project planning elements

The 10 Essential Elements of a Project Plan

October 16, 2019 by Bernie Roseke, P.Eng., PMP Leave a Comment

project plan

The project plan is like the flight plan filed by a pilot prior to embarking on a journey.  It communicates how the project will attempt to reach its destination.

The project plan is the strategy that will be used to produce the project’s products, services, or results.  It is written in sufficient detail to communicate to executives and stakeholders how the project will be managed and performed.

To do this, the essential elements of a project plan are:

  • Scope statement

Requirements

Quality criteria.

  • Project resources
  • Stakeholder list
  • Communications plan
  • Procurement strategy
  • Risk management

Scope Statement

Although the schedule and budget are, by definition, at the top of the list of important considerations for most projects, the project scope is actually ahead of them.  Because without scope, you don’t have a project.  You don’t even make it on to the runway for takeoff.

That’s because scope defines the boundaries of the project.  It is a statement of what work is included within the project, and what is not.  A good scope statement  significantly reduces risk of project overruns and unexpected turbulence.

The project schedule communicates to all stakeholders what the expected arrival time will be, and serves to keep the project manager’s hands on the throttle throughout the project.

Since projects are by definition temporary endeavors with a defined beginning and end, the exact location of that end date is a primary consideration for most projects.  It’s why, after being awarded a project, the project deadline is usually the first question being asked.

In professional project management, the project is divided into work tasks, called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), which is a complicated term for a simple thing.  A simple WBS with two tasks looks like this:

To create the project schedule, each task is assigned an expected start and end date, like this:

Project schedules are usually communicated in gantt chart form, a horizontal bar chart which identifies the expected start and end dates for each task.

project planning elements

Clearly, the project overall completion date is the end date of the final task.

If your project loses money, you either have to explain it to the boss or try to get extra money from the owner.  Neither is an appealing prospect to most people.

Budgets and schedules are related.  Time costs money, and if a project is behind schedule it is likely over budget as well.

However, the budget is a distinct component of the project plan and should be treated as such.  To include the budget in the project plan, another column is added to the table, called “budget”:

Seems like you’re most of the way there already, and actually, you are.  But there are still many, smaller pieces that will make the project plan sing if you let them.

If you’ve ever been on an airplane with uncomfortable seats, crying babies in the seat beside you, or cranky flight attendants you know that there is more to a successful flight than simply arriving at the destination.

All projects have requirements .  For example, if you’re building a fence, somebody’s expecting it to be a certain size, color, or type.  In project manager-speak, we say that stakeholders have expectations.  Even if these requirements are not written down anywhere, you need to know what they are, and the project plan is the perfect place to quantify them.

inspector

The quality criteria should be identified in the project plan, including pass/fail requirements, as well as the methods used to ensure the quality criteria will be met.

Project Resources

If you don’t want to make an emergency landing, you need to make sure the fuel tanks are full while the plane is still on the ground.

Resources often require the most planning and coordination throughout the project’s execution.  That’s because they arrive late, require unexpected maintenance, don’t meet specifications, or any other host of issues that can trip up a project.  Resources are:

  • Tools and Equipment

To properly account for resources in a project plan, each task is assigned the resources it needs to carry out its work.  The resources are pinned to the task.  We will return to our original example:

 After this, the each resource is inspected and its availability is secured.  Obviously, you need Bob from June 1 – June 30, John from June 5 – June 30, and the fence material needs to arrive before June 5.

Since the resources have budget implications (you have to buy the fence material), this step should in fact be nailed down prior to finalizing the project budget .  I have included it after the budget for clarity and to allow for small projects where budget determinations are easy.

Stakeholder List

project stakeholder

The project team who carries out the work is a stakeholder.  They wish to be treated well and compensated fairly for their work.  They usually want to finish the project with something more than they started, like more experience or a better chance at the next project.

Other, external stakeholders can often trip up a project.  Environmental groups, adjacent landowners, utility companies, government regulatory agencies, and the like, often fly under the radar until they suddenly demand expensive project changes .

The project plan should list all of the stakeholders and analyze:

  • Their interest in the project
  • Their ability to cause project changes

Communications Plan

project communication

  • Management needs to know the project schedule and budget status
  • The project team needs to know certain technical information
  • External stakeholders need to know how their concerns are being addressed
  • The end user needs to know how the project will improve their lives
  • The project sponsor needs to know about project issues and how they are being resolved

Procurement Strategy

Procurement means purchasing of outside goods, materials, and services.  In small companies, you can usually go out and buy things without too much hassle.  In larger companies, you might have to get multiple layers of approval or develop a contract.  Maybe there is even a procurement department that does the purchasing.

Because of the many legal and contractual issues with purchasing things, the project plan should contain a listing of the items that need to be purchased as well as a strategy for performing the procurement activities.

Risk Management

Project manager on high risk project

Risk mitigation involves 4 steps:

  • Risk Identification All risk events that might impact the project’s success are brainstormed and defined.
  • Probability.  If an event is likely to occur, it is considered high risk.
  • Severity.  If an event causes large damages, it is considered high risk.
  • Prioritization An overall prioritization ranking of the most important risk events is carried into the project plan for ongoing tracking.  Any risks deemed not important enough are not included.
  • Risk response plans Response plans are developed for the most important risks so that rapid action can be taken when (if) they occur.

Large megaprojects, like the olympics or industrial projects, spend a significant portion of their project budget developing (and rehearsing) rapid response plans for a long list of possible risk event scenarios.  If megaprojects do it, then the process would have value for small projects as well (although correspondingly smaller).

Project Management Methodologies

PMBOK Guide

Although the PMI maintains the most widely used project management methodology and certification scheme in the world, the PRINCE2 methodology is a fast growing certification scheme for project managers which is easier to obtain, but represents a specific project management method.  It includes details of roles and responsibilities which must be fulfilled to quality as a PRINCE2 project , rather than a general project management expertise bank.  Thirdly, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) maintains a certification scheme called Individual Competence Baseline (ICB) that focuses on project manager “competence elements” (like leadership, negotiation, teamwork, etc.).  The ICB works well for certification, but is not structured as a guide for project management activities.

Related posts:

Project management binder

About Bernie Roseke, P.Eng., PMP

Bernie Roseke, P.Eng., PMP, is the president of Roseke Engineering . As a bridge engineer and project manager, he manages projects ranging from small, local bridges to multi-million dollar projects. He is also the technical brains behind ProjectEngineer , the online project management system for engineers. He is a licensed professional engineer, certified project manager, and six sigma black belt. He lives in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with his wife and two kids.

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Project Planning Essential Elements (With Infographic)

May 2, 2022 - 10 min read

Kelechi Udoagwu

A good project plan is one of the most essential elements of success in project management . From preventing scope creep , overblown budgets, and missed deadlines to minimizing stress and frustration. An ounce of prevention in project planning is worth a pound of cure. So, how do you create a good project plan and what are the essential elements of a project plan? 

This article shares ten key ingredients to create the perfect plan and keep your team and projects running smoothly. We also have an infographic below to summarize these project elements.

Who creates project plans?

The obvious answer to this is project managers. But everyone who has to manage projects in their roles can benefit from creating project plans before starting a new project, especially in cases of similar or recurring projects. A project plan saves you the time it takes to recreate the same project over again. 

Team members and stakeholders involved in the project and its results may provide input, expertise, costs, and other relevant information to be added and approved before the project manager puts the finishing touches on the project plan. 

Why are project plans important?

Project plans are important because they provide a shared vision for what the project aims to accomplish. This shared understanding keeps the team working together to achieve the project's goals and deliver excellent results.

Project plans give clarity on the responsibilities of each team member and stakeholder in the project. They also organize the project's work from start to finish and prevent extraneous work from crowding out critical tasks. 

Project plans can become a powerful communication tool within the team throughout the project. They serve as an important written reference for the project manager, team members, and external stakeholders. These plans also help to mitigate risk and maintain quality at all stages of the project — from planning to completion. 

Elements of a project plan you shouldn't overlook

There are essential elements you must include to create a good project plan. Keep in mind that creating and working with a flawed project plan is just as bad as working without one.

Timeline, costs, and deliverables should be detailed clearly to show the scope of your project. In the ten sections below, you’ll find ten essential elements of a project plan you shouldn't overlook. 

1. Outline business justification and stakeholder needs 

Before starting your project, it is essential to align the project's goals and needs with your team and organizational aims. How important is this project to the organizational objectives? How does it tie in with the goals for the year or quarter? What do the involved stakeholders expect?  

These are a few questions you can ask to outline and align the new project with your organization and stakeholder needs. 

2. List of requirements and project objectives 

Even though a project plan is a living set of documents that is sure to change during the project, it is necessary to set a deliberate course to meet the project objectives . 

As a project manager, you should analyze the needs of all parties involved in the project and determine the requirements to achieve them. What objectives must the project achieve to be successful? What features and capabilities should the deliverables have? 

As the project progresses, there may be a need to correct some aspects of your project plan and that’s okay.

3. Project scope statement 

The project scope statement is one of the most essential elements of a project plan. It forms a foundation for the rest of the project plan. 

In the project scope statement , the project manager finalizes and records all project details to get everyone involved on the same page. This statement describes the project and its steps and requirements. It is usually the reference to get agreement and buy-in from external stakeholders involved in the project. 

4. List of deliverables and estimated due dates 

From the preparation of the project scope statement , you should now have a clearer idea of the deliverables and outcomes to be delivered to complete this project. From there, you should list out what tasks and deliverables each team member is expected to produce and when. 

A work breakdown structure is typically the best way to achieve this step. You can use a simple list, flow chart, spreadsheet, or Gantt chart to map out all the project work, assign to teammates, set due dates, and mark any dependencies.

In this breakdown, it is also necessary to note which deliverables or tasks will need to be approved by external stakeholders and ensure there are no delays due to task dependencies or reviews and approvals. 

5. Detailed project schedule 

A common misconception about project plans is that the project plan is the same as the project schedule . The project schedule is simply one of many components of a project plan.

In a project schedule, you estimate how long it will take to complete each task while leaving enough room for slack and dependencies. It is a clear calendarization of all required tasks and timelines. It shows the project's duration, who is doing what, and when each task begins and ends.

6. Risk assessment and management plan 

It’s important to assess the risks involved with a project while creating the project plan. Is your organization stable at this time? What's your risk tolerance? What potential hazards and opportunities could come from executing this project, and what is your mitigation plan ? 

Potential events identified in your project risk plan may not happen but they could significantly affect a project's outcome if they did. Risk management includes not just assessing the risk itself but developing risk management plans to communicate how the team should respond if these events happen. 

Risks are inevitable, which is why the best project plans include elaborate risk management sections. If you can identify risks earlier in a project, you can control them and increase your chances of success.

7. Defined roles and responsibilities 

Clarify the responsibilities of each person on the project team, including the external stakeholders. Various tasks may include reviews and approvals from specific stakeholders, though typically, many of the project's key stakeholders are not involved in all aspects of the project.

A project sponsor funds the project; they may need to review and approve critical aspects of the plan. Designated business experts define requirements for projects and deliverables; they may also need to review and approve parts of the project. Project managers create, execute, and control the project plan. And the project team completes the tasks and builds the end product. 

Other contributors to a project may include auditors, quality and risk analysts, procurement specialists, etc. They may need to approve parts of the project plan that pertain to their expertise, such as the quality or procurement plan.

8. Resource allocation 

When it comes to resource allocation in project planning, you break down and allocate your team's time, materials, and budget. You should identify all available resources and resources for each task if known. Estimate their costs and contributions. 

Consider resource constraints , how much time each resource can realistically devote to this project, and determine the best combinations or variations of the resources available to achieve the project's goals in good time — and with the best possible results.

9. Quality assurance (QA) plan

In your quality assurance plan, you want to implement processes to ensure project requirements and deliverables meet quality expectations. Throughout the project's execution, maintaining project quality ensures that the final deliverable meets the customer specifications and ticks the boxes of the executive teams, project sponsors, and business experts. 

The emphasis here is on preventing errors, rather than inspecting the final deliverable at the end of the project. Creating the QA plan involves setting the project standards, acceptance criteria, and metrics that will be used throughout the project. This becomes the foundation for all quality reviews and inspections performed during the project.

10. Communication plan

A communication plan outlines how often you'll speak with and update external stakeholders, project owners, and even your team members. It also details the kind of updates they expect, which decisions need reviews and approval, and who's responsible for each action.

Your communication plan must answer: who receives the reports and who prepares and delivers these reports. You can go as far as to include the format in which the reports are created and shared.

A communication plan also clarifies which issues should be escalated, where project information is stored, and who can access it. This plan documents every aspect of the project team's communication methods throughout the project. This includes routine status updates, problem resolution, risk mitigation, etc.

Summary of the essential elements of a project plan

The infographic below summarizes the ten ingredients of a perfect project plan listed above. Wrike's project management software makes the process even easier, with features like:

  • Customizable project templates  with everything you need to begin
  • Dynamic calendars for simplified project scheduling
  • Streamlined approvals to get things off the ground quickly
  • Real-time, interactive reports that can be shared with stakeholders

Are you ready to create the perfect plan for your next project? Follow our checklist to keep your projects in check. You can also browse our Project Management Guide or sign up for a free two-week trial to get started right away. 

10 Essential Elements for the Perfect Project Plan (Infographic)

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10 Essential Elements for the Perfect Project Plan (#Infographic)

Kelechi Udoagwu

Kelechi is a freelance writer and founder of Week of Saturdays, a platform for digital freelancers and remote workers living in Africa.

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Project Planning: How to Make a Project Plan

This guide is brought to you by projectmanager, the project planning software trusted by 35,000+ users worldwide. make a project plan in minutes.

Project plan on a Gantt chart

What Is a Project Plan?

How to create a project plan, project planning phase, what is project planning software, benefits of online project planning software, must-have project planning software features, project planning terms, project planning steps, how to create a project plan with projectmanager, what is the purpose of a project management plan, the elements of a project plan, how long does the project planning phase take, techniques for the project planning process, how to manage your project plan.

A project plan is a series of formal documents that define the execution and control stages of a project. The plan includes considerations for risk management, resource management and communications, while also addressing scope, cost and schedule baselines. Project planning software is used by project managers to ensure that their plans are thorough and robust.

ProjectManager allows you to make detailed project plans with online Gantt charts that schedule task dependencies, resource hours, labor costs, milestones and more. Plus, your team can execute the plan in any of our five project views, while you track progress along the way with dashboards. Start today for free.

ProjectManager's Gantt charts are the perfect project planning tool

The project plan, also called project management plan, answers the who, what, where, why, how and when of the project—it’s more than a Gantt chart with tasks and due dates. The purpose of a project plan is to guide the execution and control project phases.

As mentioned above, a project plan consists of the following documents:

  • Project Charter : Provides a general overview of the project. It describes the project’s reasons, goals, objectives, constraints, stakeholders, among other aspects.
  • Statement of Work : A statement of work (SOW) defines the project’s scope, schedule, deliverables, milestones, and tasks.
  • Work Breakdown Structure : Breaks down the project scope into the project phases, subprojects, deliverables, and work packages that lead to your final deliverable.
  • Project Plan : The project plan document is divided in sections to cover the following: scope management, quality management, risk assessment, resource management, stakeholder management, schedule management and the change management plan.

This guide aims to give you all the information and resources you need to create a project plan and get it approved by your customers and stakeholders. Let’s start with the basics of writing a project plan.

project planning elements

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Project Plan Template

Use this free Project Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

Your project plan is essential to the success of any project. Without one, your project may be susceptible to common project management issues such as missed deadlines, scope creep and cost overrun. While writing a project plan is somewhat labor intensive up front, the effort will pay dividends throughout the project life cycle.

The basic outline of any project plan can be summarized in these five steps:

  • Define your project’s stakeholders, scope, quality baseline, deliverables, milestones, success criteria and requirements. Create a project charter, work breakdown structure (WBS) and a statement of work (SOW) .
  • Identify risks and assign deliverables to your team members, who will perform the tasks required and monitor the risks associated with them.
  • Organize your project team (customers, stakeholders, teams, ad hoc members, and so on), and define their roles and responsibilities.
  • List the necessary project resources , such as personnel, equipment, salaries, and materials, then estimate their cost.
  • Develop change management procedures and forms.
  • Create a communication plan , schedule, budget and other guiding documents for the project.

Each of the steps to write a project plan explained above correspond to the 5 project phases, which we will outline in the next section.

What Are the 5 Phases of the Project Life Cycle?

Any project , whether big or small, has the potential to be very complex. It’s much easier to break down all the necessary inclusions for a project plan by viewing your project in terms of phases. The Project Management Institute , within the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), have identified the following 5 phases of a project:

  • Initiation: The start of a project, in which goals and objectives are defined through a business case and the practicality of the project is determined by a feasibility study.
  • Planning: During the project planning phase, the scope of the project is defined by a work breakdown structure (WBS) and the project methodology to manage the project is decided on. Costs, quality and resources are estimated, and a project schedule with milestones and task dependencies is identified. The main deliverable of this phase is your project plan.
  • Execution: The project deliverables are completed during this phase. Usually, this phase begins with a kick-off meeting and is followed by regular team meetings and status reports while the project is being worked on.
  • Monitoring & Controlling: This phase is performed in tandem with the project execution phase. Progress and performance metrics are measured to keep progress on the project aligned with the project plan.
  • Closure: The project is completed when the stakeholder receives the final deliverable. Resources are released, contracts are signed off on and, ideally, there will be an evaluation of the successes and failures.

Free Project Plan Template

Address all aspects of your project plan with this free project plan template for Word . This in-depth template will guide you through every phase of the project, as well as all the elements you need to outline for a proper document. Download your template today.

free project plan template

Now that we’ve learned how to make a project plan, and identified the stages of the project management life cycle, we need to emphasize on the importance of the project planning phase.

The project planning process is critical for any kind of project because this is where you create all the documents that will guide how you’ll execute your project plan and how you’ll control risks and any issues that might occur. These documents, which are part of the project management plan, cover all the details of your project without exception.

There are project plan templates out there that can help you organize your tasks and begin the project planning process—but we here at ProjectManager recommend the use of project planning software. The feature set is far more robust and integrated with every project phase compared to an Excel project plan template, and is a great way to ensure your actual progress stays aligned with your planned progress.

Once you write a project plan, it’s time for implementation . Watch the video below to see how project planning software helps organize a project’s tasks, resources and costs.

Project management training video (kkuo0lgcxf)

Project planning tools has become an invaluable tool for project managers in recent years, as it provides them the ability to maintain and automate the components we outlined above. Project planning software is a great tool to facilitate project management processes such as schedule development, team management, cost estimation, resource allocation and risk monitoring.

Beyond that, planning software also allows managers to monitor and track their plan as it moves through the execution phase of the project. These features include dashboards, for a high-level view of the project’s progress and performance, and in-depth reports that can be used to communicate with stakeholders.

Project planning software comes in all different sizes and shapes. There are some that focus on a single aspect, and others that offer a suite of planning features that can be used in each one of the project planning steps. What’s right for your project depends on your specific needs, but in general terms, project planning software is a much more powerful tool than project planning templates .

Related: 20 Must-Have Project Management Excel Templates

Online project planning software is highly flexible and adaptable to your team’s style of work. It has features that are designed to assist you throughout your project planning process.

Before the rise of planning software, project managers would typically have to keep up with a disjointed collection of documents, excel spreadsheets and so on. Savvy managers, however, make use of the project management tools available to them to automate what they can, and streamline what they can’t.

Some of the time-saving benefits of project planning software include the following.

  • Organize, prioritize and assign tasks
  • Plan and schedule milestones and task dependencies
  • Monitor progress, costs and resources
  • Collaborate with team
  • Share project plans with team and stakeholders
  • Generate reports on plans

Interactive Gantt icon

Gantt Charts for Superior Planning

A Gantt chart is the most essential tool for the project planning process. Organize tasks, add their duration and they automatically populate a project timeline . Set milestones to break the larger project into manageable phases, and link task dependencies to avoid bottlenecks later in the project.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s gantt chart

Get More Than a To-Do List

When planning a project, you need more than a to-do list. Seek out a planning software with a task list feature that lets you set priority levels, filters and collaborate. It’s a big plus if you can also make personal task lists that are private to manage your own work.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s task list view

Use Kanban for Workflows

Workflows ensure proper execution of your plan, and no feature does this better than kanban boards. Customize boards to match your workflow and drag and drop cards as teams get their work done. See what work needs to be done and keep the focus on productivity with this feature.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s kanban view

Be Able to Track Progress

A dashboard can keep your project plan on track. Try and find a dashboard that’s synced with your planning tools, so everything updates automatically. It will make reporting easier too.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s dashboard view

Get Transparency Into Teams

For a plan to go smoothly, you have to know what your team is working on. Find a way to balance your team’s availability with the project schedule. Workload features that map out resource allocation and holidays can be a big help here.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s workload view

Be Able to Manage Multiple Projects

Rarely do you need to only focus on one project at a time. Give yourself the flexibility to manage multiple projects at once in the same tool. A roadmap feature that maps all of your projects on one timeline can be a lifesaver.

A zoomed in screenshot of ProjectManager.com’s Overview Projects tab

Before we dive into how to create a project plan, it helps to be familiar with some of the terms that you’ll run across. Here is a list of general terms you’ll encounter in this guide.

  • Deliverable: The results of a project, such as a product, service, report, etc.
  • Stakeholder: Anyone with a vested interest in the project—project manager, project sponsor, team members, customers, etc.
  • Tasks: Small jobs that lead to the final deliverable.
  • Milestone: The end of one project phase, and the beginning of the next.
  • Resources: Anything you need to complete the project, such as personnel, supplies, materials, tools, people and more.
  • Budget: Estimate of total cost related to completing a project.
  • Tracking & Monitoring: Collecting project data, and making sure it reflects the results you planned for.

The project planning process is critical for the success of your project, and as a project manager, you have to think about all the elements that make up your project management plan such as work, time, resources and risks.

Now, we’re going to take you through the main project planning steps :

  • Outline the business case
  • Meet with key stakeholders
  • Define project scope
  • Assemble a project team
  • Determine a project budget
  • Set project goals & objectives
  • Outline project deliverables
  • Create a project schedule
  • Assign tasks to your team members
  • Do a risk analysis
  • Create your project plan
  • Report your progress

By following these project planning steps, you’ll clarify what you need to achieve, work out the processes you need to get there and develop an action plan for how you are going to take this project plan outline forward.

1. Outline the Business Case

If you have a project, there’s a reason for it—that’s your business case . The business case outlines reasons why the project is being initiated, its benefits and the return on investment. If there’s a problem that is being solved, then that problem is outlined here. The business case will be presented to those who make decisions at your organization, explaining what has to be done, and how, along with a feasibility study to assess the practicality of the project. If approved, you have a project.

2. Meet with Key Stakeholders

Every project has stakeholders , those who have a vested interest in the project. From the ones who profit from it, to the project team members who are responsible for its success. Therefore, any project manager must identify who these key stakeholders are during the project planning process, from customers to regulators. Meeting with them is crucial to get a better picture of what the project management plan should include and what is expected from the final deliverable.

3. Define Project Scope

It refers to the work required to accomplish the project objectives and generate the required deliverables. The project scope should be defined and organized by a work breakdown structure (WBS). Therefore, the project scope includes what you must do in the project (deliverables, sub deliverables, work packages, action items ), but also what is nonessential. The latter is important for the project plan, because knowing what isn’t high priority helps to avoid scope creep ; that is, using valuable resources for something that isn’t key to your project’s success.

4. Assemble a Project Team

You’ll need a capable project team to help you create your project plan and execute it successfully. It’s advisable to gather a diverse group of experienced professionals to build a multi-disciplinary team that sees your project management plan from different perspectives.

