A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Effective Project Plan
When your work involves multiple pieces, team members, and budgets, a well-developed project plan is part of the key to your success. Project plans take all the various parts of a goal and break them into milestones, keeping them organized in one central location.
Through project planning, the initial ideas of an objective are fleshed out. The goals are turned into requirements and assigned to a team member, along with a deadline. The more detailed the sections of this work plan are, the easier it is for each person to understand their job and its role in the overall project scope. It also helps predict potential issues and designate a plan to address them.
Effective plans take time to create, but this investment pays off with a streamlined project from start to finish. Writing the plan includes specific steps that shouldn’t be skipped. In this guide, we’ll share the step-by-step essentials of creating a well-written project plan.
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Step 1: Determine the Target Goals
As the project manager, you should know exactly what the client wants, their budget, and how you intend to achieve the deliverable within that scope. If you don’t know these pieces, it can be challenging for your team to stay within those parameters, leading to problems like scope creep and irritated workers.
Before you take any action steps, determine what your target goals are. Many businesses rely on SMART goal setting to create a plan that includes specific details with metrics and time-bound criteria that align with business goals. These SMART steps then determine the direction of the deliverables and available resources.
Think of these goals in this step as the general map that you can refer to if any step of your project goes off course. These goals house the main objectives of your company and the client. They include the metrics that you’ll monitor to clarify whether you’re on the right track to meet your deliverable goal or not. Anytime there’s a question of progress, your SMART goals tell you how to get clarity on the issue.
Step 2: Assign Roles and Resources
Now that you know where you’re going, who will be responsible for each leg of the journey to get there? And which resources will you need to allocate to get the job done?
Step two involves collaboration. Here, you’ll assign team members to various parts of the project and detail their roles. You’ll also talk to the stakeholders to clarify their involvement, such as aspects where their approval will be necessary to move on to the next stage and the overall budget necessary.
Integrate these decisions into your project’s CRM. Using the right software can ensure your milestones are broken down to include projected expenses for more accurate project budgeting, as explained in this article by Accelo.
Step 3: Set Milestones
How will you know whether your project is on track once you release it into the hands of your team? This step brings in specific milestones, where one part of the project is dependent on the successful completion of another.
Looking at each leg of the plan from Step 2, collaborate with the team member involved to assign an actionable result that shows their piece is finished. Typically, this is the work that must be done before the next leg of the project can be started. Include any approval requirements, deadlines, or other dependencies here.
When there’s a clog in the system — a delay in progress — it’s easier to return to the last completed milestone to find out where the hold-up is.
Your client’s idea of a reasonable deliverable date and the reality of their project expectations may not always align. Now that you have a detailed explanation of each step of the project and the resources and work involved, you can share the overall timeline with everyone with a stake in the job. Together, you’ll use this information to plan and prioritize as necessary.
When the workload isn’t cut-and-dried, you may want to use your project steps as a direction instead of dates, with the end deliverable dependent on completion of the various pieces of the whole. In these situations, it’s important to establish regular communication expectations with the client to show them you’re still on track.
Conclusion
Project planning becomes clearer as you repeat similar jobs, but every client is different. Still, establishing the overall workflow will always include these four steps. The right software simplifies project planning, taking you from Step 1 to completion with fewer hiccups and clearer organization.
Set clear goals, assign detailed job descriptions to your team, include milestones for tracking, and communicate thoroughly. These integral pieces of a project plan will serve you well, no matter what service your business provides.
