. Enterprise project management tools allow teams to collaborate more effectively across different departments.

Keep in mind that it also may not be feasible to plan out the whole project in detail. In that case, create a project schedule in detail only for what you know, or for the phase that you’re in, and make allowances for the rest of the project.

Your project plan should also outline the approach you’ll take to communicating with stakeholders throughout the project. How will you track progress, share updates, and take feedback? 

One easy way to make sure communication is seamless throughout your project is to rely on a collaborative project management tool. Most PM software makes it easy to collaborate on documents, comment on tasks, provide feedback, and share updates. 

In your communication plan, you should also specify the methods (meetings, emails, reports, etc.) you’ll use to share information, and how often stakeholders can expect check-ins.

New users may find project management software hard to use , so be prepared to help stakeholders get used to the tools you use to deliver and visualize information.

Projects rarely go as planned. Simply planning for the best case scenario or Plan A, isn’t good enough—you need to bake in Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C into your project plan.

First, identify potential risks that could negatively impact the project. Then, evaluate the likelihood and impact of each of these risks, and develop strategies to minimize them. What alternative approaches can you prepare ahead of time to ensure the project will follow the timeline you’ve outlined? 

You should also plan ahead for potential changes to the project. No matter how closely you think you’re aligned with your client on a project, you need to prepare for changes. Make sure you bake in extra time for review and change cycles, both internally and with clients.

The purpose of project management apps is to help teams plan, execute, and monitor their projects efficiently—even when things go wrong.

At this point, you should have a pretty robust project plan. It’s time to share it with your stakeholders. Ask for their feedback and make necessary revisions based on their input. Once you get final approval, you can start implementing. As you begin executing the project according to the plan, don’t forget to continuously monitor your progress and make adjustments as needed. 

What Does a Project Plan Look Like?

Project plans can be as simple as a scribble on the back of a napkin or a few lines in Excel, but it’s usually presented as a roadmap or Gantt chart, made in Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or a similar alternative to MS Project .

Your Gantt chart or project timeline might also be part of a larger written document that includes sections like an executive summary or scope statement ( Gantt chart makers are handy for creating these charts).  

Specific file formats might include Excel spreadsheets or a Google Sheet, as well as a Word Document, Google Doc, or PDF. But while Excel can do the trick, using project management software is usually the right choice.

What Should A Project Plan Include?

A project plan typically includes:

• Project Phases
• Activities, Tasks, and Project Deliverables
• Task Start Dates and End Dates
• Task Dependencies
• Milestones and Baselines
• Project Scope Statement
• List of Requirements
• Risk Assessment
• Project Budget
• Metrics & KPIs

1. Project Phases

What phases are required to complete the entire project? Note : this is different from the phases in the project life cycle , which aren’t specific to any one project type. 

The phases you’ll need to include in your project plan are the ones specific to the workflow of the project you’re working on (what you’ll complete in the project execution phase of the life cycle). 

This also may depend on which methodology your project will follow, such as  agile ,  Kanban , or  waterfall .

2. Activities, Tasks, & Project Deliverables

Once you have your phases set, break them down into smaller tasks. It’s important to work with the project team that will be completing the work here, as they are more familiar with exactly what’s involved in designing a website page. 

You might break down the website design phase (for a simple website) into the following sub-tasks:

• Design the navigation
• Design the homepage
• Design the about page
• Design the contact page
• Design the product pages

3. Task Start Dates & End Dates

For each task that you defined in the last step, set a start date and end date. This might depend on a variety of factors—when your team members are available, how long it takes to get feedback from the client, or if there are any tasks that need to be completed before a specific task can start (see next step).

4. Task Dependencies

Make a note of which tasks depend on others to be completed before they can start. These are known as task dependencies. One example of a dependency is that in order to start coding the homepage, you need to prioritize designing the homepage first.

It’s also worth defining the project’s  critical path . This is the order of activities that represents the longest path in a project, and determines how quickly the project can be completed. 

Once you know which tasks depend on others, you can order them according to their dependencies. The amount of time it takes to complete those tasks in that order is your project timeline. Tasks that don’t depend on others can be completed amongst the tasks on the critical path, without affecting the timeframe.

5. Milestones & Baselines

Project milestones are smaller project goals or checkpoints throughout the project, and can be used to keep track of project progress and report on project status. Each one should have a due date.

Your milestones might line up with the phases determined earlier, with certain approvals from project stakeholders or project sponsors, or some other element of your project.

6. Project Scope Statement

A scope statement denotes what exactly you’ll deliver, as well as what you won’t (what’s out of scope). You should also note any assumptions you’re making, as well constraints or limitations (see plenty of project scope statement examples here).

Having this in an easy-to-reference place for both team members and clients will also help avoid scope creep and prepare you for any scope change requests.

7. List of Requirements

Include a list of all the project’s requirements, which you should have gathered in the  requirements gathering  stage, starting before the formal project planning process begins. Depending on the type of project, you might have technical requirements, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, or other kinds of requirements. 

8. Risk Assessment

Assessing risk is an important part of the planning phase. Usually, project managers use  RAID logs  or  risk registers  to keep track of potential risks and their risk management plans for each one. Keep a copy of this near or within your project plan. 

9. Project Budget

Include notes on the agreed-upon cost of the project or  project estimate . Throughout the project, track progress against the budget—are you running over or under?

10. Metrics & KPIs

How will you know that you’ve reached the successful completion of the project? What does project success look like? Be sure to define these metrics using  KPIs .

Best Practices for Implementing and Adjusting Your Project Plan

Before you dive in, remember these important points about project plans:

• A project plan should be much more than a roadmap . To give a client a complete view of a project, it should be combined with an estimate and a  statement of work  too.
• Proper project planning isn’t difficult, but it does take time . And it’s not a one-time thing. You create a plan and then continually refine it.
• Get more out of your project plan by presenting it . Turn your plan into a presentation for clients so that they can better understand the limitations and scope of the project. It’ll also help them understand if the proposed work will deliver what they want and if the process you’re proposing will get the results they’re paying for.
• Pair it with a communication plan . A communication plan covers how often status reports will be updated, meetings cadence, or which channels a particular stakeholder prefers to communicate through.
• Consult your project charter , statement of work, and/or project initiation document (PID). You likely don't need all of these for your project. The charter outlines the key elements needed to move the project forward, the SOW specifies requirements and timelines, and the PID is often a higher-level version of the project plan.
• Adapt to changes. This is especially true if you're following one of the agile methodologies . Reassess your plan at key phases of the project, when you receive feedback that requires a change in direction, or as needed.
• Consider resource allocation. While you might not know your exact project team when you create your plan, it's a good idea to start thinking about who might work on what (potentially using a RACI chart ) and check their availability and current workload. This will help avoid situations where you try to assign a task and the team member you need is on vacation.
• Analyze past project plans. Review old project plans that you or your peers created to see what worked and what didn't. This is a way to get insights on whether a timeline or budget is realistic, or whether you might be missing requirements or phases in your next project plan.
• Don’t forget to include post-project reviews. Going live isn’t the end of the project. Build a phase into the project plan for post-live testing and analysis to measure performance, make any optimizations required, and take note of all lessons learned.

Find  project planning techniques  to help you out here.

Expert-Recommended Tools for Project Plan Creation

Project management software speeds up the project planning process. Instead of existing in a document somewhere on the server that no one will refer back to, it can exist in a software tool that can be updated by anyone on the team in real time, and everyone will get notifications about changes.

Here's a list of the best project management software to consider:

• 1. monday.com — Best for workflow automation
• 2. Wrike — Best for large projects and scaling organizations
• 3. ClickUp — Best for task customization
• 4. Hub Planner — Best for resource scheduling
• 5. Zoho Projects — Best for integration with Zoho Suite
• 6. Visor — Best for spreadsheet-based management
• 7. Bonsai Agency Software — Best for project, client, and finance management
• 8. Quickbase — Best for process automation
• 9. Workzone — Best for comprehensive project visibility
• 10. Quire — Best for task breakdown

Consider using collaboration tools in conjunction with project management software (which usually include built-in collaboration features) so the project team can chat about tasks and collaborate as needed.

Sample Project Plan Template With Timeline [Download]

One of the easiest ways to learn how to make a project plan is to look at an example. 

Our project management expert team has created a simple project plan template for a website project that’s way better than just a blank Gantt chart template (which you can find anywhere!).

Looking for more templates for project documentation? Join membership and get access to 100+ templates, examples, and samples. Plus, get access to our Slack community and join the conversation with 1000's of other digital project managers!

Need expert help selecting the right Project Management Software?

If you’re struggling to choose the right software, let us help you. Just share your needs in the form below and you’ll get free access to our dedicated software advisors who match and connect you with the best vendors for your needs.

How To Plan Resources For Multiple Projects: 6 Expert Tips

What is resource scheduling & how to do it in 5 key steps, resource forecasting: best practices, steps & examples.

• Get started
• Project management
• CRM and Sales
• Work management
• Product development life cycle
• Comparisons
• Construction management
• monday.com updates

What is a Project Plan? How to Write One + 5 Ready-Made Templates

A project plan is an essential document for keeping your project on track. It states the purpose of your project and identifies the scope, structure, resources, goals, deliverables, and timelines.

Without a solid plan, projects typically get delayed and run over budget.

In this high-level guide, we’ll show you how to write a project plan in six steps and share five monday.com templates to get you up and running quickly. But first, let’s define a project plan and its various components.

What is a project plan?

A project plan is a formal document that outlines an entire project’s goals and objectives, specific tasks, and what success looks like.

In addition to setting the purpose of your project, it should include other materials and deliverables relevant to the project, such as:

• Timelines and Gantt charts for key milestones — like start and end dates, getting your 200th customer, or launching an event or app.
• Communication plans — to keep everyone informed of progress, achievements, and potential roadblocks.
• Work breakdown structure — especially if you have multiple team members working on different or simultaneous tasks, in which case, you may also need a Project Planner .
• Resources needed to complete the project — like project management tools , cash, freelancers, and more.

In short, your project plan serves as a central hub to define, organize, prioritize, and assign activities and resources throughout your project’s life cycle.

What is project planning?

Project planning is the second phase in the project management lifecycle :

• PHASE 1: Project Initiation  — where you identify a business need or problem and a potential solution.
• PHASE 2: Project Planning  — where you define specific tasks, assign responsibilities, and create the project schedule.
• PHASE 3: Project Execution  — where you touch base with resources, monitor the timeline and budget, and report back to stakeholders.
• PHASE 4: Project Close-out — where you review the success of the project.

During the project planning phase, you extend the project charter document from the initiation phase to create your detailed project plan. Typical tasks within the project planning phase include:

• Setting a budget.
• Defining a project schedule or timeline.
• Creating work breakdown structures.
• Identifying resources and ensuring availability.
• Assessing any potential roadblocks and planning for those scenarios .
• Defining project objectives , roles, deadlines, responsibilities, and project milestones .

Project plan elements

Here’s how a project plan differs from other project planning elements.

Project plan vs. work plan

Although similar, work plans are not as comprehensive as project plans. A work plan focuses on helping project teams achieve smaller objectives, whereas a project plan provides a high-level overview of an entire project’s goals and objectives.

Project plan vs. project charter

A project charter provides an overview of a project. It’s a formal short document that states a project’s existence and authorizes project managers to commence work. The charter describes a project’s goals, objectives, and resource requirements. You create it in the project initiation phase before your project plan and present it to key stakeholders to get the project signed off.

Project plan vs. project scope

Part of your project plan includes the project scope , which clearly defines the size and boundaries of your project. You document the project scope  in three places: a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and WBS dictionary. It serves as a reference point to monitor project progress, compare actual versus planned results, and avoid scope creep.