5. Determine a Project Budget

Once you define your project scope, you’ll have a task list that must be completed to deliver your project successfully. To do so, you’ll need resources such as equipment, materials, human capital, and of course, money. Your project budget will pay for all this. The first step to create a project budget is to estimate the costs associated with each task. Once you have those estimated costs, you can establish a cost baseline , which is the base for your project budget.

6. Set Project Goals & Objectives

Goals and objectives are different things when it comes to planning a project. Goals are the results you want to achieve, and are usually broad. Objectives , on the other hand, are more specific; measurable actions that must be taken to reach your goal. When creating a project plan, the goals and objectives naturally spring from the business case, but in this stage, you go into further detail. In a sense, you’re fine-tuning the goals set forth in the business case and creating tasks that are clearly defined. These goals and objectives are collected in a project charter , which you’ll use throughout the project life cycle.

7. Outline Project Deliverables

A project can have numerous deliverables. A deliverable can be a good, service or result that is needed to complete a task, process, phase, subproject or project. For example, the final deliverable is the reason for the project, and once this deliverable is produced, the project is completed. As defined in the project scope, a project consists of subprojects, phases, work packages, activities and tasks, and each of these components can have a deliverable. The first thing to do is determine what the final deliverable is, and how you will know that the quality meets your stakeholder’s expectations. As for the other deliverables in the project, they must also be identified and someone on the team must be accountable for their successful completion.

8. Create a Project Schedule

The project schedule is what everything hangs on. From your tasks to your budget , it’s all defined by time. Schedules are made up by collecting all the tasks needed to reach your final deliverable, and setting them on a project timeline that ends at your deadline. This can make for an unruly job ahead, which is why schedules are broken into phases, indicated by milestones , which mark the end of one project phase and the beginning of the next.

9. Assign Tasks to Your Team Members

The plan is set, but it still exists in the abstract until you take the tasks on your schedule and begin assigning them out to your team members. Their roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined, so they know what to do. Then, when you assign them tasks from your plan, they should be clear, with directions and any related documentation they will need to execute the tasks.

10. Do a Risk Analysis

Every project has some level of risk . There are several types of risk such as scope risk, technical risks and schedule risk, among others. Even if your project plan is thorough, internal and external factors can impact your project’s time, cost and scope (triple constraint). Therefore, you need to regard your planning as flexible. There are many ways to prepare for risk, such as developing a change management plan, but for now, the most important thing to do is to track your progress throughout the execution phase by using project status reports and/or project planning software to monitor risk.

11. Create your Project Plan

As discussed above, a project management plan is a document that’s made of several elements. Before we get into a detailed explanation of each of them, it’s important to understand that you should include them all to have a solid project plan. The components that you’ll need might vary depending on your project, but in general terms, you’ll need these main documents to create your project management plan:

  • Project charter
  • Project schedule
  • Project budget
  • Project scope statement
  • Risk management plan
  • Change management plan
  • Cost management plan
  • Resource management plan
  • Stakeholder management plan

12. Report Your Progress

Your ultimate goal is to ensure a successful project for your stakeholders. They’re invested, and will not be satisfied twiddling their thumbs without looking at project status reports to track progress. By constructing a work breakdown structure (WBS) during the project planning phase you can break down the project for them so that they understand how your project plan will be executed. Keeping stakeholders informed is important to manage their expectations and ensure that they’re satisfied. Having regular planning meetings where you present progress reports are a great way to show them that everything is moving forward as planned and to field any questions or concerns they might have. Your stakeholder management plan will specify how you’ll engage stakeholders in the project.

Project planning software is a tool that helps to plan, organize and manage the schedule and resources needed to complete a project. ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that organizes projects from planning to completion. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and follow along to build a thorough project plan that covers every detail.

1. List Your Tasks for the Plan

Tasks are the building blocks of any project and the start of any plan is identifying all the tasks that lead to your final deliverable.

Open the tool to add your tasks on the Gantt chart or one of the other multiple project views. You can import a task list from any spreadsheet or use one of our templates to get started.

ProjectManager's task list

2. Add Duration and Costs to Tasks

Every task has an estimated duration, which is the time it will take to complete it. They will also require a certain amount of funding, which needs to be collected to formulate your plan.

Add the start and end dates for each task in the Gantt and they populate a project timeline, so you can see the whole project laid out in one place. There’s also a column for task costs.

ProjectManager's task list showing a manufacturing project plan

3. Link Dependent Tasks

Tasks are not always separate from one another. Often one cannot start or stop until another has started or stopped. That’s called a task dependency and needs to be noted in your plan.

Link dependent tasks by dragging one to the other. A dotted line indicates that they’re linked, so you stay aware of the fact and can avoid bottlenecks later in the project.

4. Set Milestones & Baseline

A milestone indicates the end of one phase and the beginning of another, which helps with tracking and morale. The baseline sets your plan so you can compare it to actual progress.

There is a filter on the Gantt that automatically sets the baseline, so you can use it to track your actual progress against the plan. The baseline can also be locked with a click.

5. Onboard Team & Assign

Getting the team and the tool together is how a project plan becomes actualized. The easier and seamless this transition, the faster you’ll get to work on the project.

Invite your team from the software and it generates an email with a link. Once they follow that link, they’re in and have access to the tools they need to manage their tasks.

ProjectManager's Gantt showing a construction project plan task assignments

6. Monitor Progress & Report to Stakeholders

Keeping track of your progress and then updating stakeholders is both how you stay on track and manage your stakeholders’ expectations.

See progress as it happens on our real-time dashboard, which calculates data and displays it over six project metrics. Reports can be filtered and shared for a deep dive into those numbers.

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

7. Adjust Plan As Needed

No plan remains the same throughout a project. Things happen and changes are demanded. Therefore, being able to edit your plan easily is key to the project planning process.

Edit your plan on the Gantt by a simple drag and drop. Move the old date to the new date and not only is that task fixed, but any impacted tasks are also updated automatically.

ProjectManager is an award-winning software that helps managers plan and helps teams get organized. Gantt charts control all aspects of your project plan from scheduling to assigning tasks and even monitoring progress. Multiple project views provide transparency into workflow and give everyone the tools they need to be at their best.

Ready to make your plan? Try ProjectManager today with this free 30-day trial.

The project manager is responsible for producing the project plan, and while you can’t make up all the content yourself, you’ll be the one banging the keys to type it all out. Use templates where you can to save time. Download our free project plan template and write your plan in double-quick time!

The purpose of a project management plan is to serve as a guide for the execution and control phases. The project plan provides all the information necessary for the execution phase such as the project’s goals, objectives, scope of work, milestones, risks and resources. Then, this information helps project managers monitor and control the progress of the project.

We plan at the beginning to save time later. A good project plan means that you don’t have to worry about whether the project participants are going to be available on the right dates—because you’ve planned for them to be. You don’t have to worry about how to pay those invoices—you’ve planned your financial process. You don’t have to worry about whether everyone agrees on what a quality outcome looks like—you’ve already planned what quality measures you are going to use.

A good project plan sets out the processes that everyone is expected to follow, so it avoids a lot of headaches later. For example, if you specify that estimates are going to be worked out by subject matter experts based on their judgement, and that’s approved, later no one can complain that they wanted you to use a different estimating technique. They’ve known the deal since the start.

Project plans are also really helpful for monitoring progress. You can go back to them and check what you said you were going to do and how, comparing it to what you are actually doing. This gives you a good reality check and enables you to change course if you need to, bringing the project back on track.

Tools like dashboards can help you make sure that your project is proceeding according to plan. ProjectManager has a real-time dashboard that updates automatically whenever tasks are updated.

The project planning process already discussed only scratches the surface of what is a deep well of practices created to control your project. They start with dialogue — speaking to stakeholders, teams, et al.

The deliverable for your planning phase is a document called the project plan. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Fifth Edition says that the project plan is made up of lots of subsidiary plans. These include:

  • A project scope statement to define all the tasks and deliverables that are needed to complete the project
  • A risk management plan for dealing with project risk including the processes for logging and tracking risks
  • A change management plan to manage any changes that will be made to the project plan
  • A cost management plan for managing costs and the budgeting elements of the project including any procurements or supplier engagements you might have
  • A resource management plan for managing the material resources such as equipment and the human resources on the team both in terms of availability and skills
  • A stakeholder management plan setting out who is going to receive messages about the project, when and in what format
  • A quality plan that specifies the quality targets for the project

That’s a lot of documentation.

In reality, it’s rare that you’ll produce these as individual documents. What you need is a project plan that talks about the important elements of each of these. There’s no point creating a big document that sets out exactly how your business works anyway. If you already have a structured risk management process , then don’t waste time writing it all down again in your project plan.

Your project management plan needs to include enough information to make sure that you know exactly what processes and procedures need to be followed and who needs to be involved. Get your project plan approved by your stakeholders, your project sponsor and your team so there are no surprises later. As explained above, project planning charts and techniques such as Gantt charts, CPM, WBS or PERT can help you create your project plan.

This is hard to answer. It’s going to take longer to plan the moon landing than a new dating app.

The best way to estimate how long your project planning phase will take is to look at similar projects that have happened before, and see how long it took them to plan. Talk to the project manager as well, if you can, because they’ll have a view on whether that length of time was enough or not!

It’s easy to see how long other projects took if you have a project management tool that archives your old project schedules and makes the data available to everyone who needs it. You can then search for similar projects and study their schedules in detail.

A project plan is all about working out what to do and how to do it, so you need to get a lot of people involved. There are several good tools and project planning techniques for getting information from other people including:

  • One-to-one meetings or interviews
  • Surveys or customer focus groups to gather and validate requirements.

You should also arm yourself with a task management tool , like a list or a kanban board. They are incredibly useful for noting down important things that should be in your project plan. Kanban board software can help structure your plan by writing down the key headings and then moving them around as required until you have a flow that looks right.

ProjectManager's Kanban board showing the tasks of a marketing project plan

Finally, you’ll need an online project management system to store your project management plan in. Make sure that everyone in the team can access the latest version of the project plan.

Your project plan is not a document written in stone. You should be referring back to it and making changes to it as often as you need to. Parts of it, like your project schedule, will change almost daily. Other parts, like your procurement plans and cost management processes, won’t change at all during the life of your project.

The important thing to remember is that if your project management plan isn’t working for you, think about what you can do to change it. It’s there to guide your project management, not restrict you from doing the right thing. If you need to review how you manage work and project resources, then go back and review it. Make the changes you need, get the plan approved again and share it with the team.

How To Make a Project Plan When You Don’t Have All the Answers

Yes, this happens–most of the time! It’s rare to have all the information at the beginning of a project. Most managers want you to dive in and get started, but you might not have the luxury of knowing all the details.

That’s OK; we have techniques to help deal with uncertainty.

First is the project assumption. You use these to put caveats on your plan and to document the things that you assume to be true at this point in time. For example:

  • We assume that the resources will be available.
  • We assume that the required funding is available.
  • We assume that the colors requested will be in line with the company brand and that Marketing sign off is not required.

You get the picture. Then, if the design team comes back and says that they want the product to be a totally new palette of colors and that Marketing has to approve that, you are justified in saying that you’ll have to change the timescales on the schedule to make that possible.

You planned based on an assumption (that everyone agreed to, because you got the document approved) and that assumption turned out not to be true.

Next Steps for Project Planning

The most important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t rush the project planning process. Done properly, project planning takes time. And it’s worth doing it properly because if you don’t, we guarantee that you will hit problems later on as people won’t understand what they are supposed to do and why.

Great planning sets you up for success. It gives you the confidence of knowing that you’ve got all your processes, tools and systems in place to deliver the perfect result.

Now that you’ve learned all about project planning, it’s time to take action. Sign up for a free 30-day trial of ProjectManager and start planning your project today!

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Project Planning Resources

  • Best Project Planner Tools: Apps, Software & Templates
  • Best Project Planning Software of 2024 (Free & Paid)
  • 25 of the Best Planning Quotes
  • 3 Best Planner Apps for Mac in 2024
  • 3 Best Project Management Charts for Project Planning
  • Project Management Trends
  • How to Create a Project Roadmap (Example Included)
  • What Is Aggregate Planning? Strategies & Tips
  • What Is Rolling Wave Planning?
  • How to Create a Project Execution Plan (PEP) – Free Template Included
  • Sample Project Plan For Your Next Project
  • Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan
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  • Project Scheduling Software
  • Work Breakdown Structure Software
  • Project Timeline Software
  • Resource Planning Software
  • Project Proposal Template
  • Project Charter Template
  • Project Timeline Template
  • Implementation Plan Template
  • Work Plan Template
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  • What is project planning? (Plus, 7 ste ...

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

Julia Martins contributor headshot

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 a 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.

[Product UI] Brand campaign project plan in Asana, spreadsheet-style list (Lists)

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.

[Product UI] Brand campaign project in Asana, Gantt chart-style view (Timeline)

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?

[inline illustration] Communication plan for brand campaign in Asana (example)

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.

Run and collaborate on creative projects more smoothly.

Plan, manage, and track product launches and campaigns.

Stay organized and communicate critical details to teams.

Streamline and scale manufacturing operations.

project planning elements

See how TeamGantt helps teams like yours meet deadlines, streamline communication.

project planning elements

Successful marketing project starts with a plan.

Track event details and to-dos.

Scope out roadmaps and manage backlogs.

Manage design, copy, and video work.

Learn all about gantt charts and how to use them to manage projects more easily.

Hear real testimonials from real TeamGantt customers.

An image of the TeamGantt gantt chart.

How to Create a Realistic Project Plan with Templates & Examples

project planning elements

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:

An example of a project plan in gantt chart format with the following components highlighted: project tasks, project schedule, key milestones, dependencies, and resources.

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.

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.

A chart that outlines 5 steps of the project planning process: 1. Discover & define; 2. Outline & draft; 3. Formalize & format; 4. Present & confirm; 5. Execute & adjust

  • 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.

Agile project plan example with 2 sprints scheduled on a timeline

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.

Sample Agile project plan in a kanban board view with columns for to do, in progress, and done

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.

Example of the project creation screen in TeamGantt

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.

List of tasks organized into 2 task groups in a 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.

Example of TeamGantt's drag and drop scheduling for task durations

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.

Example of a dependency line connecting a task assigned to Peggy to a subsequent task assigned to Don

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.

Task assignment in TeamGantt

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.

Example of RACI assignments in TeamGantt for a digital marketing campaign project plan

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.

Example of estimated hours for tasks in a project plan with actual vs estimated hours progress indicators

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.

Example of color selection menu in TeamGantt for color-coding taskbars on the timeline

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.

Task detail window example with notes on scope and word count, as well as a creative brief attached to the task

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!

Basic project plan template in TeamGantt with placeholder tasks that can easily be customized

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

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How to Create a Winning Project Plan

By Kate Eby | May 25, 2022

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Creating a project plan can be overwhelming, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. We provide the basics steps for how to write a project plan.

In this article, you’ll learn how to write a project plan . You’ll find helpful tips and a downloadable template starter kit so that you don’t have to worry about formatting and can hit the ground running.

What Is a Project Plan?

A project plan is a document that outlines what’s needed to complete a project. This can cover a project scope overview, a budget breakdown, a detailed schedule of deliverables, and a rundown  of potential risks and stakeholders.

A project plan contains much of the same information as a project charter, but includes finalized details and a more specific schedule and budget. Think of a project charter  as the blueprint for your project plan; the charter lays out your intent before the project begins. A project plan maps out the processes necessary to complete it. Your project plan should always be up to date and serve as a source of truth for a project’s status.

How to Write a Project Plan

Writing a project plan starts with finalizing your project information. Create an overview and a scope statement, determine a deliverables schedule, and define a budget. Include a risk management strategy, a communication plan, and any other documents your project needs.

Project planning is fundamentally about balancing the goals, schedule, and costs in a way that demonstrates that you can control the project’s scope. You may consider adopting the use of project planning templates to maintain consistency between projects and build on them over time. 

A project plan also includes all the supporting documents that walk your stakeholders, clients, and team through the project.

1. Write a Project Overview

The overview is a short introduction to the project, not exceeding a page or so in length. Summarize the high-level details, covering project goals, deliverables, success measurements, and dependencies. Include the project’s sponsors and their titles, and name the project. 

Add links to project portals or dashboards to give stakeholders a place to conveniently check on status and to access more detailed documents in the project plan.

Project Overview Statement Template

Download Project Overview Statement Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Use this template to provide a high-level summary of a project’s goals, scope, risks, schedule, budget, and success metrics. Add links to your company’s risk management plan , a detailed budget, and your project schedule. This template is fully customizable, so you can add or remove text to include only the information you need.

2. Define the Project’s Scope

Outlining your project’s scope is important for controlling scope creep . Define the project’s deliverables and goals. It is just as crucial to highlight what is within a project’s scope as what is outside of it. 

A project’s scope may shift, but consider the changes against the project as a whole and update them in the project plan when approved.

3. Create a Project Schedule

The project schedule should be visual and easy to read, showing how each task contributes to the project’s main goal. Note the people and resources needed for each task and subtask, how long each will take, and the dependencies between them. 

Depending on your project management strategy, you might consider using Gantt charts , Kanban boards , or shared calendars to create the schedule. Whatever you choose, ensure that your project status is updated on the schedule and that tasks are marked when started, completed, or falling behind.

Leave room in your schedule for roadblocks, emergencies, and tasks that may take more time. Consult with your team about how long each task has required in the past and use their feedback to inform the schedule. Create the schedule based on how long the work takes, not how long you wish it would take.

Project Schedule Template

Download Project Schedule Template Microsoft Excel | Google Sheets | Smartsheet

Use this customizable project schedule template to create a visual map of your project’s tasks and phases. The template will use any dates you add to the matrix to create a Gantt chart. You also have space for project notes.

4. Finalize the Project Budget

Your project plan should have the approved spending plan or time-phased budget that lists all costs by time period. Make sure to itemize the budget and keep it as close to reality as possible. Include room in the budget for unforeseen and emergency expenditures, and account for any additional resources you may need. Plan to update it immediately when emergencies arise or when tasks cost more. It is important to know ahead of time what kind of costs need executive approval and to make a plan to get that approval ahead of time.

Project Budget Template

Download Project Budget Template Microsoft Excel | Google Sheets

Use this customizable project budget template to create a detailed, line-item budget for the project. Add labor and materials rates or the fixed cost for each task in your project. The template will automatically calculate the costs and compare your actual budget to your estimates, so it’s easy to tell if you’re going over.

5. Identify a Risk Management Strategy

Make a list of the specific risks your project faces, and outline a strategy to manage them . If your company already has a general risk management plan in place, it may not be necessary to reproduce it in your project plan as long as you highlight the individual risks that apply to your project. Talk to other project managers and your team about the obstacles they faced, and ask for tips for addressing similar challenges.

6. Write a Communication Plan

Create a communication plan to establish how and when you’ll share updates with stakeholders. The plan will list your project’s key stakeholders and team members, as well as their contact information and when they should receive project updates. You can use this document to outline the kinds of updates each stakeholder wishes to receive, and map out a schedule for planned meetings and reports.

Project Communication Plan Template

Download Project Communication Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Download this project communication plan template to document your key stakeholders’ contact details and their preferred contact style and frequency. Input your communication goals and customize the plan to include scheduled meetings, progress reports, and status reports.

7. Finalize All Documents and Get Sponsor Approval

The final project plan should include all of the information above and any additional documents that might be relevant to your particular project. 

Additional elements you might include in a project plan include the following:

  • A link to your project charter
  • A quality assurance plan
  • Your work breakdown structure
  • Your project management methodology or framework
  • Links and access to necessary permits and certifications

Present the final plan to your sponsor and get their approval. If they request any changes, take this opportunity to make them.

8. Save and Share Your Plan

Once you’ve approved your project plan, save it in a centralized, easily accessible location, and share it with project stakeholders and your team. Ensure that all schedule and budget documents are updated regularly so that the project plan always accurately reflects your project’s status. Any critical changes to the plan itself should only be adjusted through the approved change control and management process.

Tips for Writing a Good Project Plan

Writing a good project plan begins with good organization. Use templates and software to keep your plan up to date and accessible. 

Follow these tips for writing a good project plan:

  • Write Clearly: Don’t complicate the plan with details that your audience already knows, such as your organization’s existing risk management or change control policies . Provide the information that your readers need to know about the specific project, not the entire company.
  • Use Formatting and Be Specific: Some people will skim the plan, while others will pore over every detail. To make it consumable for all, use visual charts for schedules and budgets, bullet points for lists, and bold fonts to highlight important details. The skimmers will get the high-level information they need, and the detail-oriented will be able to drill down into the information they want.
  • Keep It Updated: Even though the project plan contains a series of documents, don’t let it become something that stakeholders ignore or forget because it no longer has relevant information. Use an updated project plan to maintain support and enthusiasm for the work ahead. 
  • Use Your Project Charter: The project charter is the basis for your project plan. A detailed project charter includes similar information. Build off of the speculative schedules and budgets you already created.
  • Use Templates and Software: Using project plan templates for your project plan documents is a great way to ensure consistency between teams and projects. Many project management software solutions also provide methods for creating, organizing, and sharing project plan information as well.
  • Involve Your Team: Make sure to talk with your team before the project starts. They are the people who ensure the project succeeds, so get their input and buy-in during the planning process. They will likely have insight that you do not, and they will ask questions that will surface important details. Involving your team in the planning process also builds trust, as they feel closer to the project and more invested in its success.

Project Plan Starter Kit

Project plan starter kit

Download Project Plan Starter Kit

We’ve collected the templates above to create a project plan starter kit that makes it easy to write your own project plan. In this kit, you’ll find customizable templates to create a project overview, a project budget, a detailed schedule, and a communication plan. Together, these documents form the foundation of a solid project plan and will help get your project off the ground.

Use Smartsheet Project Management Tools to Create and Implement Your Project Plan

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

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.

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What Is Project Planning? Benefits, Tools, and More

Project planning is an essential part of project management. Discover more in this guide to what it is and how to create a plan.

[Featured image] A project manager reviews the process and goals of the project plan.

What is project planning? 

Project planning refers to the phase in project management in which you determine the actual steps to complete a project. This includes laying out timelines, establishing the budget, setting milestones, assessing risks, and solidifying tasks and assigning them to team members. 

Project planning is the second stage of the  project management lifecycle . The full cycle includes initiation, planning, execution, and closing.

Read more: How to Make a Project Plan in 4 Steps

Components of a project plan

During the planning phase of the project management lifecycle, you'll determine the steps to achieve your project goals. This is the "how" of completing the project.

The components of project planning are: tasks, milestones, people, documentation, and time. This step involves outlining your project scope, objectives, and timeline to make sure all stakeholders are on the same page.

Tasks: Tasks are activities that need to be accomplished within a set period of time. These are assigned to different members of the team according to their role and skill set.

Milestones: To go along with tasks, milestones are important points within the schedule that indicate progress. They tend to signify the completion of a deliverable or phase of the project.

People: A project plan also includes the people working on your team and their roles. It's important that each team member understands their role and the tasks they're responsible for completing. Ensuring that everyone is clear on their assigned tasks frees you up to focus on managing the project, ultimately creating a sense of personal responsibility for team members.

Documentation: During the project planning phase, it is a good idea to draft a project plan that links to relevant documentation. Besides your project plan, you can include documents like a RACI chart (Responsibility Assignment Matrix), which defines roles and responsibilities for individuals on your team. Another document is your charter which defines the project and outlines the details needed to reach your goals. You can include a budget and risk management plan, if relevant.

Time: Project plans should include the estimated duration of the project. How much time will be spent on each part? The schedule will be the anchor of your project plan. It includes dates for starting and completing tasks, and dates (deadlines) for reaching specific milestones. Indicating the project's start and end dates will help situate this project among competing priorities, and helps determine resources (including people) needed and when you'll need them.

