Welcome to our complete guide to project planning! If you want to know what a project plan is, how to create one, what the benefits are, and more – then you’re in the right place!
So, now that you’ve got the facts, let’s get into this complete guide.
What is project planning?
Project planning is the process of organising all of the tasks and resources required to achieve your project goals, as well as creating a schedule that will help you achieve everything within the desired timeframe.
Essentially, you’re creating a structured plan that will guide you through your project, from initiation to completion.
Why are project plans important?
Project plans are important because they help to ensure your project has a clear direction. Your project plan will help you to prioritise tasks, allocate resources, and manage your time effectively.
Proper planning is imperative for project success. Project plans not only give you a direction for your project, but they ensure that everyone else involved is on the same page too. This is important for making sure you’re all pushing towards the same goal so that your project has the best chance of success.
How to create a project plan
Creating a project plan is relatively easy and after you’ve done it once you can easily replicate it for all of your future projects! Here’s how to create a project plan in just 5 simple steps…
1. Define the project scope and objectives
First things first, you need to clearly define the goals and objectives of your project, and also the project scope.
The project scope defines exactly what’s included in the project and this can help to outline the boundaries so that everyone stays on track.
It’s important to be aware of something called ‘scope creep’ which is essentially when the parameters of the project begin to gradually change after work has started. This can be really detrimental and lead to project failure.
Your project objectives of course relate to what you hope to achieve with this project. Try to be as specific as possible, including deliverables, outcomes, and criteria for success.
2. Break project work down into tasks
As soon as you know what you hope to achieve you can begin chartering a path to help you get there.
The best way to do this is to break your project down into smaller, more management tasks. You can do this by using a planning tool loved by many project managers called Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
You can develop a WBS by following these basic steps:
2. Break those down into sub-deliverables
3. Break those down into individual tasks
4. Organise and assign the tasks
5. Review and refine
So, for example, if your big project deliverable is an animated video then your sub deliverables will be things like ‘script’ and ‘storyboard’ and your tasks will be ‘write first draft of the script’, ‘review client feedback’, ‘redraft script’, and so on.
You can organise these tasks by determining how long you expect each one to take and assigning them to team members with availability.
Then, as the project progresses, you can review and refine to see if you need to make tweaks in order to hit your project goal.
3. Set your schedule
You probably guessed that this is the next step! You need to create your project schedule so that you can accurately estimate how long your project will take.
Plot out your tasks, making note of how long you expect each one to take. A project management tool is probably the best way to do this so that you can share the schedule with both your internal team and any external stakeholders.
4. Allocate resources
We know we have this listed after setting your schedule, but realistically steps 3 and 4 can be done together. When we say ‘allocate resources’ we’re mainly talking about people.
Who are the people that are going to be working on your project? And are they available when you need them?
These are the main questions you need to answer during this part of the process. Of course, depending on the type of project you may also have to consider additional resources like materials and equipment.
5. Create a project communication plan
The final step is to create a solid project communication plan that allows everyone involved in the project to stay in touch.
A project communication plan outlines three important factors when it comes to project information:
2. Who will be communicating what
3. When information will be shared
These 3 things will ensure that everyone involved in the project can communicate with each other more successfully. It will reduce errors and time wasted on re-work, plus help you to better manage client expectations.
What is project planning software?
Project planning software gives you all of the tools you need to effectively plan and manage your projects in one centralised place.
Here are just some of the things you can do with project planning software, using Project.co as an example:
1. Share your project communication plan
After creating your project communication plan, it’s vital that you share it with everyone involved in your project. Project planning software can help you do exactly that!
On Project.co, we have a Files tool that you can use to keep all of your important documents together:
This makes it easy for everyone – both your internal team and external stakeholders – to view your files at any time throughout the project.
2. Manage resources
Understanding the availability of your staff is huge for project planning. With project planning software, you can allocate tasks to your team members so that you know who is working on what, and when.
Our Tasks tool is really powerful. Not only can you allocate a team member, assign a due date, and a priority level, you can also add sub-tasks, use AI to create a description, and even chat directly within tasks.
3. Create your schedule
Mapping out a project schedule is one of the best uses of project planning software. After you’ve allocated tasks to everyone involved in the project, you should have a nice, neat schedule that you can keep a close eye on to ensure you stay on track.
Project.co offers different views so you can choose the one that suits you best. Kanban is a great option for seeing progress at a glance and identifying potential bottlenecks.
4. Communicate (both internally and externally)
There is a serious cost to poor communication.
Project planning software can help solve these issues by ensuring you have an easy and straightforward way to communicate both internally and externally.
At Project.co we have our Discussions tool. It works just like any other messaging app but it’s right there in your project, alongside everything else you need.
5. Keep an eye on the project scope
It’s important to ensure scope creep doesn’t start happening to your projects as this can very quickly cause you to run over time and over budget.
Project planning software can help you keep an eye on project scope. We have a Notes tool that allows you to share any information you need to with internal team members (external stakeholders won’t see this).
You can share urgent information, client contact details, what was discussed in meetings, and more.
We also have a Time tool that allows you to track the time spent on projects.
This helps you to understand how long your tasks are taking and can not only keep you on track for existing projects but also help you plan better for future ones.
Benefits of project planning software
1. Centralisation
Every piece of information related to your project is in one place. This makes documents and other project-related info easy to find, and helps everyone to remain organised and focused on their goals.
2. Improved collaboration
When you have one centralised location for all of your project management stuff, collaboration is a breeze. It’s easier to share files, conversations flow and messages are never missed, plus people can access from wherever they are – something increasingly important as more businesses than ever are now completely remote.
3. Monitor progress
Monitoring project progress is a key feature of project planning software. This means you can assign tasks, track time, and identify potential bottlenecks all from one place.
This increased visibility also allows you to make changes to your schedule on the fly to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency.
4. Better reporting
Most project planning software will generate reports that can give you insights on how to better manage your projects.
Automated reports like this not only save you time, they also deliver insights that you might not have considered otherwise. And usually these insights can help you reduce risks and maximise overall project performance.
5. Scalability
Project planning software makes it easy to scale up or down to manage your projects. This is important because it allows you to maintain consistency regardless of how many projects you’re juggling.
Project plan example
Here’s an example of a plan for a project that we made up. Hopefully this is helpful for walking you through the key components so that you can create your own project planning document.
Executive Summary: The Community Garden Initiative aims to establish a sustainable garden in our neighbourhood. This garden will promote community engagement, improve access to fresh produce, and educate residents about gardening and healthy eating.
Project Objectives:
1. Establish a community garden
2. Increase community engagement
3. Encourage healthy eating
Project Scope: The project scope includes identifying and securing a plot of land, designing the garden, recruiting volunteers, preparing the site and planting the garden. Our budget is $5,000.
Project Schedule:
Planning (Jan – Feb)
Preparation (Feb – March)
Implementation (April)
NOTE: Here’s where you would include your WBS to identify individual tasks.
Project Team:
Project Manager: Samantha
Volunteer Coordinator: Bill
Garden Designer: Ben
Community Liaison: Andy
Marketing/Communications: Sara
Project Communication Plan: We will have a kick-off meeting and then bi-monthly meetings after that. All other information will be shared in real time via our project management tool.
Final thoughts
Hopefully you now have all the know-how you need to plan your projects like a pro! Of course, it helps to have a solid project management tool at your disposal so that you can put all of this planning knowledge to great use.
Why not check out Project.co? It’s free to get started and if you love it then the Pro plan gives you complete access to all features for just $10 per user per month!