Project plan vs. work breakdown structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical outline of the tasks required to complete your project. It breaks down large or complicated goals into more manageable tasks so you can execute the project plan. The WBS breaks down the project scope into phases, subprojects, deliverables, and work packages that lead to your final deliverable.

Project plan vs. agile project

An agile project is the opposite of a traditional project plan. Agile projects use an incremental, iterative approach to deliver a project, whereas traditional projects — also known as a waterfall approach — use a cascading, step-by-step planning process. Agile projects are synonymous with software development teams, but you can use them in any field. For more, read our article about waterfall vs. agile methodology .

Why are project plans important?

Over a third of all projects experience something called scope creep . This is where the team ends up doing more work than originally planned. Much of this can be avoided by accounting for unexpected hold-ups or changes in circumstances within your project plan. A project plan also makes it easy to pinpoint when problems arose, so you can be better prepared for future projects.

If you look at the numbers related to project management , it’s easy to understand where a project management plan could have a positive impact— 45% of projects aren’t completed on time, and 38% of projects are over budget.

A project plan can help to curtail wily overspending and late turnaround by identifying these issues early. This leaves no room for confusion and delays in the workflow and progress of your projects.

How to create a project plan in 6 steps

There are no hard-and-fast rules for a project plan. However, we recommend you use the following six steps as a springboard for creating one.

1. Start with an executive summary

The executive summary goes at the beginning of your project plan and should summarize the key points of the project plan . It should restate the purpose of the project plan, highlight the major points of the plan, and describe any results, conclusions, or recommendations from the project.

Even though it is at the beginning of your project plan, it’s something you will write last , as you’ll be pulling out the main points from the rest of your plan.

It should be no longer than a page, offering a brief overview of:

• The project objectives and goals
• Your chosen project methodology/framework
• The final deliverables and acceptance criteria
• Key scope risks and countermeasures
• Summary of milestones
• An overview of the project timeline and schedule-based risks
• Resource and spending estimates

This snapshot of your project makes it easy for key stakeholders who aren’t actively involved in the mechanics of the project to understand it. For project managers, the executive summary serves as a quick reminder of the key project goal, scope, expectations, and limitations. Since almost a third of projects don’t meet their original goals, it’s important that project managers review the project plan regularly to stay on track.

2. Define the project scope

There are few things worse than starting on a project only for it to balloon. By defining a project’s scope , you set the boundaries for a project’s start and end dates as well as expectations about deliverables and who approves requests—and what merits approval— throughout a project.

It also involves outlining the potential risks associated with meeting these expectations and providing countermeasures to mitigate these risks. Identifying exactly who’s accountable for tracking these risks is essential.

This step will help you prevent scope creep, or how a project’s requirements tend to increase over a project lifecycle. Organizations complain that 34% of all their projects experience scope creep, yet only 52% of organizations go to the effort of mostly or always creating a scoping document every time.

3. Structure your project

There are several frameworks you could use to guide your project and this will affect your workflow’s organizations and how deliverables are produced and assigned.

For example, if you’re using the waterfall framework , you’ll be planning everything in advance, working through each stage of development sequentially, and specialized task owners executing their work at a defined time.

Remember that creating too many dependencies within your project structure can negatively impact success, so try to work out ways that teams can work autonomously to achieve deliverables in a timely manner. It’s also good to consider how many approvers are needed to maintain order but also to prevent bottlenecks.

Above all else, it’s important to incorporate set times for team knowledge-sharing, so your projects can be more successful. Make a note of the communication structures you’ll use to encourage collaboration .

4. Check what project resources you have available

Define the resources you have available for this project:

• Physical resources

You need to be precise when you’re assessing what you’ll need, otherwise you’re baking a cake with all the wrong ingredients. A resource manager or project manager can lead this.

As an example, when teams have the right highly skilled people, projects are 30% more likely to succeed. Yet, a third of people don’t believe their teams have all the right skills for the project—a recipe for failure.

The quantity of team members is also important—if the ratio of work to available people is off, efficiency and quality will suffer. If you want to effectively allocate your resources to meet expectations, you’ll need to be realistic about resource limitations.

This may, for example, mean adjusting timescales if you’re short on staff or increasing your budget if you need more specialist equipment.

5. Map out your project timeline

Organizations that implement time frames into project plans are more likely to succeed. Despite this, 52% of projects don’t always set baseline schedules. That’s probably why 45% of organizations say they rarely or never complete successful projects on time.

In this sense, it’s wise to add a project schedule section to your project plan. This part of your plan should set expectations on when you’ll deliver and how you’ll stick to your project timeline.

Your project schedule will look a little different depending on which framework you choose.

The tasks that you have a ‘Work in Progress’ (WIP) will depend on your team’s capacity. In this section, you should set your maximum number of WIPs you can have in each column at each time.

6. Manage your project changes

Organizations put change control in their top three project challenges. If you don’t solidify a change management plan , your team will be clueless about what to do when unplanned change hits. A dynamic change management plan will outline the steps to follow and the person to turn to when unforeseen changes occur.

A key part of this is having a change management tool in place. And monday work management is flexible enough to help you manage all parts of the project life cycle — from planning and monitoring to reporting and resource management. Let’s take a look at a few of our templates that can help you get started.

5 project planning templates to help you write a good project plan

monday.com templates can be lifesavers when it comes to visualizing each section of your project plan, and they make it easy to get started. Try these 5 project plan templates to kickstart your project planning process.

1. Project Plan Template

Looking for a general project plan template? Try one of our project plan templates .

Using this highly visual template by monday.com, you can structure your subprojects by set time periods and allocate accountable personnel to each phase.

Prioritize each project and add a timeline to show when deliverables are expected.

2. Resource Utilization Template

Resource management allows teams to focus on executing tasks, projects, and processes efficiently and achieve shared goals at scale.

You can allocate resources to individuals and tack on timescales so your staff knows what resources they’re responsible for in which phase. Adding a location makes it easy for teams to know where to hand over resources as they transition from one phase to the next—and they can check this on our mobile app.

Use the Workload view to manage your team’s time proactively and get an overview of the workload and capacity of each person on the team.

3. Project Cost Management Template

It’s far easier to plan a budget when you can see all your costs in one place.

That’s why this Project Cost Management Template from monday.com is so incredibly handy.

Add each subproject and plan out projected costs, allocating totals to each department. You can use the document to estimate the budget you’ll need and to record your approved project budget. You can then use our dashboards or reports to see the information in a different, more colorful way.

4. Project Timeline Template

Plan out your schedules with this Project Timeline Template .

While this dashboard isn’t really suitable if you’re working with the Kanban framework, it’s ideal for those operating under Waterfall or Scrum frameworks.

For Waterfall projects, add in your milestones, attach a timeline, and allocate a set number of workdays to complete the tasks for each milestone.

Tag the team leader for each phase so project managers know which milestones they’re responsible for.

During project execution, teams can use the status bar to track progress. They can also add updates to each milestone by clicking on each item, which encourages inter-team collaboration.

For Scrum projects, you can organize the dashboard by Sprints, adding in the specific tasks as they’re decided.

5. Program Risk Register Template

Visualize all your project scope and schedule risks in this Program Risk Register Template .

Use color-coded status bars to illustrate risk status, risk probability, and risk impact for your project scope and schedule.

You can even categorize risks, add a risk owner, and suggest mitigation strategies. That way other project team members know what to do if these risks start to blossom into real glitches.

Optimize your project management plan with the right tool

Project plans are an essential part of your team’s success.

While they are detail-oriented and complex, creating one and managing it shouldn’t be a struggle. Use monday.com’s pre-built planning templates to help you break down each section of the plan as you go and monitor everything in real-time.

Try monday work management, and see for yourself how much smoother your next project will run when you can consolidate all your project planning materials in one place.

• Product overview
• All features
• Latest feature release
• App integrations

CAPABILITIES

• project icon Project management
• Project views
• Custom fields
• Status updates
• goal icon Goals and reporting
• Reporting dashboards
• workflow icon Workflows and automation
• portfolio icon Resource management
• Capacity planning
• Time tracking
• my-task icon Admin and security
• Admin console
• asana-intelligence icon Asana AI
• list icon Personal
• premium icon Starter
• briefcase icon Advanced
• Goal management
• Organizational planning
• Campaign management
• Creative production
• Content calendars
• Marketing strategic planning
• Resource planning
• Project intake
• Product launches
• Employee onboarding
• View all uses arrow-right icon
• Project plans
• Team goals & objectives
• Team continuity
• Meeting agenda
• View all templates arrow-right icon
• Work management resources Discover best practices, watch webinars, get insights
• Customer stories See how the world's best organizations drive work innovation with Asana
• Help Center Get lots of tips, tricks, and advice to get the most from Asana
• Asana Academy Sign up for interactive courses and webinars to learn Asana
• Developers Learn more about building apps on the Asana platform
• Community programs Connect with and learn from Asana customers around the world
• Events Find out about upcoming events near you
• Partners Learn more about our partner programs
• Asana for nonprofits Get more information on our nonprofit discount program, and apply.

Featured Reads

• Project planning |
• What is project planning? (Plus, 7 ste ...

What is project planning? (Plus, 7 steps to write a successful project plan)

Organize your projects with project plans to keep things on track—before you even start. A project plan houses all the necessary details of your project, such as goals, tasks, scope, deadlines, and deliverables. This shows stakeholders a clear roadmap of your project, ensures you have the resources for it, and holds everyone accountable from the start. In this article, we teach you the seven steps to create your own project plan.

Project plans are essential to keeping your project organized and on track. A great project plan will help you kick off your work with all the necessary pieces—from goals and budgets to milestones and communication plans—in one place. Save yourself time (and a few headaches) by creating a work plan that will make your project a success.

What is project planning?

Project planning is the second stage in the project management process, following project initiation and preceding project execution. During the project planning stage, the project manager creates a project plan, which maps out project requirements. The project planning phase typically includes setting project goals, designating project resources, and mapping out the project schedule.

What is a project plan?

If you're still unsure about what a project plan is, here's how it differs from other project elements:

Project plan vs. work plan: A project plan and a work plan are the same thing. Different teams or departments might prefer one term or another—but they both ultimately describe the same thing: a list of big-picture action steps you need to take to hit your  project objectives .

Project plan vs. project charter: A project charter is an outline of your project. Mostly, you use project charters to get signoff from key stakeholders before you start. Which means your project charter comes before your project plan. A project charter is an outline of a simple project plan—it should only include your project objectives, scope, and responsibilities. Then, once your charter has been approved, you can create a project plan to provide a more in-depth blueprint of the key elements of your project.

Project plan vs. project scope: Your project scope defines the size and boundaries of your project. As part of your project plan, you should outline and share the scope of your project with all project stakeholders. If you’re ever worried about scope creep , you can refer back to your pre-defined scope within your project plan to get back on track.

Project plan vs. agile project: Agile project management is a framework to help teams break work into iterative, collaborative components . Agile frameworks are often run in conjunction with scrum and sprint methodologies. Like any project, an Agile project team can benefit from having a project plan in place before getting started with their work.

Project plan vs. work breakdown structure: Similar to a project plan, your work breakdown structure (WBS) helps you with project execution. While the project plan focuses on every aspect of your project, the WBS is focused on deliverables—breaking them down into sub-deliverables and project tasks. This helps you visualize the whole project in simple steps. Because it’s a visual format, your WBS is best viewed as a Gantt chart (or timeline), Kanban board , or calendar—especially if you’re using project management software .

Why are project plans important?

Project plans set the stage for the entire project. Without one, you’re missing a critical step in the overall project management process . When you launch into a project without defined goals or objectives, it can lead to disorganized work, frustration, and even scope creep. A clear, written project management plan provides a baseline direction to all stakeholders, while also keeping everyone accountable. It confirms that you have the resources you need for the project before it actually begins.