Check out this video that outlines the components of a project plan:

Benefits of project planning

Project planning is important because it helps form the steps needed to complete a project successfully. Planning helps teams avoid potential problems and roadblocks to ensure the project stays on track. These are some benefits of a good project plan:

Helps ensure projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the required standard

Facilitates effective communication between all members of a project team

Helps identify potential risks and issues at an early stage

Helps you communicate your vision and objectives to your team

Keeps everyone focused on the goal

Tools used in project planning

Project planning tools can be manual using tangible items like pen and paper. They can also be software tools that produce visual elements that can connect teams across departments and time zones. A Gantt chart and a risk register can be conceived manually or on software.

Gantt chart:  A horizontal bar chart in which members can see what tasks must be completed in what order, and how long each is expected to take

Risk register:  A chart that lists risks associated with the project, along with their probability, potential impact, risk level, and mitigation plans

Project management software for planning

Project planning software helps you track and manage your project from start to finish. It can help you plan your project, assign tasks, track progress, and more. Project software has become more sophisticated and using cloud technology enables anyone to access the project data anywhere.

Here are some planning tasks you can perform with project management software:

Prioritize, organize, and allocate responsibilities using charts and graphs.

Create a timeline with milestones and task dependencies.

Keep track of your progress, costs, and resources.

Adjust timelines and maintain flexible scheduling as obstacles arise.

Share project plans with relevant parties.

Prepare data-driven reports and updates for stakeholders.

7 popular project planning software 

Each project planning software has its own unique features and benefits. Here are some of the most popular options:

This is a great option for small businesses, because it offers features like task management , time tracking, and file sharing. You can create projects and assign tasks to team members. It even has a built-in calendar so you can plan your upcoming workload.

ClickUp is a cloud-based software for managing projects, teams, and tasks. You can create projects, organize tasks, assign tasks to team members, track progress, and much more. ClickUp also offers integrations with other popular apps, including Trello, Jira, Google Docs, and Slack. 

3. Freedcamp

Freedcamp is a web-based project management tool designed specifically for people who need help managing multiple projects at once. It features task lists, calendars, file sharing, and other features needed by teams who want to collaborate on a project simultaneously. 

This is a very simple and easy-to-use project management tool that's great for teams of any size. It offers time tracking, progress reporting, and task management features. You can also integrate Hive with other tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Jira.

This is another popular project management tool with many great features like Gantt charts , resource planning, and issue tracking. You can also add comments on tasks, assign tasks to specific users or teams, and collaborate with them through chat.

Trello is a popular free project management app for managing projects and collaborating with teams. With Trello, you can manage projects across teams or solo efforts using cards representing tasks or ideas for future projects. The tool offers flexible sharing options so team members can collaborate on specific cards from anywhere.

Wrike is a project management and collaboration tool that allows you to manage projects from start to finish. It has a clean, easy-to-use interface and features like time-tracking and resource management. Like other tools, Wrike can integrate with other tools like Slack and Gmail.

Learn project management with Google

Whether or not you want to become a project manager, learning how to make a project plan and keep team members on track is important to many jobs. Google offers the popular Project Management Professional Certificate that covers the basics of project management, from traditional and agile methodologies. Over 75% of Google Career Certificate Graduates in the US report an improvement in their career trajectory (e.g. new job or career, promotion or raise) within 6 months of certificate completion.

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A guide to project planning (with template and examples)

project planning elements

“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.

A Guide To Project Planning (With Template And Examples)

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:

Project Management Lifecycle

  • 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.

project planning elements

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project planning elements

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:

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

Project Plan Template Screenshot

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.

Template Filled Out With Examples

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.

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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 🙂

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project planning elements

8 Key Elements of Effective Project Planning

Project planning can be called the heart of the project life cycle. Just like a pilot files a flight plan before embarking on a journey, a good project manager is responsible for writing down a detailed project plan. 

Unfortunately, the lack of project planning is one of the main reasons behind some projects failing to be completed and delivered successfully. Undertaking a project is akin to participating in a war; if you do not have strategy and ammunition, you are likely to face defeat. 

The project plan gives your team members the vision and direction to work on. It tells everyone involved what to do, when to do, and how to do it. Even if your project is completed without any planning in place, you’ll likely end up wasting a lot of time, money, and resources. 

Now, the most important question here is how do you plan your project well. It’s not that you would create a rough outline and term it as a “ project plan.” It would be a blunder and like having no plan at all. Incorrect planning is as good as no planning, remember. 

To begin with, I need to make sure that we all are on the same page when it comes to what a project plan is. 

What Is Project Planning?

Project planning is part of project management , where required documentation is prepared to ensure successful project completion. 

A project plan is centered on identifying, prioritizing, and assigning the necessary tasks and designated resources to create the structure for a successful project. The project plan lays out how the project is to be executed, supervised, controlled, and closed.  

Good project planning also considers risk and how to manage it, including contingency plans, and elaborates a communication strategy to keep all stakeholders up to date and on board. 

Why Project Planning Is Essential

Project planning is essential for several reasons: 

  • The project progresses smoothly according to plan
  • You deliver projects on time, on budget
  • All members involved have an understanding of the project objectives
  • All members involved know their roles and responsibilities
  • You’re in a better position to manage risks, time, and costs better
  • You can identify deviations that could hurt the project
  • All your thoughts are documented and you can break down the project into manageable chunks
  • Quality control 
  • Reduced costs 

Key Elements Of Effective Project Planning 

The project plan is written in detail when you start any new project, but penning down details can be difficult. It makes sense to emphasize basic goals and milestones. To do this, we need to have the crucial elements that you should include in the project planning process.  

The essential elements of a project plan are: 

  • Project Goal

What do we expect to achieve with this project? The project goal is the combination of the reasons for undertaking the project and the benefits that are expected from it. Generally, project goals are included in a project charter, but these should also be in the project plan to elaborate on the goals of the project. A clear link should be maintained between the project charter (the first key document) and the project plan (the second key document). 

  • Scope Statement 

Like project goals, the project scope is included in a project charter and should be further explained in a project plan by the project manager . The project scope tops the list of most important considerations for most projects, because without it, the project does not take off. It is the part of project planning that determines and documents a list of specific project goals, features, deliverables, tasks, functions, ultimately costs, and deadlines. The scope is what needs to be achieved and what work must be done to deliver a project. 

  • Identification Of Stakeholder Needs  

Stakeholders could be end-users, project sponsors, clients, and employees. All stakeholders and their needs should be considered. You can use Eisenhower’s Decision Matrix , which can help you prioritize their needs based on urgency and importance. Remember to lead a structured conversation with your stakeholders so that you don’t have a long list of irrelevant desires to the project. List only what’s important for the project. 

  • Setting Milestones And Identifying Major Deliverables  

What specifically (products or services) do you need to deliver to your clients? These are called deliverables. The key achievements for a project are called milestones. A project plan should identify and define both these components, and set deadlines for their completion. While the milestones and major deliverables do not need to have exact dates, precise dates can help project managers break down work structure more accurately. 

A project’s budget is the amount of money allocated to complete the project. It is the responsibility of the project manager to disperse these resources appropriately. Project budgeting involves summarizing the expenses you anticipate for the project, as compared to revenue. The total cost of the project is tied to how long the project takes to complete, which again reverts to the scope of the project. The scope, milestones, tasks, and budget must be aligned and realistic. 

  • Dependencies 

This is a stage where you set task dependencies, which means no one task can be completed without another. You cannot start a new task unless the previous task is completed. In project management, all tasks have dependencies. Dependencies are mutual relationships among tasks that determine the order in which activities need to be performed. 

There are four types of task dependencies, and each one has its specific reason you would use it.

  • Finish-to-Start (Action Y should be completed to give start to Action Z)
  • Finish-to-Finish (Action Y should be completed before Action Z will be completed)
  • Start-to-Start (Action Z cannot be started unless Action Y is started)
  • Start-to-Finish (Action Z cannot be over before a start to Action Y is given)
  • A Detailed Project Schedule  

The project schedule informs all stakeholders what the expected delivery time will be, and helps project managers and team members to keep the project progressing in the right direction, at the right speed. Your project schedule includes the deliverables, tasks for each deliverable, start and due dates for each task and deliverable, and who will complete them. Project schedules are usually communicated in Gantt chart form. You can use online collaboration apps such as ProofHub , Trello, or FreshBooks for creating and managing project schedules. 

  • Risk Management Plan 

Risk management is about what could go wrong that would cause your project to deviate off-track? What can you do to avoid unprecedented risks or minimize their impact on your project? The project manager formulates strategies to mitigate risks to the project by seeking input from internal experts, stakeholders, the project team, and the project sponsor. Mitigation strategies are implemented for risks that are most likely to occur or have high costs associated with them. 

In a Nutshell 

It’s evident that project planning is a crucial component of the project management lifecycle. It helps you better manage your time, money, and resources. Project planning facilitates team collaboration and helps to keep all stakeholders on the same page.

But, implementing these eight essential elements into your project can go a long way in making it a success. Simplify project management with these proven elements and keep delivering projects on time, every time! 

Author Bio:

Vartika Kashyap is the CMO at ProofHub - a simple project management software and a powerful Asana alternative. This Asana alternative not only simplifies project management but also aims to increase team productivity with quick team collaboration. Vartika likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.

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The 9 Stages of a Successful Project Planning Process

Find out what steps you can take to lay the foundation of a successful project.

Stella Inabo

Stella Inabo,   Content Writer

  • project planning

The project planning process is essential to laying the groundwork for a successful project. 

But planning a project is not linear. The project manager might need to change things on the fly to adjust plans to reality. For example, you could need to adjust the project timeline after planning your resources to avoid burning out your employees.  As a result, the project planning processes can quickly become complicated!  

In this guide, we’ll share a structured approach to project management planning that will help you plan your future projects better.

What are the stages in project planning?

There are nine essential stages in the project planning process that should be adhered to. Follow these steps to create your project plan:

1. Determine the project goals and objectives 

The first step in the project planning phase is to define the goals and objectives of your project. 

Project goals and objectives help you decide if the project should be prioritized (or even undertaken—essentially you need to use a proof of concept ). They also assist you in deciding what to deliver to the client and in identifying problems early on, e.g., a short deadline.  

Your project goals provide a broad idea of what you’re trying to accomplish and help dictate the direction of your project. 

Your project objectives are similar to your goals, but they define the project in more specific terms like cost, time, and quality. Once you have your project objectives, it's easy to determine the deliverables . 

To set your project goals and objectives, refer to the information gathered in the project initiation stage . For example, the project brief or project proposal state that the client needs an e-commerce store to handle the volume of orders on their social media pages. Their goal, in that case, is to launch an e-commerce website. Their objectives might be to launch a fast and user-friendly e-commerce website by the end of Q4 at a cost of $20,000.

If you're wondering where to start, take a look at our project planning templates or the more specific project charter templates that will help you save time and effort.

2. Determine the project scope 

Stakeholders often request extra tasks or significant changes in direction (sometimes several of them) during a project that could derail it. 

Your project scope protects you from unrealistic expectations, conflicting interests, and unattainable demands as the project progresses.  

To determine your scope, look at your project goals and objectives. What do you need to do to achieve them? What isn’t necessary? For example, the scope of a new housing project may be limited to erecting and finishing the building but might not include landscaping or the construction of an outdoor pool. And it certainly does not include switching the design to a skyscraper!

It’s normal to feel uncertain about all the details. Stephen Whitworth, co-founder of incident.io, recommends being flexible in your approach. “You can scope with different levels of detail in your scope. It’s helpful to start vague, get early feedback, and then go precise.”

Using a scope document or a scope statement ensures you can refer back to it if the need arises (this can be achieved in several ways). 

3. Build your work breakdown structure (WBS)

At this stage, start determining which tasks, subtasks, and deliverables must be carried out to complete the project. You can do this by referring to your scope and creating a work breakdown structure—a structured decomposition of tasks needed to complete a project. 

In his book Project Management for Humans , Brett Harned emphasizes the importance of work breakdown structure:  "Creating a work breakdown structure for any plan or set of tasks helps you get granular about the work that needs to be done on any given project."

You can create a written work breakdown structure by:

  • Breaking down your project using a Kanban board like Trello
  • Mapping out tasks and timelines using Gantt charts in a project management tool like Asana  

Start by taking the project itself and breaking it down into large chunks or workstreams. For example, your initial workstreams for an e-commerce website would be setting up the site infrastructure and authentication, creating the cart system, and connecting the payment gateway. 

You can go further by breaking your workstreams into smaller deliverables (don’t forget to add managerial tasks at each level!). For the e-commerce website, tasks like buying a domain name, instituting website hosting, and load balancing all fall under setting up the site infrastructure. 

If you’re using a project management tool like Asana or Trello to create your WBS, you can integrate with Float to easily allocate tasks based on your team’s skills, availability, and capacity.

4. Set timelines  

Now that you have individual tasks created, you can set timelines for each activity. 

Project timelines help you estimate the completion date and keep things on track. Timelines are usually plotted on a Gantt chart or in a resource management tool like Float .

A view of projects in Float that supports the project planning process

A view of projects in Float that supports the project planning process.

A view of milestones in Float

A view of milestones in Float.

You can set timelines by comparing the duration of tasks in similar projects or asking your team how long specific tasks take them.  

Remember to add a buffer period for unplanned events like switching hosting providers or delays in getting approval from building control inspectors. "If there's a project I can get done in a week, I'll estimate two and half weeks for it. In case of unforeseen circumstances, I'd like to overestimate so I'll have more time," says David Ibia, CEO of BoxMarshall LLC .

Here are some other things to keep in mind when creating timelines: 

  • Set milestones for project phases : An example of a milestone could be that 2 months from the start date, the engineers will have completed their work on the backend of the e-commerce site . 
  • Be conscious of time constraints : Your timeline might have to fit the deadline given by clients. In this case, you may need to follow the critical path. 

Learn more about project timelines in our brief guide to project scheduling.

5. Determine and plan resources 

For a project to succeed, you need the right people and resources. 

The resource planning process in project management involves a lot of project assumptions and making estimates . But from the past steps—especially your WBS, scope, and goals—you should have a rough idea of what resources you need. 

For example, if you’re building an e-commerce website, you’ll need a developer, a designer, and a copywriter.  You’ll also need to purchase hosting and a domain name for the website. If they are a co-located team, you should provide a meeting room for collaboration. 

For a new house construction project, you’ll need masons, plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and materials like sand, rocks, wood, pipes, and wires. 

When planning your resources, ensure you:

  • Determine the skills/criteria you need 
  • Confirm future availability of resources 
  • Identify costs of resources, e.g., hourly rates 
  • Find out about special requirements, e.g., do you need to find a contractor who is licensed through a guild?

You’ll want to make sure that you have the people with the right skills and capacity to make the project a success. Also, ensure your plan shows clear ownership of tasks. One easy way is to use your WBS to create an organizational structure.

6. Estimate costs 

One of the challenges in the project planning process is balancing your budget with your stakeholders' desire to save money.

However, if you underestimate costs, you might find yourself without funds in the middle of the project. To approximate the cost of the project , you can use: 

  • Ballpark estimation: What do you think the entire project will cost based on project objectives and client expectations? This is not an exact figure. It could cost less or more, so let your clients know. Use this method when you need to give a cost estimate before determining things like your WBS or resources. 
  • Parametric estimation: Use historical data in your resource management tool and the cost of variables to estimate costs. Turn your WBS into a cost breakdown structure. You can take the prices of a unit of labor, such as a mason working at $23 an hour, and multiply it by the amount of time the project will take.  

Choose your method and establish an initial cost baseline . Make sure to include details about the contact person and processes for releasing the funds. For example, the team lead could approve spending for limited amounts, while larger amounts must be approved by the finance department. 

A convenient way to manage project budgets

Easily manage project budgets with Float by selecting hourly or dollar-value options, tracking billable or non-billable tasks, and monitoring real-time progress through reports. Simplify your budgeting process and stay on target with Float!

7. Determine risks and constraints 

No project exists without risks or constraints. The key to avoiding a project failure is identifying the potential pitfalls and creating an action plan to handle them.  

One way to properly prepare is to create a risk register—a document that lists all of the potential risks and information about them. Also, include an action plan to counter each project risk in your risk register .

8. Plan out communication 

Creating a communication blueprint is essential in developing a project plan. "No matter what role you’re playing on a project, if you’re not making a strong effort to communicate with your team, you will likely fail," says Harned.

Be sure to include details about the following:

  • Communication channels: This may be via email for clients, while team members might communicate primarily over Slack.
  • Frequency: This may be weekly,  on-demand asynchronously, or per milestone.
  • Communication type/details: Execs typically need fewer details and more high-level information, while team members who are actively working on the project need more granular information. 
  • Contact persons: Define who you go to and with what type of information to avoid delays.

Did you know?

Float centralizes your people and projects, so everyone can always see who’s working on what and when. Automate notifications via Slack, email, and mobile to let the team know when plans change.

9. Make plans for quality control and assurance

Planning for project quality control involves providing guidelines for managing, assuring, and maintaining standards within the project. 

Without a plan, it will be very tough to achieve your desired results. You might end up with a slow e-commerce website or a leaky plumbing system!

To set quality control metrics, you should:

  • Leverage in-house experts' knowledge of best practices
  • Reference industry standards—for example,  e-commerce sites need to have a secure and fast payment system 
  • Work with key stakeholders to determine expectations of quality 

Your plan should also include acceptance criteria, define the people in charge of verifying work, and set any corrective actions.

What are the components of a project plan?

The elements will vary from project to project, but here are some essential components every successful project plan should have: 

  • Scope: Define the boundaries of your project. What will be included and excluded in the entire project? 
  • Deliverables: Define what products/deliverables need to be submitted at the end of the project. 
  • Budget: Define how much the project will cost. One easy way is to use your WBS to create a cost breakdown structure by assigning costs to each task. 
  • Quality: Define how quality will be assured and controlled on the project.  
  • Schedule: Assign time to each project activity and people to tasks.  
  • Resourcing: Define what human and material resources will be needed to complete the project. 
  • Stakeholder management/communication: How will you communicate with your stakeholders and keep them in the loop? Define which stakeholder will be given what information at what times.    
  • Governance: To keep your project transparent and compliant, define which team members are responsible for project monitoring and decision-making. 
  • Risk: Enter all risks in a risk register. Also, include details about each risk and plans to combat them. 

Learn about the factors to successful project planning .

Try the #1 project planning software

More than 400 of the world’s top teams choose Float to plan, schedule, and track their team’s time. Rated #1 on G2 for resource management, Float gives you the most accurate view of your resource capacity to plan project work.

Why is project planning software important? 

Planning a project involves a lot of guesswork. The truth is, as accurate as you try to be, your estimates may still end up a bit off track. 

Project planning software makes this work easier by providing a central place to document and share plans with stakeholders. It allows you to automate timeline planning and milestone setting. It also provides reliable historical data to inform decisions for future projects. 

With project planning software, you can forecast potential risks and resource shortages before they happen. You can track the availability and capacity of resources and find the right skills in your resource pool, effectively planning your project from start to finish.

Not sure which tool is best for you? Check out our listicle of project planning tools that helps you evaluate each tool and choose one that works.

Project plans are not set in stone 

The planning phase is iterative. More often than not, you will need to change your project management plan to match reality. 

Don't hesitate to find a way to redistribute resources or cut costs if you are falling behind schedule. If your communication plan isn't working, reassess and try new ways to keep your stakeholders informed .  

A successful project requires contributions from everyone involved, and that’s only possible with a solid project plan.

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10 Essential Project Elements for Successful Projects

Home Blog Project Management 10 Essential Project Elements for Successful Projects

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Project management is a difficult task. It requires the skillful control of many different variables and restrictions. Many launched initiatives fail to be successfully finished. While there are many causes behind this, inadequate preparedness is one of the most important ones. Think of a project as a battle: if you're not well-prepared with what you need, it's likely to fail. Similarly, a project without proper planning and decision-making can be quite useless.

An unplanned project will end up wasting a lot of money, time, and resources even if it succeeds in its objectives. The only approach to shorten project processes and guarantee quick, efficient execution is to plan everything out in advance. This is why a project plan is necessary for every project. The right grounding such as Project Management training online will give the project management team the required skills to effectively plan a project.

What is a Project?

A project is a planned series of activities performed to address a particular need. Typically, there is a desired order in which the project's activities should be completed. Projects are those actions that have a set end date and a specific goal. A project is a planned series of activities performed to address a particular need.

Projects, whether launching a new version of software as soon as feasible or improving business operations, all have clearly stated goals. Projects will have a definite ending due to the stated objectives, which is contrary to the continual obligations and responsibilities of regular professions. Employees typically move on to new projects rather than remaining in the same position. An IT engineer can be given the task of creating a new security feature for a future release after assisting with the installation of a security system, for instance. 

In an ideal scenario, all project participants work under a single project manager to achieve the project's goal. A project manager with the right skills and certifications, such as the PMP certification , combined with experience, can be an asset to an organization or project in several ways.

Project Life Cycle

What are Project Elements?

Key elements of project management are fundamental components that define the constraints and parameters of a project. These key project elements are interrelated and can be used to manage and control a project effectively. An experienced and skilled project manager will keep in mind all the project key elements when creating a project plan.

The major elements of project management include :

  • Resources: Resources encompass all the people, materials, equipment, and tools required to complete a project. This element involves assigning the right individuals or teams to specific tasks, ensuring they have the necessary skills and expertise, and managing their workload effectively. Efficient resource allocation is critical to project success.
  • Time: Time represents the schedule or timeline within which a project must be completed. It includes defining project milestones , setting deadlines, and establishing a project timeline. Effective time management involves scheduling tasks, monitoring progress, and making adjustments as needed to keep the project on track.
  • Money: Money, often referred to as the project's budget or cost, is the financial aspect of a project. It includes estimating and allocating funds for various project activities , such as labor, materials, equipment, overhead costs, and contingencies. Managing the project's budget involves tracking expenses, controlling costs, and ensuring that the project remains within its financial constraints.
  • Scope: Scope defines the boundaries and objectives of the project. It outlines what needs to be accomplished and the specific deliverables that are expected. A well-defined scope ensures that everyone involved in the project understands its goals and what is and isn't included. Scope management involves controlling changes to the project scope to prevent scope creep, which can lead to schedule and budget overruns.

Effective Elements for Successful Projects

We have already discussed what a project is, so let's review the project components that are involved with every new project we work on. To increase the likelihood that a project will succeed, several factors must be considered. Let us look at these project elements in detail:

1. Project Goals

The phrase "Project Goals" describes the results of a project. It stipulates what the project's deliverables—what it should produce after it is finished—should be. It is the process of deploying resources to achieve a stated outcome within a predetermined period. It is an affirmation of what the project is expected to accomplish. Performance, time, and resource goals are all included in this. A project's goal must be tied to a bigger purpose. For instance, boost profits, decrease costs, improve safety, etc.

Effective project goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Here are the key components of project goals:

  • Specific (S): The goal should be clear and specific, avoiding vague or ambiguous language. It answers the questions: What is to be achieved? Why is it important? Who is involved?
  • Measurable (M): Goals should include measurable criteria that allow for the assessment of progress and success. It answers the question: How will we measure progress or know when the goal is achieved?
  • Achievable (A): The goal should be realistic and attainable given the available resources, constraints, and constraints. It answers the question: Is the goal feasible?
  • Relevant (R): The goal should be aligned with the project's purpose and contribute to its overall objectives. It answers the question: Is the goal relevant to the project's mission?
  • Time-Bound (T): Goals should have a specific timeframe or deadline for achievement. It answers the question: When will the goal be accomplished?

Project scope defines the boundaries, objectives, deliverables, and constraints of a project. It outlines what the project will accomplish, what work is included (and what is not), and the specific features, functions, and requirements of the project's deliverables. Project Scope is a broad overview of the why, what, when, how of a project. The goal of the project scope is to specify the parameters or scope of the project.

