how to create a project management plan

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What Is a Project Management Plan Used For?

There are no shortcuts to a thorough understanding of your project than through a well-written, well-structured project plan document.

When compared to the project charter, which is a high-level strategy for the program, your project management plan breaks down that high-level perspective into the practical day-to-day operation of your project, addressing everything you must accomplish in order to achieve your project objectives.

Everything from timeframes to budgets , resources to deliverables, and more will be plotted out in a complete project plan, providing you with a roadmap of what needs fixing that you could use to manage and analyze your project.

What are the Components of a Project Management Plan?

A project management plan is a collection of baselines and subsidiary plans that include:

The Importance of Project Management Planning

There is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into any successful project. When you're a project manager, you'll have a lot to remember at all times. As a result of your project plan, you will know precisely what to concentrate on at each stage of the project, where to allocate resources and time, as well as what to watch out for in case things run over schedule or over budget.

In order to get the most out of a project, you need to put in a lot of effort upfront to create a project plan that will serve you well throughout the project's lifespan. Here are five reasons why project management planning is essential.

It Serves as a Starting Point for Your Project

Your project plan, based on the agreed-upon scope, timeframe, and budget, will be developed in accordance with the authorized project charter. Having these baselines in place, specified, and authorized by the project owner will allow you to compare the actual progress of your project to how it was expected to be achieved.

This is very beneficial since it allows you to rapidly assess whether or not your project is progressing according to plan and, if it isn't, what needs to be done to fix the situation.

The Project Is More Organized

There are no alarms or surprises when your project is written out in a clear project plan. To make sure there is no space for misunderstanding or miscommunication, your thorough project plan will lay out all of the deadlines and deliverables in great detail so that everyone involved is aware of exactly what is expected of them.

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It Lays Down the Project’s Scope in Detail

Another advantage of this alignment is that it prevents scope creep. When the project plan document clearly defines the stakeholder's expectations and all agreed-upon deliverables, it's easy to identify when anything is out of scope.

In addition, it makes it simpler to deal with these issues. As a result, everyone can be persuaded of what they initially committed to, and there is no doubt about what is (or isn't) within the scope of the project, owing to a written contract or project planning sheet.

It Provides for More Efficient Project Management

Breaking down the project's work into digestible parts like deliverables, goals, or tasks makes it much simpler to figure out what resources you'll need to get it done.

Once again, you may have begun to explain this in the scope statement at a basic level, but your project management plan would be where you become more specific about how you're going to utilize the resources you have available.

It Instills Confidence in Your Endeavor

Project sponsors, stakeholders, and the project team (and, if you're feeling really down, even yourself) might be comforted by knowing where you're heading and why.

When you have a project plan document, everyone can understand how your expertise as a project manager is advancing the project's and the organization's objectives in unambiguous terms.

Things You Need to Know Before Writing a Project Plan

You need to know these five things before you begin developing a project plan.

Determine the Project’s Baselines

The first step in creating a project strategy is to ensure you understand the fundamentals. Start with establishing the project's scope, timeline, and cost baselines, since these restrictions will dictate the remainder of your project planning.

Aside from the project charter, here is the place where you truly begin to map out these baselines and establish reliable estimations. Because you'll be comparing them to other projects to see how well yours does, be as specific as possible.

Determine the Repercussions of Your Project’s Failure to Meet Its Goals

Alternatively, you may ask yourself: what must happen first in order for the next step to be possible? Establishing your project's dependencies early on allows you to better manage your timetables, identify possible roadblocks, and minimize delays.

Select Key Players in the Undertaking

There are likely to be additional project stakeholders as you go through the project management plan as well as go through each step in more depth than you identified during your stakeholder analysis.

During this time, you should also consider which stakeholders have to be informed and engaged at which stages of the project in order to create a more thorough stakeholder management plan.

Identify the Project’s Key Milestones

What are the most important signs that your project is moving forward? Your project may be broken down into a series of smaller, more manageable parts, each with a clearly stated objective. This keeps the team engaged, enables you to celebrate your successes, and shows how the overall development is moving along.

Establish the Responsibilities of Everyone Involved in the Situation

With a clear picture of the labor and resources required, you can begin choosing who should be doing what. Each item must have a designated owner to ensure that it is completed.

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Creating a Project Management Plan

As per the PMBOK® Guide , the project management plan is an output of the Develop Project Management Plan process in the Project Integration Management Knowledge Area.

The Project management plan is not created all at once. It is progressively elaborated, which means it is developed, refined, revisited, and updated. Since the project management plan integrates all the knowledge area management plans into a cohesive whole, it needs to be assembled after all the component plans have been created.

Most of the components of the project management plan are created in various processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide; for instance, the Communications Management Plan is developed in the Plan communications process.

However, the Schedule Management Plan, Cost Management Plan, and Scope Management Plan are created in the Develop Project Management Plan process. When a project charter is created in the initiating process group, it contains a summary of scope, budget, and a summary (milestone) schedule.

Since you already have these things at the time you begin developing the project plan, you can go ahead and develop the scope management plan, cost management plan, and schedule management plan. Later, when you perform the Plan Scope, Estimate Costs, and Develop Schedule processes, you can revise the components of the project plan with more detail to reflect a deeper understanding of the project.

How to Create a Project Management Plan? [ Explained in 6 Steps]

Step 1 - create a high-level template for project planning.

When it comes to your company, what does a project plan appear like? Starting with any existing resources that you can use as a reference, such as project plan examples or project plan templates, is a good place to start when developing a project strategy.

Make use of whatever resources your company makes available, such as a high-level template for planning projects, a project planning worksheet, model plans, or a calendar for preparing projects

Step 2 - Define Your Project Objective

There are many free templates and examples available to lend a helping hand with your preparation, but remember to choose the proper one for your project type when using one.

Your project management plan should be personalized to your project type, workforce type, and specific demands. IT project plans for new equipment rollouts, for example, are likely to vary from agile project plans, which in turn are likely to differ from more comprehensive strategic project plans.

Gantt charts, task lists, and other project management elements may help you ensure that your plan is effective.

Step 3 - Identify All Stakeholders

Once your project outline is ready, you have to identify the key stakeholders in the project success. Hence, it is important to collect all your requirements. Once you have collected this information, you need to define the scope of the project for each stakeholder and mention clear deliverables. To ace this step of project management good communication skills are required.

Step 4 - Get Feedback From Your Customers, Project Stakeholders, and Team Members

A strategy written in a vacuum is less likely to acquire the support it needs when the time comes. Your stakeholders will feel more involved in the project planning process if you include them, and it sets the stage for an integrated team atmosphere that will benefit your project.

Make sure you gather feedback from the project's leading characters when you establish a project plan, whether it's a planning meeting, a brainstorming session, or a one-on-one interview. Also, as an additional perk? It's an excellent chance for you to continue establishing connections with key stakeholders that you began developing throughout the stakeholder and project charter and analysis.

Step 5 - Any Previous Project Management Planning You’ve Done Should Be Included

If you've already completed stages 1-5 of project planning, you should include the results of those steps into your project management plan, as well as any research you've done up to this point.

The Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide and Standards recommend the following strategies for your project management plan:

While the PMBOK suggests implementing these 10 strategies as a baseline, you may discover that various projects need different methods.

Each of these areas should be covered at some point in your project management planning, even if they aren't comprehensively documented.

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Step 6 - Choose a Central Location for Your Project Management Strategy

Your project management plan, including your project charter, should be kept centrally so that all parties involved, including stakeholders, the team members, management, and clients, can easily access it.

How to Turn Your Project Management Plan Into a Plan of Action

Using a project management tool, you can bring your defined project management strategy to life, ensuring that you remain on schedule, hold your team responsible, and promote openness throughout the project.

Project Management Plan Approval

Since the project management plan is a formal document that is used to manage the execution of the project , it must receive formal approval. Who grants the approval for the project management plan depends on the organizational structure and a number of other factors.

Usually, the customer or the senior management of an organization does not approve the project management plan document. The customer signs the contract but often leaves the internal workings of the organization delivering the project. Typically the project plan is approved by the project manager, project sponsor, or the functional managers who provide the resources for the project.

It becomes less difficult for a project manager to get the project management plan approved, if:

How Is Project Management Different From Financial Management?

Project Management involves all the practices required for managing a project to maintain its activities from its initiation till its termination, ensuring that the organizational goals and stakeholder demands are met.

Financial Management is all about managing resources and financial operations to increase profit while achieving the organization’s and stakeholder’s objectives as soon as possible in a satisfactory manner.

1. How can I write a project management plan?

Writing a project management plan requires you to identify your project baselines. Write an executive summary and create your timeline/ team charts. Next, you will have to perform and write a risk assessment. Note down your communications and resource sub plans. Lastly, present your project management plan to the stakeholders. Collect their insights, feedback, and suggestions. You must try to incorporate the relevant ones before finalizing your plan.

2. What are the six parts of a project management plan?

A project management plan comprises an executive summary, Gantt chart/ timeline, stakeholder or team chart, risk assessment, communication sub-plan, and resource sub-plan.

3. What is the purpose of a project management plan?

With all the details and necessary steps laid, a project management plan reduces confusion, boosts confidence, and prevents obstacles during project execution. It provides a clear outline and value proposition, assigning essential roles, identifying and preventing risks, outlining milestones, and ensuring clear communication and availability of essential resources.

4. What is project management methodology?

A project management methodology comprises a set of principles, processes, and values that gauge how a team will complete a project. It structures several factors that would influence the project competition, including planning, design and documentation, communication methods within and outside of the team, timelines, and assessment modes.

5. How can project planning software help plan projects?

Project planning software lends a helping hand and simplifies project planning from the beginning to the end. It supplies much-needed project management features and transparency in the planning and execution. It facilitates effective communication among and within teams, helps track key performance factors, store data in a central location, generate reports, and overcome any other project management challenges.

To understand how to build a career in project management, and how certification training prepares you for project management job roles in any industry, watch this video on PMP Certification Training.

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Are you ready to learn how to best handle project schedules, costs, the scope of work, project constraints, market competition, stakeholders, and more? Simplilearn’s Post Graduate Program in Project Management will help you jumpstart your career in Project Management.

Followed by PGP, you can also go through some frequently asked Project Manager Interview Questions tutorial so that you can be interview ready.

Are you looking forward to making a mark in the Project Management field? If yes, enroll in the Project Management Certification Program now and get a step closer to your career goal!

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What Is A Project Management Plan And How To Create One

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Updated: Nov 17, 2022, 11:12am

What is a project management plan, 6 parts of a project management plan, before you create a plan, how to create a project management plan in 7 steps, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

A project management plan offers a blueprint to stakeholders and end-users surrounding the execution of an upcoming project. While it takes time to put it together, the process is worth it. It helps to reduce risks, create buy-in, gather your team’s expertise, align communication and ensure resource availability. This guide outlines what a project management plan is and its benefits, and then offers an easy step-by-step guide on how to create one.

A project management plan is a set of documents that outline the how, when and what-ifs of a project’s execution. It overviews the project’s value proposition, execution steps, resources, communication tools and protocols, risks, stakeholders (and their roles) and the deliverables involved in a project’s completion. Its documents include an executive summary, Gantt and team charts, risk assessment and communication- and resource-management subplans.