A project plan also allows you, as the person in charge of leading execution, to forecast any potential challenges you could run into while the project is still in the planning stages. That way, you can ensure the project will be achievable—or course-correct if necessary. According to a study conducted by the  Project Management Institute , there is a strong correlation between project planning and project success—the better your plan, the better your outcome. So, conquering the planning phase also makes for better project efficiency and results.

7 steps to write a project plan to keep you on track

To create a clear project management plan, you need a way to track all of your moving parts . No matter what type of project you’re planning, every work plan should have:

Goals and project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders and roles

Scope and budget

Milestones , deliverables , and project dependencies

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan.

Not sure what each of these mean or should look like? Let’s dive into the details:

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

You’re working on this project plan for a reason—likely to get you, your team, or your company to an end goal. But how will you know if you’ve reached that goal if you have no way of measuring success?

Every successful project plan should have a clear, desired outcome. Identifying your goals provides a rationale for your project plan. It also keeps everyone on the same page and focused on the results they want to achieve. Moreover, research shows that employees who know how their work is contributing to company objectives are 2X as motivated . Yet only 26% of employees have that clarity. That’s because most goal-setting happens separate from the actual work. By defining your goals within your work plan, you can connect the work your team is doing directly to the project objectives in real-time.

What's the difference between project goals and project objectives?

In general, your project goals should be higher-level than your project objectives. Your project goals should be SMART goals that help you measure project success and show how your project aligns with business objectives . The purpose of drafting project objectives, on the other hand, is to focus on the actual, specific deliverables you're going to achieve at the end of your project. Your project plan provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, so you can create a workflow that hits project objectives.

Your project  plan  provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, by way of your project objectives. By incorporating your goals directly into your planning documentation, you can keep your project’s North Star on hand. When you’re defining your project scope, or outlining your project schedule, check back on your goals to make sure that work is in favor of your main objectives.

Step 2: Set success metrics

Once you’ve defined your goals, make sure they’re measurable by setting key success metrics. While your goal serves as the intended result, you need success metrics to let you know whether or not you’re performing on track to achieve that result. The best way to do that is to set  SMART goals . With SMART goals, you can make sure your success metrics are clear and measurable, so you can look back at the end of your project and easily tell if you hit them or not.

For example, a goal for an event might be to host an annual 3-day conference for SEO professionals on June 22nd. A success metric for that goal might be having at least 1,000 people attend your conference. It’s both clear and measurable.

Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles

Running a project usually means getting  collaborators  involved in the execution of it. In your project management plan, outline which team members will be a part of the project and what each person’s role will be. This will help you decide who is responsible for each task (something we’ll get to shortly) and let stakeholders know how you expect them to be involved.

During this process, make sure to define the various roles and responsibilities your stakeholders might have. For example, who is directly responsible for the project’s success? How is your project team structured (i.e. do you have a project manager, a project sponsor , etc.)? Are there any approvers that should be involved before anything is finalized? What cross-functional stakeholders should be included in the project plan? Are there any  risk management factors  you need to include?

Consider using a system, such as a  RACI chart , to help determine who is driving the project forward, who will approve decisions, who will contribute to the project, and who needs to remain informed as the project progresses.

Then, once you’ve outlined all of your roles and stakeholders, make sure to include that documentation in your project plan. Once you finalize your plan, your work plan will become your cross-functional source of truth.

Step 4: Set your budget

Running a project usually costs money. Whether it’s hiring freelancers for content writing or a catering company for an event, you’ll probably be spending some cash.

Since you’ve already defined your goals and stakeholders as part of your project plan, use that information to establish your budget. For example, if this is a cross-functional project involving multiple departments, will the departments be splitting the project cost? If you have a specific goal metric like event attendees or new users, does your proposed budget support that endeavor?

By establishing your project budget during the project planning phase (and before the spending begins), you can get approval, more easily track progress, and make smart, economical decisions during the implementation phase of your project. Knowing your budget beforehand helps you with resource management , ensuring that you stay within the initial financial scope of the project. Planning helps you determine what parts of your project will cost what—leaving no room for surprises later on.

Step 5: Align on milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies

An important part of planning your project is setting milestones, or specific objectives that represent an achievement. Milestones don’t require a start and end date, but hitting one marks a significant accomplishment during your project. They are used to measure progress. For example, let’s say you’re working to develop a  new product for your company . Setting a milestone on your project timeline for when the prototype is finalized will help you measure the progress you’ve made so far.

A project deliverable , on the other hand, is what is actually produced once you meet a milestone. In our product development example, we hit a milestone when we produced the deliverable, which was the prototype. You can also use project dependencies —tasks that you can’t start until others are finished. Dependencies ensure that work only starts once it’s ready. Continuing the example, you can create a project dependency to require approval from the project lead before prototype testing begins.  

If you’re using our free project plan template , you can easily organize your project around deliverables, dependencies, and milestones. That way, everyone on the team has clear visibility into the work within your project scope, and the milestones your team will be working towards.

Step 6: Outline your timeline and schedule

In order to achieve your project goals, you and your stakeholders need clarity on your overall project timeline and schedule. Aligning on the time frame you have can help you better prioritize during strategic planning sessions.

Not all projects will have clear-cut timelines. If you're working on a large project with a few unknown dates, consider creating a  project roadmap  instead of a full-blown project timeline. That way, you can clarify the order of operations of various tasks without necessarily establishing exact dates.

Once you’ve covered the high-level responsibilities, it’s time to focus some energy on the details. In your  work plan template , start by breaking your project into tasks, ensuring no part of the process is skipped. Bigger tasks can even be broken down into smaller subtasks, making them more manageable.

Then, take each task and subtask, and assign it a start date and end date. You’ll begin to visually see everything come together in a  cohesive project timeline . Be sure to add stakeholders, mapping out who is doing what by when.

Step 7: Share your communication plan

We’ve established that most projects include multiple stakeholders. That means communication styles will vary among them. You have an opportunity to set your expectations up front for this particular project in your project plan. Having a communication plan is essential for making sure everyone understands what’s happening, how the project is progressing, and what’s going on next. And in case a roadblock comes up, you’ll already have a clear communication system in place.

As you’re developing your communication plan, consider the following questions:

How many project-related meetings do you need to have? What are their goals?

How will you manage project status updates ? Where will you share them?

What tool will you use to manage the project and communicate progress and updates?

Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan. Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution phases of your project. Using project planning tools or task management software that integrates with apps like Slack and Gmail can ensure all your communication happens in one easily accessible place. 

Example project plan

Next, to help you understand what your project management plan should look like, here are two example plans for marketing and design projects that will guide you during your own project planning.

Project plan example: annual content calendar

Let’s say you’re the Content Lead for your company, and it’s your responsibility to create and deliver on a content marketing calendar for all the content that will be published next year. You know your first step is to build your work plan. Here’s what it might look like:

Goals and success metrics

You establish that your goal for creating and executing against your content calendar is to increase engagement by 10%. Your success metrics are the open rate and click through rate on emails, your company’s social media followers, and how your pieces of content rank on search engines.

Stakeholders and each person’s role

There will be five people involved in this project.

You, Content Lead: Develop and maintain the calendar

Brandon and Jamie, Writers: Provide outlines and copy for each piece of content

Nate, Editor: Edit and give feedback on content

Paula, Producer: Publish the content once it’s written and edited

Your budget for the project plan and a year’s worth of content is $50,000.

Milestones and deliverables

Your first milestone is to finish the content calendar, which shows all topics for the year. The deliverable is a sharable version of the calendar. Both the milestone and the deliverables should be clearly marked on your project schedule.

You’ve determined that your schedule for your content calendar project plan will go as follows:

October 15 - November 1: The research phase to find ideas for topics for content

November 2 - November 30: Establish the topics you’ll write about

December 1 - January 1: Build the calendar

January 1 - December 31: Content will be written by Brandon and Jamie, and edited by Nate, throughout the year

January 16 - December 31: Paula will begin publishing and continue to do so on a rolling basis throughout the year.

You’ll have a kick-off meeting and then monthly update meetings as part of your communication plan. Weekly status updates will be sent on Friday afternoons. All project-related communication will occur within a  project management tool .

How ClassPass manages project plans from start to finish

Kerry Hoffman, Senior Project Manager of Marketing Operations at  ClassPass , oversees all marketing projects undertaken by the creative, growth, and content teams. Here are her top three strategies for managing project plans:

Identify stakeholders up front: No matter the size of the project, it’s critical to know who the stakeholders are and their role in the project so you ensure you involve the right people at each stage. This will also make the review and approval process clear before the team gets to work.

Agree on how you want to communicate about your project: Establish where and when communication should take place for your project to ensure that key information is captured in the right place so everyone stays aligned.

Be adaptable and learn other people’s working styles: Projects don’t always go according to plan, but by implementing proper integration management you can keep projects running smoothly. Also, find out how project members like to work so you take that into account as you create your plan. It will help things run smoother once you begin executing.

Write your next project plan like a pro

Congratulations—you’re officially a work planning pro. With a few steps, a little bit of time, and a whole lot of organization, you’ve successfully written a project plan.

Keep yourself and your team on track, and address challenges early by using project planning software like Asana . Work through each of the steps of your project plan with confidence, and streamline your communications with the team.

Related resources

New site openings: How to reduce costs and delays

Provider onboarding software: Simplify your hiring process

15 creative elevator pitch examples for every scenario

Timesheet templates: How to track team progress

Filter by Keywords

Project Management

How to create a project plan in 5 steps (with examples & templates.

Erica Golightly

Senior Writer

March 21, 2024

Start using ClickUp today

• Manage all your work in one place
• Collaborate with your team
• Use ClickUp for FREE—forever

Project management documentation are non-negotiable resources that directly influence a project’s final outcome. To achieve a high success rate, the project plan serves as a dependable and effective roadmap that teams rely on throughout the entire project lifecycle, from initiation to completion. 📍

This guide is packed with the resources you need to send a project on the right path. We’ll break down the steps to build effective project plans, optimize resources, and coordinate communication efforts.

We know you’re a busy bee, so here’s a resource to jumpstart your project planning process right now: The ClickUp Example Project Plan Template . The List and Board views are already set up with key requirement fields, so all you have to do is add your project tasks! 

Check out more project roadmap templates !

Before we dive in, let’s explain what a project plan is. Because it gets chaotic with a revolving door of project documentation…

Ok if we’re honest, we like a little chaos. But only if Organized comes before Chaos. 😊

What is a Project Plan?

Benefits of writing a project plan, step 1: specify the expected deliverables and end results of the project, step 2: identify the key stakeholders and estimate budget expenses, step 3: create a work breakdown structure (wbs), step 4: add key milestones into a detailed project schedule, step 5: set expectations for communication , project plan examples, manage your team with project plans.

The project plan is a living document to provide a clear understanding of the project’s objectives, so stakeholders can align their efforts towards a collective goal. It defines the project’s scope , specifying what is included and what is not, to prevent scope creep and meet target deadlines.

At its best, it equips team members with the context to spend their time on the right things, including: 

• Risk assessment and mitigation strategies
• Individual and team responsibilities
• Resource management strategies
• Task dependencies
• Key milestones

A well-prepared project plan not only serves as a roadmap for project execution but also brings about various advantages that contribute to a project’s all-around success. 

Better Risk Management : A carefully written project plan provides room for risk identification and mitigation strategies right from the inception. By visualizing risks earlier, you can frame proactive measures to tackle them effectively and minimize their impact on the project’s outcome.

Increased Team Efficiency: A project plan outlines the roles and responsibilities of each team member, fostering clarity on what exactly is expected of them. This not only boosts individual productivity but also makes the team more cohesive and efficient.

Effective Resource Allocation and Cost Control: With a concrete project plan at hand, project managers can optimize resource allocation , minimizing wastages and ensuring that costs stay within the budget limit. It serves as a reference point for financial management, allowing managers to track and control expenses effectively.