When the project's creators fail to specify the scope, the amount of work continues to grow as the project is being carried out. For instance, when working on a research project, it is crucial to plan the questions you will pose and the steps you will take to gather the data. In this specific instance, scope creep would be the emergence of new inquiries throughout the course of the project's execution, which would increase your workload, put you at risk of missing your deadline, and need the use of additional resources. Setting the scope ensures that everyone on the team is focused on the same objectives. For instance, determining scope would entail deciding how many pages the brochure should have if you were working with a marketing team to design one.

3. Milestones and Deliverables

Milestones and deliverables are essential components of project management. Milestones help track progress, ensure quality, and provide clear points of reference throughout the project's lifecycle. Milestones provide project teams and stakeholders with clear markers of progress. They help in assessing whether the project is on track and meeting its objectives within the expected timeframe.

The project's building blocks are its deliverables. Reports, prototypes, plan designs, patent applications, websites, films, news releases, media appearances, technical diagrams, software, etc. are few examples of deliverables. The project team uses milestones as checkpoints to track progress over the duration of the project. The team can determine which tasks and crucial deliverables have been finished thanks to milestones. The team can advance to the project's subsequent phase after specific milestones have been reached.

The predicted cost associated with finishing a project is the project budget . Project budget provides a breakdown of costs associated with personnel, hardware and software, office space and utilities, marketing, and a contingency reserve. It allows for tracking expenses and ensuring that financial resources are allocated appropriately to complete the project within budget. In the project budget an overall picture of the financial commitment required to finish each stage of a project is presented. 

As project specifications alter, so will the project budget. Stakeholders are also kept up to date on what is required and when by the project budget. Operating costs, labor costs, material acquisition prices, and other expenses are a few examples of costs that are covered by project budgets.

During execution, the scope frequently enlarges. The budget needs to be revised as the project progresses since costs rise as the scope of the work expands. It should be noted that the duration of the project and its overall cost are related. The project will be completed more quickly if more money is allocated to it (for instance, by hiring more workers or purchasing better equipment). On the other hand, the completion period can be considerably longer if you want to utilize as little money as feasible. Therefore, the scope and the time are both connected to the budget. The budget, scope, milestones, and tasks must be realistic and in line with one another, according to the project planners.

Work breakdown structure (WBS) breaks down the project into phases, major tasks, and sub-tasks. A WBS's main function is to divide a large project into simpler, easier-to-manage components. This helps project managers and team members understand the project's structure, scope, and hierarchy of tasks. Each task and sub-task can be assigned to specific team members, scheduled, and tracked to ensure successful project execution .  Planning, coordinating, and managing project operations rely on it as a key project management tool.

A task breakdown structure becomes more essential as a project becomes more complex. Without a work breakdown structure, things are likely to become disorganized, which could cause the project to miss its deadline or possibly fail. Therefore, it is crucial for project planners to divide the project's complexity into smaller, simpler portions that the project manager and project team can handle. The project manager will take into account the strengths and limitations of each team member, the resources at their disposal, the interdependencies between project activities, and the project's overall deadline while creating the work breakdown structure.

6. Risk Management Plan

Risk management plans facilitate the early identification of potential risks and uncertainties that could affect a project or organization. This allows for proactive mitigation efforts and reduces the likelihood of surprises that could disrupt operations. 

A risk management plan is a fundamental document in project management and business operations that outlines how an organization or project team will identify, assess, mitigate, and manage risks throughout the project's lifecycle. Creating a comprehensive risk management plan is essential for identifying, assessing, mitigating, and monitoring risks throughout a project's lifecycle. It is a proactive approach to addressing potential uncertainties and threats that could impact the project's success. 

Waiting until a risky event occurs without taking action is not advisable because it may already be too late to act. The project planners must be proactive in detecting the risks and coming up with a suitable solution, such as accepting, mitigating, preventing, or transferring it. As a result, a crucial component of a successful project plan is risk management planning.

7. Human Resource Plan

To effectively manage, organize, and use human resources throughout a project's lifecycle, it is essential to have a human resource plan. It offers a structure for hiring, training, allocating, and managing project team members to guarantee the project's success. The plan defines the roles and responsibilities of project team members, including their titles, job descriptions, and reporting relationships. It clarifies who does what within the project team. 

By doing this, conflicting or unclear expectations regarding responsibilities and objectives will be eliminated. In other words, preventing disputes in projects requires a carefully thought-out human resources plan. Also, it includes strategies, processes, and actions related to acquiring, developing, assigning, and managing project team members.

Additionally, the human resources plan must include any additional staffing requirements for the project (such as those that arise through consultations, for example). The right supervisors should be consulted while creating the work breakdown structure because they have knowledge of the personalities, strengths, and limitations of the different team members who have been suggested. 

The staffing management plan, which outlines the strategy utilized to staff the project, is another component of the human resource plan. For instance, are the project staff members pre-assigned or will you be personally involved in the staffing process? When will the finalists be prepared? How readily available are they to contribute during the project's duration?

8. Stakeholder Management Plan

A stakeholder management plan is one of the most important project elements that documents and outlines how an organization or project team will identify, engage, communicate with, and manage stakeholders throughout the project's lifecycle. Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or entities who have an interest in or are affected by the project's outcome. Effective stakeholder management is essential for gaining support, minimizing resistance, and ensuring that project objectives align with stakeholder expectations.

It is crucial that the team develops strategies for obtaining input from stakeholders because it is impossible for the project team to directly represent or include all of the stakeholders. Additionally, it must come up with strategies for informing key stakeholders of the project's status and advancement. The stakeholder management plan should include information on the techniques adopted for gathering input and communication strategies with stakeholders. 

9. Communication Plan

A communication plan is one of the key project elements that documents and outlines how project-related information will be communicated to stakeholders throughout the project's lifecycle. Effective communication is essential for project success, as it ensures that all relevant parties are informed, aligned, and engaged in project activities . The communication plan should be integrated with the overall project plan, ensuring that communication activities are aligned with project objectives and milestones.

The communication plan:

  • Provides written information that any team member can refer to if they are unsure.
  • Lays out precise parameters for when and how to share updates.
  • Offers chances for feedback exchange.
  • Increases the efficiency of team meetings.
  • Improves the project's standing and exposure.
  • Allows the team to keep the project constantly in line with the objectives.

10. Change Management Plan

A Change Management Plan is one of the crucial project elements that documents any organizational change initiatives. It outlines the strategies, processes, and actions that will be taken to effectively plan for, implement, and manage changes within an organization, project, or initiative. Change management is essential for ensuring that transitions are smooth, stakeholders are prepared, and desired outcomes are achieved.

Change may also be demotivating, and most people find it difficult to adapt to it. A change management plan gives the transition process structure and makes it less unpleasant. It demonstrates to the team that change is a necessary component of the project and that it was anticipated by the project management. The procedures and processes that must be followed when making changes are outlined in the change management plan. Accountability and openness are thus guaranteed.

Project Management Processes

The project management process is a set of structured, logical steps that govern the planning, execution, and overseeing of a project. These procedures cover the entire project lifecycle, from inception to conclusion. The following five elements of project management are listed by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in its framework:

  • Initiating:  This is the first stage of a project where the goals and purposes are established and approved. The identification of stakeholders, the development of the project charter, and the execution of preliminary feasibility studies are key tasks in this phase. The project is launched during the initiation phase, which also grants the required approval. Here's a breakdown of the key activities in the Initiating phase:
  • Planning: A thorough project plan that specifies the scope, timetable, finances, resources, hazards, and specifications for quality is created during the planning phase. The creation of a roadmap that directs the project team throughout its lifecycle depends on the success of this phase. During this phase, project managers and teams develop a number of plans, including the project management plan, the risk management plan, and the communication plan.
  • Executing: The executing phase starts once the project plan is in place. The tasks listed in the project plan need to be completed during this phase. Teams and project managers manage stakeholder expectations, assign tasks, and coordinate resources. The project's actual work is done during this phase, and deliverables are created. Certifications such as the PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner course are designed to equip project managers and teams with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage and execute projects.
  • Monitoring and controlling: Concurrent with the execution phase, monitoring and controlling involves maintaining checks on project performance, comparing it to the project plan, and making appropriate adjustments to keep the project on track. Measurement of performance, problem-solving, change management, and risk management are some of the tasks included in this phase. In order to preserve quality, the project must be kept within its allocated budget, timetable, and scope. 
  • Executing: Finalizing all project-related activities constitutes the closing phase, which signals the project's conclusion. The formal acceptance of deliverables by stakeholders, the release of project resources, the completion of a project review or lessons-learned session, and the preservation of project documentation are important actions. In order for the project to be officially closed, the project manager must ensure that all project goals have been achieved.

To conclude, no matter how similar a project may be, it needs its own specific project management plan. A project should proceed smoothly and encounter few snags, hiccups, or bumps. Team members should be aware of their obligations and avoid disagreement. Communication should be effective and seamless without any hurdles and the job must be finished within the deadline. Budget allocated should be used for the project properly, effectively, and without waste. 

You should consider all of these "should-dos" and more when creating a project plan, and the best approach to ensure that all of these "should-dos" are considered is to make sure your project contains the 10 key project elements mentioned above. The more carefully you plan your actions and how you wish to carry them out, the more successful the project will be.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Scope of the project, time management, cost of the project, quality planning, and risk assessment.

The elements of a project plan are the goals and project objectives, success metrics, stakeholders and roles, scope and budget, milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies, timeline and schedule, and Communication plan.

The 3 key elements of project management that impact a project are scope, time, and cost. Any modification to one of these components will require a change to another component as well.

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Kevin D.Davis

Kevin D. Davis is a seasoned and results-driven Program/Project Management Professional with a Master's Certificate in Advanced Project Management. With expertise in leading multi-million dollar projects, strategic planning, and sales operations, Kevin excels in maximizing solutions and building business cases. He possesses a deep understanding of methodologies such as PMBOK, Lean Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve business/technology alignment. With over 100 instructional training sessions and extensive experience as a PMP Exam Prep Instructor at KnowledgeHut, Kevin has a proven track record in project management training and consulting. His expertise has helped in driving successful project outcomes and fostering organizational growth.

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Project Planning

project planning elements

What is project planning?

Definition: Project planning is a crucial part of project management focused on creating a detailed plan that outlines the steps and resources necessary to achieve the project's objectives, including identifying the project's scope, establishing a timeline, assigning tasks and resources, and budgeting for the project. 

Project planning is an iterative process , and the project plan may need to be adjusted as the project progresses. It is important to regularly review and update the project plan to ensure that it stays on track and meets its objectives.

Phases of project planning

Project planning is a critical element of project management, as it sets the stage for the entire project. There are eight steps:

  • Define the goals and objectives of the project

Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. This includes the milestones and smaller tasks the team must complete by the end of the project. It is important to get input from all stakeholders when creating the work plan to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

  • Develop the project plan

Define the project's scope by creating a work breakdown structure, schedule, and budget. The work breakdown structure details the tasks that need to be completed, the schedule outlines the timeline for the project, while the budget identifies the resources required and costs associated with the project.

  • Identify the project risks

The project manager makes a plan for the unexpected. This includes possible solutions to manage potential risk. A contingency plan is included in case something goes wrong.

  • Create a communication plan

The communication plan dictates who's to be updated on the project’s progress and how often. This ensures everyone is on the same page.

  • Assign roles and responsibilities

Each team member needs to know what is expected of them. This includes their deliverables and deadlines. The project manager assigns tasks depending on each member's strengths and weaknesses. This ensures tasks are completed effectively, and the project stays on track.

  • Obtain approvals

The project lead presents the plan to the company's CEO for approval. Once approved, the head of marketing is responsible for ensuring that all tasks are completed on time and within budget. 

  • Launch the project

A kickoff meeting marks the beginning of the execution phase. It sets the pace for the project. This is when the team puts all the pieces together and starts working towards the project goals. To organize a successful kickoff meeting:

  • Ensure all the stakeholders are in attendance. Reschedule if a key person is unavailable on the chosen day.
  • Create a detailed, clear and concise agenda.
  • Monitoring and evaluation

The project manager monitors and adjusts the plan as needed to ensure the successful completion of the project.

Types of project planning

The type of planning depends on the nature of the project and personal preferences. There are three types of project planning: vertical, horizontal, and joint.

Vertical planning

Also known as waterfall planning, vertical planning is when the project manager plans the different phases of the project sequentially, from start to finish.

Horizontal planning

Horizontal planning is when the different parts of the project are planned simultaneously. This type of planning is also known as agile planning.

Joint planning

This is a mix of both vertical and horizontal planning. Part of the project is planned sequentially, and some parts are planned at the same time. This type of planning is also known as integrated planning.

Example of project planning

Company X plans to launch a new product, and the head of product marketing is assigned to create a project plan.

  • Enhance awareness into an eco-conscious demographic subsection to strengthen customer relationships and brand loyalty.
  • Aim to sell over 15,000 units in Q1.
  • Achieve 80% customer satisfaction rating in user testing.

Stakeholders

Project sponsor: Molly - LiquiTech

Project lead : Graham

Development: Ridge

Design: Leah

Marketing: Mindy and Alec

Support: Dylan and Hope

Project plan

Project start: 01st April

Project end: 15th September

$5,000 - Advertising, market research, and product development

$3,000 - HR tasks including customer service, social media, and sales

$12,000 - Material resources for product development, packaging, and shipping

$2,000 - Contingency

Deliverables

  • Update buyer personas
  • Product documentation
  • Legal obligations
  • Usability testing plan
  • Internal company education
  • Sales training
  • New product marketing campaign

Risks analysis  

  • Increasing production costs
  • Technology risks
  • Market risks
  • Performance risks
  • Financial risk

Communication plan

Team to communicate primarily on Company X’s collaboration platform. Weekly reports to be shared via email on Fridays by COB. Individual progress reports to be uploaded on the platform every fortnight.

Kickoff meeting

Launch date

11:11 am, 1st April 2023

Marketing channels

To utilize social media platforms to run giveaways two weeks before and after the product launch, plus online ads to reach members of the intended audience.

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Project plan examples: how to write an effective plan (2024).

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Key takeaways

  • A project plan is a vital document in project management that outlines the project’s scope, objectives, and schedule.
  • Effective project planning enhances resource management, mitigates risks, and improves project implementation and success.
  • Project plans can vary in format, such as Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Gantt charts, and mind maps for brainstorming.

Jan. 8, 2024: Irene Casucian reviewed the information on this page for accuracy, refined the page layout, and added elements to improve the visual flow of information. She also created a downloadable project plan template.

In this article...

What is a project plan?

A project plan outlines the project’s scope, objectives, and schedule; it details what needs to be done, when, and by whom. The plan includes significant deliverables, methods to achieve them, team roles, stakeholder feedback, and milestones. This transparency makes sure everyone involved understands their role and how it contributes to the overall goal.

A project plan is the tangible output of the second phase of project management , project planning . This phase involves identifying and arranging each task necessary to cover the project’s scope, achieve deliverables, and meet the project’s goals. A comprehensive project plan developed in this phase is instrumental in tracking dependencies, staying updated on the status, and maintaining productivity throughout the project.

What are the key elements of an effective project plan?

A well-prepared project plan requires several key elements that will outline the project’s goals and define the stakeholders ‘ individual roles. Incorporating these key elements into a project plan is essential for effective project management and a higher success rate.

How do you create a project plan?

Step 1: define the project’s overall goals and objectives.

Identifying your project’s overall objectives and goals will help you measure the project’s success and keep your team aligned with the overarching mission. In this step, you should determine the desired outcome of your project that would represent its success.

By clearly understanding what the project aims to accomplish, project managers and teams can better identify the necessary tasks and establish the project scope . 

When defining your project goals, apply the SMART standards for a solid foundation. Make your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This approach guarantees a clear, focused, and actionable framework for your project.

Step 2: Establish the project’s success criteria

To measure success effectively, align your success criteria with the project’s key deliverables and outcomes, and make sure they are based on its intended result. Confirm that these criteria are quantifiable and accurately reflect the impact and value your project aims to deliver. Such alignment is essential for accurately assessing the project’s performance and its effectiveness in achieving the intended results.

Step 3: Identify project milestones, dependencies, risks, and deliverables

To identify project milestones, break the project down into key tasks and outcomes and specify significant progress points or phase completions as milestones. Consider dependencies when establishing a realistic workflow. Additionally, identify potential risks that can impact task completion and define deliverables clearly as measurable results expected from each project phase.

Step 4: Assign roles and responsibilities to the team and stakeholders

Your project’s stakeholders include any individuals or groups related to the project. To assess if someone is a stakeholder in a project, determine how much they influence, impact, or have an interest in the project’s outcome. Consider if their involvement is direct, if the project’s results affect them, or if they can influence the project’s direction or success.

Examples of stakeholder groups include:

  • Team members.
  • Departments.
  • Project sponsors.
  • Contractors.

Once you have determined your stakeholders, you can define their roles and responsibilities. This can help you structure your project team, identify members who are directly responsible for its success, and make sure they are assigned the correct tasks to carry out the project appropriately.

When assigning roles and responsibilities, utilize a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to clarify the involvement of each stakeholder in the project. This provides clear communication and accountability and prevents overlaps or gaps in responsibilities.

Step 5: Create a schedule and set a timeline

Creating a schedule and timeline for each task can provide visibility into the execution process and keep each team member productive.

Consider how much time is required to complete each task necessary for your project milestones. You can even break down tasks into smaller subtasks to make them more manageable. However, be mindful of factors that can cause delays such as:

  • Resource limitations.
  • Task dependencies.
  • Unforeseen risks.

When creating a project schedule, visual tools like Gantt charts and Kanban boards help you map out task dependencies and timelines. A useful project management tool you can use for this step is Trello. Trello offers an intuitive platform for creating Kanban boards. It allows easy visualization and management of tasks through customizable columns and cards for streamlined project workflow.

Trello's interface has a user-friendly, organized layout with colorful tags and clear, readable text on each card.

Step 6: Establish an estimated project budget

To generate an estimated project budget, you must consider all of the necessary project resources, including personnel, labor, materials, and equipment. Establishing a project budget will help you make wise spending decisions throughout the project execution phase to avoid overspending. 

Step 7: Plan for communication and collaboration

A communication plan should show how information is shared among stakeholders. For instance, in a software development project, the communication plan might specify that the development team shares a beta version of the software with the client for feedback every two weeks. It’s a systematic approach to making sure that the client receives consistent updates about the project’s progress. Having a communication plan in place will also outline the channels of communication and frequency to all necessary parties. 

Leverage collaboration tools , such as Slack , that integrate with your project management software to receive real-time updates and interactions among team members and stakeholders. 

Slack's interface on both a computer screen and a mobile device demonstrates its robust integration and consistent design across platforms.

Step 8: Document the project plan

Compile all related planning information and documentation as you plan your project. Some of these vital documents include: 

  • Stakeholder analysis.
  • Feasibility study .
  • Business case.
  • Work breakdown structure .

Having these reports in one place will serve as a reference during the project’s execution.

Utilize a centralized digital platform, like Sharepoint , where stakeholders can store, update, and access all project documentation. This approach serves as a reliable reference and streamlines the management and tracking of the project’s progress.

Learn more about Sharepoint and other document management tools in our video overview:

Free project plan template download

Project plan examples.

Using an appropriate project plan format is essential to keeping stakeholders well-informed. Here are some of the widely-used project plan formats: 

1.  Spreadsheets

Using spreadsheets for project planning is beneficial due to its simplicity and widespread use, especially suitable for small-scale projects with straightforward tasks. Its customizable nature is excellent for simple initiatives like office events or basic marketing plans.

However, a significant drawback of using spreadsheets in project planning is the limited visualization options. While spreadsheets can manage data, they fail to offer comprehensive visual representations essential for a holistic view of project progress. Lastly, the risk of human error in data entry and formula setup in spreadsheets is high and can lead to critical miscalculations affecting the entire project plan.

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For more complex projects, Smartsheet is an ideal upgrade. It merges the simplicity of a spreadsheet with advanced project management features such as real-time collaboration, automated workflows , and app integration. More than just a basic spreadsheet tool, Smartsheet is particularly effective for large-scale projects like detailed marketing campaigns or cross-departmental efforts, offering comprehensive task tracking and resource management in a user-friendly format.

Smartsheet displays a sample project timeline broken into three sections with multiple tasks, subtasks, task owners, statuses, and start/end dates.

2. Slideshow presentations

Slideshow presentations for project plans provide a visually engaging method to simplify complex information. They effectively break down project components into understandable segments, using visuals, charts, and bullet points to highlight key information and timelines for team members and stakeholders.

However, the downside is that slide shows can oversimplify complex projects and potentially leave out critical nuances. They also require significant preparation time and may not be the best medium for detailed, data-heavy projects.

Microsoft PowerPoint is an excellent choice for creating slide show presentations as part of project plans. It’s user-friendly and offers many templates and design tools. That’s why it’s suitable for beginners and seasoned professionals. PowerPoint’s ability to integrate with other Microsoft Office tools, like Excel for data representation, enhances its utility in project planning.

This Microsoft PowerPoint template offers a structured project roadmap to help create a clear timeline visualization and milestone tracking for effective project planning.

3. Gantt charts

Gantt charts create a clear visual timeline of a project’s schedule and progress by displaying various project elements’ start and finish dates. This approach helps identify potential bottlenecks and overlaps and facilitates better resource allocation and time management. However, Gantt charts can become cumbersome for complex projects with numerous tasks and dependencies.

Gantt charts are particularly effective in construction projects, event planning, and software development, where timelines and task dependencies are critical.

TeamGantt is an effective PM tool that creates clear visual timelines for project schedules and progress tracking. By allowing users to input various project elements, including tasks, milestones, and dependencies, and then assigning start and finish dates to each, TeamGantt generates an intuitive Gantt chart.

This chart visually represents the project timeline, displaying how different tasks and phases overlap and interconnect over the project duration. The color-coded bars and easy-to-read format make it simple to understand the sequencing of tasks and the project’s overall progress at a glance.

TeamGantt's project plan template helps provide a detailed view of tasks, durations, dependencies, and progress. It provides an intuitive visual tool for thorough project scheduling and management.

4.     Mind maps

Mind maps differ from other project visualization methods by showing a radial, non-linear format ideal for brainstorming and capturing the holistic view of a project. They emphasize the creative mapping of ideas and relationships. They promote the free flow of ideas and easy visualization of relationships between different aspects of a project. Mind maps can also help identify key components, dependencies, and potential challenges at the early stages of a project.

Moreover, using a mind map before presenting a Gantt chart can help ease the transition from creative brainstorming to detailed scheduling, resource allocation, and progress tracking.

Lucidchart is an excellent software solution for creating mind maps that can be converted into detailed reports. Its intuitive, drag-and-drop interface is ideal for conceptualizing project plans.

Lucidchart also stands out because it integrates with various tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft Office. This integration can facilitate the transition from a visual mind map to a comprehensive written report.

Lucidchart's mindmap template displays a main idea with branching thoughts and connections to help facilitate brainstorming, idea organization, and creative project planning.

Components of project planning

Work breakdown schedule development.

Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in project planning offers distinct advantages and some drawbacks. The primary benefit of a WBS is its ability to break down a complex project into manageable components. It is then easier to allocate resources, assign responsibilities, and track progress. This hierarchical project decomposition guarantees that every part of the project is apparent.

However, the main disadvantage lies in its potential rigidity; a WBS can become overly prescriptive, limiting flexibility and adaptability to changes or unforeseen challenges. Additionally, creating a comprehensive WBS can be time-consuming, and if not done meticulously, it may lead to gaps or overlaps in project planning.

monday.com includes a work breakdown feature to help teams organize complex projects into manageable tasks. Each task is separated into more minor subtasks assigned to the appropriate individuals. The chart also displays additional information, such as the deliverables, end dates, and schedules based on interdependencies.

monday.com's work breakdown feature has a color-coded, detailed task list with columns for task names, deadlines, priorities, and responsible team members.