What Is a Project Management Plan Used For?

A project management plan serves as a blueprint or roadmap to the ultimate success of your project. It does so by aligning talent, buy-in, manpower, resources, risk management and high-quality communication around your plan. It also ensures everyone knows their responsibilities, which tasks are involved and when deadlines are so the project stays on track for quality on-time completion.

Here is a closer look at project management plan use cases:

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A project management plan should include an executive summary, timeline or Gantt chart, resource management subplan, risk assessment, communication subplan and team chart. Here is an overview of each of these parts:

Before you begin writing your plan, take a few minutes to prepare. Doing so may involve defining what is at stake should the project not go well, identifying the milestones needed for successful completion, selecting key talent to complete your project, selecting and signing up for the tools that will make the plan creation process easy and efficient and defining the end beneficiary of your project. Below is a closer look at each of these preparation steps.

Failure Risk Assessment

Defining what would happen if the project were not completed successfully can guide you later as you motivate your execution team and formulate your plan’s and your project’s value proposition. This perspective tells all stakeholders how important their roles are.

Milestone Identification

One way to ensure you select the proper team members for plan creation and execution is to define the milestones for which they will be responsible. Once you have identified the milestones, you can identify the needed expertise and then the talent that holds that expertise.

Talent Selection

As you write your plan, it is essential to gather expertise from the team members who will execute it. Doing so could mean the success or failure of your project. Identifying these stakeholders now means you can get them involved sooner for higher collective knowledge during the planning process.

Tool selection

When planning your project, you will need to use charts, graphics and reports to record the necessary information. Graphic design tools like Canva and project management software like monday.com or Wrike can help.

Beneficiary or End-user Identification

Nothing can set you up for success in project completion like understanding what the end-user or project beneficiary needs in the final deliverable. Understanding this requires an understanding of that end-user or beneficiary. Take some time to listen to their needs, wants and hopes surrounding your project before beginning to plan a project that will impact and, hopefully, delight them ultimately.

To create a project management plan, first put together a high overview of the basics of your project, including the project’s scope, schedule and budget. Next, build on those basics to write an executive summary. Then, add a project timeline, risk assessment, stakeholder chart, communication plan and resource management plan to your executive summary. Lastly, gather and incorporate stakeholders’ insights to perfect and create buy-in for your plan.

1. Identify Baselines for Your Project

Your project’s baselines should first focus on the project’s scope, then the project’s schedule and, finally, its budget. The result should be a high overview that will inform the rest of your planning process. To complete this step, answer the following questions:

2. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary should include a definition of your project, your project’s value proposition, including the problem your project addresses and its solution, milestones and their deliverables, scope limits―and the consequences for changing these limits―goals and financial breakdown. Use the answers to the questions posed in step one to put together your executive summary.

As the face of your project before stakeholders, your executive summary should be visually appealing and succinct. Columns and visuals should break it up to make it easy to read quickly. One great tool for creating an attractive and succinct summary is a Canva executive summary template. You can customize a template to match your brand and add your content, then either download your executive summary or share it in link form.

To begin, sign up for Canva for free, then use the search box titled “What will you design?” for “executive summary” and press “enter.” Click the appropriate template for your purposes and brand, then use the tools on the left-hand side of the enlarged template to customize its colors, text and images. Add pages by clicking the plus sign at the top right-hand corner of the template and proceed to add text and customizations to complete your summary.

3. Plot Your Project’s Timeline

The best way to plot your project’s timeline is with a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a visual representation of what activities you plan to begin and complete and when. These activities are usually small chunks or milestones of your completed project. They also formulate the scope of your project, helping to reduce scope creep later on. Gantt charts are often the easiest to use to plot your timeline.

It is important to note expected dependencies on your Gantt chart. A dependency happens when one activity on a timeline must be completed before team members can go on to the next one. For example, a prototype needs to be completed before a focus group analysis of the prototype can take place. Thus, these two activities are dependent. Also note independent activities that can be completed even as other activities are underway, thereby saving time.

Pro tip: An easy way to note dependencies and independent activities is via color-coding. Arrows drawn on your Gantt chart can also help to pinpoint dependencies.

While Canva does offer Gantt charts to plot your project’s timeline, there are also platforms that specialize in producing Gantt chart software . Not only can this software help you put together your Gantt chart, but it can then help you stay on track with its timeline and avoid scope creep once your project begins via task descriptions and automations. If paying for such a service isn’t in your project’s budget, you can also create a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Gantt chart from monday.com

4. Define Stakeholder Roles

With your project activities recorded on your timeline, define who will be responsible for each activity. Your plan serves as a guiding star to all stakeholders involved in your project, so it’s best to record responsible parties in an intuitive chart. Create a project team chart to show who will be involved in completing the project and for which activities each is responsible. For collaboration ease, also note who each person is accountable to and their contact information.

Canva offers organizational or team chart templates you can use to customize for the needs of your project. Search “organizational chart” using the search bar in your Canva account. Click the chart that best suits your project and brand needs. Then, use the design menu to upload pictures of your team members, customize colors and replace template text to offer the data your stakeholders need for easy collaboration during the life of your project.

An example of a Canva organizational chart template to be adapted to create a project team chart.

5. Perform a Risk Assessment

Your risk assessment should begin with a list of obstacles that could impact your team’s ability to complete the project on time negatively at all and with the desired quality. It should then create a plan for each risk by addressing what might trigger the risk, steps that lend to risk prevention and how to mitigate a risk should it happen. Finally, it should assign stakeholders to manage risk triggers, prevention and mitigation. Some teams use a SWOT analysis to help identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in this stage.

To dive into each risk, answer the following questions:

As you assigned responsible parties for each project activity, you likely selected people who had expertise in the areas in which their assigned activities fall. For example, if you assigned the graphic design of a marketing project to a team member, that person is likely a graphic designer. Their expertise is invaluable in assessing graphic design risks and their prevention and mitigation steps. Lean on your team for this expertise, and then implement their suggestions.

6. Create Key Subplans

Two key subplans you should include in your project management plan are a resource and communications management plan. Your resource sub plan should list what resources are needed to complete your project and their availability. Your communications plan should include how your team will communicate one-on-one and team-wide.

Resource Management Plan

A resource subplan can be completed in project management software. You can create columns for estimated expenses and other needed resources broken down by milestones, such as raw products and talent. Other customizable resource reports are available within the software and automatically kept up to date. Wrike, for example, offers customizable reports where you can track resource availability and export reports to include in your plan.

An example of Wrike’s customizable resource reports

Communications Management Plan

While it may seem inconsequential compared to your risk assessment and resource plan, poor communication is the primary reason most projects experience scope gaps and project failure, according to a PMI study . Poor communication can, therefore, derail all your other planning efforts.

As such, your communications management plan should be detailed and address what, when and how information will be shared during your project. Details should focus on what needs to be communicated and at what intervals during the project execution, stakeholders’ communication preferences, a communication schedule for virtual meetings or phone calls that occur at planned intervals, who will review tasks, to whom task completions should be reported and what platforms or tools should be used for communication purposes.

Pro tip: For best results, look at the communication tools available in your project management software. Alternatively, consider what communication-tool integrations it offers. For example, most project management software offer integrations with Slack. Using available tools within your software will allow ease of collaboration and the communication visibility your team needs to stay on the same page and on track.

7. Gather and Incorporate Feedback From Stakeholders

The team you have chosen to own the activities on your project timeline are uniquely capable of doing so. As such, they are likely to have recommendations you might not think about to make your project more successful. Moreover, if their insights are incorporated into the plan, they are more likely to enthusiastically follow it. So, get your team together and go over the details of your plan. Learn from them and incorporate their insights.

In addition, present your plan to the end-user or client for whom you are executing the project. Make sure they agree to the project scope and its deliverables. Make their preferred changes now so you don’t have to make them later. Discuss what will happen if they change their minds later―extra fees, for example―so that scope creep does not impact your project’s successful execution, on-time completion or quality final deliverable negatively.

Creating a project management plan is the first critical step to ensuring a quality project execution and completion. Without it, you risk project derailment, a blown budget, an unrealized value proposition and a potentially frustrated end-user. With it, you enjoy buy-in, resource availability, budget adherence, a quality and expertly-driven final deliverable and a delighted end-user. We hope this guide sets you on a trajectory to enjoy all of these benefits.

What are the six parts of a project management plan?

At minimum, a project management plan includes an executive summary, timeline or Gantt chart, stakeholder or team chart, risk assessment, communications subplan and resource subplan.

How do I write a project management plan?

To write a project management plan, begin by identifying your project baselines, then write an executive summary, create your timeline and team charts, perform and write a risk assessment and write your communications and resource subplans. Finally, present your plan to all involved stakeholders to gather and incorporate their insights, suggestions and feedback, and then finalize agreement around your plan.

What is the main purpose of a project management plan?

A project management plan lays out the details and steps necessary to reduce confusion, create confidence and prevent obstacles and risks during project execution. It does so by providing a clear outline and value proposition of the project, assigning essential roles, outlining milestones and the final deliverable, identifying and taking steps to prevent risks, ensuring clear communication guidelines and ensuring the availability of essential resources.

What is project management methodology?

A project management methodology is a set of principles, values and processes that determine how a team will complete a project. It dictates factors such as level of planning, design and documentation; methods of communication within and outside of the project team; timelines; and modes of assessment.

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How to Write a Project Management Plan (& Free Templates)

Written by: Brian Nuckols

Today, we’ll cover the crucial elements and steps you need to take when creating a project management plan. We've also included 15 project plan templates you can use right away. The good news is you can download them for free, edit them online, and share them with your team .

Let's start with some basic information about project management plans, but feel free to jump ahead to the templates using the table of contents below.

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit project management templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

What is a project management plan, what is included in a project management plan.

How to Create a Project Plan in 4 Simple Steps

15 Project Management Plan Templates to Choose From

A project management plan is a formalized document that outlines a project from beginning to end. Often, a project management plan includes a methodology for risk management , a cost management section and a way to track your schedule and due dates.

Project management plans are crucial for your change management efforts and to keep your project schedule on track.

Tools like Visme can help you design effective project management plans that communicate metrics to key stakeholders and team members.

A good project management planning template will cover all the necessary information that's required to successfully get the project off the ground. This includes what needs to be done, when and how it's going to be done and who is responsible for each task involved.

Here are the major sections to include in your project management plan.

Element #1: Executive Summary

The first part of the project to cover is the executive summary . An executive summary is simply a short paragraph outlining the critical contents of the report, which you can use to set the tone for your project plan.

Element #2: Project Scope & Deliverables

The next section of the project management plan is the project scope and deliverables. The project scope is a break down of all the work that needs to be done to achieve the project goals.

This section is particularly useful for project managers to track the actual progress of the project and limit unnecessary scope creep.

Element #3: Project Schedule

The third aspect of your project is the project schedule. Making a schedule is a critical component in the planning phase because it will help you and the rest of your team stay on track throughout the project.

Element #4: Project Resources

The next section of a project management outline is the project resources section. This section outlines everything you need to successfully complete the entire project, from the necessary people and budget to tools and equipment.