High Client Satisfaction: A project plan structures the path to desired results, thereby enhancing the quality of the final deliverables. When clients receive value-driven results within the established time frame, they are more likely to be satisfied, leading

How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Steps 

From establishing clear project objectives to building the project timeline, we’ll get into practical insights and best practices to guide you in drafting project plans. 

Basically, here’s the over-caffeinated version of how to create a fail-proof project plan in 2023. 🏆

Not all requests in the queue should be full-scale projects. By prioritizing the right projects, teams can maximize their chances of success and optimize resource utilization for the best possible outcomes.

Do the deliverables and outcomes align with your organization’s growth goals?  When stakeholders see the relevance and alignment of a project with the organization’s KPIs, they are more inclined to actively participate, provide necessary resources, and advocate for project success. (More about project stakeholders in the next step!) 

Who will be the primary users or recipients of the deliverables? Customers or end users may have distinct preferences, expectations, or levels of expertise, and understanding their characteristics allows the project team to create deliverables that effectively meet their unique needs.

Are there any specific requirements, templates, or guidelines for the deliverables? This question upfront saves everyone time by providing a structured framework or starting point, so the project team can focus on the content and value-added aspects of the deliverables rather than spending unnecessary effort on formatting or presentation.

Now that you’re prepped with the project deliverables and goals, it’s time to begin drafting the project plan. 📃

Depending on your preferred project management methodology , the project plan’s format varies. Documents, tables, and Gantt charts are a few popular options. As long as it gives a clear description of each element in a project plan, you’re on the right track!

Here’s what you should have so far: 

• Project Title : Clearly state the name or title to capture the project’s essence. If you’re using an acronym, provide the full term 
• Project Description : Write a concise description of the project’s purpose, objectives, and scope
• Project Manager and Team : Identify the project manager responsible for overseeing the project and list the key members of the project team (e.g. the marketing team )
• Project Start, End, and Delivery Dates : Distinguish between the completion of internal project activities and the delivery of the final results to the stakeholders
• Project Objectives : State the specific goals and outcomes of the project. Give context to its impact on the organization’s KPIs and OKRs

Discover project planning tools to support any type of workflow! 

Project stakeholders typically include individuals or groups directly impacted by or having a vested interest in the project’s outcomes. Part of your project plan in this section should include approaches for stakeholder communication, involvement, and participation. 🧑‍💻

These may include project sponsors, end-users, clients, key project members, and the accounting partner.

Yes, accounting partners are stakeholders. Here’s why:

A small design project for an agency might cost a few thousand dollars, whereas a large infrastructure project for a multinational corporation could involve millions of dollars. 

In recent times of changing market conditions, it’s more important than ever to give stakeholders an idea of expenses related to resources, equipment, materials, and any other relevant costs. The plan also includes processes for tracking and managing costs throughout the project lifecycle.

This brings us to the next productivity resource to have on your radar. There’s a faster way to get out of building a budget report spreadsheet line by line every Friday afternoon: 

Give transparency into project budget utilization where the work is happening. 

Use free tools like Custom Fields in ClickUp to categorize project task resources, like contractors, project management software, and one-off purchases. (For example, purchasing a license for a song in a brand video.)

And this doesn’t take extra effort and, more importantly, email chains on your part. With ClickUp, all your project’s tasks and resources are recorded in one place. @Mention a stakeholder for purchase approval, upload a receipt image, and update the Custom Field to reflect how much funding is left. 💰

When Custom Fields are updated, task watchers (including accounting partners) are notified of the changes. They have the convenience of referring to the digital trail whenever they need to!

Now that we have project stakeholders and the budget added to the project plan let’s move to the next step!

A work breakdown structure (WBS) represents the project’s scope by breaking it down into team and individual tasks or activities. 

Starting with the most important project deliverable, the WBS progressively breaks it down into smaller work packages and subtasks. Each work package represents a distinct task or activity to be assigned, scheduled, and tracked. The hierarchical rundown continues until the work packages are at a level where they can be easily understood and executed. 🤩

The WBS is a collaborative process. Connect with your key project team members to fill in what’s missing for the project’s requirements and deliverables. As a project manager, your focus is on the project as a whole, including strategic planning , project scheduling , budgeting, and stakeholder communication. 

Here is a general outline of the WBS format if you want to build a simple project plan template:

The project team is the subject matter experts in their fields. Their perspectives on how long a task would take and what they would need from other team members to complete their work are invaluable for a successful project. 

Virtual whiteboards are a great option for a remote or in-person brainstorming session. With real-time editing, it’s a non-intimidating way to encourage participation from everyone. Add to your next project planning session the ClickUp Work Breakdown Structure Template . A beginner-friendly tool with rich text editing, embedding features, and actionable tasks! 🎯

When you’re at a good place with the WBS, it’s ready to be added to a project timeline. 

Bonus: Work Breakdown Structure Software !

The schedule will get updated weekly or monthly as the project progresses. To keep up with the changes, and, most importantly, communicate the changes, using intuitive tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and timelines will make managing ongoing changes less tedious. 

Gantt charts 

Offer a visual representation of the project schedule, allowing project managers to easily track task dependencies, durations, and milestones. When updates are required, they can quickly modify the chart, rearranging tasks or adjusting timelines with a simple drag-and-drop action.

Kanban boards

Provide a streamlined workflow view, allowing project managers to visualize tasks in various stages of completion. As changes occur, they can easily move tasks across different columns, reflecting the updated progress and priorities. 

Timelines 

Show a clear chronological view of project events, deadlines, and milestones. This enables stakeholders to stay informed about important dates and ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding project progress.

Check out our guide to creating a project timeline ! It’s packed with more templates and examples to help you build a powerful project visual. 🎨

Bonus: Construction scheduling software !

We’ve arrived at the final step of the project planning process!

Following up on task statuses and answering one-off status emails take up so much time and energy from a project manager’s work week. 

Chances are, everyone is working on multiple projects simultaneously. So replying to DMs is sometimes held off until the very end of the day. Or lost somewhere in the void for days. 

Status reports are essential for decision-making. They provide a digital record of the project’s activities, decisions made, and outcomes, which can be useful for future reference, audits, or lessons learned.

PRO TIP Use ClickUp AI to summarize comment threads and quickly see the main points of a long thread or comment! After the content is generated, you have the option to try for a slightly different AI response, copy the text, close the Summarize thread modal, or tell AI what to do next.

Replace long email chains with ClickUp tasks for your status reports. With a single ClickUp task, all the weekly updates are stored in one place. This simple shift to task-based communication eliminates the need to search across multiple apps. 🔍

However, if your team relies on messaging platforms like Slack for urgent updates and real-time problem-solving, use the Slack integration with ClickUp . Turn messages into tasks and comments from the Slack app and notifications about tasks to Slack channels of your choice!

Take project communication one step further by providing a project status report template to follow so all updates are organized and uniform for stakeholders: 

• Team Accomplishments : List key milestones or tasks completed during the week
• Current Status : Provide an overview of the project’s progress and any challenges or bottlenecks faced
• Upcoming Tasks and Deadlines : Note any important deadlines approaching in the following week
• Tasks at Risk : Highlight any issues or risks identified and their potential impact
• Resource Updates : Mention any changes or updates related to resource allocation
• Next Steps : Summarize the immediate next steps and priorities
• Assistance Needed : Specify any support or assistance required from team members or stakeholders

Bonus: Create a “Coordination” ClickUp task, which serves as the main channel where teams can expect the latest updates from you! 

Different departments may have unique workflows and requirements, hence different types of project plans are needed. Here are some project plan examples to get you started:

1. Marketing Team Project Plan Example

Goal: Increase website traffic by 30% in the first quarter.

Roles & Responsibilities: SEO manager leads keyword research and content optimization; Social media executive handles promotion; Email marketing manager sets up email drip campaigns; The marketing analyst tracks and reports progress.

Budget: $10,000 for software, content creation, promotion, and analysis.

Deliverables: SEO-optimized blog posts, social media campaigns, email newsletters, and a detailed analytics report.

Schedule: 3 months, with weekly check-ins.

Communication Plan: Weekly meetings for updates and month-end reports; Ad-hoc meetings as necessary; all communication documented in ClickUp.

2. Product Team Project Plan Example

Goal: Develop a new feature for the app within six months.

Roles & Responsibilities: Product manager defines feature requirements; Designer drafts interface; Developer builds feature; QA tester checks for defects; Feedback tracked by product analysts.

Budget: $50,000 for research, design, development, testing, and launch.

Deliverables: A new, tested, and fully-functional app feature.

Schedule: 6 months, with bi-weekly sprint reviews.

Communication Plan: Daily stand-ups for updates; Bi-weekly sprint review meetings; Ad-hoc meetings as necessary ; All communication documented in ClickUp.

3. Design Team Project Plan Example

Goal: Redesign the company’s website for better user experience and increased conversions in four months.

Roles & Responsibilities: UX researcher conducts user research; UI designer creates mockups; Front-end developer codes the design; Quality analyst performs UX tests; Project manager oversees all operations.

Budget: $20,000 for research, design, development, testing, and implementation.

Deliverables: A fully-responsive, tested, and live website offering a superior user experience.

Schedule: 4 months, with monthly iterations.

Communication Plan: Weekly catch-up meetings for updates; Monthly review meetings; Ad-hoc meetings as necessary; All communication documented in ClickUp.

Remember, these are just examples and your actual project plan might vary based on many factors like scope of the project, team size and other specific needs.

Leverage ClickUp to take the administration tasks off your workload so you can do what you do best. You are capable of handling every single request or question that comes your way, but you shouldn’t have to. Your team needs you in your most present self, driving the project toward success. 

Create a free ClickUp Workspace and invite team members to experience better project planning. If you need any support with building project workflows, we’re only a message away. Happy planning! ✍️

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

Receive the latest WriteClick Newsletter updates.

Thanks for subscribing to our blog!

Please enter a valid email

• Free training & 24-hour support
• Serious about security & privacy
• 99.99% uptime the last 12 months

• What is a Workflow

A 6-Step Guide to Expert Project Planning [+ Examples & Tools]

November 15, 2023 - Updated on December 13, 2023

Project planning is the answer you need when faced with a project teeming with tasks and a tight deadline. So, before diving into work and confronting the upcoming challenges, set up your course of action through project planning .

Project planning involves crafting a framework for your project, breaking it down into stages and tasks for each phase. This approach eliminates the need for constant concern about the next step.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at project planning, delving into its significance and fundamental elements. From defining project objectives to crafting timelines and efficiently allocating resources, we’ll uncover the essence of project planning.

Key Takeaways

• In project management, project planning is a structured approach that encompasses defining project goals, outlining the scope of work, specifying actions, identifying deliverables, and presenting the plan to stakeholders for effective communication and management of expectations.
• Effective project planning is essential to facilitate communication, ensure timely completion, identify potential issues, enhance resource allocation, and improve stakeholder satisfaction.
• A project plan comprises three critical elements : scope, time, and budget, which define the project’s primary goals, schedule, and financial aspects, ensuring transparency, efficiency, and adherence to objectives.
• To create a good plan, set goals, list what you’ll deliver, decide on a budget, make a timeline, pick your team, and handle risks wisely.
• Think of your project plan like a story with five chapters —start, plan, do, monitor, and finish. Each part has a role in guiding your project to success.
• Use tools like Microsoft Project, Trello, or Asana for an easier journey. They’re like handy companions, helping you stay organized and work better.

What is Project Planning?

Project planning in project management involves a structured approach to overseeing a project , covering all the vital aspects of its execution. This planning is the foundation of every successful initiative, as it sets the fundamental guidelines and expectations for the entire team, client, and all relevant stakeholders.