Project and documentation management 

Project and documentation management in project planning has its own advantages and disadvantages. With this process, you can make sure that all project-related documents are organized, up-to-date, and easily accessible. This approach is essential for maintaining consistency and clarity throughout the project lifecycle. Yet, the downside includes the possibility of information overload, where team members might get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents.

Agile teams use Jira for planning and managing their projects. Here, you can see some of the information regarding risks and dependencies compiled within Jira. This method of organizing this information can be helpful, as the platform can act as a single source of truth to keep team members updated on the status of specific tasks. It also makes it easy for teams to communicate with external stakeholders about factors impacting the project.

Jira can display a list of project dependencies in an organized, structured format to help facilitate efficient tracking and management of interdependent tasks in a project.

Benefits of creating a project plan

Effective project planning is the cornerstone of successful project execution. It involves several key aspects contributing to a project’s smooth functioning and success. Some of these benefits include:

Remember, an effective project plan is not just a document; it’s a strategic tool that integrates various critical elements to secure the project’s success.

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  • 10 Critical Elements of an Effective Project Plan

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project planning elements

Managing a project from start to completion is not an easy task. It involves the tactful management of numerous variables and constraints.

Actually, a lot of projects that get started do not get completed successfully.

While there are a number of reasons behind this, one of the most relevant reasons is lack of ample preparation.

Undertaking a project is like going to war – if you come to war unprepared, say without enough provisions or weapons, you are likely going to lose.

In the same way, a project that is not well thought out, a project where the team is figuring things out on the fly will be highly inefficient and ineffective.

Even if it achieves its goals, such a project will end up wasting a lot of money, time, and resources.

Figuring things out in advance is the only way to streamline the project processes and ensure swift, effective execution. This is why every project needs a project plan.

Creating an effective project plan is not an intuitive process.

There are at least ten critical elements that must be present in the project plan, some of which you may not consider unless you have a bit of education in effective project management.

In this article, we provide you with that necessary bit of education in project management that will help even a novice in project management to craft an effective project plan.

Below are the ten critical elements of an effective project plan.

1. PROJECT GOALS

A project is like a journey. Every journey needs a destination. If the destination is known, a map can then be formulated. The same is true of projects: if the goals are clear, then a plan for accomplishing those goals can be formulated.

In other words, there can be no project plan without definite project goals.

For that reason, the most important thing the project manager must do before coming up with a plan is figure out exactly what they want the project to achieve.

The best project goals contain five essential characteristics, captured by the acronym SMART.

SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

As we mentioned, a project needs a clear destination. That is what Specific means.

The project formulators must figure out the five Ws of the project goals, which are Who, What, Why, Where, and Which?.

  • “ Who ” refers to the beneficiaries of the project. Who has commissioned the project? Who is the project supposed to benefit? It also refers to the team that will be working on the project. Who are the best people you can hire? Who has the skills you need? Who can you afford with the given budget?
  • “ What ” refers to the specific outcome expected of the project, as well as the project management tools that you will use to achieve this outcome. What do you want to achieve? What are you working with?
  • “ Why ” refers to the relevance or importance of the goal. Why does the school need a new skating rink – might something else be more important? Knowing why a project is necessary is very important if the project is to be completed successfully and efficiently.
  • “ Where ” refers to the location of the project.
  • “ Which ” refers to the resources you need to work on the project. Which resources are at hand?

It’s important to track and measure the progress of the project. How fast are you going? How far do you have left?

Measurable progress helps determine if you are on course, if you are likely to miss a deadline, or if the project is going the right way.

This will help you chart the way forward and ensure you are not late in completing the project.

When you know that you are making progress, this also motivates you to keep putting in the work until the project is achieved.

This is common sense, but not that intuitive in practice.

The project formulators have to think things through deeply to determine if the project they are working on is attainable.

Some projects are impossible, given the existing variables, but they are complex enough to appear deceptively achievable. Figuring out whether a goal is achievable will save a lot of time and resources that would have been wasted.

On the other hand, great projects have ambitious goals that seem to reach beyond what people think is possible. The trick is in knowing the limits, lest the project comes crashing down during execution.

The project formulators should assess the resources they have at hand and the constraints of the project such as scheduling and costs to determine if the project goals can be attained.

The project does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs within the ecosystem of an organization.

That means the project should align to the objectives and mission of the organization. It should be relevant to the greater organization, not just in isolation.

It is the task of the project formulators to figure out how to align their project with the organization’s objectives.

This may involve tweaking the project goal here and there, or picking a different goal altogether.

The project should not go on indefinitely. It needs to have a set deadline, a defined end.

The time constraint ensures resources are used efficiently and with minimal wastage. Furthermore, having clear deadlines for a project motivates the project team to work harder and faster to hit targets and complete the project in good time.

The scope of the project is the total work/tasks/goals that are contained in the project. Small projects have a small scope. Big projects have a large scope.

The scope includes the project’s key milestones, major deliverables, high-level requirements, assumptions, and constraints.

It is absolutely necessary that the project formulators take the time to define the boundaries of the project. In doing so, they will be defining the scope.

Scope creep happens when the project formulators fail to define the scope, only for work to keep increasing during project execution. For instance, when you are working on a research project, it is important to know what questions you will ask and what you will do to get the answers.

In this particular case, scope creep would be new questions popping up during the project execution process, increasing your workload and putting you at serious risk of missing your deadline or requiring extra resources.

Defining the scope also ensures the entire team is focused on the same goals. For instance, if you’re working with a marketing team to create a brochure, defining scope would involve figuring out how many pages the brochure should be.

Some team members might consider a finished product to be one that contains two pages, others four, or ten. It’s important that all team members know exactly how many pages the brochure should contain, so that they can coordinate smoothly.

When a client or management gives new instructions on something new they want done or included in the project, this widens the project’s scope.

3. MILESTONES AND MAJOR DELIVERABLES

The key achievements that the projects must attain are known as milestones .

The key work products produced by the project are known as major deliverables.

These two are important components of the work performed to complete a project: it must attain certain set milestones and it must produce certain set deliverables.

A good project plan clearly defines both the milestones and deliverables of the project. It also sets deadlines for the attainment of the milestones and the deliverables.

Project planners should develop deliverables that align with the project’s overall objectives.

Deliverables are the building blocks of the project. Examples of deliverables include reports, prototypes, plan designs, patents filling, websites, videos, press & media actions, technical diagrams, software, and so on.

Milestones are checkpoints which help the project team chart progress throughout the project’s course.

Milestones enable the team to identify which tasks and key deliverables have been completed.

Once certain milestones have been attained, the team can move on to the project’s next phase.

It’s not possible for a project to operate without finance.

The team needs to be paid, and other project resources cost money as well.

The larger the scope of the project is, the higher the cost of completing the project will be. That is why the project team must take great care to ensure there is zero or minimal scope creep.

To ensure the project does not use more money than it should, the project planners should come up with a budget to be used by the team during execution.

The budget details the allocation of money in the project and provides an estimate of the project’s total cost.

Examples of costs covered by project budgets include operating costs, labor costs, material procurement costs, and so on.

The project budget is not set in stone however. The project is a dynamic thing.

The scope will often expand during execution. As the scope enlarges, the costs increase and the budget must therefore keep being updated throughout the course of the project.

Note that the project’s total cost is linked to the length of time it takes to complete the project.

If you allocate more money to the project (for instance in hiring more people or buying better machinery), completion time will be faster. On the other hand, if you want to use as little money as possible, the completion time might take much longer.

The budget is therefore linked to both the scope and the time. The project planners must ensure that the budget, scope, milestones, and tasks are realistic and aligned.

5. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Source: PM Times

Sample work breakdown structure. Source: PM Times

A work breakdown structure is a tool used in projects to provide a hierarchical structure of outcomes the project will deliver and how they need to be delivered.

Put simpler, the work breakdown structure defines everything the project must accomplish, organizing it all into multiple levels. The work breakdown structure is displayed/represented graphically.

The WBS defines the project’s “what”.

The purpose of the WBS is to break down complex activities into smaller constituents that are easier to manage.

The more complex a project is, the more dearly it needs a work breakdown structure. When there is no work breakdown structure, things are likely to get muddled and the ensuing confusion will make the project miss its deadline or even lead to project failure.

It is therefore extremely important for the project planners to break down the complexity of the project into chunks that are smaller and easier for the project manager and project team to manage.

When developing the work breakdown structure, the project manager will consider each team member’s strengths and weaknesses, the available resources, interdependencies among project tasks, and the overall deadline of the project.

6. HUMAN RESOURCES PLAN

A project is not possible without a team.

These are the people that do the actual work which leads to attainment of the project objectives.

Who you select to be a part of the team is crucial in determining whether the projects succeeds or fails.

The human resources plan demonstrates how the project is staffed: who will be working on the project and how much time commitment is expected of each person.

Furthermore, if the project needs additional staff (for instance, on consultation basis), this too must be documented in the human resources plan.

Appropriate supervisors should be consulted during the process of formulating the work breakdown structure because they can give insights on the strengths or weaknesses and personalities of various proposed team members.

The human resource plan must include the roles and responsibilities of each of the team members.

This will eliminate conflicting or ambiguous expectations around roles and goals. In other words, a well-designed human resources plan is critical for reducing conflicts in projects.

The human resource plan must also include a project organization chart. This is a graphical display of the project team’s composition. The chart includes the various relationships and relative ranks in the team.

In addition, the human resource plan also features a staffing management plan, which defines the approach used to staff the project.

For instance, will you be directly involved in the staffing process or is the project staff pre-assigned? When will the selected people be ready? How available are they to work on the project throughout its duration.

The plan could also include a training plan. After team evaluation, the project manager is able to determine the members’ strengths and weaknesses and identify areas where training will be necessary to improve the team’s performance.

7. RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN

Lots of things can go wrong during a project. Despite disasters and accidents being unforeseeable, they can be expected.

We can’t say with accuracy when they will occur, but we know which risks are more likely to occur than others.

It is the job of the project manager to identify various risks to the project, assess the likelihood of occurrence, and come up with strategies for mitigating those risks.

Risks that have the highest likelihood of occurring, together with risks that have high costs associated with them, are covered by the mitigation strategies put in place by the project manager.

On the other hand, risks that have a lower likelihood of occurring, or that have low costs, may not have mitigation strategies – however, they are still put in the risk management plan .

Examples of risks that face most projects include sickness or the quitting of team members, unavailability of resources, and weather that is not ideal (for instance, a snowstorm), and so on.

There exists four ways of responding to a risk:

  • Avoidance – This is when you prevent the risk from occurring. It is the best thing to do with a risk, but that is not always an option.
  • Mitigation – Where you can’t avoid the risk, you must mitigate it, which involves taking action that minimizes the damage caused to the project by occurrence of the risk.
  • Transference – This is where you pay a person or institution to accept the risk for you – you transfer the risk to them. The most common form of risk transference is buying insurance.
  • Acceptance – Where avoidance, mitigation, or transference are not possible, you have to accept the risk.

You can’t wait for a risk event to occur for you to do something about it – by then it will probably be too late.

The project planners must be proactive in identifying the risks and formulating an appropriate response – either preventing, mitigating, transferring, or accepting. Risk management planning is therefore a key element of an effective project plan.

8. STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT PLAN

A project team does not exist in isolation and they do not, as we mentioned, execute the project in a vacuum.

The project has a whole ecosystem within it and around it, especially when the project is part of the greater mission of an organization.

The parties that are affected or invested in the project are known as stakeholders.

They include the project team, the beneficiaries, the organization itself, the customers, the project sponsor, regulatory agencies, and so on.

These stakeholders have varying interests and some of them have the influence to determine if the project will succeed or fail. It is therefore absolutely necessary for the project plan to take their concerns or interests into consideration.

The project planners must determine who are the most important stakeholders for the project and interrogate what needs to be done to satisfy them.

It is impractical for the project team to include members that represent all stakeholder groups.

That said, the project will require input and support from the stakeholders for it to be a success.

Certain stakeholders can make or break the project, no matter how impressively the project team has executed it.

Since it is not possible for the project team to include or to directly represent every stakeholder, it is critical that the team comes up with methods of gathering input from stakeholders. It must also devise ways of communicating the project’s status and progress to relevant stakeholders.

It is these methods of input gathering and stakeholder communication strategies that you should document in the stakeholder management plan .

This gives the project a clear framework on how to relate with its stakeholders.

There is some overlap between some functions of the stakeholder management plan and that of the communications plan.

The difference is that the stakeholder management plan addresses communication with a narrower audience of stakeholders who have vested interests. On the other hand, the communication plan has a broader audience in mind.

9. COMMUNICATION PLAN

As we have mentioned, the communication plan is targeted at a broader audience than the stakeholder management plan.

The communication plan aims to streamline communications amongst team members, and with the client and other stakeholders.

The communication plan provides clear guidelines on the sharing of information and defines who needs to receive which information based on their status or responsibilities in the project.

The communication plan does the following:

  • Provides written documentation every team member can consult when in doubt.
  • Sets clear guidelines on the how and when of update sharing.
  • Provides opportunities for feedback sharing.
  • Boosts team meetings’ productivity.
  • Increases the project’s status and visibility.
  • Enables the team to keep the project always aligned with the set goals.

The methods of communication include email, in-person meetings, via-phone meetings, video chat meetings, status reports, discussion boards, collaboration apps, to-do lists, and surveys.

The project planners must review past projects to see what worked or didn’t and consult the team, client, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure their preferred communication methods are considered.

For instance, it would be inefficient to communicate via weekly emails if no one reads their email. Perhaps another mode of communication might be more appropriate.

10. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The project is a dynamic thing. Change may occur at any time during execution. It is necessary for the project team to have a change management plan as it provides guidelines on what to do in the event of change. It defines the activities and roles for managing and controlling change during project execution.

Change occurs during the execution, monitoring, and controlling phases of the project lifecycle.

The change management plans ensures that the project team maintains control, since change can often lead to confusion.

Furthermore, change is often demotivating and most people are reluctant to accept change.

Having a change management plan provides some structure to the change process and makes it less unappealing. It communicates to the team that change was inevitable and factored into the calculations of the project manager, that change is itself a part of the project.

The change management plan contains the protocols and processes that must be followed when making changes. This ensures accountability and transparency.

WRAPPING UP

An effectively run project should operate smoothly and with few hitches, hiccups, or bumps.

Team members should know their roles and responsibilities and should not engage in conflict.

Communication should be smooth and efficient, with no delays. The project should not miss the set deadline. The project should use money responsibly and efficiently, no wastage.

All these “should-dos” and more are things you should take into consideration when crafting a project plan, and the best way to make sure that all these “should-dos” are put into consideration is to ensure that your project has the 10 critical elements discussed above.

The more you think through what you want to do and how you want to do it, the more likely that the project will be a success.

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Find the right project management framework for your team

project planning elements

Without a robust frame, a building won’t be able to support its own weight.

And the bigger the building is, the stronger its structure needs to be.

A reinforced concrete frame, when created right, is solid enough to support the world’s tallest buildings. Similarly, the right project management framework can become the foundation for successfully managing even the most complex projects.

Don’t miss more quality content!

A project management framework describes the development processes, tools, and tasks used to start and complete a project. It includes essential parts in order to plan, manage, and govern projects- the project’s end-to-end cycle.

It can help your management and team navigate problems and deadlines while withstanding the weight of unforeseen challenges.

In this article, we’ll cover what a project management framework is, the benefits of using one, and how you can find the right framework for your business and team members.

What is a project management framework?

A project management framework is a set of standardized templates, processes, activities, and tools used to plan, start, control, and finish a project.

It outlines the steps you should take to keep your project on track, helps your teams collaborate better, and increases your chances of project success.

For example, Scrum is an Agile product development framework that helps you plan out and execute your project in increments of 1–4 weeks.

Scrum sprint board in monday.com UI

There are other options, of course, for both Agile and traditional project management that structure projects in different ways.

But the similarity is that they all offer a concrete recipe of actions — not just high-level concepts and ideas.

What is the difference between a methodology and a framework?

The difference is that a methodology is focused on high-level ideas and values while a framework outlines a step-by-step process you can follow to manage your different types of projects.

Think of it like this: your methodology tells you that you want a moist, delicious devil’s food cake. The framework is the actual recipe on how to attain it (or directions to the closest bakery…)

A PM framework has several elements — like concrete artifacts and processes — that you can start using immediately to manage projects .

What are the key elements of a project management framework?

The 3 primary elements of a project management framework are the 5 life cycle processes, project outputs, and tools. They are the building blocks that help you create a reliable, repeatable method for handling your projects.

Let’s explore the individual concepts in depth…

Project life cycle processes

A framework encompasses the whole project management life cycle  from start to finish. It should guide you all the way from finding and testing ideas to the finished result.

  • Initiating:  pre-planning, figuring out requirements, risks, and whether a project is realistic.
  • Planning:  identifying teams, breaking down project activities into repeatable workflows and tasks, and scheduling them.
  • Executing:  putting the plan to work and making the project a reality.
  • Monitoring:  confirming that you’re on the right track and adjusting the path according to market or internal changes.
  • Closing:  ending and wrapping up the project and scheduling any updates or replacements.

A framework will have different processes and guidelines structuring each of these or similar phases of a project.

Outputs or “artifacts”

Most frameworks have specific deliverables that you generate using templates or guidelines throughout different phases of the project life cycle.

These deliverables usually follow specific guidelines or a standard template. Here are 2 examples:

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

If you use one of the frameworks within the traditional project management methodology, one of the core outputs is the WBS.

The WBS is a tool you can use to break down your larger project deliverables into its essential parts.

For example, if your company wants to deliver a new bike, you need to manufacture or source all the individual parts.

Your WBS, in that case, may look something like this.

WBS board in monday.com UI

Product backlog

The product backlog is one of the core deliverables in Scrum. It outlines every requirement and user story — a feature from the user’s perspective — that your finished product needs.

Product backlog in monday.com UI

Combined with a roadmap, the product backlog guides the project over the long term, rather than specific high-level plans.

Before each sprint, your team will meet with stakeholders to prioritize essential user stories and add them to a separate Sprint backlog.

Tools for visualizing the status of your project

A framework may also recommend specific visualization tools so you can better grasp the current status of your project. Let’s take a look at 3 of the more popular visualization tools:

  • Gantt chart : a bar chart that shows your project schedule as it’s planned out. It looks like this in monday.com:

Gantt chart in monday.com UI

  • Burndown chart: often included as part of Scrum, a burndown chart compares the rate of completed items to your initial estimate and the time left until the deadline.
  • Critical path chart:  a flowchart that helps you visualize the “ critical path ” of your project, more on this later.

There are other tools specific to different frameworks — like the popular Kanban board — as well as plenty of visualizations you can use across multiple frameworks.

monday.com offers 8+ views so you can find the perfect visualization tool for your project no matter what framework you’re working within.  

Why is a project management framework important?

A project management framework is essential because it helps you manage your team and resources more effectively and increases the chances of project success.

And trying to navigate a project to success is anything other than a cakewalk (yeah we’re still thinking about cake — sorry).

Depending on the framework and methodology, as many as 29% of projects fail. And only 14% are successful within the original timeframe and budget.

Chart showing average project success rates in 2020

( Image Source )

And that’s crucial because companies lose, on average, 11.4%  of their investment due to poor project management.

Want to know which project framework to pick? We cover 4 options that may be right for your company in the next section.

4 project management frameworks that may be right for your company

Every company, team, and project has unique needs and workflows. With that in mind, we cover 4 unique frameworks representing different project management ideologies and use cases.

Let’s take a closer look.

Scrum  is a framework for implementing the Agile methodology and principles. It outlines everything from:

  • Team size and roles.
  • The level of stakeholder involvement.
  • Primary planning artifacts like the product backlog.
  • Meetings and processes to use for both planning, monitoring, and reviewing your project.
  • The project load is split into “sprints” that last for 1–4 weeks.

Diagram of the Scrum framework

(Image Source )

A Scrum project team is famously small and flexible, with a recommended size between 5 and 11 members.

But more important than the team size itself is the concept of a self-organizing and self-contained team.

The team should have all the skills to tackle and deliver a product increment (version of the product) with every sprint.

The scrum framework is ideal for…

  • Complex projects with a lot of unpredictability at the beginning.
  • Companies in industries and submarkets that are developing at a breakneck speed, where you need to adjust the course quickly.

It’s not the best choice for manufacturing companies or government contractors with a focus on flawless operations.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

If your company is in an industry where fast movers win and you want to make Agile work, but you can’t imagine managing 100+ Scrum teams, SAFe  should be right up your alley.

The latest version (5.0) includes tiers for different sizes of companies, projects, or transitions.

Though it still looks a bit outdated…

Diagram of the SAFe framework

SAFe builds on concepts from Scrum: small, self-contained teams of 5–11 people, short-term iterations, and a backlog of items.

But it adds much-needed structure for controlling the larger projects and all the individual teams, resources, and moving parts.

  • The continuous delivery pipeline helps large companies with tough requirements for any code or product that sees the light of day.
  • There’s a framework for managing multiple teams and relationships between business, dev, ops, and support.
  • High-level program backlogs and release planning give executives more control.

It also incorporates lean principles to minimize waste throughout the manufacturing and portfolio management process.

The SAFe framework is ideal for…

  • Large companies that want to go Agile and move faster without giving up their control over the big picture.

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

Critical Chain Project Management is a more traditional framework or method. It’s all about planning out the ideal workflow and schedule for a project, maximizing your use of resources and personnel.

It takes the concept of a critical path  — the longest chain of dependent project activities — and turns it into a comprehensive framework.

Example flowchart of the Critical path

In CCPM, you start by mapping out dependencies, task estimations, and required resources.

Adding to that mix, you then estimate buffers for each step and the entire project until completion. You monitor the health of your project by how quickly you’re consuming the buffers for each stage.

Instead of just finding a critical path, you mix and match and juggle resources to create the ideal project plan .

The goal is to create the timeline — and budget — that is most beneficial for your business.

The CCPM framework is Ideal for…

  • Contractors, construction, and other service companies with complex dependencies and an incentive for optimizing the timeline as much as possible.

Kanban  is a framework for implementing Lean principles in processes or projects.

Instead of timed iterations, Kanban also focuses on continuous improvement and delivery. Once you finish and test a feature, it goes live. You don’t necessarily batch or plan them out.

You break your entire project workflow into actionable pieces on a Kanban board.

Which, in monday.com, looks like this:

Kanban board in monday.com UI

The to-do column holds all the work items or features outlined in the project scope. The other columns reflect your workflow for adding new features or manufacturing a piece of the product.

It could be as simple as in progress, testing, and done. But it could also involve a lot more stages.

Kanban limits WIP (work in progress) items based on your team size and their ideal workload. A rule of thumb is to keep the WIP items to around 1–2 for every member of the team.

Kanban doesn’t specify team size or specific roles. Instead, you keep the existing structure but focus on communication, ongoing collaboration with customers, and giving everyone a voice.

The Kanban framework is ideal for…

  • Rapidly-developing projects with changing priorities and a complex but predictable workflow like R&D, marketing, bug fixes, and more.

How to adapt a project management framework template for your team

What’s the best way to put a new PM framework into practice? Instead of trying to build something from scratch, why not reap the rewards of those who came before you?

Start with a ready-made template

monday.com offers a wide range of templates that suit different frameworks and companies. For example, if you want to start using Scrum, you can use our template for sprint planning .

Scrum board in monday.com UI

If you want to use Kanban, you can use any of our workflow-tailored templates for design teams, or a basic team workflow template.

From there, you can create a Kanban view to start customizing your Kanban board.