Element #5: Risk Management Plan

The fifth section of your project management plan includes your protocol regarding risk. You may want to have a list of potential mishaps or obstacles that may get in your way.

Creating a risk management plan will help you prepare for and address project risks as they come up.

Element #6: Communication Management Plan

Lastly, you will need to include a communication plan. This section will determine how team members communicate with each other throughout the project life cycle.

Your team members may have different communication styles , so it's important to acknowledge these differences and decide on how to navigate these differences in the most efficient way.

Manage your projects in style

How to Write a Project Plan in 4 Simple Steps

Not sure where to start? Creating a project management plan is a simple and straightforward process if you follow a structure like the one below.

Step #1: Highlight key points with an executive summary.

The executive summary is a brief description of your project management plan that gives a description and a high level overview of the project plan. When it comes to your project documents, stakeholders will usually read the executive summary first.

You might find things like goals, milestones, the overall timeframe and the critical milestones you need to hit to make the project a reality. However, keep in mind the executive summary should be brief — think of your summary as a proof of concept.

Step #2: Add a visual representation of your timeline.

Successful projects are planned meticulously. A key aspect that will help you improve your planning is to add a visual representation of your timeline . This timeline will be a great resource to monitor as your project progresses.

In step two, you may want to add a Gantt chart to make the process of building your timeline easier. You can use the Gantt chart template below for your project planning process.

Customize this template and make it your own! Edit and Download

Using a Gantt chart, you can plot tasks and milestones by date. This will help you assign resources, analyze dependencies and prepare your team for the work ahead.

Step #3: Visualize team structure with an organizational chart.

A challenging aspect of project planning is getting on the same page with your team. You need to know who is responsible for what before you can operate at peak efficiency.

Visualize team structure with the help of an organizational chart so everyone is clear about their role in the project. You can customize the template below for your own project team.

Step #4: Use project status reports to stay ahead of deadlines.

The final step we’ll explore together is the creation of project status reports . These status reports will help keep internal team members and external stakeholders updated on the project progress.

You can begin this process in the initial kick off meeting by setting expectations for when you will share status reports. Build the infrastructure and processes for reporting on your progress ahead of time. This is an easy way to make sure your team is staying on track.

15 Project Management Plan Templates to Use Right Away

Now that you understand what to include in your project management outline, here are some project management plan examples to give you a head start. Each template is ready to download and fully customizable or browse through our other project plan templates to find your ideal fit.

Template #1: Project Communication Plan

One of the best ways to improve team efficiency and align everyone to the same vision is to improve communication. From communicating stakeholders’ needs to describing the vision behind your most significant decisions — communication is critical.

This project communication plan template is ideal for digital marketers and agencies ready to work on their next campaign. But, you can easily edit it for use in any other industry or field.

Visme’s editor allows you to easily customize the template in ways that help your brand stand out . You swap the font styles, colors and typography with a few clicks.

Template #2: Project Schedule Planner

This project planner and schedule template is designed with a professional and clean style. It comes with a modern color scheme and easy-to-edit sections that help you make fast, efficient progress in your project.

You can use it to track a wide variety of projects across many industries.

Visme makes it easy to unlock the power of personalization. Start by adding your brand fonts and colors. Also, add some icons and images to enhance your design.

Template #3: Cancer Fundraiser Project Plan

The next template we’ll explore is the cancer fundraiser template. This template is excellent for non-profits or advocates who are putting together a multistage project.

The template is pre-designed to help you create an efficient and professional design. It comes loaded with beautiful color schemes and design elements that you can tweak or delete.

When you’re ready to make the template your own, you can start to swap in your brand colors. Also, Visme makes it easy to import your fonts or to explore our massive library.

We also have a library full of design elements, including charts and graphs, which you can explore for your project plan.

Template #4: Retail Development Project Plan

This retail development project management plan template is pre-designed with a modern style. The use of white space, a clean layout and contrasting colors make this project plan template ideal for corporate and professional use.

You can use this template to track and manage a large variety of projects across several industries.

Visme makes it easy to unlock the power of personalization. Start by adding your brand fonts and colors. Also, add some icons and images to up-level your design.

Template #5: Agile Project Plan

Let’s move on to our fifth template. The agile project plan template is an excellent choice if you’re looking to create a project plan with a clean and modern design.

The template comes designed with a professional color scheme. Also, the design elements are easy to tweak to make rapid progress on your plan.

The agile project plan template is excellent for project management professionals looking to speed up their workflow. You can use it to track all kinds of projects.

Plus, you are not limited to colors and design elements included in the template. You can easily use the Visme editor to add your brand colors and fonts. If you’d prefer to experiment, we have libraries full of design elements that you can utilize on your next project.

Template #6: Construction Project Plan

This construction project plan template is a good choice for corporate or real estate teams who want to protect their reputation for professionalism and set their customer’s minds at ease.

The design achieves this in two ways.

First, the template uses modern and clean design elements. Second, Visme is built with non-designers in mind. This ease of use means that you can efficiently complete the project plan and meet all your deadlines.

While the template already has a beautiful set of design elements, it’s easy to make it your own. When you’re ready, just add in your colors or fonts. If you don’t quite have a creative vision for your plan yet, you can browse our massive library of design elements.

Template #7: Healthcare Project Plan

This healthcare project plan template is most suitable for project managers in the healthcare industry, but anyone in the larger health and wellness field may benefit from using it.

This template is designed with a clean style. With modern colors and design elements that you can utilize right way, it offers an excellent foundation for a professional project plan.

One of the best features of Visme is the ability to personalize your project plan to make it your own. You have complete control over design elements like icons, fonts and the color scheme.

Template #8: Rebranding Project Plan

Let’s move on to our eighth template. The rebranding project plan template is an excellent choice if you’re looking to make a project plan with a beautiful design.

The template is made with a clean and modern color scheme. Plus, the design elements are easy to edit to complete the project plan on your own.

The rebranding project plan template is a fantastic choice for brands looking to shift their online presence with a new campaign or website. However, the template can also be used for other types of projects, such as corporate projects, real estate projects and construction projects.

While the template does come preloaded with design elements, you are not limited by these choices. The Visme editor makes it easy to edit the template until it matches your vision.

Template #9: House Engineering Project Plan

This house building project plan template is suitable for multistage projects that have a lot of moving parts.

The design is perfect for these types of projects for a couple of reasons. First, the modern design creates a good user experience that improves team communication.

Second, Visme is built with efficiency in mind. This ease of use means that you can rapidly move from stage to stage during the design process. This helps you stay organized and on track.

The template comes preloaded with stunning design elements. However, if you have your vision, that’s great as well. It’s simple to add in your colors or fonts, pictures, icons and colors.

Template #10: Video Creation Project Plan

The next template we’ll explore is the beautiful video creation project plan template. Something that jumps out about this template is the professional approach it takes with color.

Notably, it’s also built with editing speed in mind, which means you can make fast progress on your project plan. While marketing professionals and content creators will get a massive benefit from this template, it’s also great for a wide variety of projects.

Template #11: Technology Project Plan

Let’s move on to our next template — the technology project plan template. This template is a terrific choice if you’re looking to create a project plan with a modern design.

The template comes designed with a color scheme that gives you a professional look. Plus, it’s easy to swap in new design elements so your project plan has a unique look and feel.

The tech project plan template helps tech startups and software teams who need to speed up their workflow. However, you can use it to track all kinds of projects.

Also, Visme never limits you to the design elements found in the template. You have a ton of flexibility to help make your next project plan your own.

Template #12: Software Project Plan

The software project plan template is a good choice for tech startups who want to ship their product improvements consistently. The template is packed with modern design elements.

Also, Visme is built with speed in mind. This ability to work quickly means that you can efficiently complete the planning portions of your projects.

While the template already has a robust set of design elements, you can easily swap in your ideas to make the plan your own. Or, easily add your own colors or fonts to the template.

Template #13: Travel and Lodging Website Project Plan

The next template we’ll explore is an excellent choice for your next project plan — the travel and lodging website project plan template. The modern color design and easy to edit design elements come together to create a helpful template for project management professionals.

While it’s specifically built for the travel industry, you can use it to track and manage a wide variety of projects across several industries and fields.

With Visme, you can make any template highly unique. Get started by adding in your brand fonts and colors. Moreover, browse through built-in libraries of free design assets.

Template #14: Book Writing Project Plan

The book writing project template is a good choice if you’re looking to create a project plan for your book or any other type of publication.

The template comes designed with a color scheme you won’t get bored of looking at every day. Also, the design elements are easy to tweak so you can make rapid progress on your goals.

The book writing project plan is perfect for authors and future authors who want to take their book plans to the next level. In the template, you can easily use the Visme editor to add your brand colors and fonts.

If you’d prefer to experiment, we have tons of options in our library to help, such as free images, icons, shapes, illustrations, charts, graphs and pre-designed content blocks.

Template #15: Website Redesign Project Plan

The last template we’ll explore is the website redesign project plan. This template is a good choice for design agencies and brands looking to create a new website.

The template uses modern and clean design elements. Also, because Visme is built with non-designers in mind, it’s an easy template to customize and use.

With this template, you can efficiently complete the project plan and meet all your deadlines. While the template already has a beautiful set of design elements, it’s also easy to edit and adapt it to your own needs.

When you’re ready to get started, just add in your colors or fonts. If you’re not sure what to add, you can browse our massive library of design elements.

What is a simple project plan?

A simple project plan is a formal document that helps with project execution and planning. The primary purpose of a simple project plan is to help with planning and communication.

Also, project plans help facilitate excellent team communication between stakeholders.

Who approves a project management plan?

Usually, a project manager or PMP is in charge of approving the plans and releasing the needed resources for the project. This role is sometimes called the project sponsor.

Typically, the person who approves the plan is also in charge of monitoring the baseline project metrics to ensure everything is running according to schedule.

What is the main purpose of a project management plan?

The main purpose of the project management plan, sometimes called a project charter, is to provide a document that acts as a reference for everyone in the project. This document provides all the essential details, lists the project stakeholders and describes the processes you need to implement.

What is a good project plan?

Excellent project planning happens when you can define your project objectives, describe your goals and list all the milestones you need to complete to finish the project.

Also, a good plan needs to be accessible. If you’re not sharing your project with everyone on your team, it cannot facilitate communication.

If you’re simply creating a plan and not sharing it, you’re wasting time and effort.

What is a detailed project plan?

If you’d like to create a detailed project plan, you need to add a few components.

First, you need to justify your plan. What solutions is your project designed to implement?

Next, it’s essential to talk about the outcomes. A detailed project plan must list the direct outcomes it hopes to achieve.

Lastly, it’s essential to talk about outcomes or deliverables. It’s crucial to spend time talking about what exactly the final product will look like.

What’s the best project plan maker online?

Visme has the best project management plan on the market today. Our templates help you display your projects in an engaging way. As we discussed in this article, we have templates to help your project team stay on track.

You can use these templates to mockup your project plans fast.

Visme will help you achieve your goals and stay on schedule with your next project.

Ready to Design Your Own Project Management Plan?

If you made it to this section of the article, you know it’s time to create a project management plan with Visme . For some extra help, check out a guided tour of Visme in this animated explainer video.