Within project planning, you’ll incorporate elements like defining the project’s goals, outlining the scope of work, specifying actions, identifying deliverables, and other important components required for a successful outcome. It serves to encapsulate your vision, work structure, and team and leadership roles.

To successfully create and implement the project plan, it’s necessary to present it to stakeholders and address their project ideas, wishes, and expectations.

With this move, you’ll ensure that everyone is well-informed from the outset. As a result, you have everyone understanding the project’s path and dynamics and can concentrate on effectively leading your team, motivating them, devising strategies, and enhancing workflow to ensure project success.

Therefore, start your project with a carefully designed project plan . Let it be your channel through which you communicate and manage project expectations, define project phases, identify milestones, set timeframes, and allocate resources.

Project Plan: Importance and Benefits

The importance of project planning is immense because, without proper planning, projects can easily veer off course, leading to confusion, delays, and unexpected challenges. And you certainly don’t want that to happen to your project.

So, here are some key benefits of effective project planning that will help you understand its significance in every project:

#1. Facilitates Effective Communication

Project planning acts as the bridge of communication among team members and stakeholders. In a complex project, there can be various roles, tasks, and dependencies. Without a clear plan, it’s like trying to have a conversation in different languages.

A well-defined project plan ensures that everyone understands their roles, responsibilities, and the project’s goals. It encourages open dialogue, enabling team members to share insights, updates, and feedback seamlessly.

This communication ensures that everyone is on the same page, which, in turn, promotes better decision-making, conflict resolution , and overall collaboration ingredients for a successful project.

#2. Ensures Projects Are Finished on Time

Project planning is akin to setting a clock for your project. It establishes a realistic timeline, milestones, and deadlines , serving as a time-management tool. With a solid plan, project managers can allocate resources efficiently, preventing bottlenecks and ensuring that tasks are completed on schedule.

Project planning allows for continuous monitoring of progress, enabling timely adjustments when necessary. By adhering to the project schedule, teams can consistently meet deadlines and prevent costly delays.

#3. Helps Identify Potential Issues

Effective project planning is like being equipped with a radar for detecting storms before they hit. It involves thorough risk assessment and early identification of potential issues that might jeopardize the project’s success.

By foreseeing challenges and uncertainties, teams can proactively develop contingency plans and mitigation strategies. This proactive approach minimizes the impact of unexpected issues, ensuring the project stays on course.

Addressing problems in their early stages prevents them from escalating into major roadblocks, saving time and resources in the long run.

#4. Enhance Resource Allocation

Project planning serves as a budgeting and resource management tool . In the absence of a plan, resources such as personnel, materials, and budget can be haphazardly allocated, resulting in inefficiencies and wasted resources.

However, a well-structured project plan outlines resource requirements for each phase of the project, ensuring that resources are utilized efficiently, and no valuable assets are wasted. It facilitates cost control, allowing organizations to stay within budget.

#5. Improves Stakeholders Satisfaction

When projects are meticulously planned and executed according to plan, stakeholders, including clients, team members, and investors, are more likely to be satisfied with the results . Meeting or even surpassing their expectations builds trust and confidence in the project’s management and delivery.

This high level of satisfaction fosters better working relationships, encourages ongoing support, and can lead to future collaborations. Ultimately, happy stakeholders are more likely to endorse and invest in future projects, enhancing an organization’s reputation and competitiveness.

Therefore, project planning plays a pivotal role in not only achieving immediate project goals but also in building long-term stakeholders’ loyalty and success.

3 Key Elements of a Project Plan

Let’s explore the structure of a project plan, which comprises three essential elements: scope, time, and budget. These key components define a project plan and highlight their significance in successful project management. Let’s take a look!

Scope is essential in project planning, as it defines the project’s primary goal and all its expected tasks . It tells us the project’s purpose and the necessary steps to achieve it.

Besides the tasks, the scope lists the specific responsibilities of the project team. The idea is to establish clear accountabilities for each task and reduce the risk of misunderstanding. In this way, you promote transparency and collaboration.

One of the vital reasons for defining the scope is to prevent scope creep and unauthorized changes . The defined scope ensures the project remains on track and keeps everyone focused on the established work roadmap.

Therefore, define your scope and provide a view of the required resources to optimize the utilization of personnel, time, materials, and finances.

#2. Timeline

As a project planning component, the project timeline sets up the project’s schedule, highlighting its key goals and marking the beginning and end dates of the project journey. In simple terms, it gives a clear view of the project, showing its schedule, tasks, important milestones, and deadlines .

This representation brings clarity and facilitates effective communication between team members, project managers, stakeholders, and clients, ensuring everyone is well-informed about the project’s progression and expectations.

Furthermore, a well-structured project timeline, highlighting the organization, task durations, and project phases, empowers efficient resource allocation and improves overall productivity.

The budget component of a project plan outlines the financial aspects of the project . It includes estimates for costs associated with labor, materials, equipment, and other resources. A properly defined budget plan allows you to track and manage project expenses, preventing situations where spending exceeds the initial allocation.

As a result, you can control project expenses, prevent cost overruns, and ensure that the project remains financially viable.

6 Steps to Creating the Best Project Plan

Starting a successful project journey begins with a well-defined project plan.

Below are the steps to guide you in creating an effective project plan:

#1. Identify Your Goals/Objectives

The initial step involves setting project goals— clarifying what you intend to accomplish and what defines project success for you . To do this, ask yourself and your team what you want to achieve with the project.

Apply the SMART technique to navigate through a multitude of ideas, suggestions, and desires. This approach implies that your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound, ensuring clearness and effectiveness.

Identifying your objectives serves as a compass, providing purpose and direction for your project . Without well-defined goals, your project can quickly lose its way, leading to inefficiencies and misunderstandings among team members and stakeholders.

Therefore, in goal-setting, involve project participants—key stakeholders and decision-makers—and avoid potential conflict on time. This engagement enables you to understand their vision, requirements, and expectations, align your ideas with their demands, and secure their buy-in.

#2. Define Deliverables

Once you set clear project goals, the next step is to define project deliverables— the tangible results of the project activities . Think of deliverables as the concrete outputs that bring your project closer to achieving its objectives.

For example, if your goal is to create a better product than last year’s offerings, the deliverables would encompass the specific features or specifications that make this product an improved one. These deliverables are the direct outcomes of the tasks and efforts put in by your team.

To define deliverables effectively, maintain open and healthy communication with your team . Discuss standards you should implement, methodologies of work, and activities required to reach those deliverables. Keep the dialogue ongoing to address any difficulties your team can encounter and track their progress.

Additionally, sharing the progress of your work with stakeholders allows you to gather feedback, which can be valuable for refining your outcomes. Involving customers in this process can also lead to a better final product by aligning it with their needs and expectations.

#3. Set Your Budget

Setting a budget as the next step of project planning involves determining the financial resources necessary to see your project through to completion . Your budget needs to cover all relevant costs, such as materials, labor, equipment, and allowances for unforeseen expenses.

Begin by analyzing the financial aspect of your project. This analysis helps you estimate the costs of procuring materials, hiring and compensating labor, and acquiring necessary equipment or technology. Additionally, allocate the budget aside for potential unexpected expenses during the project’s life cycle.

Establishing a realistic budget serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it ensures you have the necessary funds to execute the project without running into financial roadblocks. Secondly, it provides a financial framework that guides decision-making throughout the project, helping you prioritize spending and allocate resources efficiently.

An accurately set budget is a valuable tool for managing your project’s finances effectively, maintaining financial transparency, and achieving your project objectives within the allocated financial constraints.

#4. Create a Project Schedule

After defining goals and deliverables, start creating a project schedule. The schedule will ensure your project stays on track and meets its goals .

An effective project schedule follows how well your organization of tasks goes by breaking down the project into smaller, manageable tasks and listing everything that needs to be done in the correct order.

This approach is vital because it allows for accurate estimations of each task’s duration, considering that some tasks can be sequential while others can happen simultaneously.

When creating a project schedule, be realistic and consider factors like resources and dependencies. It’s helpful to use project management software or project management charts to create a visual timeline that showcases task start and end dates and highlights task interdependencies, where one task relies on the completion of another.

Within the project schedule, highlight key milestones or checkpoints so that you can track progress and celebrate achievements. Therefore, with a project schedule, you can monitor your progress and continuously review and update your schedule as the project progresses.

Furthermore, to foster effective collaboration and transparency, share the schedule with your team and stakeholders, informing everyone about progress and any deviations from the original plan.

#5. Assemble Project Team

Assembling your project team ensures you have the right people on board to bring you results . Start by defining the roles and responsibilities needed for your project. Then, choose individuals who possess the required skills and experience. Communicate each team member’s role, tasks, and expectations to reduce confusion and align everyone’s efforts.

Set up regular communication channels for team updates, feedback, and resolution and ensure the team can access the resources, tools, and information to perform their tasks effectively.

Maintain a positive team environment by encouraging trust and open communication among the members. Address any conflicts promptly and constructively to preserve a harmonious working atmosphere.

Furthermore, invest in ongoing training and development opportunities to improve the skills of your team members, which will ultimately lead to better project outcomes.

#6. Assess & Mitigate Risks

In the project planning phase, it is essential to evaluate the potential risks you can expect on the way to the realization of the project.

Properly identifying and addressing these risks is vital, as failure to do so can result in unexpected resource allocation, including time, finances, and personnel, potentially derailing the project’s progress.

By identifying these risks at an early stage, you can proactively develop strategies and action plans to address them when they happen.

Consider bringing in experts who can assess critical factors, such as market conditions, consumer behavior, competition, regulations, or client expectations. These experts can identify potential risks and evaluate their likelihood of occurrence. Utilizing various risk assessment tools can also aid in this process.

Prioritizing identified risks and effectively communicating them to all stakeholders is crucial. This way, you ensure everyone knows potential challenges and the measures to mitigate them. Regular monitoring of risks is also essential to prompt action when needed, safeguarding the project’s success.

5 Phases of a Project

To ensure your project plan serves as a reliable roadmap throughout project execution, break it down into the following five phases:

• Initiation . The initial phase of the project plan involves making the conceptual idea concrete by clearly defining its key aspects and details. Do so by presenting strategies for achieving the desired outcomes, outlining the specific activities, and identifying the stakeholders involved in the project, along with their significance and roles. The initiation phase lays the groundwork for the entire project lifecycle.
• Planning . In the planning phase, you will delve deeper into the project planning. This phase implies communication and sharing specific project details with stakeholders to clarify methodologies, tasks, resources, and timelines. Gathering feedback and incorporating it allows us to establish a clear and realistic execution plan.
• Execution . The execution phase is where teams put the project plan into action, allocate resources, and execute the tasks outlined in the planning phase. During execution, it’s essential to emphasize the importance of collaboration and communication within your team to promptly address and resolve any obstacles encountered.
• Monitoring . This phase goes hand in hand with the execution phase. It entails continuous monitoring and control of project activities. Project managers track progress, compare it to the project plan, identify deviations, and take corrective actions to ensure the project stays on track.
• Closure . The final phase entails the formal closure of the project. It encompasses tasks such as delivering the final product or service, obtaining client or stakeholder approval, releasing project resources, and conducting a post-project evaluation to extract valuable lessons learned.

Project Plan Example

Let’s look at a project planning example to better understand what it entails:

Project Title : Launch of Product X

Project Objective : To successfully introduce product X to the market, achieve a market share of 10% within the first year, and generate $1 million in revenue.

Project Scope : The project scope encompasses the following activities:

• Product development : Designing, prototyping, and testing product X to ensure it meets quality standards and customer expectations.
• Marketing : Developing and executing marketing strategies, including branding, advertising, and market research, to create awareness and demand for product X.
• Sales : Establishing sales channels, training sales teams, and setting up customer support for the successful sale and distribution of product X.