Create Kanban view in monday.com UI

But the templates are only the beginning. What really makes us the best digital workspace platform — there, we said it — is the flexibility.

With a few clicks, you can adjust these templates to mold them to your team or company’s workflow.

Adjust columns and statuses to match your workflow.

If you’re working with Kanban, you can add columns by adding a new label to the status column in the grid view.

Create new task status label in monday.com UI

If you use another framework and prefer a grid view, you can add multiple columns for different stages in the workflow.

monday.com makes it easy to customize and adapt each template to your workflow.

You can add multiple assignees, multi-step testing, project files, time tracking, or other elements if necessary.

You can even use our wide range of integrations and automations to make your project workflow even smoother.

Use integrations and automations to make your life easier

If you’re tired of having to manually create and update your project management platform with new information from other apps, don’t fret. monday.com has an integration for that.

For example, if you use a helpdesk service to receive bug reports, you can automatically add items to your product backlog or Kanban to-do column.

monday.com automations through Zendesk integration

You can also automatically add notes to support requests when the item status changes on monday.com.

For example, you can automatically notify a support rep to message the customer that a bug has been fixed, and thank them for their contribution.

The options are endless, and the time-savings let your managers focus on work that matters.

One size doesn’t fit all

With the right framework, businesses can guide more projects to successful results, collaborate better, and be more productive.

But you need to choose one that suits your workflow, industry, and goals.

monday.com makes it easy to start working with the framework of your choice. You can, for example, start with our Scrum sprint planning template in just a few minutes.

Send this article to someone who’d like it.

Tutorial Playlist

Project management tutorial for beginners: a step-by-step guide.

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What is Project Planning: Tools and Fundamentals

Top 10 project management tools for your business.

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Pmbok® guide sixth edition: all you need to know, roles and responsibilities of a project manager, everything you need to know about cpm: the critical path method with examples, everything you need to know about pert chart, a deep dive into zopa negotiations and how it applies in real life.

Lesson 2 of 11 By Ishan Gaba

What is Project Planning: Tools and Fundamentals

Table of Contents

Project planning ensures project success and timely delivery, a crucially important function in any technical organization. Striving toward a perfect plan will help increase the probability of customer satisfaction and their trust in the organization for future investments. It’s the most crucial step in the reduction of risk and project failures. After all, every project manager knows that no one gets points for a brilliant idea if the execution ultimately fails. 

There are some necessary steps to project planning that can help yield a successful and efficient process. We can refer to different project planning tools like Gantt chart, PERT chart, or Critical Path Method when forming a project plan.

The following tutorial covers the basics of project planning, its fundamentals, why it’s so important for organizations, some popular tools used for project planning, and basic steps. We’ll also look at some opportunities to learn about these tools in more depth.

Earn 60 PDUs: Pick from 6 Courses

Earn 60 PDUs: Pick from 6 Courses

What is Project Planning?

A project consists of five different phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closure. Planning is the second phase of the project life cycle , where a plan after the initiation phase is made so the process of execution may begin. The project plan serves as a roadmap for the entire process of project management . 

Project planning involves: 

Defining Objectives 

Explaining the scope, scheduling tasks , generating progress reports , project planning fundamentals.

Project Planning refers to defining fundamentals such as the following:

Determination of Scope, Cost, and Resources

  • The process of determining the scope, cost, and resources help estimate the time required to complete the project, the number of people needed, and the skill set required
  • Work Breakdown Structure ( WBS ) helps this process by dividing the whole task into smaller, manageable segments

Identification of the Problem

  • A variety of techniques, like surveys or meetings, are used to collect information to assess problems
  • There can be multiple problems; then, the project team selects the issue that requires the most immediate attention

Identification of Stakeholders 

  • Identification of stakeholders gives a clearer image of the real problem, specifically which function or people might be affected by the project
  • Stakeholders work with the project team and contribute to the project's success

Definition of Project Objectives

  • A plan is made, keeping in mind the various expectations of the stakeholders
  • The success of the project entirely depends on how much of the expectations the project is able to meet

Why Project Planning?

Project planning ensures monitoring of the budget and schedule at every step. The project plan includes a schedule that guides team members in completing their tasks and helps them in knowing which tool they will need and when. It also helps the team stay engaged for higher project performance. The project plan ensures there is the active participation of all the team members and allows them to have an opportunistic approach towards their work.

Project planning ensures timely testing of the output at every step. When successfully implemented, everyone on the project team can foresee problems before they happen. This creates efficiencies and ensures the successful execution of the plan.

Additionally, project planning helps analyze, prioritize, and ensure an appropriate plan for all kinds of risks. Proper planning ensures that if there is more than one risk, they can be prioritized and dealt with accordingly. This step ensures that nothing will fall apart and the plan makes it easy for the project team to remember all the crucial details and deadlines.

What are the Components of a Project Plan?

The following are the components of project planning: 

It is one of the most important components of a project plan. The scope determines what a project team will and will not do. Defining the project's in-scope requirements make the work breakdown structure creation process easier. The project manager must define performance objectives as part of the project scope.

One of a project's most important components is the budget. To determine the project's cost, project managers consider the amount of labour and other resources needed to complete the project's objectives. Different phases, tasks, and activities require different budget allocations depending on their priorities and needs. 

The term "timeline" describes how long it is anticipated for each project stage to be finished. It also entails stating how the project is broken down into tasks and subtasks. The definition of these timelines, the creation of individual and team schedules, and the selection of project milestones are all included in the timeline process.

6% Growth in PM Jobs By 2024 - Upskill Now

6% Growth in PM Jobs By 2024 - Upskill Now

How Do You Create a Project Plan?

The following steps will ensure that the project will be executed properly: 

Define Stakeholders

Anyone with interest in the project is a stakeholder. Thus, any person, organisation, or party interested in a company or its actions' results is considered a stakeholder.

Define Roles

Stakeholders have a variety of responsibilities within the business. They may occasionally participate in making decisions, bringing in money, and performing other duties.

Introduce Stakeholders

It is essential to schedule formal or informal meetings with each team member at various points throughout the project. Before the project starts, issues like scope, budget, goals, schedule, and roles should be discussed.

Setting goals is essential to prepare for personal change and achieve project goals. It serves as a basis for managing performance and motivates and focuses attention.

Prioritize Tasks

You need to set tasks in order of importance. Also, the more significant task can be simplified into smaller objectives and tasks.

Create a Schedule

You must set up a system to make sure when deadlines are missed, corrective actions are taken. Your timeline may need to be modified, considering your objectives.

Assess Risks

A risk is a potential issue with your project that may or may not materialise. To avoid being caught off guard later, it is crucial to identify risks in project management and mitigate them during the project planning phase.

Communicate

Setting up reliable communication lines and expectations for project communication is essential. Hold a meeting or solicit opinions from each team member regarding the risks you should take into account.

You should reevaluate everything once you've reached the halfway point or other significant milestones. Doing so lets you assess which areas you are doing well in and which require more effort. Your original plan may need to be modified after revaluation.

Final Evaluation

You need to reflect on the project once it is finished. Learn from your areas of weakness and focus more on improving the ones where you performed better. Your likelihood of project success goes up as a result.

What are the 5 Phases of a Project?

Following are the essential 5 phases of each project: 

You must create a business plan and define a broad project at this stage. Ensure the project meets business needs and that stakeholders and project teams agree. Creating the project success criteria throughout the project life cycle is the main objective of the Initiation Phase. Also, at this point, the feasibility of the project and its measurement are taken into account.

Successful project management depends on good project planning. The project team members focus on specific requirements, tasks, deadlines, and actions during the project planning phase. The project manager collaborates with every team member to develop the design, list the tasks, and determine the budget. S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) and C.L.E.A.R. (collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable, refinable) are two of the most common approaches to setting project goals.

To keep the project on track for the remainder of the life cycle, the project manager attempts to manage every task and aspect of project delivery during this phase. During this phase, the project manager also must consistently uphold productive stakeholder collaboration. This ensures everyone is on the same page and everything goes off without a hitch during the project.

Monitoring and Management

By working in parallel with project execution, the project monitoring and controlling phase guarantees that goals and project deliverables are met. Along with keeping tabs on task progress, the project manager also looks for problems or risks, develops a plan to mitigate them with the team, and regularly communicates the project's status to stakeholders.

Closing and Review

The project management process ends at this stage. The final crucial tasks must be finished to ensure that the client is satisfied. However, the team should conduct a project retrospective regardless of the life cycle. The project team can consider new lessons learned and ensure that current project management procedures are improved for a future project during this post-mortem activity.

Project Planning Tools

Project planning tools help everyone concerned keep track of project requirements and deadlines. Some of the most popular project planning tools include the following:

Gantt Chart

  • Gantt charts are an industry standard that helps in tracking both time and interdependencies between tasks
  • Gantt charts are an essential tool to show different phases, jobs, and resources involved in project management

Critical Path Method (CPM)

  • Critical Path Method (CPM) is a crucial tool for determining the progress of the project to ensure that the project is on schedule
  • CPM helps in determining the essential or critical path by finding out the longest stretch of dependent tasks
  • The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) helps in analyzing the tasks to complete the project and the time required to complete those tasks
  • PERT simplifies the planning and scheduling of large and complex projects

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

  • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a process of organizing the team's work into manageable sections
  • WBS is a hierarchical structure of the deliverables needed to complete the project

Project Documentation

  • Project documentation is created during the project lifecycle, which involves project scope, its schedule, and the risk analysis
  • Project documents help in better understanding and risk analysis of the project

Project Planning Steps

There are seven essential project planning steps:

project planning steps

1. Identify and Meet Stakeholder

The stakeholders might include the project manager, the customer, or the team. The first step is to identify and meet the stakeholders to discuss their expectations and establish the project scope.

2. Define Scope

Project scope involves determining a list of specific project goals, deliverables, budgets, and deadlines. Project scope helps in establishing boundaries of the project and responsibilities of each team member.

3. Set and Prioritize Objectives

The objectives are set and prioritized once the expectations of stakeholders become certain. More exquisite detail to initial ideas is given, which serves as a reference point throughout the project.

4. Determine Deliverables 

Deliverables are the reason why the projects are created. It is one of the most critical steps of the project planning to determine what these deliverables will be and how they will be delivered in time. 

5. Create a Project Schedule 

The project schedule outlines when different tasks of a project are supposed to begin and end. The project schedule helps measure the project progress and set up progress reports.

6. Risk Analysis

Identifying risks and considering how to deal with them is an essential step in project planning. Specific steps to prevent risks from happening or limiting their impact should be considered.

7. Set Progress Guidelines 

There must be a communication plan to update the stakeholders regarding the project progress. This can be done monthly, weekly, or daily so that all involved members can monitor the progress.

Learn How Project Planning Can Improve Your Organization and Career

Even the most promising plans will fall flat if they aren’t properly executed. The best way to ensure success is to employ one of the proven project management methodologies already used by some of today’s biggest and most agile companies. Best of all, you can upgrade your skills online by enrolling in Simplilearn’s comprehensive PMP® Certification Training  today!

Find our PMP® Certification Training Online Classroom training classes in top cities:

About the author.

Ishan Gaba

Ishan Gaba is a Research Analyst at Simplilearn. He is proficient in Java Programming, Data Structures, and Project Management. Graduated in Information Technology, Ishan is also passionate about writing and traveling.

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What is project planning discover its components, steps, and tools.

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Project planning

Are your projects often failing? Are you constantly creating new plans after spending months on a project? Or do you struggle to correctly create a budget estimate for your projects? If these issues seem familiar, then you would want to learn more about project planning.

Understanding the components of project planning, correctly executing project planning steps , and finding the right tools with the necessary features will be a game-changer for you.

Before getting into the nuances of project planning, let’s first understand what it means.

What is Project Planning?

This can be defined as a strategic project planning process of outlining and organizing the necessary steps to achieve project objectives. In simple terms, project management planning helps you create a roadmap for your project. It helps you figure out what needs to be done, how you will do it, and how you keep everything on track. You start by defining your goals and breaking down the work into manageable tasks. Then, you estimate how much time and resources each task will require.

You also need to anticipate potential risks and establish ways to communicate and stay in control. And once the project is in motion, you’ll set up systems to monitor progress, manage any changes, and ensure you’re sticking to your project constraints.

Types of Project Planning

Explore the diverse paths of project planning with vertical, horizontal, and joint approaches to achieve project success.

1. Vertical Planning (Waterfall Planning): Vertical planning, also called waterfall planning, involves sequentially organizing the project’s phases, starting from the beginning and progressing step by step.

2. Horizontal Planning (Agile Planning): Horizontal planning, also known as agile planning, entails simultaneously planning different aspects or parts of the project. This approach allows for flexibility and adaptability.

3. Joint Planning (Integrated Planning): Joint planning, sometimes termed integrated planning, combines elements of both vertical and horizontal planning. Some project parts are planned sequentially, while others are planned concurrently. This method integrates structured and flexible planning approaches.

Why is project planning important?

We can infer from the project planning definition that it provides a solid foundation for successful project execution. Now let’s go in-depth to understand the importance of project planning!

project planning infographic

Gives Direction

Project planning sets clear objectives and gives everyone on the team a direction towards which they have to work. It’s like having a roadmap that lays out the project’s scope, deliverables, and milestones from beginning to end. This way, you stay on track and make sure your project is in line with the overall organizational goals.

Helps in Project Management Resource Planning

When you plan your projects effectively, you are able to make the most out of your resources. You figure out ahead of time the people, equipment, and materials you will need so you don’t run into any shortages or end up with too much of something. This way, you make sure you have the right resources when you need them, which helps you avoid delays and get the most productivity out of your team.

Mitigates Risks

When you plan your projects, you have to think about all the things that could go wrong and devise ways to handle them. You do risk assessments to spot potential challenges ahead of time and come up with backup plans. This way, when unexpected stuff happens, it doesn’t throw you off completely. It helps you make better decisions and keeps your project tough and resilient.

Manages Time & Cost

While planning projects, you are able to set up timelines and budgets that actually make sense. You break down the project plan into the smaller tasks, estimate how long each one will take, and assign the right resources. This way, you can keep an eye on how things are going and catch any potential delays or cost overruns before they become a big problem. It helps you make adjustments and take action quickly so you finish your projects on time and within budget.

Keeps Stakeholders Aligned

Project planning keeps all the important people on board. You involve key stakeholders in the planning process, so you can all be on the same page. It’s all about talking and keeping everyone in the loop about the project goals, what you expect, and how things are going. By setting up regular communication and reporting systems from the get-go, you manage stakeholder expectations, keep things transparent, and work together as a team.

What are the Components of Project Planning?

Now that you have seen what planning projects can do for you let’s see the three important components or elements of project planning.

The scope of the project basically talks about what you will do and what you will not do. It’s all about figuring out the specific things you will deliver, the features you will have, and how everything will work. By nailing down the scope, you ensure that everyone involved knows what’s included and what’s not. This way, you avoid scope creep, which is when things get added on and go off track. You would definitely not want that because it leads to delays and budget problems.

When planning a project, you have to figure out how much money you will need and where it will be used. You estimate all the costs, like how much you will spend on labor, materials, equipment, and all those other expenses that come with getting things done. Budget planning is important because it helps you know how much the whole project will cost and ensure you have enough cash to cover it. Plus, it lets you keep an eye on your spending and make sure you stay within the budget you set.

When creating a project plan, you have to map out a schedule that tells you when things are going to happen. You figure out the start and end dates for all the tasks and milestones. You also look at how long each task will take, what tasks depend on others, and the order they have to be done. This timeline planning is key because it helps you manage your resources and efficiently coordinate tasks.

You can spot the critical paths that could slow us down and mark your big milestones. By setting up realistic timelines that you can actually achieve, you can keep an eye on how you are doing, catch any potential delays, and take action to keep things on track.

Also Read: 5 Phases of Project Management

7 Simple Steps to Create a Successful Project Plan

Creating a project plan is essential to keep your project on track and make sure it succeeds. Here are seven steps to help you create a complete project plan:

Step 1: Define Your Project’s Goals: Start by clearly stating what your project is all about, what you want to achieve, and what you’ll deliver. Make sure everyone involved understands this.

Step 2: Identify Everyone Involved: Figure out who’s part of your project team, who the clients are, who’s sponsoring it, and who will use the end product. Understand their roles and expectations to communicate and work together effectively.

Step 3: Set a Timeline: Make a realistic schedule with specific start and end dates for each part of your project. Think about which tasks depend on others and make sure you have enough time for everything. Tools like Gantt charts can help you see the schedule visually.

Step 4: Break It Down: Divide your project into smaller tasks and sub-tasks. Organize them in a list to assign responsibilities and track progress easily.

Step 5: Get the Resources You Need: Determine what you’ll need for each task, like people, equipment, and materials. Make sure you have what you need when you need it to avoid delays.

Step 6: Deal with Risks: Identify potential problems that might come up during your project. Make a plan to handle these issues and be ready with backup plans if they happen. Keep reviewing and updating your risk plan throughout your project.

Step 7: Keep Everyone in the Loop: Set up a way to share project updates with everyone involved. Decide how and when you’ll report progress through updates or meetings.

Remember, your project plan can change as your project moves forward. Keep an eye on it, make adjustments when needed, and make sure your project stays on the path to success.

What are the Project Planning Phases?

Knowing the potential of project planning is one thing, and doing it right is another. In this section, we will talk about the project planning steps so you get your plan right.

5 phases of project management

1. Project Initiation

When you kick off project planning, you start with project initiation. This is where you take a good look at the project to see if it’s doable and if it makes sense. You have to figure out what the project is about, what you want to achieve, and what results you expect. In this project planning phase, you also figure out who’s involved, get them on board, engage project sponsors, and gather initial requirements. You do feasibility studies, create a project charter, and assemble your project team. It’s like setting the stage for everything that’s gonna happen next.

Do’s : Be 100% sure about what you want to achieve. Dive deep into research and analysis and ensure your stakeholders know every nuance.

Don’ts : Never rush through the initiation phase and take the stakeholders involved for granted. It’s important to be thorough and keep everyone involved updated.

2. Project Planning

In the planning phase, you take those project goals and strategies and turn them into actual plans you can work with. You figure out all the tasks you need to do, set the project’s boundaries, estimate what resources you will need, create a schedule, and devise a plan for managing any risks. During this phase, project managers and teams dig in, analyzing dependencies, allocating resources, and setting up communication methods. It’s all about getting things organized and ready to roll!

Do’s : Always create a detailed project plan. While at it, conduct a thorough risk analysis. You also want to be realistic while setting timelines and budgets.

Don’ts : Never neglect stakeholder input, underestimate resource requirements, and overlook potential risks.

3. Project Execution

Project execution phase is where all the planning starts turning into action. You put your plans into motion and start working on those project deliverables. It’s all about coordinating your resources, assigning tasks to the team, managing everyone, and keeping an eye on how things are going. Project managers play a big role in this phase, tracking milestones, tackling any issues, and ensuring everyone sticks to the project plan. 

Do’s : Effective communication and providing necessary support to the team is important at this step. You also need to monitor progress regularly and manage scope changes efficiently.

Don’ts : Micromanaging team members and deviating from the project plan without proper evaluation is a big no-no. 

Also Read: Revamp Project Management with No-Code

4. Monitoring and Controlling

When you are in the monitoring and controlling phase, you constantly monitor things as the project progresses. You are checking how you are doing compared to your plan and making any necessary adjustments to stay on track. This phase is all about watching those key performance indicators, staying on top of any risks, managing any changes, and ensuring you are hitting those project objectives.

Do’s : Regularly track project metrics, analyze variances, and address issues promptly. You also want to communicate progress to stakeholders regularly.

Don’ts : Never overlook deviations from the project plan or neglect to address risks and issues. Also, don’t be rigid with the plan. Feel free to modify as needed along the way.

5. Project Closure

Project closure is where you wrap things up. You make sure all the project deliverables are in good shape, do a final assessment to see how things turned out, and hand things over to the stakeholders or operational teams. You also take the time to document all the lessons you have learned along the way and thoroughly evaluate the project. 

Do’s : Complete all documentation, conduct a thorough project review, and archive project files. Also, celebrate project success with the team.

Don’t : Don’t rush through project closure. Carefully document every lesson you’ve learned and formally close the project.

Tools for Project Management

Effective project management is essential in today’s fast-paced business environment, and several tools have emerged to streamline the process. Here, we explore these tools, each offering unique features and capabilities to suit various project management needs.

Quixy: A no-code Quixy simplifies project management with BPM innovation and user-friendly workflows.

Trello: Trello, known for its Kanban-based approach, streamlines project tasks efficiently.

Monday.com: Monday.com offers versatile dashboards, automation, and pre-built templates for seamless project management.

Wrike: Wrike prioritizes communication and transparency with real-time analytics for performance insights.

Asana: Asana is a feature-rich solution that emphasizes strategic goal-setting and workflow visualization.

Notion: Notion is ideal for small teams, offering customizable project planning tools and collaboration features.

Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management: Microsoft Project excels in single project management with budget tracking and interactive dashboards.

Choosing the right project management tool is crucial for your team’s success. Whether you need simplicity, flexibility, or comprehensive features, these tools offer various solutions to help you manage projects efficiently in today’s dynamic business landscape.

What are the Benefits of Using Project Management Tools?

Fortunately, multiple project planning tools and software solutions will make project planning a breeze for you. Let’s look at some common benefits of project planning tools.

1. Enhanced Organization

Project planning tools keep everything organized and on track. They give a structured framework to handle all the tasks, timelines, resources, and dependencies. With these tools, you can easily see the big picture and break things down into manageable chunks. You can create hierarchies for tasks and connect them with a click. This enhances overall organization, clarity, and understanding of the project’s scope and requirements.

2. Efficient Task Management

These tools let you create task lists, assign responsibilities, and track task progress. You can easily prioritize tasks, set schedules, and ensure you have the right resources. Task management features help teams stay focused, identify bottlenecks, and streamline workflows.

3. Resource Optimization

These project planning tools are highly beneficial when it comes to figuring out what you need and making the most of your resources. They help you see exactly what resources you require, how to assign them, and how to get the most out of them. Project managers can easily assign the right people, equipment, and materials to each task, making sure everything runs smoothly. With these tools, you can keep an eye on resource availability, spot any conflicts, and make smart choices about adjusting resource allocations. 

Also Read: Supercharge Project Management with No-Code Apps

4. Improved Collaboration

Project planning tools are useful because they unite the whole team and make collaboration a piece of cake. You can work together in real time, share updates, and communicate in real time. They let you collaborate on documents, share files, and keep communication flowing smoothly. With these features, your team can be productive and collaborate seamlessly, no matter who’s involved in the project. It’s like having your own virtual collaboration hub that keeps you connected and on top of things.

5. Project Visualization

Project planning tools typically include features like creating timelines and Gantt charts. These visual representations give you the full scoop on our project schedules. We can see all the tasks, milestones, and dependencies in one glance. Project managers can use them to track progress, find those critical paths, and stay on top of your timelines. These visual tools help you communicate project timelines to your stakeholders and spot any potential delays or issues.

On that note, if you are about to start your hunt for the right project-planning tool, you can consider  Quixy . Quixy is a no-code cloud-based platform that empowers businesses to automate processes , build applications, and streamline workflows without the need for extensive coding expertise. Its project planning capabilities can empower your team to create, track, and manage projects seamlessly. With visual timelines, resource allocation, and collaboration features, Quixy helps optimize project execution and drive successful outcomes.

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What are the Common Features of Project Planning Tools?