When you’re ready, sign up for a free Visme account and start designing your next project management plan right away.

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About the Author

Brian Nuckols is a writer working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He enjoys communicating visionary ideas in clear, action oriented language. When he’s not working on content for a transformative company you can find him analyzing dreams, creating music, and writing poetry.

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How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Steps (+Free Templates)

Want to create an excellent project plan ?

Creating a project plan is the essential first step before diving into any project .

I mean, even Ben Gates couldn’t steal the Declaration of Independence in the “National Treasure” movie series without doing some planning .

So what’s a project plan exactly?

More importantly, how do you create one?

In this article, we’ll cover what a project plan is, why you need it, and give you a step-by-step guide on how to create one. We’ll also cover how a project management tool can help you plan projects easily.

What Is A Project Plan?

5 Reasons Why You Need A Project Plan

How to create a simple project plan in 5 steps [step-by-step guide], key components of a successful project plan, how to plan and manage projects effortlessly, project plan templates in clickup, what is a project plan .

A project plan is a detailed document that describes what is required to execute and manage a project .

Created during the project planning phase, this document explains various elements of a project , like the:

Bonus: Action Plan Templates

Remember, you need to analyze and plan each element carefully for successful project completion.

And to do that, the project plan includes many other subsidiary management plans, like:

This sounds like a lot of planning !

But once you have a great project plan , tackling the project becomes super easy.

Think of it this way:

A project plan is a treasure map that shows you where to go, how to get there and what paths to take when something goes wrong. Sure, treasure maps are often hard to acquire — but once you get them, the search becomes easy!

But a project plan isn’t the only map you use in project management .

You also have a project charter and a project management plan .

So before diving deeper into project plans , let’s check out the other two documents and see if they’re actually different from a project plan .

A. What is a project charter ?

A project charter is a short document (usually 1–2 pages) that gives you a high-level overview of a project.

Created early in the project life cycle , the charter defines various project data, like:

Wait… aren’t these the same things defined in a project plan ?

Then how are they different from each other?

The project charter is a project’s summary that’s submitted to the project committee for their approval. Once it’s approved, you create the project plan — which clearly describes every aspect of the project .

Additionally, after a project charter is approved, it remains fixed throughout the project life cycle. However, a project plan evolves over the life cycle — the initial plan would cover all the rough details, but it wouldn’t be comprehensive until a few stages later.

Related: Executive Summary Templates

B. What is a project management plan ?

Unlike the project plan , which describes what the project needs, the project management plan describes how to implement the work and manage the project.

For example, Gates’ project plan will describe what’s required to steal the Declaration of Independence. But his project management plan will explain how they’re going to pull it off.

As the project management plan clarifies the project’s technology, system and techniques, it’s even more detailed than the project plan ( usually over 100 pages! ).

However, most project managers often use both these terms interchangeably — “ project plan ” as a short form of “ project management plan ”.

That’s why we’ll also use them interchangeably in this article.

You now know what a project plan (or a project management plan ) is.

But why do you actually need it?

Let’s find out…

Gates and his team need a secret map to find a lost treasure (and clear his family’s name).

And while a project team doesn’t have to go on such treasure hunts, they still need a plan for successful project completion.

Looking for Reasons Why You Need A Project Plan?

Great, right? But how do you go about developing an effective project management plan?

Creating a project plan document isn’t as tricky as finding a lost treasure hoard.

However, it can be a pain if you don’t know how to perform the project planning process properly. To help you out, here are five easy steps to create a project management plan :

1. Do your research and ask the right questions

Gates and his team would never start a quest without brushing up on their history.

While it improves their knowledge area , it also gives them clarity over how to solve the challenge!

Likewise, the first step in creating a project plan is to do your research and understand the project .

And how do you do that?

By going through all available information on the project — client discussions you’ve had so far, preliminary ideas you’ve jotted down, etc.

And if you need more information ( which you probably will ), instead of making wild guesses, ask the right questions.

Ask yourself (and your team ) questions like:

This not only helps you understand what you’ll be working on but also helps you prepare for potential issues that could pop up down the line.

Quick tip : Always include your project management team in the planning process. This way, you can create project plans that align with your team’s capabilities.

2. Define the project

Once you know what you’ll be doing, you need to define the project clearly.

You don’t want the project sponsor, key stakeholder or team members to be confused about the project.

Here’s how you should define the two most essential elements in any project:

A. Project objective

Define what you’re looking to achieve in the project .

While your main project objective will be to develop the deliverable , you could also have secondary objectives. This could be anything from improving project team cohesion to streamlining your processes.

B. Project scope

Most scopes change over their project life cycle — especially Agile and Scrum projects.

So it might be easier to define what falls outside your project scope instead of trying to determine what falls within it. Additionally, without a proper scope definition , it’ll be hard to avoid scope creep.

What’s scope creep ?

Scope creep happens when the project scope keeps increasing continuously. This ultimately leads to various project risks, like employee burn out, due to many additional tasks.

3. Create a project schedule

What’s a project without a schedule, right?

Here’s how to craft an effective project schedule :

With a well-planned schedule, you’ll be able to complete the project on time.

4. Assign roles and responsibilities

Remember when Ben asked Riley to keep a watch on the others when he’s stealing the Declaration?

But who gets what assignment?

This largely depends on their skills and expertise and the complexity or priority of a task .

Let’s use this project plan example :

Ben wants you to build an app that’ll help him detect buried objects. The most important and, possibly, complex task would be to develop a magnetic sensor. So you’ll assign the best people in your team to do this.

Including your project management team in the planning process will be super helpful here.

As they know their skills better than anyone else, you’ll be able to assign responsibilities accordingly.

This ensures that nobody bites off more than they can chew!

5. Conduct a post-project analysis

No management plan is complete without a post-project analysis.

After all, you need to know how good your plan was, right?

Once the project’s over, ask your project management team to give you feedback over what they liked and disliked about it. This feedback will help you craft future project plans that are far more effective and team-friendly.

Additionally, you can add a post-project review phase into your project plans — to check if you’d met your project goal and analyze your team’s performance.

A good project plan always includes a recommended budget . It’s a simple way to keep your expenditure processes on track and keep the project profitable.

2. Detailed Work Tasks

Your project plan should include a work breakdown of every task and subtask associated with the project.

3. Project Schedule

A project plan must include a project schedule to keep your project running smoothly. You should map out the project timeline to ensure that you meet your deadlines.

4. Resource Management

Your project plan needs to take stock of the resources at your disposal in order to manage them effectively. These resources could be things like manpower, software, hardware or time.

5. Communication Systems

Your project plan must communicate your project objectives and expectations clearly. Moreover, there should be software and systems in place so that your project team can communicate easily.

6. Project Scope

A successful project plan outlines its scope clearly. It defines what it’s goals are and what falls under its purview. This helps you avoid scope creep – which can drastically slow your progress.

7. Project Outcomes

A project manager can use project plans to spell out the goals, project milestones , and deliverables associated with each project stage.

Bonus: How to Write a Project Proposal & Project Proposal Templates

While creating a management plan is crucial for a successful project , it can be exhausting.

From identifying the project goal to creating a work breakdown structure , there’s a lot involved.

Nope, Riley!

Luckily, with a powerful project management software like ClickUp , you can plan and manage multiple projects efficiently.

But what’s ClickUp?

ClickUp is the world’s #1 project management tool .

From the project planning process to project closure, this project management software will help you with anything and everything — even remote project management!

Here’s a closer look at how ClickUp streamlines the project management process :

1. Goals to set a project goal and track it

Ben Gates doesn’t go exploring without setting some professional goals in mind.

But in project management , you can’t just set project goals in your head !

You’ll just forget them when you have a gazillion other things to take care of!

So what can you do?

Use ClickUp’s Goals !

Goals in ClickUp are high-level containers that break down your project goal into smaller, measurable Targets .

For example, if your Goal is to build that metal detector app for Ben, your Target could be “develop the magnetic sensor”.

Your Scrum team members can now tackle these small Targets and finish them to achieve the Goal. As you complete each Target, the tool auto-updates your Goal progress percentage. This tells you exactly how close you’re to achieving the project Goal !

2. Tasks , Subtasks and Checklists for easy project task management

Project planning is only one part of project management .

You also have tons of other things to take care of like, scope management , tracking your project timeline and more.

Manually keeping track of all these (especially in larger scrum projects ) will burn out even an efficient project manager like Ben.

But with ClickUp, that won’t be a problem!

It lets you break down your whole project into Tasks, Subtasks and Checklists for effortless management .

Here’s how it works:

3. Docs to create a project plan document

Treasure maps or clues are super precious to any explorer, right?

You can’t just write your plan on a piece of paper — it could get lost or even fall into the wrong hands!

Instead, just use ClickUp’s Docs to draft and manage your project plan document .

Docs let you document your project needs within each project space. From a configuration management plan to your project budget , just use Docs to create and store everything easily.

For seamless real-time collaboration with your team members, you can set access rights for each Doc and share it with them.

But that’s not all.

You can also:

4. Assigned comments for quick delegation

Ben delegated tasks to Riley and Abigail, right?

You need to do the same for your project team members .

But when you’re managing tons of different things at once, it’s easy for your team to overlook what you told them to do.

Use ClickUp’s Assigned Comments !

This feature lets you create tasks out of comments and assign them to any team member (including yourself). The assignee will then be notified instantly and it’ll also pop up in their task tray — making it impossible to go unnoticed.

Once they’ve finished the task , they can resolve the comment to eliminate unnecessary follow-ups!

With a simple project plan template, you can start your project planning process quickly.

You don’t have to create a plan from scratch every time, just copy your data into a project plan template and you’re good to go!

Here are some simple project plan templates to help you start your planning process immediately:

1. Project management plan template

Use this simple project plan template to keep track of all your project tasks in ClickUp:

2. Project roadmap template

A project roadmap is a visual overview of your project deliverables and goals. It’s the quickest way to manage stakeholder expectations in your project.

Here’s a ClickUp roadmap template that lists project deliverables or goals with details like assignee, due date, etc.

3. Roadmap – Board template

Here’s a ClickUp template that displays your roadmap in a Kanban-style:

4. Roadmap – Gantt chart template

If you prefer to have your roadmap in a Gantt chart view , you can use this ClickUp template :

Gantt charts are a great way to visualize data, empowering users in ways unimagined before. Truly an amazing feat! Want to see the best use cases for Gantt Chart’s? Check out our top 20 Gantt Chart Examples .

5. Management plan – Gantt chart template

You can also use a Gantt chart template to track your project progress in ClickUp.

But these aren’t the only features that ClickUp has for easy project planning and management !

This powerful project management software also offers other handy features like:

While creating a project plan is vital, it can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing.

But don’t worry.

Just use the processes and templates we listed here to map your project’s journey easily!

However, as your project success chiefly depends on how effective this plan is, you need to be well-equipped to navigate it.

And for that, you need a powerful project planning tool like ClickUp!

From planning projects to project execution and tracking your in-house/ remote team’s productivity , this tool has everything you need — just like how Riley and Abigail help Ben with everything he needs to solve mysteries.

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

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How to use a RAID Log in Project Management

Project-management.com’s top 3 software recommendations.