Project Team :

• Project manager : Full name
• Product developer : Full name
• Marketing specialist : Full name
• Sales manager : Full name

Project Timeline :

• Initiation phase (Month 1) : Define project objectives, scope, budget, and team roles.
• Planning phase (Months 2-3) : Develop a detailed project plan, create a marketing strategy, and set product development milestones.
• Execution phase (Months 4-9) : Develop the product, execute marketing campaigns, and conduct sales activities.
• Monitoring and control phase (Months 10-11) : Evaluate progress, adjust strategies as needed, and ensure quality control.
• Closing phase (Month 12) : Analyze project results, generate a report, and plan for post-launch support.

Key milestones :

• Complete product development (Month 6)
• Launch marketing campaign (Month 7)
• Achieve 5% market share (Month 9)
• Achieve 10% market share (Month 12)
• Product development : $____
• Market campaigns : $____
• Sales operations : $____
• Other expenses : $____
• Total budget : $____

Risk Assessment :

• Market competition may be higher than anticipated.
• Product development may face delays.
• Marketing campaigns may not resonate with the target audience.

Communication plan :

• Weekly project team meetings.
• Monthly progress reports for stakeholders.
• Quarterly reviews with the executive team.

Project Planning: Tools and Software to Use

Project planning tools and software play a crucial role in streamlining the project management process and bringing efficiency, collaboration, and organization to your projects. Here are some of the best and most commonly used project planning software:

• Microsoft Project : Microsoft Project is a robust project management software that provides comprehensive planning and scheduling capabilities. It allows users to create Gantt charts, set dependencies, allocate resources, and track progress. It allows integration with other Microsoft Office tools and makes it a popular choice for many organizations.
• Trello : Trello is a simple yet effective visual project management tool based on the Kanban method. It uses boards, lists, and cards to help teams organize tasks and workflows. Trello is known for its user-friendly interface and is suitable for small to medium-sized projects.
• Asana : Asana is a versatile project management tool that focuses on task and project tracking. It offers features like task assignments, due dates, project timelines, and integrations with various other tools. Asana is popular among teams looking for a flexible and customizable project planning solution.
• Jira : Jira is an agile project management tool often used in software development projects. It supports Kanban and Scrum methodologies and offers features like issue tracking, backlog management, and release planning. Jira is favored by development teams for its specialized features.
• Smartsheet : Smartsheet combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with project management capabilities. It allows users to create interactive sheets, calendars, and Gantt charts. Smartsheet is suitable for a wide range of project types and industries.
• Monday.com : Monday.com is a work operating system that offers a visual project management platform. It facilitates collaboration through customizable workflows, task tracking, and automation. Monday.com is known for its user-friendly interface and adaptability to various project needs.
• Basecamp : Basecamp is a project management and team collaboration tool that emphasizes communication and file sharing. It provides message boards, to-do lists, and document storage to keep teams organized. Basecamp is favored by smaller teams and those seeking a straightforward project planning solution.

Final Thoughts

A well-crafted project plan is the compass that guides your project to success. That is its most crucial role, deserving special attention when you approach its creation.

When you have clear objectives, a defined scope, a timeline, and a budget on the table , it becomes easier to assign roles to each team member and distribute resources wisely and systematically.

This undoubtedly leads to significantly higher chances of meeting the expectations of stakeholders, clients, and the entire company and fulfilling the project’s purpose.

So, it’s up to you and your team to start planning, create and maintain optimal organization, and watch how your project progresses.

Project Planning FAQ

#1. who is involved in project planning.

Project planning involves a cross-functional team consisting of key stakeholders, a project manager, subject matter experts, and team members responsible for executing various project tasks.

#2. What are the 5 stages of Project planning?

The five stages of project planning are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closing . These stages cover defining project objectives, creating a detailed project plan, implementing the plan, overseeing progress, and wrapping up the project.

#3. What is the difference between project planning and creating a strategy?

Project planning is about outlining how to achieve specific project objectives while creating a strategy involves setting broader organizational or departmental goals and the approach to achieve them.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Automate your workflows today

Get 2x tips per month on automating your workflows.

✌️ We promise not to spam you.

Where to find us.

447 Broadway, 2nd Floor Suite #1140, NY

Project Collaboration

[email protected]

Our Content

• Workflow Automation
• Project Management
• Productivity

Download Our App

Quick Links

Copyright © 2020 by Workflow Automation LLC. All rights reserved.

• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions

Free Microsoft Word Project Plan Templates With a How-To Guide

By Kate Eby | July 13, 2023

• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn

Link copied

We’ve assembled the most useful Microsoft Word project plan templates to help you manage project tasks, timelines, and statuses. Use the project plan template to outline, track, and manage projects, thus promoting consistency and clarity. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a simple project plan template , a streamlined one-page project plan template , a printable project plan template , and more. Plus, learn how to create a project plan in Microsoft Word .

Microsoft Word Project Plan Template

Download the Sample Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word Download the Blank Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This comprehensive project plan template provides a detailed structure for planning any type of project. Use this template to list project deliverables, scope, start and end dates, assignees, durations, and additional comments for each project task. Then share status updates for project tasks and comments with your project team and stakeholders to ensure that your project stays on track and meets its objectives.

Learn more about project planning and how to chart project tasks and resources with this collection of top project plan templates .

Simple Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Simple Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

Use this simple project plan template to streamline your project planning process. Enter your project’s name, manager, deliverables, and scope statement at the top of the template, and then list project tasks, work breakdown structure (WBS) numbers, personnel assignments, dates, and task status updates below. Set the project start and end dates, and share the overall progress percentage with your team as the project evolves.

One-Page Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

Download the One-Page Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

This complete one-page project plan template provides the structure for successful project planning. The template provides space for you to list and track team member assignments, WBS numbers, dates, statuses, and comments for each project task. Use this project plan template to set the project deliverables, scope, and start and end dates. By doing so, you can keep your project organized and ensure that your team makes consistent progress toward its goal.

For a variety of helpful templates to structure your project plan, see this collection of Google Docs project plan templates .

Printable Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Printable Project Plan Template for Microsoft Word

Take advantage of this comprehensive, printable project plan template to streamline communication with your team and stakeholders. The template is specifically formatted for optimal printing, ensuring that every detail, from task prioritization to assignment distribution, is clearly visible in hard copy. With the work breakdown structure (WBS) number column, you can effortlessly prioritize and schedule project tasks, ensuring a clear, concise roadmap to project completion.

Why Should You Use a Project Plan Template?

Project plan templates save time by providing a pre-structured format, which eliminates the need to design a layout from scratch. They also guarantee consistency across project documents, easing communication and understanding among team members and stakeholders.

How Do You Create a Project Plan in Microsoft Word?

Download a  Microsoft Word project plan template  from this page to manage and track your project. After downloading the template, you can chart your project plan using the unique features available in Microsoft Word.

 Use the following step-by-step guide to download, open, and complete the project plan template: 

• Download the project plan template for Microsoft Word.
• Open the downloaded template file.
• Enter the project and the project manager's names at the top of the template.

• Enter the project deliverable and scope statement.

• Enter the start date, end date, and duration in days for the entire project.

• Enter the WBS number, task name, and resource assigned for each project task. 

• Enter the start date, end date, and duration in days for each project task.

Find more helpful tips, download a template starter kit, and more in this guide to writing a winning project plan .

Tips for Using a Microsoft Word Project Plan Template

A project plan template helps you document and define the objectives, tasks, and resources needed to deliver a successful outcome on time and within budget. Use a template to write, organize, and update your project plan.

Follow these tips for help using a Microsoft Word project plan template:

• Include Your Project Team: Work with your team when writing your project plan and using a template. The team works to complete project tasks to ensure success, so their input and investment are valuable.
• Be Specific and Clear: Use the template to accurately document your project plan. Detailed and precise information helps eliminate ambiguity, streamlines communication, and ensures that all team members and stakeholders understand their responsibilities, project goals, and the pathway to achieve them. 
• Update Your Project Plan Often: A project plan is a living document. Use the template to update your team on project work progress and unexpected changes to the plan. Your updated plan will guide your team through the execution phase to successful project closure.

When Do You Create a Project Plan?

Create your project plan during the planning or design phase of a project. The project plan is essential at this stage for outlining basic project information and preparing your team for the launch or execution phase. 

It is important to remember, however, that a project plan is a living document and should be updated and refined throughout the lifecycle of the project.

Who Will Use a Project Plan Template?

Project managers, team leaders, and team members will all use the project plan template regularly. Stakeholders such as clients, senior management, and investors might also use the project plan template to better understand the project's scope, timeline, objectives, and progress.

The Advantages of Using Smartsheet for a Project Plan

Smartsheet makes it easy to create a detailed project plan using a fully customizable template. With Smartsheet, your up-to-date project plan will be accessible the moment you revise it, from anywhere, by anyone who has access.

This is an example of a simple project plan template found in the Smartsheet Solution Templates . It comes pre-formatted with example project information and includes everything you need to get your project off the ground. 

Change the Task information to the tasks that are required to complete your project. Assign each task to a member of your team, mark its status, and enter a start and end date. The template will automatically create a Gantt chart representing a timeline of your project and color-code it based on the status of each task. This template also allows you to mark tasks as At Risk and highlights them red on the Gantt chart.

If you prefer, you can switch to Card View to view tasks by their status. Each card shows the task description, assignee, and start and end date. As your team completes their tasks, click and drag on each card to move them through the status columns. The status of these tasks will update on the Grid View of the template as well and can be seen by everyone with access, in real time.

From simple task management and project planning to complex resource and portfolio management, Smartsheet helps you improve collaboration and increase work velocity -- empowering you to get more done. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover a better way to streamline workflows and eliminate silos for good.

• Contact sales

Start free trial

12 Free Project Planning Templates for Excel and Word

Without a plan, projects are in trouble. Project planning is one of the first and most important aspects of project management. Using project planning templates can help you schedule tasks, estimate budgets and allocate resources.

Project management software does more than a static Excel or Word template, but using these free 12 project planning templates for Excel and Word is a decent substitute. Download one or all to start your next project on the right foot.

Why Use Project Planning Templates?

Project planning templates are an important part of project management. They organize your tasks, help you write a project charter, come up with an accurate budget and so much more. Even if you’re using project management software, project planning templates can help you with everything from decision making, such as with our free RACI matrix template, to identifying project deliverables, with our free work breakdown structure template.

You can even use project planning templates to help you manage your project and track progress and risks. They provide a consistent project documentation process, which can then be archived and retrieved to inform future planning. Project planning templates help reduce work as they’re preformatted so you don’t always have to start from scratch.

But using project planning templates is, at best, only a starting point. To ensure your plans are well-managed during project execution, you’ll want to upgrade to project management software.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that helps you plan projects and manage and track them in real time. We have multiple project views, from kanban boards to tasks lists, sheet and calendar views, but project managers typically plan their projects on our powerful Gantt charts.

Unlike templates, our Gantt charts organize your tasks, add resources and costs and link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays. Gantts can filter for the critical path to identify essential tasks and set a baseline to track your planned progress against actual progress in real time. That’s how you deliver on time and within budget. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

12 Best Project Planning Templates

If you’re not ready to use project management software, these 12 project planning templates for Excel and Word can help you get your project planned properly. They cover all the bases, from creating a timeline to chart your tasks to having a risk register to prepare your team for issues that inevitably arise in every project.

1. Project Plan Template

A project plan is a big endeavor. Our free project plan template for Word helps you organize the various project management documentation needed to prepare your project for success. You get to address the planning basics, such as defining your project scope, identifying milestones and breaking the project down into manageable phases and tasks.

Then you can create a project schedule, including task dependencies, project assumptions and constraints. There’s also a section that addresses the project budget, risk and change management, which is essential to stay on track. Included is a risk log and the process you’ll use for change management to avoid delays.