  • Resource management:  Resource management allows you to effectively allocate, track, and manage resources such as personnel, equipment, and materials. This helps optimize resource allocation, avoid bottlenecks, and ensure that the right resources are available at the right time for successful project execution.
  • Gantt Charts:  Gantt charts provide a visual representation of project tasks, durations, dependencies, and milestones. They help in tracking progress, managing dependencies, and visualizing project timelines. 
  • Kanban boards:  Kanban boards allow you to create task cards, move them across different stages or columns, and track their status. They offer a clear visual representation of work in progress and task priorities.
  • Task management:   Task management lets you assign tasks to team members, set due dates, monitor task progress, and track task completion. It helps teams stay organized, ensures accountability, and enables effective collaboration among team members.

Also Read: Project Management Hacks 101

Streamline Your Workflow with No-Code Tools and Efficient Project Planning

No-code tools and project planning make a perfect duo, combining the strengths of simplicity and efficiency. No-code tools empower individuals without extensive coding knowledge to create sophisticated applications and workflows effortlessly. These intuitive platforms provide a visual interface that enables users to drag and drop elements, configure logic, and automate processes without writing a single line of code.

By integrating project planning into this equation, teams can seamlessly map out tasks, allocate resources, set timelines, and collaborate effectively. This combination streamlines the development process, ensuring efficient project management while eliminating the need for complex coding. With no-code tools and project planning working hand in hand, individuals and teams can unleash their creativity and productivity , delivering innovative solutions without the traditional barriers of programming expertise.

Also Read: Important Project Management Statistics to Watch

Project planning is the backbone of successful project execution. By following project planning steps, including defining objectives, allocating resources, and creating timelines, you can stay organized, efficient, and focused on achieving your goals. With the aid of project planning software like  Quixy , collaboration and communication are enhanced, making the entire process smoother and more productive. So, embrace the power of project planning apps , and watch your projects thrive!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. what are the most important tasks for project planning.

The most important tasks in project planning include: 1. Defining the project scope. 2. Creating a detailed schedule 3. Allocating resources effectively. 4. Identifying risks. 5. Establishing communication channels for efficient collaboration.

Q. Why is project planning important?

Project planning is crucial as it sets the foundation for project success. It clarifies objectives, estimates resources, manages risks, and aligns stakeholders’ expectations. Effective planning ensures efficient resource utilization and enables teams to deliver projects on time and within budget.

Q. When planning a project, why is it necessary to estimate?

When planning a project, estimating is necessary to determine each task’s time, cost, and resource requirements. Accurate estimation helps set realistic deadlines, allocate resources effectively, and manage project constraints. It also identifies potential bottlenecks and enables informed decision-making to ensure project success.

Q. How to plan a project?

To plan a project, start by clearly defining objectives and stakeholders. Create a timeline, break tasks down, allocate resources, and consider risks. Keep communication open and adapt the plan as the project progresses.

Q. How project planning tools can help in better management?

Project planning tools enhance management through streamlined organization, automated workflows, improved communication, and real-time updates. They provide transparency, support risk management, allocate resources efficiently, maintain documentation, and offer data analysis capabilities. These tools adapt to different methodologies, making them versatile for projects of all sizes and complexities. Essentially, they empower teams to manage projects efficiently, leading to successful outcomes.

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What is Project Planning? What are the Components of Project Planning?

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Category: Task Management .

The success of a project is never an accident. When you take up a project, you cannot simply start the implementation and find your way as the project develops. If you try that, you can lose direction quite early, miss your goals and deadlines, and overspend your resources on the wrong priorities, leading to the failure of the project. So, a project should be clearly structured and managed. There are five different project management phases.

Plans are worthless. Planning is essential. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Project management phases

Following are the five project management steps:

1. Initiation: Project initiation is a phase where you define a business case at a broad level and create a project charter consisting of broad goals, budget, rough timeline, constraints, etc.

2. Project planning: During this phase, teams establish specific measurable goals, deliverables, a clear project roadmap, risks and ways to manage them, tracking mechanisms, project management tools, communication methodologies, etc.

3. Execution: During this stage, managers establish workflows, and the work is done by the teams.

4. Project monitoring and controlling: In this project management phase, the progress towards the milestones is monitored using the tracking mechanisms. Reports are generated and reviewed by stakeholders, and changes are implemented according to the inferences and findings.

5. Completion and closure of the project: At the end of the estimated project period, the project is completed and handed over. The outcomes and deliverables are reviewed and quantified, and the success/failure of a project is determined. The teams review performance, success and failures, and take with them the learnings from the project for continuous improvement of their own performance as well as the performance of the organization.

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The Crucial Project Planning Phase

Among these project management steps, project planning is one of the most important stages, as the project starts to take shape in it, and it can make the difference between success and failure of the project.

What is project planning?

Project planning is the process of determining what it takes to complete the project within a specified time frame and budget. Project planning converts a vision or an expectation into a clear plan of action that can guide you and your team towards the successful completion of the project.

Components of a project plan

Project planning involves defining three different aspects of a project. They are:

1. Scope of the project Scope of the project includes project requirements, the vision behind it, measurable goals, outcomes and deliverables, and the activities that can and cannot be done for the successful completion of the project.

2. Budget and allocation of resources Budget is one of the most critical aspects of a project. Budget needs to be allocated for different phases, tasks and activities based on their priorities and requirements. Allocating fewer resources for something is equally damaging to the project as allocating more for the same. Project planning carefully weighs different requirements and priorities of the project before determining the budget for each. In addition to the budget, the project also needs other resources, such as manpower, tools and facilities. Project planning also takes these into account.

3. Timelines Every task and activity in the project takes a certain amount of time for different teams to complete. Adequate time should be given for each, and there should be an estimated timeline for each. Further, a project may be implemented in the long term. So, it may be divided into various phases, which will be deemed complete at the achievement of specific milestones. Project planning involves defining these timelines, creating a schedule for each team and individual, and determining the milestones for various phases of the project.

The right software can help you plan and execute your important goals and projects even faster. You can get started on Profit.co’s integrated OKR management software for free today!

Why is project planning important?

Project planning requires a concerted effort from your teams to work towards common goals for the project to succeed. If you don’t have a project plan, you may accidentally let your teams make their own plans that they deem fit. It can cause chaos and different teams may take the project in different directions, leading to catastrophic failure of the project. So it is absolutely essential to have a project plan. When you do project planning, and when your team follows a predetermined project plan using industry-standard project management tools, you are more likely to prioritize the tasks correctly , cross milestones according to the schedule, and meet objectives within the specified time and allocated resources. So, a project plan plays a crucial role in the success of the project.

Benefits of Project Planning

1. It provides clarity and alignment By providing a common point of reference, project planning ensures that the employees are well aligned to the goals and work together in harmony as teams. A project plan guides you and your team in the right direction and provides clarity over what needs to be achieved. It states what all activities and tasks need to be done to make the project successful. It gives you common goals to work towards, in order to complete the project successfully. When teams follow the plan and are able to produce results and successfully complete their projects, employee morale gets a boost, and your team members are more likely to stay motivated and be happy at your organization.

2. Project planning paves way for success The most common reason behind project failure is a lack of understanding of the requirements, goals, roles and responsibilities of a project among team members. A well-planned and meticulously managed project defines all these clearly, making it easier to direct a team’s energy and effort. This boosts the performance of the organization, and increases the rate of success.

3. Project planning ensures timely delivery of project The success of a project in most cases depends on the timely completion. Timely completion of projects keeps your projects and your business relevant to the market conditions. In contrast, delays and scope creep lead to project failure. Project planning ensures that employees stick to a schedule and follow timelines and deliver the project in a timely manner.

4. Project planning enables you to use the resources judiciously A poorly-managed project, even if it meets its objectives and deliverables, can still consume a lot of resources, affecting the profitability of the organization. Unexpected delays, mismanaged priorities and wasteful spending can lead to overshooting the budget and exhausting the resources well before the completion of the project. Project planning details out how the resources should be used; it allocates budget carefully and makes sure that the resources are spent efficiently.

5. Project planning lets you measure performance and make critical changes Project planning enables you to set specific measurable goals and quantitatively measure success. You can constantly monitor the performance of the project and measure the achievement of short-term goals, based on which you can correct mistakes, make adjustments in execution and allocate resources in a different way at every phase of the project.

Project management software for effective planning and implementation There are numerous tools and free project management software that can help in planning and executing the project effectively. Following are some of the most popular project management tools available in the market today.

  • Kissflow Project

Profit.co offers flexible task, OKR, strategy, and performance management on one integrated platform. To learn more about this market-leading software solution, book a free demo!

Project management plan template It is easier to create a project plan with the project management plan template. It covers all the essentials and can guide you to creating a comprehensive plan that can help you complete the project successfully.

Click here to use Profit.co’s free Task Management tool for managing your projects

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5 key elements of project management and planning

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Further reading

  • Top 20 PSA tools for resource management and project management
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5 essential elements of project management for professional services

Whether it is to launch a new product, deliver complex services, or optimize operational processes, you need project management to achieve your goals. Without it, you're looking at a chaotic mess of confusion, clueless employees, and unhappy customers. Streamlined project management extends far beyond completing tasks on time. It's about balancing resources, setting timelines, managing risks, fostering collaboration, and ensuring that every project aligns with the overarching business objectives.

Today, we  delve into five critical components that lay the foundation for successful project management. In this article, we cover:

What is project planning?

Why is project planning essential.

  • The connection between the project framework and project management

5 essential elements of project management

  • How Rocketlane can help you balance all project planning and management essentials

Project planning is a crucial aspect of project management that involves setting clear objectives, defining deliverables, creating a timeline, allocating resources, and assigning tasks to ensure successful project completion. It lays the foundation for the entire project and sets the direction for all subsequent activities. At its core, project planning helps organizations streamline their operations and achieve project goals efficiently.

By engaging in project planning, teams can break down complex projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. This allows them to determine the necessary steps and dependencies required to achieve each milestone. With a well-designed plan in place, teams can identify potential risks, establish contingency plans, and allocate resources strategically.

Project planning also aids in effective time management. By identifying critical activities and their associated timelines, project managers can create a realistic project schedule that accounts for dependencies, milestones, and deadlines. This helps teams stay organized, prioritize tasks, and monitor progress throughout the project lifecycle.

Ultimately, project planning is essential for successful project execution. It provides teams with a roadmap that outlines the project's goals, deliverables, timelines, and resource allocations. This in-depth planning process helps minimize risks, maintain project scope, and ensure project outcomes align with stakeholders' expectations. With proper project planning, organizations can improve efficiency, maximize productivity, and achieve successful project outcomes.

Project planning is an essential part of any endeavor, no matter the size or scale. Whether it's a simple task or a complex project, having a well-thought-out plan is the key to success. So why is project planning so important?

Foremost, project planning helps with project management. It allows you to define the project's objectives, outline the tasks that need to be completed, and set realistic deadlines and budgets. Without a plan in place, it's easy for things to get disorganized, leading to missed deadlines, overspending, and a lack of direction.

Project planning is also crucial for enhancing business operations. By carefully considering and mapping out each step of the project, you can identify potential risks and challenges. This allows you to devise strategies to overcome these obstacles and mitigate their impact on your business. Additionally, it helps you allocate resources effectively, ensuring that you have everything you need to complete the project at the right time.

Another benefit of project planning is that it encourages collaboration and communication among team members. With a clear plan in place, everyone involved in the project can understand their roles and responsibilities. This fosters a sense of accountability and teamwork, resulting in improved efficiency and productivity.

In other words, project planning is essential because it helps with project management, enhances business operations, and promotes collaboration.

Understanding project framework and project management

Understanding the differences between project management and project framework is crucial for successful project execution. While project management focuses on the actual implementation, the project framework is the structure that determines how project activities are carried out.

Project framework

A project framework acts as the backbone for successful project management. Essentially, it is a predefined structure that guides the entire project lifecycle, from initiation to completion. It outlines the key elements and processes required for an effective project, including goals, roles and responsibilities, timelines, and communication channels.

By implementing a project framework , teams can establish clarity, promote consistency, and enhance collaboration. It helps allocate resources efficiently, ensures adherence to budget, and mitigates risks. Whether you're using traditional methodologies like Waterfall or agile approaches like Scrum, a project framework provides a common language and roadmap for all stakeholders.

Project management

Project management involves the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet project requirements and achieve desired outcomes. A project manager plays a pivotal role in effectively planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling all aspects of a project. They are responsible for setting project goals, defining tasks, assigning resources, and managing budgets and timelines.

Project management involves effective communication and collaboration with stakeholders, as well as risk management and problem-solving. By employing proven project management methodologies and frameworks, organizations can ensure efficient project delivery and maximize their chances of success.

The importance of project management lies in its ability to provide structure and direction, enabling teams to work collaboratively towards a common objective. There are essential elements that make project management effective. It helps maximize productivity, mitigate risks, and ultimately deliver successful projects.

Here are five essential elements of project management to ensure a successful project implementation.

1. Project scope management

Project scope management involves defining and controlling what is included in a project, as well as what is not. This helps to prevent scope creep and ensure that the project stays within its allocated resources and timeline.

The first step in scope management is to define project objectives, deliverables, and requirements clearly. This will provide a foundation for setting boundaries and making decisions throughout the project. Additionally, continuous monitoring and control are necessary to ensure that you evaluate and manage any changes or requests properly to keep the project on track.

2. Project time management

Project time management entails the planning, scheduling, and controlling of project activities to ensure timely completion. Effective time management allows project managers to allocate resources efficiently, meet deadlines, and deliver high-quality results.

To achieve this, it is essential to establish a clear and flexible project schedule that outlines all tasks and their respective durations. Project managers should also regularly track progress and make necessary adjustments to stay on track.

Besides timely project completion, time management enables teams to identify and address potential risks and issues early on, leading to improved efficiency and outcomes.

3. Project cost management

Project cost management is a crucial element of effective project management. It involves estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs throughout the project lifecycle. By properly managing costs, project managers can ensure that their projects stay within budget and avoid financial surprises.

The first step in project cost management is accurate cost estimation. This involves identifying and documenting all project costs, including labor, materials, equipment, and other resources. A realistic budget is then created based on these estimates.

Once the project is underway, project managers must monitor and control costs to prevent budget overruns. This includes tracking actual costs against the budget, identifying any deviations, and taking corrective actions if necessary.

By incorporating project cost management into their overall project management strategy, organizations can achieve successful outcomes by ensuring financial stability and efficiency in their projects.

4. Project quality management

Project quality management ensures that projects achieve their objectives while maintaining high standards of quality. By following a well-defined quality management process, project teams can identify, assess, and prioritize quality requirements. This includes defining quality criteria, creating quality plans, and implementing quality assurance and control measures throughout the project lifecycle. Besides an impact on the final deliverables, project quality management increases customer satisfaction and reduces the likelihood of rework or costly errors.  

5. Project risk management

Project risk management involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks that could hinder project progress. By proactively addressing risks, project managers can prevent costly setbacks and increase the chances of meeting project objectives.

Risk management helps identify potential obstacles, such as resource limitations, technical challenges, or unforeseen external factors that could impact project outcomes. Through effective risk management, project managers can develop contingency plans, allocate resources wisely, and prioritize activities to minimize potential disruption.

It ensures that projects are executed with a clear understanding of potential risks and the necessary steps to mitigate them, ultimately leading to successful project completion.

Ace project management with Rocketlane

Your search for the perfect project management software stops here. Rocketlane's PSA software is the best choice for project management because it enhances project execution and delivery through the integration of automation and consistency.

With tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, real-time notifications, and automated status updates, project tracking becomes streamlined and efficient.

Here are some of Rocketlane's compelling capabilities that make it an easy choice for your project management needs:

Streamlined project management: With Rocketlane, your team transitions from mere task management to strategic project delivery, for improved visibility and collaboration in every project. Leverage tools such as Gantt charts, Kanban boards, real-time notifications, and automated status updates to streamline project tracking

Resource planning: Optimize resource planning by automating processes, achieving pinpoint accuracy in forecasting, and maximizing resource utilization while safeguarding against burnout. Ensure that the right personnel are available at the right time for your projects.

Budget and financial management: Attain cost-effectiveness by meticulously monitoring and managing project expenses across an unlimited number of projects. Rely on Rocketlane's live budget tracker to maintain project alignment with budgetary constraints.

Data-driven decision-making: Harness the power of data insights to optimize your project portfolio, pinpoint bottlenecks, and unearth previously undiscovered opportunities. This empowers quicker, more informed decision-making.

Easier client collaboration: Rocketlane offers white-labeled client portals, project chat functionality, and advanced options for file collaboration, making client engagement effortless and highly productive.

Rocketlane: Your go-to project management tool

Rocketlane offers modern project management and automation capabilities that enhance project execution and delivery every step of the way. Optimize resource planning by automating processes, achieving pinpoint accuracy in forecasting, and maximizing resource utilization. With Rocketlane, you can be sure that the right resources are available at the right time for your projects. It also provides a live budget tracker to monitor and manage project expenses across multiple projects, ensuring alignment with budgetary constraints.  With data-driven insights, you can make informed decisions that optimize your project portfolio, identify bottlenecks, and uncover new opportunities.

Ready to take your project management to the next level?

1. What is project scope in project management?

Project scope refers to the specific goals, objectives, deliverables, and tasks that must be accomplished within a project.

2. How is a project timeline determined?

A project timeline is determined by identifying the tasks, estimating durations, and sequencing the tasks in a logical order to determine the start and end dates for each task.

3. What is a project budget?

A project budget is a financial estimate that outlines the costs required to complete the project, including resources, equipment, materials, and any other expenses.

4. How is risk management applied in project management?

Risk management in project management involves identifying potential risks, analyzing their impact and likelihood, developing strategies to mitigate or minimize risks, and monitoring and controlling risks throughout the project life cycle.

5. Who are the project stakeholders?

Project stakeholders are individuals or groups with an interest or influence in the project, such as clients, executives, team members, suppliers, or regulatory bodies.

Industry insights you won’t delete. Delivered to your inbox weekly.

Madhushree Menon is a content marketer at Rocketlane. She mainly focuses on SEO blogs, but also dabbles in other forms of content. A true Hufflepuff at heart, she loves to binge-watch anime, explore new cuisines, and learn new languages.

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What is a project manager? Responsibilities and best practices explained

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A project manager, or PM, coordinates the elements of a project, aiming for timely completion within budget and with high standards. They're the central figure connecting project goals with the collective efforts of their team and help navigate obstacles to guide projects to their goals. 

This guide explores the role of PMs, highlighting their critical responsibilities, key skills, and best strategies. It also examines how platforms like Confluence can help PMs enhance team collaboration and communication across the project life cycle .

What is a project manager?

A PM is a leader who guides projects from the drawing board to the finish line. They make sure everything runs smoothly and stays on schedule. They gather necessary resources, unite team members, and work on continuous improvement .

PMs connect the day-to-day work with the bigger picture. They support the broader objectives of the company and satisfy stakeholder needs.

Project manager responsibilities

PMs juggle a variety of core responsibilities to lead a project through hurdles and changes. Mastery in each of these areas contributes to a smoother experience from the perspective of both team members and stakeholders: 

  • Project planning : PMs initiate the planning process, clearly defining the project's scope, goals, and objectives. They develop detailed plans outlining tasks, resources, timelines, and deliverables, creating a solid foundation for project execution.
  • Team coordination : Project managers assemble and direct project teams, assigning tasks based on members' skills and experience. PMs focus and unify team efforts by promoting collaboration, resolving conflicts, and leading effective team meetings . 
  • Risk management : PMs identify potential risks early, analyze their possible impact, and develop mitigation strategies. This proactive approach minimizes disruptions to the project’s schedule, quality, and budget.
  • Budget oversight : PMs estimate costs, establish budgets, track spending, and adjust as necessary to keep the project within financial boundaries while achieving fiscal efficiency.
  • Client communication : They maintain open and transparent communication with clients and stakeholders. PMs provide updates, respond to inquiries, and use feedback to adapt project scope to meet or exceed client expectations.
  • Maintaining quality standards : PMs implement quality control processes to ensure deliverables meet agreed-upon standards and satisfy client requirements. This helps maintain project integrity.

Project manager skills

The success of any project depends heavily on the unique blend of soft and hard skills possessed by the PM. Here are some of the critical soft skills that PMs need to excel in their role:

  • Communication : PMs must master verbal and written communication to convey project objectives, updates, and feedback to all stakeholders. This fosters alignment and collaboration throughout the project life cycle.
  • Adaptability : PMs need to respond to project shifts and unforeseen challenges with flexibility. They must be able to adjust strategies and plans to keep projects moving forward.
  • Problem-solving : PMs must approach issues decisively. They use critical thinking to analyze problems, devise solutions, and apply them effectively. This minimizes the impact on project progress and outcomes.
  • Leadership : PMs provide team leadership to inspire and motivate. They guide team members, support their development, and cultivate a collaborative environment.
  • Organizational skills : Exceptional organizational abilities allow PMs to balance multiple tasks and priorities. They skillfully map out schedules, allocate resources, and monitor project timelines to guide their team toward success.

Best practices for project managers

Great PMs commit to applying best practices consistently across projects. They understand that good project management comes from a blend of skill, strategy, and continuous refinement. Here are some key best practices:

Prioritize clear communication

Clear communication keeps everyone moving in the same direction and places transparency and efficiency at the heart of the team's workflow . Encouraging open exchanges of ideas, progress updates, and concerns helps the team tackle obstacles head-on and propels the project forward. 

Create effective project plans

Well-structured project plans contain the following key elements:

  • Scope : Define the project scope clearly. This helps prevent scope creep and ensures everyone understands the project boundaries.
  • Goals and objectives : Establish what the project aims to achieve. Objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
  • Milestones and timeline : Identify crucial milestones and create a timeline that outlines when each project phase should be completed.
  • Resources : Detail necessary resources (people, budget, technology) and allocate them effectively. This includes identifying roles and responsibilities.
  • Risk management : Anticipate potential risks and strategize how to address them. This fosters a proactive approach to uncertainty management.
  • Communication plan: Outline how you will handle communication within the project team and with stakeholders. This includes frequency, methods, and key points.

Use project management tools

Using specialized project management software empowers PMs to excel in their roles. 

Project manager software is a centralized hub for everything project-related, including plans, tasks, and resources. This simplifies outlining projects, distributing tasks, and tracking deadlines. Everyone stays in the loop, reducing mix-ups and enhancing teamwork .

Project management software also improves how teams communicate. Tools facilitate smoother updates, collaborative problem-solving, and efficient coordination. This includes commenting, file sharing, and simultaneous editing.

Confluence is the premier project management solution for PMs seeking to overcome the common PgM challenge of fragmented communication and scattered data and documents. The platform serves as a central repository for all project-related documents and knowledge. Information is readily accessible to anyone who needs it, allowing PMs more time to focus on strategic tasks.

Empower your team

An inspired and empowered team not only boosts productivity but also becomes a driving force behind project success. Effective PMs cultivate a positive work environment through various team management strategies , such as:

  • Ensure each team member knows their role, expectations, and how their work contributes to the project's success.
  • Give team members the freedom to make decisions about their work. This builds trust and encourages innovation.
  • Provide opportunities for team members to develop their skills and grow professionally. This can include training, workshops, or taking on new challenges within the project.
  • Regularly acknowledge and celebrate achievements, both individually and as a team. 
  • Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and feedback.

Effective project management with Confluence

Confluence transforms project management through centralized collaboration and efficiency. It serves as a dynamic platform where teams unite. They can share and update project plans in real-time, keeping everyone aligned and informed. Confluence offers many features for effective project management, including:

  • Simultaneous editing : Say goodbye to endless email chains. Edit documents together.
  • Ready-made templates : Jumpstart your projects with templates for everything from meeting notes to project plans .
  • Task management : Assign and track tasks right in your documents, keeping everyone accountable.
  • Effortless organization : With powerful search and sorting capabilities, finding what you need is a breeze.
  • Seamless integration : Jira works with other third-party apps, putting all your tools in one place.

