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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!

Get started for free

 * 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


WHAT IS A 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.

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.

Get your free


PROJECT PLAN TEMPLATE

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

Download Word File


HOW TO CREATE A PROJECT PLAN

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:

 1. 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).
 2. Identify risks and assign deliverables to your team members, who will
    perform the tasks required and monitor the risks associated with them.
 3. Organize your project team (customers, stakeholders, teams, ad hoc members,
    and so on), and define their roles and responsibilities.
 4. List the necessary project resources, such as personnel, equipment,
    salaries, and materials, then estimate their cost.
 5. Develop change management procedures and forms.
 6. 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:

 1. 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.
 2. 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.
 3. 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.
 4. 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.
 5. 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.






PROJECT PLANNING PHASE

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.


WHAT IS PROJECT PLANNING SOFTWARE?

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 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


BENEFITS OF ONLINE PROJECT PLANNING SOFTWARE

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


MUST-HAVE PROJECT PLANNING SOFTWARE FEATURES

Interactive GanttDynamic Task ListsKanban BoardsDashboard TrackerTeam
ManagementPortfolio Management


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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




PROJECT PLANNING TERMS

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.


PROJECT PLANNING STEPS

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:

 1.  Outline the business case
 2.  Meet with key stakeholders
 3.  Define project scope
 4.  Assemble a project team
 5.  Determine a project budget
 6.  Set project goals & objectives
 7.  Outline project deliverables
 8.  Create a project schedule
 9.  Assign tasks to your team members
 10. Do a risk analysis
 11. Create your project plan
 12. 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.


HOW TO CREATE A PROJECT PLAN WITH PROJECTMANAGER

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.


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.


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.


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.


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!


WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN?

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 ELEMENTS OF A PROJECT PLAN

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.


HOW LONG DOES THE PROJECT PLANNING PHASE TAKE?

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.


TECHNIQUES FOR THE PROJECT PLANNING PROCESS

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:

 * Workshops
 * 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.

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.


HOW TO MANAGE YOUR 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 Management Trends

 

 * How to Create a Project Roadmap (Example Included)
 * What Is Aggregate Planning? Strategies & Tips
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 * How to Create a Project Execution Plan (PEP) – Free Template Included
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