2. Project Charter Template

A project charter is an important project planning document. It provides high-level information on the project to ensure stakeholders are aware of the project deliverables, milestones and the roles and responsibilities of the project team. It also explains the reason for the project, including how the project plan and project team will be structured to meet the project goals.

Using our free project charter template for Word will define the project vision and scope for everyone involved. It’s presented to the project sponsor in a neat, organized and easy-to-digest fashion. From the executive summary to the appendix, everything is collected to show how to achieve the project’s goals. The project charter template defines the project and shows the plan that will outline the milestones, tasks, dependencies and resource management plan .

3. Project Budget Template

All projects cost money. Being able to accurately estimate those costs and make a realistic project budget can make the difference between a healthy profit margin and losing money on the project. That’s why using our free project budget template for Excel is such a vital part of any project planning template offering. It can help you monitor project expenses and avoid cost overruns.

The free project planning template lets you list all your tasks and subtasks, including who’s assigned to each. Then you can estimate the labor, materials and other costs , such as travel, equipment, food and more. There’s also a column to track the actual costs for each of these categories to monitor the budgeted versus actual costs. A final balance column shows if you’re in the red.

4. Work Breakdown Structure Template

A work breakdown structure is a hierarchical chart that incrementally breaks down the project into deliverables and the tasks that are needed to complete those deliverables. Our free work breakdown structure template for Excel is a customizable project planning template made up of two sheets, one that has a task list and the other a tree diagram to help you identify not only deliverables and tasks but dependencies, resources and more.

5. Project Timeline Template

Another powerful project planning template is a timeline. It’s a visual representation of your schedule laid out from start to finish. On the project timeline , you can plot your project tasks, due dates, milestones and more. Use our free project timeline template for Excel to start your project scheduling process.

When you open our free project planning template for making timelines, you’ll see that it’s divided in half. On the left is a spreadsheet where you can list all the project tasks in one column, their start date in another and the end date in yet another. The last column notes the duration of the task in days. As you’re doing this, a timeline on the right will automatically populate to show you the entire project in one place.

6. Project Scope Template

The project scope outlines your project, so this project planning template is extensive. It’s a detailed document that shows the project’s activities, resources, timelines and deliverables. It lists your key stakeholders, the processes you’ll be using in the project, assumptions and constraints, all so you can understand what’s in and out of scope for the project.

Our free project scope template for Word is very thorough, though you can add to it as suits your project needs. We have space for project managers to explain the need for the project, what’s in and out of scope, its business objectives, deliverables and cost estimates and much more.

7. RACI Matrix Template

RACI is an acronym for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. A RACI matrix , often referred to as a diagram or chart, is a tool that ensures that all project stakeholders are on the same page and working together, making it an important project planning template.

Our free RACI matrix template for Excel helps you identify and define everyone involved with the project. The template lists all the project stakeholders across the top row and tasks down the left side of the template. Then just add R, A, C or I to define who is responsible for what.

8. Resource Plan Template

Resources are part of any planning process and, therefore creating a resource plan is an essential part of the project planning phase. You need to identify and plan everything needed to execute your project, and the most important resource is your team. Our free resource plan template for Excel helps you align resources with your project schedule and budget.

Our free resource plan template helps you organize tasks by team members and the department in which they work. You can also estimate the planned effort for each task, the team member’s rate of pay and the total cost for the duration of that work. There’s also a calendar to schedule the team’s work.

9. Risk Register Template

Risks, whether good or bad, are unexpected events in a project. Regardless, you need to plan for them. A risk register allows you to list all your project risks, their potential impact, priority level and more. You can use it throughout the project life cycle to track any risks that might occur.

The template allows you to add an ID number to each risk to track it. Then you can describe the risk and note the potential impact on the project. Following that, you’ll add the response if that risk becomes an issue in the project. You can also note the risk level to prioritize it and who on the team is responsible for dealing with that issue if it arises in the project.

10. Project Calendar Template

Calendars are one of many ways to plan a project. As a project planning template, calendars can provide a monthly overview of the assignments and deadlines of the project. Use our free project calendar template for Excel to plan your project on a calendar grid.

When you open our free project calendar template, you’ll find 12 sheets, one for each month of the year. The calendar has color coding to indicate the task and which phase it belongs to. We’ve created some examples, which you can use or change to suit your project, as the template is customizable.

11. Action Plan Template

An action plan is a plan. It charts the steps necessary to achieve whatever goals you have in mind. It’s a project planning template that can help you define your project timeline and resources.

Using our free action plan template for Excel gives you space to list your tasks ad note the phase in which they’ll take place and who’s assigned to that task. There’s a column to mark its status to help you track the task, as well as a place to add start and end dates, resources and their associated costs.

12. Project Milestone Template

You can collect project planning templates without touching on milestones , which are part of the project planning phase. They’re used to indicate important dates on a project timeline, often showing the end of one phase and the beginning of the next, which helps with tracking progress.

You can open our free project milestone template in our software and import your project plan from Excel or create your own in the free template. The milestones are represented on the Gantt chart timeline as diamond icons. Our software gives you access to the Gantt chart and multiple project views, but more on that in the next section.

ProjectManager Helps With Project Planning

If you’ve used the milestone template in ProjectManager, then you can see the advantages of project management software over static project planning templates. Templates must be manually updated and aren’t great for collaboration.

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that helps you plan, manage and track your projects in real time. Everything you can do with the above project planning templates you can do better in our software. We’ve already shown how our powerful Gantt chart helps you organize tasks, resources and cost when building a project plan, schedule and budget. Here’s what else our tool can do.

Manage Resource and Labor Costs

Resources are part of any project planning process. Our software makes it easy to assign team members to tasks by allowing you to set up their availability in advance. You can note each team member’s vacation time, PTO and even global holidays for those with remote teams.

Once everyone has been assigned, toggle to the color-coded workload chart, which makes it easy to see team allocation at a glance. If some are overallocated, you can re-allocate those resources to balance the team’s workload and keep them working at capacity and productivity without eroding morale. During project execution, our secure timesheets streamline payroll and help you track labor costs to stay on budget.

Track Project Progress, Time and Costs

There’s more than one way to track project costs once the project has moved into its execution, monitoring and controlling phases. For a high-level view, project managers can use real-time dashboards , which automatically collect data and display it on easy-to-read graphs and charts. You can see how the project is progressing against your plan, compare costs against your budget and much more. If you’re managing multiple projects, use our portfolio dashboards.

For more details, use our reporting features. Customizable status and portfolio reports capture your project in time, but there are also reports on variance, timesheets, workload and more, all of which can be filtered to show only the data you want to see. Then share them with stakeholders to keep them updated.

Related Project Planning Content

Project planning is a big subject and we have many more articles that discuss all aspects of it from making a project plan to explaining what an implementation plan is. Check out a sample of our project planning content below.

• Project Planning: How to Make a Project Plan
• The Ultimate Guide to Resource Planning
• How to Execute a Plan Successfully
• What Is a Work Plan? How to Make a Work Plan In 7 Steps
• What Is an Implementation Plan?

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, out in the field or anywhere in between. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to plan and deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Deliver your projects on time and on budget

Start planning your projects.

• Topical Articles =>
• PMP Certification
• CAPM Certification
• Agile Training
• Corporate Training
• Project Management Tools

Home / Project Management / Project Plan Example – Sample Real-Life Project Plan

Project Plan Example – Sample Real-Life Project Plan

Are you planning to create a project plan? What does a good project plan look like? How could I create one? Where should I start to create a plan for your project? For a successful project, a great project plan is essential.

In this article, we will go through the key steps to write a project plan successfully. Project plans vary in sizes, elements, format, and components. So, there is no single way of creating a project plan. As a matter of fact, a good project plan contains the project goals it is meant to address. You may find many project plan templates that vary from extremely complex to extremely simple across the internet. But how do you choose the right one?

• Check out our PMP® Online Class Virtual Training that will help you fully prepare for the PMP certification exam!
• You can also check out our self-paced PMP® Certification Training .

Attend our 100% Online & Self-Paced One-Hour Free PMP Training .

Well, before we start let’s give you a link where you can download a FREE project management plan example along with four other Free Project Management Templates .

• Are you looking to improve your Excel skills for business analyst? Check out our Excel course for business analysts .
• Do you want to gain AI data analytics skills? Master of Project Academy’s brand new course offer is Introduction to Analytics and AI Online Training Course

Finding the right project plan

If you select any project plan template, you may find yourself spending precious time filling in lots of details. Your project may not have these details or in most cases, it won’t need them. At the same time, if you select a more simplified project plan template, you may find yourself stuck with a very limited version of the plan that does not include important details.

So what should you do? We tend to use a more practical approach, instead of just handing you a ready-made project plan example template. We will show you  the right project plan example for your project. Accordingly, our offering will include steps you should take to create a suitable plan for your project regardless of its size and components.

How Should You Start Creating a Project Plan?

So let’s start with the obvious questions, where should you start and how should you start. Now many project managers deal with project planning as a solo act. Thus, they usually tend to neglect team collaboration and depend on their own intellectual skills to perform the activities all by themselves. While this may seem an easy approach to creating a solid project plan example, it is an approach full of flaws. As a start, consider the fact that teamwork and collaboration bring more value than individual efforts no matter how brilliant the individual is . Additionally, the combined backgrounds and experiences of your project team will cover many project considerations.

1. Breakdown the work

The next step is to sit with your team to define the project work at a high level and then break it down into detailed work packages . Meanwhile, the team should also work on defining the tasks to carry out in order to complete the defined work packages. These tasks should carefully detail every activity the project team will execute. This way, the team leaves no chance of missing any aspect of the project and it also helps the team plan and assign proper resources. As a result, this step is considered one of the most important steps in project planning. Also, it helps in drawing the line for what should the project team consider as a part of the project scope of work and what is considered out of scope.

2. Define quality standards

100% FREE PMP® Pack

Let us send you links for our Free PMP Pack. Package includes:

- PMP Question Bank - PMP Flash Cards - PMP Prep Book Sample PDF - Free PMP Overview Training - PMP Cheat Sheets & more

3. Assign Resources to Tasks

4. Define the Relationship of Activities

The next step is to understand the relationship between different tasks and activities. This step is the heart of project planning since it defines opportunities for project schedule compression. In addition to the mentioned, it gives the project team the opportunity to identify schedule risks and potential conflicts over resources. Defining the relationship of activities is also known as activity sequencing. So how do you do it? It mainly works by defining what are the mandatory relations between different activities. Also, you should define the logical relations between different activities. The project team can identify mandatory relations by reviewing any relationship defined by contractual agreement or obligation. On the other hand, the team can identify logical relations through what works best.

Activity relations (SS, FS, FF, etc.)

Now let’s go through each type of relation the project team can identify and how it works. There are four types of relationships between different activities:

• The first type of activities’ relationship is Start to Start (SS) . This type of relationship is used when one activity cannot start unless the other activity starts.
• The second type of activities’ relationship is Finish to Start (FS) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not start unless the other activity finishes.
• The third type of activities’ relationship is Finish to Finish (FF) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not finish unless the other activity finishes.
• The fourth type of activities’ relationship is Start to Finish (SF) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not finish unless the other activity starts.

5. Estimate Resources and Duration of Each Task

The next step in formulating a project plan example is to set an estimate resource and duration for each task of the project. Each resource should define the duration and any resources (tools, equipment, etc) needed to complete the task. This way we can set duration estimation for each activity in a realistic way and at the same time confirm the required resources for each activity. By completing this step, formulating a project plan is almost near completion.

On the other hand, the project team can use multiple techniques to set activity resources and duration estimation. These techniques may include parametric estimation which uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables. Also, the team can use more simplified estimation techniques like Analogous estimation, Bottom-up estimating, or three-point estimation techniques. The team can use the later technique by calculating the average or the weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates.