Confluence is more than a tool—it's a game-changer for teams dedicated to improving how they manage projects and collaborate. It also supports versatile content types – think pages for detailed documentation, whiteboards for brainstorming, Loom videos for walkthroughs, and databases for structured information. AI capabilities further expand Confluence’s feature set by summarizing text, highlighting action items, and even adjusting the tone of specific communication.

Try Confluence today and experience a unified workspace that propels projects forward.

Project manager: Frequently asked questions

What does a project manager do on a daily basis.

PMs juggle various tasks daily, including monitoring project progress, talking things through with stakeholders, tackling issues that arise, and tweaking plans to keep everything on track with the project's goals.

What are project management methodologies?

Project management methodologies act as blueprints for navigating a project's life cycle. Agile and Scrum are great for fast-paced, iterative projects. Waterfall and Lean work better for projects with a defined sequence or a focus on minimizing waste.

Why is a project manager important?

A project manager is vital because they act as the bridge between a project's plan and its execution. A PM's core role is to ensure that projects meet deadlines, stay within budget, and adhere to quality standards. Their expertise in managing timelines and resources prevents miscommunication and scope creep. 

What is the difference between a program manager and a project manager?

A program manager oversees a group of related projects, focusing on long-term objectives and the overall impact on the company's goals. A project manager is responsible for the daily operations of a single project. They concentrate on meeting specific deadlines, budgets, and scope. 

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Define, scope, and plan milestones for your next project.

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What is Project Baseline in Project Management?

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In project management, a project baseline is like a starting point or a reference that helps you track the progress of your project. It’s a snapshot of your project’s scope, schedule, and cost at the beginning, against which you can compare as the project moves forward. It helps you stay on track by showing you where you planned to go and where you actually are. In this blog post, we’ll break down what Project Baseline means and why it’s vital for successful project management.

What is a Project Baseline in Project Management

A project baseline in project management refers to a set of original project plans and data that serve as a reference point for comparison throughout the project’s life cycle . It typically includes key elements such as the initial schedule, budget, scope, and other essential parameters agreed upon at the project’s beginning.

The project baseline acts like a standard against which project progress and performance can be measured. Deviations from the baseline can alert project managers to potential issues, helping them make informed decisions and adjust to stay on track. Essentially, a project baseline is a foundation document that helps monitor, control, and evaluate the project’s success.

Project Baseline Templates

While specific templates may vary based on the project management methodology and tools used, here are some common elements you might include in your project baseline templates.

Project charter template to set project baseline

Includes the original project scope, schedule, and cost, etc.. It serves as the primary reference for comparing actual project performance.

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Project scope statement template to set scope baseline

Focuses specifically on the project scope, outlining the detailed project requirements, deliverables, and acceptance criteria.

Project timeline template to set schedule baseline

Concentrates on the project timeline , highlighting the planned start and end dates, milestones, and key project phases.

Cost management plan to set cost baseline

Centers on the project budget, detailing the initial cost estimates, resource allocations, and overall project expenditures.

Risk register to set risk baseline

Identifies potential risks, uncertainties, and their associated mitigation strategies and contingency plans.

Communication plan to set communication baseline

Defines the communication strategy, including stakeholders, frequency, and methods of communication.

Resource breakdown template to set resource baseline

Details the allocation of resources, both human and non-human, required for each project activity.

Key Elements of a Project Baseline

The key elements of a project baseline in project management include:

How to Set a Project Baseline

Creating a project baseline is like making a detailed plan for your project and it involves the following steps.

  • Define the project : Clearly understand what the project is supposed to achieve and what needs to be done.
  • Break it down : Divide the project into smaller tasks or activities. This helps in managing and tracking progress more effectively.
  • Estimate time and cost : Figure out how long each task will take and how much it will cost. This helps in planning the project timeline and budget.
  • Identify risks : Think about potential problems that might come up during the project and come up with ways to handle them.

Get everyone’s input : Talk to your team, sponsors, and experts. Consider their thoughts and ideas when creating the plan.

Document everything : Write down all the details of your plan. This includes the project scope, schedule, costs, and how you’ll deal with risks.

Get approval : Share your plan with key people, like sponsors or stakeholders, and get their approval. This ensures everyone is on the same page.

Stick to the plan : Once approved, use this plan as your project baseline. Stick to it as much as possible, but be ready to adjust if needed.

Different Types of Baseline in Project Management

There are different types of baselines that serve as reference points for monitoring and controlling various aspects of a project. Here are some common types of baselines:

  • Scope baseline : Focuses specifically on the project scope, outlining the detailed project requirements, deliverables, and acceptance criteria.
  • Schedule baseline : Concentrates on the project timeline, highlighting the planned start and end dates, milestones, and key project phases.
  • Cost baseline : Centers on the project budget, detailing the initial cost estimates, resource allocations, and overall project expenditures.
  • Performance baseline : Includes key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics used to measure and evaluate project performance.
  • Quality baseline : Outlines the quality standards, criteria, and processes to make sure that project deliverables meet the specified quality requirements.

Why is a Project Baseline Important

A project baseline is like a roadmap that helps project managers stay on course, make informed decisions, and ensure the project’s success by providing a clear and agreed-upon plan to follow. Benefits of a project baseline includes;

  • It provides a starting point or reference for what was initially planned in terms of scope, schedule, and cost.
  • It acts as a yardstick to measure how the project is progressing by comparing actual performance against the original plan.
  • Helps in managing changes by providing a basis for evaluating the impact of any alterations to the project scope, schedule, or budget.
  • Assists in identifying and managing risks by offering a baseline for comparison when unexpected issues arise.
  • Guides decision-making by offering insights into deviations from the plan, allowing for informed adjustments.
  • Facilitates the evaluation of project performance against predetermined criteria and objectives.
  • Makes the project more understandable for everyone involved by establishing a shared understanding of the initial goals and constraints.

Who is Responsible for Setting the Project Baseline

The responsibility for setting the project baseline primarily falls on the project manager. As the leader of the project, the project manager collaborates with the project team, communicates with stakeholders, and incorporates input from experts to define the project scope, schedule, and costs. Project manager makes sure that the baseline reflects the agreed-upon plan and aligns with organizational goals.

Challenges of Developing a Project Baseline

It’s important to recognize and address the challenges associated with setting a baseline for your project. Some common challenges include:

Uncertain requirements

Sometimes, it’s tricky to pin down exactly what needs to be done. Things might be a bit unclear or change often, making it hard to set a solid plan. Talk to everyone involved early on, understand what needs to be done, and be ready to adjust the plan as things become clearer.

Limited data accuracy

If the information you have isn’t accurate or enough, it can make your plan less reliable. Having wrong or incomplete data can cause problems later on. Use the best information available, involve experts to double-check, and make sure your plan is based on solid and accurate data.

Scope creep

Imagine you plan to build a small house, but suddenly people want extra rooms. That’s scope creep, and it can mess with your initial plan. Have clear rules for making changes, communicate any adjustments clearly, and regularly check if the project is staying on track.

Estimation challenges

Difficulty in accurately estimating time and costs for project activities. Use historical data, involve experts in estimation, and create realistic contingency plans for uncertainties.

Stakeholder alignment

Making sure everyone involved agrees on the plan can be challenging. Different people might have different ideas or expectations. Keep everyone in the loop, make sure everyone’s ideas are considered, and document the plan clearly so that everyone understands what to expect

Manage Your Project Baseline with Creately

Leveraging a visual collaboration platform like Creately from the start can significantly help you plan, communicate, manage resources and track progress against your project’s baseline scope, schedule and resources. An effective visual baseline model becomes a single source of truth to keep your project on track. Here’s how you can use Creately to manage your project baseline.

Built-in visual project management

Visualize project details with work breakdown structures, project charters to project plans, with comprehensive shape libraries for over 70 types of diagrams including icons. Illustrate or make annotations easily with freehand drawing and format text without leaving the keyboard with markdown shortcuts.

Task tracking and assignment

Create, assign, and track tasks right on the canvas. Assign responsibilities, set due dates, and monitor progress with Agile Kanban boards, Gantt charts, timelines and more. Create task cards containing detailed information, descriptions, due dates, and assigned responsibilities.

Notes and attachments

Record additional details and attach documents, files, and screenshots related to your projects with per item integrated notes panel and custom data fields. Or easily embed files and attachments right on the workspace to centralize project information. Work together on project documentation with teammates with full multiplayer text and visual collaboration.

Real-time collaboration

Get any number of participants on the same workspace and track their additions in real-time. Collaborate with others in the project seamlessly with true multi-user collaboration features including synced previews and comments and discussion threads. Use Creately’s Microsoft Teams integration to brainstorm, plan, run projects during meetings.

Pre-made templates

Get a head start with ready-to-use project baseline templates and other project documentation templates available right inside the app. Explore 1000s more templates and examples for various scenarios in the community.

To sum it up, creating a strong project baseline gives your project a clear plan and roadmap for success. It involves documenting key details like what needs to be done, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. This baseline helps project managers make informed decisions, handle changes effectively, and keep the project on track. While challenges may come up, using templates and working together with your team can make the process smoother.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

Funding from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda Will Support the Conversion of Coal and Coal Byproducts Into Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Clean Energy Technologies, Creating Jobs in Energy Communities 

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  As part of President Biden’s  Investing in America agenda , the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced over $17 million for three projects that will support the design and construction of facilities that produce rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials from coal-based resources. The projects, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, may strengthen domestic supply chains, helping to meet the growing demand for critical minerals and materials and reduce reliance on unreliable foreign sources. Rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials are key to manufacturing clean energy technologies here in America—such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells. Coal and coal production waste contain valuable rare earth elements that can be used to manufacture clean energy technology components, creating high-quality jobs in communities that have historically produced fossil fuels and helping to combat climate change. 

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is helping narrow the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains, by reimagining the use of coal waste and byproducts as a domestic source of the critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies,” said  U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm . “The investments announced today will not only increase our national security and ensure a cleaner environment but will also help deliver high-quality jobs in all pockets of the country.” 

The United States currently imports more than 80% of rare earth elements, but rare earth elements naturally occur all around us, including in our domestic coal and coal wastes, which comprise more than 250 billion tons of coal reserves, over 4 billion tons of waste coal, and about 2 billion tons of coal ash. DOE seeks to tap this unconventional resource to help build a domestic supply chain critical to the U.S. economy, clean energy, and national security. 

Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) Studies for Production of Critical Minerals and Materials from Coal-Based Resources Project Selections

Three projects were selected for negotiation to support the development of FEED studies for potential future intermediate- and/or demonstration-scale facilities for the extraction, separation, and production of rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials from unconventional resources. The FEED studies will establish and define technical requirements focused on project scope, schedule, and costs, and reduce risk during the construction and operation of future rare earth element and critical minerals and materials production facilities:

  • The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois) will perform a FEED study needed to establish a fully integrated, vertical supply chain that would be located entirely within the State of Illinois for production of select critical minerals from coal-based sources.
  • Winner Water Services, Inc. (Sharon, Pennsylvania) will build on prior technology development to complete a FEED study located in Georgia on recovering rare earths from coal ash while preparing the coal ash for the concrete market.
  • Tetra Tech, Inc. (Houston, Texas) will build on prior technology development to complete a FEED study located in Pennsylvania on recovering rare earths and potentially other critical minerals from coal byproducts (underclay) while processing the clays to a salable grade.

DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under the purview of DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), will manage the selected projects. Additional details about the selected projects can be found  here .

The three selected project teams were required as part of their applications to submit  Community Benefits Plans  to demonstrate meaningful engagement with and tangible benefits to the communities in which these projects will be located. These plans provide details on their commitments to community and labor engagement, quality job creation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and benefits to disadvantaged communities as part of the  Justice40 Initiative .

DOE’s Advancements in Critical Minerals and Materials 

Since January 2021, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management has announced an estimated $58 million in projects that support critical minerals and materials exploration, resource identification, production, and processing in traditional mining and fossil fuel-producing communities across the country. This total includes  $16 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for detailed engineering and cost FEED studies that are focused on design, construction, and operation of a first-of-a-kind domestic, demonstration-scale rare earth production facility  that will extract, separate, and refine rare earth elements from unconventional sources like acid mine drainage and mining waste. This funding will create new opportunities to remediate land and water while generating rare earth elements necessary for a clean energy economy. 

FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the  FECM website ,  sign up  for FECM news announcements, and visit the  NETL website .

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No, Border Deal Won’t ‘Allow’ 5,000 Unauthorized Immigrants a Day

Republican critics are misrepresenting one provision of a bipartisan deal to suggest that it permits 5,000 illegal crossings a day.

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Migrants passing through a barbed wire fence.

By Angelo Fichera

Republican critics have quickly twisted one element of a bipartisan compromise bill unveiled on Sunday to misleadingly suggest that it permits 5,000 migrants to enter the country illegally every day.

The legislation, which links additional funding in military aid for Ukraine with immigration policy, would more aggressively tamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico.

The claim has become a popular talking point, reflecting broader pushback by Republicans who have seized on the border security provisions in the $118.3 billion bill and derided them as too lax.

But the bill does not, in fact, authorize immigrants to cross the border illegally. Instead, among other provisions, it would give officials the authority to summarily remove migrants, with little recourse, after a certain number cross: an average of 5,000 encounters per day for a week, or 8,500 in a single day.

Here’s a fact check.

WHAT WAS SAID

“The Biden/Schumer Open Border Bill allows 5,000 immigrants a day into our country.” — House Republicans in a social media post on Monday

“Here’s what the people pushing this ‘deal’ aren’t telling you: It accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants a day and gives automatic work permits to asylum recipients — a magnet for more illegal immigration.” — Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, in a social media post on Sunday

“This bill is a disaster. This bill has 5,000 people a day potentially coming into our country. It doesn’t make sense.” — Former President Donald J. Trump in an interview on Monday

“The Senate AMNESTY bill erases our borders. Every Senator took an oath to uphold our laws, including our border security & immigration laws. The Senators want to allow 5,000 illegal immigrants to walk across our border per day.” — Representative Mary Miller, Republican of Illinois, in a social media post on Sunday

This is misleading. The legislation seeks to make it harder for people to claim asylum and expedite that process; expand federal detention capacity; and provide funding for other border investments, including hiring asylum officers and border security agents, among other things. It does not say that 5,000 immigrants are allowed to illegally enter per day.

Instead, the bill uses that number to help determine when a new, stringent emergency authority can take effect to more easily expel migrants, regardless of whether they intend to seek asylum.

“We already have more than 5,000 illegal crossings happening,” Theresa Cardinal Brown, a senior adviser for immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, wrote in an email. “We aren’t ‘allowing it’; it is happening, and we then have to deal with it.”

Under current law, migrants who cross the border illegally are allowed to seek asylum, setting off a lengthy process in which they await a decision.

Under the deal, the provision at the heart of Republicans’ claims would establish a mechanism in which officials would be required to effectively shut the border to migrants trying to illegally enter the United States and remove them en masse. The mechanism would be triggered after the number of encounters reached an average of 5,000 per day over a week — or 8,500 in a given day. Encounters would need to drop drastically before that shutdown is lifted. The bill would also give the secretary of homeland security the ability to carry out the same authority earlier, with an average of 4,000 encounters per day for a week.

This power would “allow for summary deportations of migrants and deny them the chance to apply for any way to stay in the U.S. other than very limited circumstances,” Ms. Brown said.

She likened the proposed authority to Title 42 , a health rule that used the coronavirus as grounds for quickly turning back immigrants illegally crossing the border, from March 2020 until the policy ended in May.

In December, the Border Patrol reported more than 250,000 encounters — or a daily average of about 8,000 — according to Customs and Border Protection data .

Even before the proposed thresholds are met, migrants caught crossing the border illegally would still be taken into custody and processed, facing the prospect of deportation.

Experts pointed out that in light of the stricter border security measures in the compromise bill, the number of unauthorized crossings was likely to dip.

“The bill would not allow for the entry of 5,000 unauthorized immigrants a day,” Michelle Mittelstadt, a spokeswoman for the Migration Policy Institute, said in an email. “In fact, it would lead to reduced unauthorized entries because it mandates a higher bar to be considered for asylum and puts in place a swifter screening process with limits on review in case of denial, and there are increased capacities for detention and removal.”

She added, “With or without that 5,000 trigger, anyone intercepted crossing the border illegally would face a higher bar to consideration for asylum.”

Senator James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who helped draft the bill, has also pushed back on claims it greenlit the illegal entry of 5,000 migrants a day.

“This authority is a 5,000 authority to say if you get to 5,000 — which we have been there every single day except for seven in the last four months — that it completely closes the border down, it deports everyone,” he said on Monday on Fox News .

Curious about the accuracy of a claim? Email [email protected].

A Divided Congress: Latest News and Analysis

A Stern Warning: The head of the I.R.S. told the House Ways and Means Committee that proposed cuts to his agency’s budget would add to the national deficit in the long run  and pushed back against Republican claims that he had not been following the law.

Calling Republicans’ Bluf: Senator Chuck Schumer was wary of tying immigration policy to Ukraine aid, but he saw an opening to address a political liability for Democrats by flipping the border issue on Republicans .

Mark Green: The Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee announced that he would not run for re-election , just a day after the Tennessee congressman oversaw the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary.

Racist Attacks: Republican members of Congress are increasingly using rhetoric that denigrates people based on ethnicity, religion or nationality. And their remarks often slip by without any real condemnation from their party .

Ukraine-Israel Aid Bill: Thanks in part to a forceful push by Senator Mitch McConnell , the Senate passed a $95 billion emergency aid bill  for Ukraine and Israel. But its fate in the House remains uncertain amid stiff Republican opposition .

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project planning elements

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Net Zero Teesside Project: development consent order Planning Act 2008

Decision on an application for the onshore elements of a full chain carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project.

Applies to England

Net zero teesside project decision (link to national infrastructure planning site).

https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/north-east/the-net-zero-teesside-project/

Decision by the Secretary of State on an application by Net Zero Teesside Power Limited and Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited for the onshore elements of a full chain carbon capture, usage and storage ( CCUS ) project comprising a number of elements including:

  • a new gas-fired electricity generating station (with an electrical output of up to 860 megawatts) with post combustion carbon capture plant
  • gas, electricity and water connections (for the electricity generating station)
  • a carbon dioxide ( CO₂ ) pipeline network (a ‘gathering network’) for gathering CO₂ from a cluster of local industries on Teesside
  • a high pressure CO₂ compressor station and a CO₂ export pipeline

Date of decision

16 February 2024

Company / location

Net Zero Teesside Power Limited / Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited Near Middlesborough

Type of project

Development consent order for the onshore elements of a full chain CCUS project under the Planning Act 2008.

Maximum output

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    May 2, 2022 - 10 min read Kelechi Udoagwu A good project plan is one of the most essential elements of success in project management. From preventing scope creep, overblown budgets, and missed deadlines to minimizing stress and frustration. An ounce of prevention in project planning is worth a pound of cure.

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    The project planning phase typically includes setting project goals, designating project resources, and mapping out the project schedule. What is a project plan? A project plan—sometimes called a work plan—is a blueprint of the goals, objectives, and tasks your team needs to accomplish for a specific project.

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    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.

  11. 8 Key Elements of Effective Project Planning

    The essential elements of a project plan are: Project Goal What do we expect to achieve with this project? The project goal is the combination of the reasons for undertaking the project and the benefits that are expected from it.

  12. The 9 Stages of a Successful Project Planning Process

    1. Determine the project goals and objectives The first step in the project planning phase is to define the goals and objectives of your project. Project goals and objectives help you decide if the project should be prioritized (or even undertaken—essentially you need to use a proof of concept ).

  13. The 10 Essential Project Elements for Successful Projects

    04th Jan, 2024 Views Read Time 16 Mins In this article Project management is a difficult task. It requires the skillful control of many different variables and restrictions. Many launched initiatives fail to be successfully finished. While there are many causes behind this, inadequate preparedness is one of the most important ones.

  14. The Ultimate Project Planning Guide for Successful Projects

    This phase relies on project planning elements to track progress, measure performance, and manage risks. Regular assessments against the project plan help ensure that the project stays on track and deviations get handled. Closure. As the project reaches its closure, project planning elements aid in the following: Evaluating final deliverables

  15. PDF 12 Principles of Project Management

    f Value is the ultimate indicator of project success. f Value can be realized throughout the project, at the end of the project, or after the project is complete. f Value, and the benefits that contribute to value, can be defined in quantitative and/or qualitative terms. f A focus on outcomes allows project teams to support the intended benefits

  16. What is Project Planning

    Definition: Project planning is a crucial part of project management focused on creating a detailed plan that outlines the steps and resources necessary to achieve the project's objectives, including identifying the project's scope, establishing a timeline, assigning tasks and resources, and budgeting for the project.

  17. Project Plan Examples: How to Write an Effective Plan (2024)

    What are the key elements of an effective project plan? A well-prepared project plan requires several key elements that will outline the project's goals and define the stakeholders' individual roles. Incorporating these key elements into a project plan is essential for effective project management and a higher success rate.

  18. 10 Critical Elements of an Effective Project Plan

    1. PROJECT GOALS A project is like a journey. Every journey needs a destination. If the destination is known, a map can then be formulated. The same is true of projects: if the goals are clear, then a plan for accomplishing those goals can be formulated. In other words, there can be no project plan without definite project goals.

  19. A guide to project management frameworks

    A project management framework describes the development processes, tools, and tasks used to start and complete a project. It includes essential parts in order to plan, manage, and govern projects- the project's end-to-end cycle. It can help your management and team navigate problems and deadlines while withstanding the weight of unforeseen ...

  20. What is Project Planning: Tools and Fundamentals

    A project consists of five different phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closure. Planning is the second phase of the project life cycle, where a plan after the initiation phase is made so the process of execution may begin. The project plan serves as a roadmap for the entire process of project management .

  21. What is Project Planning? Discover its Components, Steps, and Tools

    What are the Components of Project Planning? Scope Budget Timeline 7 Simple Steps to Create a Successful Project Plan What are the Project Planning Phases? 1. Project Initiation 2. Project Planning 3. Project Execution 4. Monitoring and Controlling 5. Project Closure Tools for Project Management

  22. What is Project Planning? What are the Components of Project Planning?

    Plans are worthless. Planning is essential. Dwight D. Eisenhower Project management phases Following are the five project management steps: 1. Initiation: Project initiation is a phase where you define a business case at a broad level and create a project charter consisting of broad goals, budget, rough timeline, constraints, etc. 2.

  23. 5 essential elements of project planning and management

    5 essential elements of project planning and management Blogs 5 key elements of project management and planning Discover the role of project planning, the five essential elements of project management, and how they impact the success of your project. November 7, 2023 Author Madhushree Menon illustrator Mukundh Krishna Further reading

  24. What is a Project Manager? Understanding Roles and ...

    A project manager, or PM, coordinates the elements of a project, aiming for timely completion within budget and with high standards. ... Project planning: PMs initiate the planning process, clearly defining the project's scope, goals, and objectives. They develop detailed plans outlining tasks, resources, timelines, and deliverables, creating a ...

  25. What is Project Baseline in Project Management?

    A project baseline in project management refers to a set of original project plans and data that serve as a reference point for comparison throughout the project's life cycle. It typically includes key elements such as the initial schedule, budget, scope, and other essential parameters agreed upon at the project's beginning.

  26. Biden-Harris Administration Invests $17 Million to Strengthen Nation's

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced over $17 million for three projects that will support the design and construction of facilities that produce rare earth elements and other critical minerals and materials from coal-based resources.The projects, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, may ...

  27. Fact-Checking Claims That Senate Bill Allows 5,000 Unauthorized

    Republican critics have quickly twisted one element of a bipartisan compromise bill unveiled on Sunday to misleadingly suggest that it permits 5,000 migrants to enter the country illegally every day.

  28. Net Zero Teesside Project: development consent order Planning Act 2008

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