Why are logs important?

Logs are among the simplest but most valuable tools of a project manager . Basically, a log is a list of items with key pieces of information for each item. The use of a log includes the following benefits :

One important project management log for managing issues and risks is the RAID log. Projects will always have issues that arise during the execution of a project. And risks are issues that have not happened yet. A RAID log helps keep track of the risks the team foresees as well as the issues that arise.

What is a RAID log?

A RAID log is a project management tool where the project manager logs, documents, or tracks the risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies of a project. One variation of the RAID log substitutes ‘actions’ for assumptions, and ‘decisions’ for dependencies. Another version combines them to form a RAAIDD log. The version that a team uses will depend on what they consider more helpful in managing their project.

Why should you use a RAID log?

After the project planning phase, the project execution phase begins. Happening at the same time is the project monitoring and control phase to measure performance and progress if everything is proceeding according to plan. A RAID log is an effective tool to track risks, issues, or any other event or circumstance that can affect or influence the project. Examining the items of a RAID log can show its importance.

A risk is an exposure of the project to an uncertain future event that may have an impact on the project’s completion. A RAID log lets the project manager identify probable risks and the events, situations, or activities that either increase or decrease the chance of the risk from happening and becoming an issue. Aside from the likelihood of happening, the project manager can also asses the severity of the risk, and plan for the resources and actions to minimize it.

An assumption is a supposition that a piece of information is true, because there is no evidence at hand that shows it is not. A project manager may assume that something will stay the same or something will eventually change as the project team proceeds to execute their tasks. It is important to review or track if assumptions still hold true. Once assumptions are proven to be false, changes in the plan and the execution should be made.

The other A stands for action, which is needed to complete a task or to respond to an issue. The action needs to have an owner who will complete the action by a certain time or date. The project manager can track and note the date the action has been completed, and if it needs a follow-up.

An issue is a problem that occurred and needs to be clearly identified. It may affect the project in various ways, such as prolonging the completion, delaying its progress, adding complexity, requiring additional resources, and others. The project manager needs to track all issues, their severity and impact, and communicate how they are being managed and resolved.

A dependency is a required project item that must be completed in order for the plan to proceed unimpeded. It can be a deliverable, a resource, a normalized condition, a pending approval, or something else. Whatever it is, it must be delivered or presented for the project to proceed. The project manager should monitor all dependencies, help obtain faster delivery on them if possible, and communicate with stakeholders how they are managed.

The other D is decision, which the project manager should record all that were made during the course of the project. It is a reference and should include information such as who made the decision, when that decision was made or implemented, and the justification as to why it was made.

How to implement a RAID log in your current process

Use a spreadsheet or specialized project management tool to maintain your RAID log. Organize the log according to the items or topics it tracks. Each topic can have its own tab. The project manager maintains the log and decides the level of detail each item in the log will have.

The input to the log can come from many sources, such as the project sponsor, team members, users, partners, vendors, contractors, and other stakeholders. Additionally, documents from other similar projects can be considered a source.

Create the RAID log during the initial planning phase. You can update it during regular meetings. The frequency of the updates may vary from topic to topic, depending also on the nature of the project. For example, risks and assumptions should be updated at least once a month, more often if possible. Actions, like project tasks, may need updating daily. Issue updates also depend on the severity of the issue, and usually require the corresponding update of the corrective action. Dependencies and decisions also need to be updated as needed, at least once a month.

Potential pitfalls to look out for

For the busy project manager, the RAID log is a shortcut for organizing information and maintaining control of some of less visible parts of a project. However, as a shortcut, it should not be considered as the single complete source of information.

A RAID log is only as current as the updates it receive. If it is outdated, then the information it provides will not be reliable. If you spend too much time updating your RAID log, you may miss out on other important responsibilities. Delegate some of the updating responsibilities to your team members who can change certain areas of the log according to their role. Use modern tools like project management software.

periodically not only the items you have identified, but also your definition of risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies. And do not forget to make a final review at the close of the project.

Recommended Project Management Software

If you’re interested in learning more about top rated project management software, the editors at Project-Management.com actively recommend the following:

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Wrike is the most powerful work management platform on the market, enabling teams to plan projects and collaborate in real time. Our award-winning software is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including Sony, Estée Lauder, and Siemens.

Wrike’s customizable features include Gantt charts, request forms, dashboards, cross-tagging, time tracking, and proofing. Integrate with 400+ apps from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. Automate repetitive tasks and achieve 50% faster planning. Work from anywhere with 100% access to your files via our mobile and desktop apps.

Whether you’re a small startup or an established brand, Wrike has the solution for you. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month. Join our community of 2.3 million — start your free two-week trial today.

Learn more about Wrike

ClickUp is one of the highest-rated project management tools today. Use Docs, Reminders, Goals, Calendars, Chat, scheduling, assigned comments, custom views, & more with this all-in-one project management tool.

Used by 800,000+ teams in companies like Airbnb, Google, and Uber, it brings all of your projects into a single app! Built for teams of all sizes and industries, Our fully customizable & proprietary features make it a must-have for anyone wanting to keep project management in one place.

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3 Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a leading work execution platform that has real-time work management features, collaboration and automation tools. Users are presented with a familiar and easy-to-use spreadsheet-like interface. However, it has enterprise-grade capabilities that even Fortune 500 companies like Cisco, Bayer, HP, and PayPal are confident to adopt in their business. Strong project management features enable teams to utilize different views of real-time data, and switch easily from Gantt, card, grid and calendar views. Smartsheet has automatic update requests, and can be used for waterfall and agile projects, product launch, sprint planning, and more. The resource management feature provides users the visibility who is busy, and who is not, in real-time. They can also attach files, share sheets, get notified, view the activity log, export, email, and print.

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How to Create an Agile Project Management Plan

16 Apr 2019

Developing software always requires some sort of a plan to be in place. The very word "plan" is open for discussion in the project management world. In a traditional sense, planning is crucial for a project's success. On the other hand, in the Agile environment, planning is more of a guideline for the project's progress. That being said, let's have a look at how to create an Agile project management plan.

The perspective on plans in both methods

In order to clarify things further, we must first take a look at how a plan or plans are viewed from both traditional and Agile point of views. In traditional methods, planning is a vital component of any given project. A plan can encompass the entire project ranging from gathering information and creating documentation, development, testing, scheduling and establishing a release date.

The foundation for such a plan is that a project manager will be able to accurately predict how long it will take, how much it will cost and what it will take for the software to be developed and released in a pre-specified time frame. On the other hand, plans are viewed differently in the Agile methodology.

Plans in Agile are purely feature-based. In other words, Agile plans can project when the features will be developed without the focus on how. Simply put, you can have a really good guess about what will be delivered and when it will be delivered based on how much the teams can develop within a specific time frame, which is usually a single iteration.

Information gathering

Every Agile project management plan begins with information. Information gathered from clients, developers, stakeholders and anyone else involved can help create a vision of what the project should look like. Furthermore, the vision itself includes "what" needs to be delivered, "who" should be involved and "how" will people work together to make the project successful.

This information and envisioning help create a project backlog that consists of both business and technical requirements, as well as help create a project roadmap , which is an overview of how the product will evolve overtime. Once the information is obtained, you can start planning the next phase.

Populating the backlog

Large user stories, also known as epics , can project a picture of how an end-product should look like. However, in order to get started on the project, you have to break down the epics into smaller user stories or individual features and requirements, and prioritize them to plan for iterations.

This is also known as populating the backlog. The essential thing here is that Agile teams will not try and plan out every little thing that will make up the backlog. Instead, they will keep them vague until the time comes to work on them (more on this later).

Estimating releases

As mentioned before, you can have a pretty good guess what will be delivered and when based on what your teams can deliver. Estimating releases , whether for a single iteration or for the entire products is a common practice in Agile projects. You have to have at least a rough estimate of when the iterations will be completed and when the project will be nearing its end.

You can make these estimations based on the previous work, i.e., previous projects. How long it took your team to develop a specific number of features within a single iteration on a similar project will probably be the same amount of time it will take them to do the same on the current project. This can help you estimate release dates more accurately.

Of course, all of this should be used for estimations only, not as plans that are set in stone.

Consult with your team

Once you have a general idea of what needs to be delivered and when, you can consult on your project roadmap with the rest of the team members. They can provide input on whether or not your roadmap is achievable or not. In the end, a project manager in an Agile environment doesn't own the plan. Instead, the team owns it in the fullest.

The main reason is that the teams are responsible for communicating with clients and deciding on which features should be developed in the next iteration, as well as the functionality required for that feature to be developed properly. After all, the teams are the people who will do all the work and they are, in fact, in the best position to decide on what needs to be done. Therefore, if the team members say your plan needs to be improved, then it's time to make the improvements.

Planning just in time

Perhaps the most important difference in planning projects the traditional vs the agile way is in how comprehensive they are and how long into the future they extend.

A good Agile project management plan will be done just in time and just enough. For instance, even the Product Backlog will not be too detailed for more than one or two Sprints in the future.

This is done so that as little time is wasted on making plans that will become obsolete anyway and act as hindrance more than anything else.

Closing Word

The agile approach does not preclude the team from making plans for their product. However, an agile project plan will be more about the big picture stuff, leaving the smaller, more direct plans to be made just in time and by the entire team.

How to Create a Project Management Plan Online – 9 Simple Steps

You’re in charge of a project. That’s great! Before you actually begin your project, you’re going to need a project plan.

While it may be tempting to jump right into your project and figure things out as you go along, you’ll have much better results if you create a project plan first. Without a basic project plan, you may find your team directionless, or worse heading in multiple directions.

In project management , proceeding without a project plan leaves you in danger of overrunning available resources and failing to achieve the client’s goals. A project plan ensures all stakeholders share the same vision, sets measurable goals for your project, establishes solid communication among team members and stakeholders, and serves as the foundation for project transparency .

Without it, you’re setting yourself and your team up for project failure.

Maybe you’ve been doing this for a while or maybe this is your first big project and you just googled “how to write a project plan.” Either way, we’re here to help.

What is a project plan?

A project plan, also known as the project management plan, is the document that describes how the project will be executed, monitored, and controlled, and closed. This outlines the objectives and scope of the project and serves as an official point of reference for the project team, larger company, and stakeholders.

It’s created during the project planning phase and is a compilation of several other documents. It is more than just a schedule or a task list, though it does include those things. The project management plan is formally approved at the beginning of the project and then progressively updated throughout the course of the project.

Why is project planning important?

Project planning is a crucial stage that comes right after initiation in project management phases . Through proper planning, you streamline the entire project into a series of steps and ensure the availability of all the resources on time.

Project constraints such as time, scope, and costs are discussed in the project planning process, and mitigation plans are developed after the identification of potential risks. By comparing the actual progress with the project plan, you can also monitor the performance of your team and take the necessary steps to improve it.

Check out the 7 areas where project planning is important for successful projects.

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How to create a project plan online.

If you’re thinking, “well, that sounds really formal and serious, don’t be intimidated.

Follow these nine project management steps, and you’re well on your way not just on how to plan a project online but to execute your project successfully.