6. Estimate Each Task Cost

This step is similar to estimating resources and duration for each task of the project. Based on task resources, required talents, and duration, the team should decide the cost needed to complete the task. As another step for creating a project plan example, this step provides a realistic cost estimate for each activity. Same as estimating resources and duration, the project team can use multiple techniques to set task cost estimation. These techniques include parametric estimation where the team uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables to identify cost. Also, the team can use more simplified techniques like Analogous estimation, Bottom-up estimating, and three-point estimation techniques. Just like estimating resources and duration, the team can use the latter technique by calculating the average or the weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates.

7. Generate Project Plan

After completing each task resource and duration estimation, in addition to completing cost estimates for each task, now you can generate the final version of the project plan example . You should review the different aspects of the project plan to inspect any potential conflict between them. There may be estimated costs for an activity which don’t match the resource estimate. In such a case, you need to review your project plan example and find a way to clear that variance. We highly recommend that you review the project plan example we provided as an attachment for your reference. The final reviewed project plan example is sent for approval and final authorization for execution.

Click to download the sample project plan example

8. Finalize and Approve by Sponsor

First, the project team carefully reviews the final project plan example and rectifies any variances between different elements. Then, the project manager hands over the final version of the project plan to the project sponsor for review, recommendations, and final approval. The project sponsor revises the project plan’s final version and investigates it to ensure it is realistic enough. Also, the sponsor reviews the plans constraints, assumptions, and project risks. As a result, the project plan might be returned to the project team for revision if the project sponsor sees it as unrealistic. On the other hand, if the project sponsor finds the plan realistic, integrated and conflict-free, he/she will approve it directly. Thus, the project team can have an approved version of the project plan example when the project sponsor authorizes the team to start executing project work.

Project Plan Example of a Project

Now let’s go through a sample project plan example that we have attached above for you as a reference to use for your future project plan. This project plan example offers major sections of the project plan that we described in this article. In addition, for more project plan examples, check out Master of Project Academy’s exclusive “ Sandbox ,” membership which includes example project management plans that accompany case studies and a template for developing project plans. Now, we will briefly step through  sections of the project plan example to enrich your understanding of the sections. The main section of the sample project plan example:

Sample project plan example – Section 1: Executive Summary of Project Charter

The first section of the sample project plan example covers the Executive Summary of the Project Charter including project constraints and assumptions.

Sample project plan example – Section 2: Scope management

This section includes what you have detailed in the first step in this article “Breakdown the work “. This includes three subsections:

• Work breakdown structure: Includes defined work package and sub-work packages and their associated breakdown sub levels
• Deployment plan: Let’s say that the project involves deploying an application to state health partners. This section would discuss the approach for rolling out the application to the end-users, including conducting environmental assessments, developing memorandums of understanding, hardware/software installation, and data conversion.
• Change management plan: Let’s say that a development server for your project is administered by another organization that is responsible for installing machine upgrades and there are scheduled outages that will impact your project schedule. Changes to the project will need to be made to deal with the potential impact of the scheduled outage.

Sample project plan example – Section 3: Schedule management

This section is about whether you stay on track with the planned schedule. It includes the output of sections 4 and 5 of this article. Let’s give an example of a schedule management approach: Establish a baseline within the first two weeks of the project and monitor progress against the baseline on a weekly basis. The project manager will be responsible for ensuring the project schedule is updated with the latest information and never more than three business days out of date. For variances on executive milestones greater than 10%, the project may choose to use guidance specified by CPIC. See the CDC UP Project Schedule document for more guidance on project scheduling and for Project Schedule templates.

The subsections of this section are:

• Milestones: includes milestones and their Estimated Completion Timeframes
• Project schedule: the following diagram provides a sample project schedule
•   Dependencies: describes the output of section 4 of this article “Activity relations (SS, FS, FF, etc.)”

Sample project plan example – Section 4: Cost/budget management

This section of the sample project plan example describes the project’s cost management plan or provides a reference to where it is stored. This section should contain step 6, “Estimate each task’s costs outputs”.

Sample project plan example – Section 5: Quality management

This section of the sample project plan example describes the project’s quality management covered in step number two in this article.

Example: An information system that controls the level of consistency for screen layouts would normally contain a full review for all available screens. Thus making sure that these screens match the originally agreed set of quality standards. In many cases, quality measures may include a condition of no defects (bugs) for certain requirements the company deems critical. While in other cases, quality measures may require consistent screen layouts and/or correctly calculated variables. Generally, the project managers can ensure quality through performing inspections and audits as well as using formal testing. Then, the project management team should document those defects in a tracking system to ensure fixing defects, retest them and eventually close them. In some projects, the project manager may use an artifact like a traceability matrix as a tool for determining whether critical requirements are met or not.

Sample project plan example – Section 6: Resource management

This section contains the description of the resource part discussed in step 5 in this article.

Sample project plan example – Section 7: Communication management

It contains communication planning for a different types of communication between different stakeholders and the project team. sample for communication matrix below:

Sample project plan example – Section 8: Risk management

This section contains all risks identified in any element of the project , it mainly contains the Risk Log. The project managers normally maintain a risk log away from the project management plan in a separate document. The project manager may merge different logs into a single document that contains all different logs.

Sample project plan example – Section 9: Issue management

This section contains all issues surfaced or detected in any project element, it mainly contains the issue log. The issue log is normally maintained by project managers in a separate document away from the project management plan. The project team may also merge the risk log with the issue log in addition to other logs like assumptions and constraints log into a single document.

Sample project plan example – Section 10: Procurement management

Example: Normally this section would include information related to physical and human resources that can be procured. Thus ensuring that the procurement of hardware including computers, development servers, and test servers are planned and managed properly. Also, it describes how to leverage project team staff members from an external vendor. Additionally, it can go into more explicit details to include project staff acquisition strategies.

Sample project plan example – Section 11: Compliance-related planning

In this section, you need to insert a list of compliance-related processes that the project team must adhere to in order to meet company compliance policies. Moreover, it may include a description of governance bodies that oversee the project work or review the product deliverable. It also states occasions of governance-related reviews and audits describing the audit standards and their acceptance criteria. Additionally, it may also include a description of who has the right to perform audits and how they will be performed.

Related Posts

Disclaimer:

• PMP, PMI, PMBOK, CAPM, ACP and PDU are registered marks of the Project Management Institute.
• ITIL® is a [registered] trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.
• PRINCE2® is a [registered] trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.
• Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM) and Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST) are registered trademarks of SCRUM ALLIANCE®
• Professional Scrum Master is a registered trademark of Scrum.org
• CISA® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and the IT Governance Institute.
• CISSP® is a registered mark of The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium ((ISC)2).

Master of Project Promo Codes PMP Articles

PMP Certification Ultimate Guide – 99.6% Pass Rate CAPM Articles

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

• UTC Library
• Research Guides
• Flexible Layout Choice

Multimodal Assignments: Graphic Design

• Research Guides | UTC Library

Learning Graphic Design

Before planning your project, start by viewing the resources below. These short videos cover some fundamental concepts of graphic design, and the PDF shows you some tools that will help you create a balanced and visually appealing design. All three will help you get started with your project and make your graphics look great.

Principles of Graphic Design

This video covers some of the key principles of graphic design to help get you grounded before you start your project.

Basics of Graphic Design

Once you know the principle concepts of graphic design, this video will help you start to use them. It also talks about using color and fonts effectively.

• Graphic Design Standards Pathfinder This Studio guide takes you through the basic steps of understanding graphic design standards as you get started with your graphic design project.

Planning Your Project

Before jumping in, it is a good idea to plan out your project. This will allow you to organize your information and ideas, so you can stay on topic and not get distracted by design choices. 

1. Start with research

Before you start working on your graphic, you'll need to do some research. Even if you have some background knowledge on your topic, doing research first will help guide your design choices. While you're researching your topic, take notes on the information you find. Think about what your audience will need to know about your topic. Keep track of the data, ideas, and other information you find during your research so that it will be handy during the design process.

This step also includes keeping track of your sources. When taking notes on your research, make sure to save the citation information so that it's handy when you need to add the citations to your project.

2. Brainstorm your design

Start out by asking yourself these questions. They will help you figure out the purpose and scope of your project.

• What is your concept?
• What questions are you trying to answer with your graphic?
• What is your audience? What is their prior knowledge on the topic?

Identifying your audience is an important step in this process because when you have a specific, clearly defined audience it becomes easier to effectively share your research with the audience. Making your target audience as specific as possible will help you narrow down the options for the format of your project as well as make important choices about the design, tone, and presentation of your format.

• Start with a central idea.
• Add related subtopics, and connect them with lines.
• Add details.
• Draw connections and highlight promising ideas.

Your mind map can include ideas about your topic, but it can also include information and data from your research as well as descriptions of images you could use to represent your research.

"Mindmap: coffee project" by Rob Enslin is licensed under CC BY 2.0

3. Create an outline

After collecting all of your information and brainstorming your design, you need to organize it and to give it a logical flow. You can do this by connecting your points to each other and to the work you're analyzing. This is also the time to start thinking about the layout of your project. Make a rough sketch that will guide you as a reference when you put together your final piece.

Once you have a sketch and outline completed, it is time to bring your ideas to life! As you design your project, you can continue to refine your research and experiment with the layout of your graphic if your initial sketch is not as effective as you expected. Play around with graphics, colors, and other design options to make your final project cohesive and captivating.

Design Your Project

When it comes time to bring your project to life, you will want to pick the right tool to work with. Canva is a web-based graphic design tool that is a great resource if you want to edit at home or on campus since you can access your projects on any computer once you've logged in. Canva is also very beginner-friendly with a drag-and-drop interface, so you can design with confidence even if it's your first graphic design project.

Getting Started

To get started with Canva, sign up for a free account at canva.com or login with your MocsNet Gmail account. Once you open Canva, you can either create a design from scratch or choose from one of the templates available for free. The templates are a great resource to browse if you are unsure of where to start with your design. 

Customizing Your Design

Canva's workspace is equipped with a toolbar that allows you to customize your content. 

Elements. This is where you will find illustrations, photos, charts, and other graphics that you can add to your design with one click. Use the search box at the top of the menu to find graphics for your design.

Text. The Text tab allows you to add textboxes to your design. If using a template, you will probably already have some textboxes in your design but you can add more using the Text menus. Once you have a textbox on your design, doubleclick into it to add or edit text. When you do this, you will notice that an editing bar similar to Google Docs or Microsoft Word appears above your design. Use the editing bar to change the font, size, color, or other characteristics of your text.

Uploads. You may have trouble finding the exact images you need using the search bar in the Elements tab. You can take your own photos or use other images you found online and upload them to Canva using this tab. Once you have your images uploaded, you can add them to your design just like any other document. If you need to edit a photo, add it to your design. While the image is selected (it has a purple outline around it), use the "Edit photo" button in the editing bar to find filters and effects you can apply to your image.

Apps. This tab lets you find other tools and features in Canva, like the Charts tool. After you open the Charts tool for the first time, it will be added to your toolbar. The Charts tool lets you add a variety of types of charts that you can customize. This is a great way to include data on your graphic in a visually engaging way.

Finishing Your Design

Once you have finished editing your project, you will need to share your project. The best way to do this is to save it as a PDF, so you can easily print it, email it, or submit it to Canvas.

If you need help with Canva, come to the Studio or get in touch with us through chat on the Library website! You can also find additional resources linked below that you may find helpful.

• Getting Started with Canva Pathfinder This Studio guide will walk you through the basic tools of Canva, such as adding elements and text.
• Brochures in Canva This Studio guide will walk you through creating a brochure through Canva for your multimodal assignment.
• Last Updated: Aug 16, 2024 10:40 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.utc.edu/c.php?g=1412913

Hymn Project Research Plan Worksheet