Step 1: Identify all stakeholders

Your project has several stakeholders, and not all of them will be involved in every detail of the project. Project stakeholders include

Depending on the nature of the project, stakeholders may also include outside organizations or individual community members that will be affected by the project.

Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities

Once you’ve identified your stakeholders, you need to determine the core project management skills and competencies required for the project. When you have that list, you can define roles and assign responsibilities to individual stakeholders.

Remember that a role is not the same as a person.

Typical roles include

The different project team member roles will vary depending on your project, but be sure to include a vendor relations role and a customer relations role.

Learn how to create a Project Plan with Kissflow Project.

Step 3: hold a kickoff meeting.

The kickoff meeting is a

At this stage, the specific details of the project haven’t been determined, so you should include a discussion on the project scope, budget, timeline, and goals in your meeting agenda. This is also when roles are announced and a communication plan is explained. The kickoff meeting sets the tone for the working relationship among stakeholders for the duration of the project.

Step 4: Define project scope, budget, and timeline

After the official kickoff, it’s time to define three important concepts:

Each of these items is worthy of its own in-depth explanation, so we’ll just define them briefly here.

Project scope tells you what are we going to do (and not do)? Given the requests of the customer and the vision discussed by the team, what are the objectives of this project?

Taking into account the scope and the resources required to meet the project objectives , what is the expected financial cost of the project?

c. Timeline:

The project timeline itemizes the phases of your project and the length of time you can reasonably expect them to be completed.

Step 5: Set and prioritize goals

Once your team understands the objectives of the project and you’ve identified the phases to meeting those objectives,

You may need to adjust your timeline in light of your goals.

Prioritize your project tasks with Kissflow Project.

Step 6: define deliverables.

A deliverable, as defined by the Project Management Institute, is “any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is produced to complete a process, phase, or project”. In other words, a deliverable could be,

or capability.

Project deliverables are determined by the project objectives and are an essential part of the project plan. If the customer’s objective is for end-users to manage their own content, for example, the deliverables might be a piece of software that enables users to manage content as well as training materials for employees and end-users on how to use the newly created software.

Step 7: Create a project schedule

A project schedule is a document that details

Needless to say, it must be comprehensive and easy to understand.

To create a project schedule ,

The information you compile in this process may reveal necessary adjustments in your roles, timeline, and/or budget. This is an important step in writing a simple project plan and a beneficial part of the process. It’s much better to make these adjustments before the project has begun than weeks or months later.

Want to learn project management but put off by jargon?

Learn what's important in the simplest ebook for non-project managers.

Step 8: Do a risk assessment

A risk is a problem that may or may not arise over the course of your project. It’s important to identify risks in project management and mitigate them at the project planning phase rather than be caught off guard later. Hold a meeting or ask for insight from all team members about the risks you should consider.

Areas of risk include:

There’s no way to control for all potential risks, but thinking through them ahead of time can save you from project failure .

Step 9: Communicate the project plan

Once you’ve compiled your project plan, make sure to communicate it clearly to the team and all other stakeholders. You may have created a project communication plan when you put together your project schedule. If not, do it now!

Establishing solid communications channels and expectations for project communication is crucial. As a project manager, be sure to model the kind of communication you expect from all stakeholders.

Main components of the project management plan

At its basic level, an example of a project plan consists of three components. Creating a list of all these components to help inform your project management plan.

What are the things your team will need to do in order to get the project done? Activities in your project plan include things like

For any task management , the project is broken down into tasks. These are smaller jobs that make up the bigger picture of your project. Having incremental goals makes measuring success and addressing bottlenecks easier, and identifying these tasks is essential to crafting your project management plan.

What are you working with? Your resources include your budget, of course. It’s also important to understand your human and material resource requirements. How many people will need to work on this project and will you need to hire temporary workers or subcontractors? What physical or digital materials are required and where will those things come from?

How project planning software can help plan projects

A successful project management plan involves effectively organizing all the activities, tasks, and resources that make up your project. Trying to do all this with a collection of spreadsheets that are terrible for project management and shared documents or worse with notebooks, pens, and sticky notes is overwhelming and inefficient.

Project planning software can simplify your project planning from start to finish, giving you the project management features and transparency in the project you need to not only create an excellent project management plan but to actually manage your project well. Good project management software allows you to perform administrative tasks more quickly and efficiently, freeing up time to focus on the actual project.

Project management software can also facilitate effective communication within and among teams, help you track key performance factors, store all project data in a central location, and allow you to generate reports on your project along the way. Many of your project management challenges , particularly with planning, can be overcome with a capable and efficient project management tool.

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How to Create a Project Management Plan

A Project Management Plan (PMP — not to be confused with the Project Management Professional certification ) defines not only when a project will be delivered, but also how it will be delivered. If a document only contains what will be done and by when, it is not a true Project Management Plan.

This can be confusing, as there are a number of explainers on how to create a project management plan or a project plan that leaves out key components. A complete project management plan must include guidelines on how a project is executed, monitored, and controlled. According to the Project Management Institute , it should answer all of the questions listed below:

How to write a project management plan

The creation of your plan should start with a project management plan template . The length and level of detail included in the plan will depend on your organization and project. Many companies will already have an internal template they prefer to use, that outlines the level of information they need. The plan should always begin with a title page, version history, and table of contents. A strong project management plan will include all of the following information:

Depending on the project, there may also be additional supplemental plans such as:

Appendices to the plan may also include:

How to develop a project management plan

Clearly, a lot of information goes into the creation of a project management plan. It’s reasonable to wonder how a project manager pulls it all together. First, you should be aware project plans are often considered “living” documents. This means they are expected to be updated and changed as the project matures and/or you discover new information requiring a change to the plan. Second, it takes time and effort to pull together a solid project management plan. You can follow these steps to do it as efficiently as possible:

Step 1: Meet with project stakeholders

Even if project stakeholders have already been identified in another document, such as the business case or project charter, it’s important to review the list and make sure it’s still accurate. Then, meet with all project stakeholders to discuss the project objectives and scope. This ensures everyone is on the same page, particularly concerning assumptions, constraints, and expected outcomes. Discuss the planning process with stakeholders and make sure you have their commitment to helping with the process.

Step 2: Define key project roles

All key stakeholders should be asked to provide input for the parts of the project relevant to them. To handle this, it’s important to define which stakeholders are involved with each area of the project. This is often part of the stakeholder management plan or even part of the communication management plan . Relevant stakeholders include the project sponsor, team members, end-users, and any other people directly involved, such as business experts, auditors, or quality testers.

Step 3: Hold a kick-off meeting

The kickoff meeting brings stakeholders together to discuss the project and initiate planning. Some topics typically discussed during the kick-off meeting are:

Step 4: Develop project baselines

At this point, you should be ready to develop your baseline scope, schedule, and budget. It’s often easiest to start with the scope, then complete the schedule, and finish with the budget baseline. However, the three are interdependent, so be aware any change to one will likely impact the other two.

Step 5: Create baseline management plans

Once your baselines are created, you need to have plans for managing them. This includes reporting against them, monitoring for and managing variances, and outlining the circumstances that would require an updated baseline.

Step 6: Create the other management plans

As you know, planning is a huge part of a project manager’s role. The stronger your plan, the more likely your project will succeed. So, it’s not enough to simply plan how you will manage baselines. Plans should also be created to manage all other significant aspects of, or inputs to, the project. As discussed earlier, there can be a broad range of management plans, but the minimum should include resource management , risk management , and communications management.

Basic Project Management

Advanced Project Management

Software Features

Stay on track with a project plan that actually works

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 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

Why are project plans important?

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

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

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

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

Goals and project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders and roles

Scope and budget

Milestones , deliverables , and project dependencies

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan.

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

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

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

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

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

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

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

Step 2: Set success metrics

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

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

Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles

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

During this process, make sure to define the various roles and responsibilities your stakeholders might have. For example, who is directly responsible for the project’s success? 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 cost of the project? If you have a specific goal metric like event attendees or new users, does your proposed budget support that endeavor?

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

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

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

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

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

Step 6: Outline your timeline and schedule

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

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

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

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

Step 7: Share your communication plan

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

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

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

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

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

Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan. Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution phases of your project.

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 a project management tool like Asana . Work through each of the steps of your project plan with confidence, and streamline your communications with the team.

Related resources

The best project planning software of 2023

7 steps to crafting a winning event proposal (with template)

4 steps of the PEST analysis process

6 techniques for accurate project estimation

How to Make a Program Management Plan

A program is a collection of projects that relate to one another, and are therefore managed together in order to achieve maximum efficiencies. The advantages of managing these similar projects make them stand better together than by themselves.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t programs don’t require the same laser focus on planning that individual projects require. A program management plan works similarly to any project plan in that it defines policies, procedures and processes to follow and reach your program goals and objectives.

Program Management vs Project Management

Before explaining what a program management plan is, it’s important that we’re clear on the difference between program and project management. In many ways, they’re similar—except for one fundamental difference.

That difference is that, in project management, your effort is directed solely at producing a final deliverable quickly, without impacting quality and staying on the agreed-upon timeline and budget. Program management, however, follows the lodestar of creating benefits to the organization with synergy from co-management of multiple projects.

Another difference is that projects can be contracted out. The organization running the project is working for a stakeholder, who can or cannot be part of that organization. A real estate company erecting a skyscraper is likely to seek bids from construction contractors, rather than execute the project in-house.

However, programs are managed almost always within an organization. That is, the program manager is not a contract worker, but a part of the larger business; and the program manager is integrally attached to their strategic goals and objectives.

To sum it up, projects are temporary and deliver a service or product, and programs are a group of related projects that are collectively managed to get benefits that cannot be achieved individually.

What is a Program Management Plan?

Managing anything requires a plan, and this is certainly true for programs.

A program management plan exists to manage, execute and control the program and its goals and objectives. Therefore, the program plan, like any plan, will outline the overview and strategy for the program. To do this, the program must be clearly defined and its scope outlined.

The plan is developed by a program manager, who understands the strategy and objectives of the program. A program plan is concerned more with benefits than deliverables. Its success parameters are not the same as a project in that it doesn’t necessarily need a quality deliverable on time and within budget. For a program plan, success lives in how the program is meeting the needs and benefits of the organization.

Key Elements of a Program Management Plan

Any program is going to have dependencies and constraints. The program plan must identify these and include them in the plan. This includes how the benefits of the program will be realized through its management.

Because a program is a collection of many projects, it is helpful to include a roadmap in the plan. A roadmap is usually set up as a timeline on which the tasks that make up the project are points, with start and end dates. However, since this is a program, there are several projects mapped across the timeline, which helps to strategize and collaborate.

The plan will include governance, an organizational structure and the process used to plan, control and execute the program plan. This includes a schedule, communication plan, procurement, risk, closeout procedure and all the other general aspects of creating any project plan.

You’ll need to define key deliverables. Even a program has deliverables, as it’s made up of projects. The deliverables might not be the prime reason for the program, but they are important milestones that need to be understood.

Tips for Creating a Program Management Plan

When making a program management plan, there are certain things you need to keep in mind. They tend to be similar to creating a project management plan but stay aware of the differences between the two. Remember, a project plan is directed towards its deliverable, but programs have a more strategic goal for PMOs .

List Goals & Objectives

That said, the first thing anyone making any plan needs to do is define what they’re trying to achieve. List the goals and objectives to make sure your plan stays within those parameters. You can’t achieve your goals if they’re not clear.

Therefore, communication, as in all projects, is paramount. Without a designated channel, determined frequency and targets, to who your messages are aimed, there are going to be problems.

Plan Communication

Communication includes keeping stakeholders updated. In the case of programs, the stakeholders are those in your organization, usually at an executive level, who want to see the return on their investment reflected in your program reporting. The program plan needs to outline those communications, how often and with what materials, including defining their expectations.

Make a Timeline

Next, you’re going to have to deal with the timeline and scope of all the projects in your program. This means your overall budget and how it reigns in the scope of your program. You’re going to have to find a balance between those two aspects of the program. While you don’t have a schedule that ends with a quality deliverable, you do have a series of smaller deadlines inherent in each project that must be managed in your program plan.

Include Your Stakeholders

Be sure to sure you plan not only with stakeholders but your team. Transparency is important. The team are on the front lines of your project, and they will provide you with valuable data through their engagement and observation. In turn, you want them to know the program plan, so they can make educated choices when forced to act.

Once you’ve met with stakeholders and the teams responsible for executing the various projects, you have both a macro and micro view of the project. This will inform your program plan as you finalize it.

How ProjectManager Helps with Program Management Plans

Don’t forget that all this planning can be facilitated by an online program management tool, such as ProjectManager. Our online tool makes sure you have the most current information to make better, data-driven decisions.

Managing a program is hard, but it’s even more difficult if you’re jumping from project to project to gather data. With our Overview Projects view, you get a list of every project in your program. You see the project title, who is managing it, the team executing it and the status. From this high-level view you can manage your program.

Create Custom Program Dashboards

From the Overview Projects view, you can also organize and group your projects. When you select certain projects and group them in a folder, you can then filter by this group on the Overview Dashboard, which shows six charts tracking program metrics such as health, workload and progress. With this high-level view of your program’s progress and performance, you can catch issues and make changes to fine-tune the effectiveness of your program.

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

Track Your Projects with a Roadmap

Another powerful tool is the program roadmap, which collects all the projects in your program and displays them on a Gantt chart timeline. You get to see all of your programs down to the task level in one place and how they relate to one another and if there are any dependencies. But this isn’t a static view. Filter by assignee, project manager or customer, see duration, planned start and finish dates and more. Show stakeholders key metrics during presentations.

To match resources to the capacity of your program, we have robust resource management for your entire program. Features help you track, manage and report on the resources across your program. Our workload page gives you the tools to balance your teams’ workload to boost productivity.

ProjectManager is an award-winning online tool that helps programs get organized to maximize their profitability. Our real-time dashboard, dynamic roadmaps and one-click reporting give you the tools to manage, track and report on progress and performance to keep your program aligned with overall strategic goals. See how we can help your program management plan by taking this free 30-day trial today.

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

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How to Create a Project Scope Management Plan

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All projects are constrained by a number of factors. For example, cost, time, quality, benefits, risks, and scope are among the major constraints that all project managers must work within in order to bring their project to completion. While understanding each constraint is crucial to a project manager’s success , scope is arguably the most critical factor, because it outlines all of the work that does and doesn’t fall within the project.

Below, we define “scope” as it relates to project management, explore the scope management process, and walk through the steps necessary to create a scope management plan.

What is project scope?

The term project scope refers to all of the discrete work and actions that are required to deliver the project’s stated objectives and deliverables on time and within budget. These objectives and deliverables are typically derived from the project charter, which defines the statement of objectives in a project; sets project goals, roles, and responsibilities; and identifies stakeholders. Ultimately it is the project charter that will provide the project framework required to plan the scope management process.

In layman’s terms, a project’s scope identifies what is and is not a part of the project.

A project’s scope is typically captured in a scope statement and defined by a work breakdown structure (WBS)—two important documents that are subsidiary to the project plan.

What is scope creep?

Scope creep is the phenomenon by which a project’s requirements increase over the course of the project’s life cycle, beyond what was initially indicated in the project plan. There are many potential causes for scope creep. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines the top five causes as:

Left unchecked, scope creep can lead to missed deadlines, blown budgets, and the delivery of a finished project that does not match the outlined purpose of the project charter. It’s for this reason that scope management is so important to the success of a project.

What is scope management?

Scope management is the process of identifying and defining what actions are required to deliver a project’s requirements. It also involves ensuring that that work is completed according to the project’s schedule and budget. Though scope management allows for changes to a project’s requirements and objectives, it also puts in place a formal change process in order to account for and minimize scope creep that could otherwise derail the project.

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Scope management involves taking a variety of inputs and using various tools and techniques to generate outputs that will guide the process. Below is a quick breakdown of the different phases of the typical scope management process, as well as the outputs that will typically be generated during that phase:

How to Create a Scope Management Plan

Below is an overview of the main steps involved in creating a scope management plan.

1. Collect the required inputs.

This includes the project management plan, project charter, enterprise environmental factors (EEFs), and organizational process assets (OPA), which you will reference and leverage to generate the scope management plan.

2. Generate a work breakdown structure (WBS).

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a document, typically in chart format, that outlines a project’s deliverables according to a set hierarchy.

For Example: Consider a woodworker who must create a chair for a client. This chair is the main project deliverable, and as such would sit at the top level of the WBS. In the second level of the WBS would be all of the component pieces of the chair: The leg, backing, etc. If any of those individual components have their own components, those pieces would go on the third level of the WBS. This type of breakdown would continue until every component has been accounted for.

Though the WBS does not in and of itself contain cost estimates, scheduling, activity dependencies, or resource assignments, it supports the creation of all of those discrete pieces of information, making it a critical piece of scope management.

3. Translate your WBS into discrete tasks.

Once all of the project’s deliverables are outlined in the WBS, they must be translated into discrete tasks. This will require that:

4. Identify project requirements.

In order to create an accurate scope statement, you must understand the business and stakeholder requirements that will guide the project. Without these requirements, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to be confident that the project addresses everything it is required to.

A project’s requirements are typically captured in a document called the requirements management plan. This document defines a project’s approach to requirements management, including the methodology that will be used for identifying, prioritizing, and tracking these requirements.

The first step in generating a scope management plan is to compile the requirements management plan. This will also involve identifying the project’s stakeholders .

5. Develop a scope statement.

Armed with an understanding of the project’s requirements, it is now possible to begin developing the project scope statement . This document compiles a detailed description of all of the work that must be done in order to deliver the project’s requirements within its specified budget and schedule.

Once the scope has been defined, it must also be validated and then controlled throughout the project.

6. Define your processes.

Finally, it’s important to outline the processes that will guide the project’s scope management philosophy as the project team works toward delivering upon the project’s requirements. Doing so will remove any confusion or ambiguity before the project’s activities begin in earnest, while also providing a clear path forward.

Some of the most important questions to be answered during this step include:

Developing Your Scope Management Skills

Scope management is one of the most important parts of being a project manager. In addition to being how you ensure that a project delivers upon its requirements and objectives, it’s also the best method for preventing scope creep from derailing your ability to complete the project successfully. Learning how to effectively manage your project’s scope will be essential if you wish to pursue a career in project management.

Many individuals who choose to go into the field do so by completing a formal project management education such as a master of science in project management. If you are considering taking such a step, it’s important to ensure you are choosing a program that includes scope management in the curriculum.

The Master of Science in Project Management at Northeastern was designed to teach students everything they need to know about working in the field of project management. This includes coursework focused specifically on scope management, which offers insights into how projects are defined, evaluated, and ultimately translated into manageable project requirements and concrete deliverables. Taught by faculty members with real-world experience working in project management and paired with experiential learning opportunities in the form of co-ops and internships, there’s no better way of preparing yourself for a career in project management .

To learn how a master’s degree in project management can help advance your career, download our free guide to breaking into the industry below.

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How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Simple Steps

Every project tells a story about its goals, team, timing, and deliverables—and it requires detailed project planning and management to get the story right. Some of those stories are short and to the point while others are epic novels rife with twists and turns.

No matter the length or level of drama, every story is based on a story arc or an outline—or as we call it in the project management world, a project plan.

What is project planning?

What is a project management plan.

Project planning steps

How to create a project plan in TeamGantt

Simple project plan examples, free project planning templates, project planning definitions.

Before we dive into the process basics, let’s start with a couple of definitions.

Project planning is the process of defining the project scope , objectives, and steps needed to get the work done. It's one of the most important processes in project management. The output of the project planning process is a project management plan.

A project management plan—also known as a project plan—is a document that outlines the process your team will use to manage the project according to scope to meet its stated objectives. The purpose of a project plan is to map out the steps and resources it will take to complete a project on time and budget.

A project plan communicates vital information—such as deadlines, assignments, and key milestones —to all project stakeholders and is integral to project success. It is most commonly represented in the form of a gantt chart to make it easy to ensure work stays on track.

Project planning steps: How to write a good project plan

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.

Rather watch than read? Check out our video tutorial on how to make a realistic project plan.

Step 1: Start with research and preplanning

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:

Dive into any communications that are relevant to the project. Review the scope of work and related documents (maybe an RFP or notes from sales calls or meetings with your client team). 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:

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:

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 project 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. Any solid project plan should answer these questions:

A first outline can be very rough and might look something like a work breakdown structure , as noted in our chapter on project estimation . Make sure your project plan outline includes the following components:

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 sketched out a basic outline of your plan, 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 project plan 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 website design project plan , 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: Build out your detailed project schedule

You should feel comfortable enough at this point to put together a rock-solid project schedule using whatever tool works for you. (Ahem, TeamGantt works nicely for a lot of happy customers. )

Build your project plan

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. Make sure tasks, durations, milestones, and dates are crystal-clear, and try to keep your project plan simple. The easier it is to read, the better!

See the steps for creating a project plan in TeamGantt

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 project 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.

TeamGantt gives you the ability to quickly and easily build and adjust a project plan using a simple drag and drop feature. Plus, it comes with customizable views to fit every team member’s work style. Try it out, and create a project plan for free!

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! You’ve done your research, outlined your approach, discussed it with your team, and built your formal project plan.

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:

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 or project charter . 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 your stakeholders at a high level. Here are some things you’ll want to point out about your plan during this review:

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.

Work your plan

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:

Learn how to manage change requests like a pro.

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.

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. You might attach your scope document , project requirements , risk assessment matrix , or even a creative brief to guide your team to successful completion.

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. So let’s take a look at a couple of project management plan examples you can use to generate ideas for your own planning.

Example project plan for building a house

Building a house requires coordination of crews and materials on top of tasks and timelines. That’s why planning is especially critical in construction project management .

The video below walks you through an example of a project management plan using our free construction schedule template . It’s a simple place to start if you’re building a house and need to make a project plan quickly.

Watch our construction plan template tutorial.

Agile project plan example

You might think gantt charts and Agile projects don’t mix. But a hybrid approach enables you to plan and track Agile sprints on a traditional timeline, while maintaining a flexible workflow.

In this sample Agile project plan, we built each sprint out as its own task group, with milestones for sprint planning and deployment.

Agile project plan example with 2 sprints scheduled on a timeline

The bonus? Your team can use kanban boards in TeamGantt to manage their daily workflow.

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

Want to save time creating your next project plan? We created a whole library of project templates you can use to jumpstart your planning process!

Check out these free project plan templates:

Plan your next project in minutes

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

Here’s how to create an efficient project plan

Life’s better when you have a plan. With a plan you’re more likely to achieve your goals and complete successful projects.

Poor planning, or worse, no planning causes unnecessary strain and stress to you, your team, and your stakeholders.

You’ll waste precious time, resources, and energy that could’ve been put to better use. In some cases, poor planning can even hurt your credibility, ruin relationships, or cost you future business opportunities.

In this article, we’ll teach you how to create the perfect project plan , outline the benefits, and recommend a modern solution to creating a simple project plan your whole team will love.

What is a project plan?

A project plan, or project management plan, is a document that identifies, prioritizes, and assigns the tasks and resources required to successfully complete a project.

A project plan shouldn’t be confused with ongoing operational work. A project has a clear start and end date with the intention of delivering something by a specific date. And the planning aspect of a project covers the why, what, when, who, and how.

Planning accounts for the big picture, the project deliverables or scope, expenses, timeline, people involved, and the process to get there.

Project plans come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and formats. For a small Agile project, your initial plan may only be 1–2 pages, or displayed in a visual template like this one from monday.com :

Scrum sprint planning template from monday.com

For larger, more traditional projects, the plan could be dozens or even hundreds of pages with multiple appendices and attachments.

In project management, project planning comes immediately after the initiation phase.

With proper planning, you’ll streamline your project through a series of logical steps that maximize resource availability and finish the project as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Get started with monday.com

How to create a project plan

Typically your project sponsor or client will require some sort of project plan, including a timeline before launching into the execution of the project.

Ideally, it would have a Gantt chart , detailed project scope, project schedule, and any other items pertinent to the project stakeholder group.

The project planning process is a crucial step toward project success.

( Image Source )

Here’s how the planning process typically goes:

1. Conduct research and interviews

Stakeholder interviews are an excellent research tool . Who better to give you guidance than those funding the project or directly benefiting from the project’s completion. To maximize your time, either record the interviews or take detailed notes.

Ask questions that dig deep on topics such as:

The better your questions, the better your odds are of completing the project to their satisfaction.

2. Create a rough draft

It’ll probably be an ugly first draft, but that’s okay. Only you have to see it for now. Write up a simple project plan with a notebook or on a whiteboard — some place that’s easy to visualize key steps and make adjustments.

During the rough draft phase, you’ll determine whether it’s a better fit to follow the Agile project methodology or perhaps use a Waterfall system. Maybe some sort of hybrid.

What’s included in the draft will depend on the project methodology you select, the complexity and size of the project, and the level of detail you, your team, and your stakeholders need to see.

Most project management plans should include:

Other topics you may want to include are:

3. Review the draft with your team

Now it’s time to share your findings. A brief project planning meeting can really help build a collaborative environment that instills mutual trust, enthusiasm, and ownership over the project.

Here’s where knowing your team and keeping them involved makes all the difference. Some key elements of this project plan step are:

4. Formalize your project plan and schedule

Now that you and your project team are on the same page, and everyone’s agreed on the plan, it’s time to formalize the scope, budget, and project schedule.

You can do this by inputting your project baselines into your project management platform.

monday.com helps you formalize your project plan with a digital critical path like this team tasks map.

If you’re working with a powerful Work OS like monday.com, this will allow you to easily track the original plan and any changes to it as work progresses.

A collaborative platform like monday.com also makes it super simple to share the final plan — and any future updates — with all your key stakeholders, so everyone is always on the same page.

Get started

5. Launch the project and switch gears

Planning may be complete, but that doesn’t mean you won’t stop making adjustments. In project management, things are continually changing.

Your project plan is a living, breathing document that will evolve over time.

Deadlines sometimes get missed, people get sick, process changes occur, and new stakeholders join the team. All of which have the potential to throw things off track.

The best thing you can do is plan for change and remain flexible so you can easily adapt to change and make necessary adjustments.

While you’re at it, communicate change and possible risks to your client as soon as possible, so there are no surprises that affect deliverables or the project’s timeline.

monday.com makes project management planning feel easy

monday.com knows project planning boils down to communication. If everyone on your team is on the same page, it’s easier to get things done and leap closer to project success.

Project planning software provides a transparent view of all the tasks required to complete your project, who’s owning them, and timing details such as start dates, milestones, deadlines, and end dates.

With monday.com, you can create a simple project plan full of the details your team needs to be successful.

Here are a few features you’ll love:

As you can see, the feature list feels endless, but the software is still easy to navigate and use.

Modern project management tools like monday.com make it easy to take your project from plan to execution.

But don’t take our word for it. Check out the High Level Project Plan template and see for yourself!

Final Thoughts

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, knew quite a bit about adversity and planning successful projects.

One of the most insightful things he said during his presidency was, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

monday.com makes it easy for your team to always know where to find the next step in the project plan. Get started today by signing up for monday.com.

One platform for better teamwork

With monday.com work os.

How to Create a Winning Project Plan

Smartsheet Contributor Kate Eby

May 25, 2022

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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

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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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Learn how to create a project plan
Create a Project Plan That Works for Your Team • Asana
How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Simple Steps
Project Management Plan Templates
Business Project Plan Template Free
30+ Project Plan Templates & Examples to Align Your Team

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PMP Question 4
0008. First thing to do when want to change PMPlan
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COMMENTS

Developing a Project Management Plan: 12 Steps to Success
Create a work breakdown structure. Break down the project's scope into smaller, more manageable deliverables and groups of related tasks, also known as "work packages." This will allow you to assign resources to different parts of the project based on the skills needed.
How to Create a Project Management Plan (Step by Step)
We'll cover how to: Step 1: Identify the goal of the project Step 2: Map out the scope Step 3: Develop an outline or plan Step 4: Share this initial idea with your team Step 5: Finalize your plan Step 6: Use a Gantt chart to keep things organized Step 7: Distribute your project management plan Step 8: Hold a project post mortem
How to Write a Project Management Plan [+ Examples]
Regardless of how you organize your executive summary, it should give your stakeholders a preview of what's to come in the rest of the project management plan. 2. Plot your project schedule visually with a Gantt chart A carefully planned project schedule is key to the success of any project.
How To Build A Great Project Management Plan [Template Included]
Here are 3 ways you can use Teamwork to supercharge your project management plan. Add your supporting documentation to Teamwork Spaces Use the Teamwork and Teamwork Spaces integration to link a project in Teamwork with a space in Teamwork Spaces, so your important project documents are only ever a click away.
What Is a Project Management Plan and How to Create One
The Project manager creates the project management plan following inputs from the project team and the key stakeholders. A Project management plan is a formal, approved document that defines how the project is executed, monitored, and controlled.
What Is A Project Management Plan?
How To Create a Project Management Plan in 7 Steps To create a project management plan, first put together a high overview of the basics of your project, including the project's...
How to Write a Project Management Plan (& Free Templates)
Creating a project management plan is a simple and straightforward process if you follow a structure like the one below. Step #1: Highlight key points with an executive summary. The executive summary is a brief description of your project management plan that gives a description and a high level overview of the project plan.
How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Steps (+Free Templates)
To help you out, here are five easy steps to create a project management plan: 1. Do your research and ask the right questions Gates and his team would never start a quest without brushing up on their history. While it improves their knowledge area, it also gives them clarity over how to solve the challenge!
How to Create and Implement a Raid Log in Project Management
Wrike is the most powerful work management platform on the market, enabling teams to plan projects and collaborate in real time. Our award-winning software is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including Sony, Estée Lauder, and Siemens. Wrike's customizable features include Gantt charts, request forms, dashboards, cross-tagging, time tracking, and proofing.
Individual Development Plan (With Template and Example)
An individual development plan is a customized agreement between an employee and their employer that details new skills to be acquired or learned and how performance can be enhanced within a specific time frame. It also includes an action plan for these goals. By creating a documented process, the plan lays out an employee's perceived ...
How to Create a Project Execution Plan (PEP)
Here are the six basic elements of a project execution plan: 1. Project Scope. The project scope is a broad view of objectives and a detailed list of all the elements involved in the project. Define the project scope by identifying what needs to get done. Do this in specific terms.
How To Create a Project Management Plan in 9 Steps
How to develop a project management plan Here are nine steps you can follow to develop an accurate project management plan to improve your deliverables: 1. Establish the project's goals and objectives Clearly defining the proposal goals for your project can help you receive approval for its scope.
How to Create an Agile Project Management Plan
The very word "plan" is open for discussion in the project management world. In a traditional sense, planning is crucial for a project's success. On the other hand, in the Agile environment, planning is more of a guideline for the project's progress. That being said, let's have a look at how to create an Agile project management plan.
How to Create a Project Management Plan Online
To create a project schedule, further, divide the phases of your project into individual tasks and activities, determine dependencies, sequence the activities, and estimate the required resources and duration of each task. The information you compile in this process may reveal necessary adjustments in your roles, timeline, and/or budget.
How to Create a Project Management Plan
The creation of your plan should start with a project management plan template. The length and level of detail included in the plan will depend on your organization and project. Many companies will already have an internal template they prefer to use, that outlines the level of information they need.
Create a Better Project Plan in Just 7 Steps [2023] • Asana
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
Importance of Planning In Successful Project Management
A project plan template is a pre-formatted document that provides a structure for creating a comprehensive project plan. The template typically includes headings and sections for key elements of a project plan, such as project scope, timeline, resource requirements, budget, risk management, communication plan, and quality plan.
How to Create a Change Management Plan
How to Write a Change Management Plan in 7 Steps 1. Develop a clear understanding of the business objective. According to Alexis, the first step in creating a change management plan is to ensure that you understand the business case behind the project. "Change management is about managing inputs from a variety of people," Alexis says.
How to Make a Program Management Plan
The plan will include governance, an organizational structure and the process used to plan, control and execute the program plan. This includes a schedule, communication plan, procurement, risk, closeout procedure and all the other general aspects of creating any project plan. Gantt charts can help you make a schedule for your program— Learn More
How to Create a Project Scope Management Plan
1. Collect the required inputs. This includes the project management plan, project charter, enterprise environmental factors (EEFs), and organizational process assets (OPA), which you will reference and leverage to generate the scope management plan. 2. Generate a work breakdown structure (WBS).
How to Create a Project Plan in 5 Simple Steps
The easiest way to build a project plan You can build a beautiful project plan in just 10 minutes. Best of all, you can easily switch between gantt, calendar, and list views in a single click. Create your free plan Step 4: Present and confirm your plan You're almost finished!
Learn how to create a project plan
Most project management plans should include: Your scope statement and scope management plan Initial project schedule and schedule management plan Initial project budget and budget management plan Resource management plan Communication management plan Risk management plan Other topics you may want to include are: Stakeholder management
How do you create a professional development plan for employees?
Are they available internally or do we have to find them. Create a mechanism to enable employees to express their expectations and aspirations. Ask about individual employee's aspirations during ...
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.