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com
 WELCOME ONBOARD!
Hey!
I’m Claire. I’m sharing my experience as a project manager on the
blog Minimal.Plan, and I’m also the author of this project launchpad
workbook!

I truly believe that there is a project manager hidden in each and

everyone of you. Everyone has dreams and wishes that are just asking
for some time and work to come true. And is there a better way to bring
the to life than running projects that are dear to our heart and get us
closer to our goals?

It’s to help you jumpstart your projects that I created this Project
launchpad workbook. It will give you all the knowledge and tools you
need to be off to turn your goal into one or several projects, and to get
organised to launch your project & take action.

I hope it will help you on your project journey!

See you soon on the blog
Claire

ABOUT MINIMAL.PLAN
Minimal.Plan is a place for goals-setters, for dream-chasers
willing to learn, share & get organized to conquer heights one
day at a time. It’s a blog & a shop full of resources to help you get
your projects on the right track and live a simplier life.

IDEAS & PRACTICE FREE RESOURCES TOOLBOX

Read the blog Enter the Library Go to the shop
 WHY THIS WORKBOOK?
We all have big or small projects that we’d like to achieve, but as we’re
not all trained as project managers, we’re facing 2 issues:

We sometimes don’t know where to start and make a plan that will lead
us to success.

And even when we managed to get started, getting organized and taking
action to make progress on your projects while you deal with your eve-
ryday life can be quite a challenge.

To help you overcome these 2 challenges, I created 2 tools that

will give you the keys you need to skyrocket your projects

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FREE WORKBOOK PROJO - THE PROJECT JOURNAL

Put your projects on a Skyrocket your projects while
launchpad and be off to a keeping your everyday life
great start with the workbook under control with PROJO

GET STARTED GET IT NOW

Use the code STARTER at check out

to get 10% off your PROJO

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

WE ARE ALL PROJECT MANAGERS

Renovate the kitchen, move into a new house, fulfilling school assignements, planning travels or vacations... We’re
all running projects in our daily life without even knowing it.
We may not see them as projects, but they actually are: a group of tasks that we organize in a timeframe to meet a
goal. That’s the exact definition of a project.

Now that you know you are a project manager, like pretty much anyone on this planet, you have 2 options:
- You can keep managing you projects based on your experience and your flair
- Or you can take the time to go through this workbook and learn the basics of project management to run your
personal & work projects more smoothly. Not to mention that having some skills in project management will only
make things easier when you’ll have to deal with projects or project managers.

WHEN YOU RUN PROJECTS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL OR BIG,

YOU NEED A SOLID PLAN TO GUIDE YOUR ACTION.

HOW THIS WORKBOOK WILL HELP YOU

FUELLING PHASE

An introduction to project management with theoretical inputs to fuel

your knowledge with the project management basics:
- what is a project
- how to manage one
- a project management lexicon

IGNITION PHASE

A toolbox made of 10 worksheets with some theory inputs & practical

exercises to help you launch with your project:
- what is your goal
- how to jump from goal to project mode
- what is your final deliverable
- what resources you need to achieve your project
- building your project’s dashboard
- how to draw a master plan for your project

21 PAGES TO LEARN HOW TO JUMPSTART A PROJECT

& TO PUT YOURS ON A LAUNCHPAD

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 STEP 1/5

WHAT IS A PROJECT?

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 THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

THE PROJECT LIFECYCLE

A project is a specific set of operations designed to achieve a particular aim. A project has a defined starting and
end points, and defined scope and resources. In the project management theory, projects can be break down into 5
steps:
1- Initiation & conception: this phase aims to define the project’s goals and create a project brief
2- Planning: in this phase, you’ll define your project scope, the projects deadlines and milestones, the team role
if you’re running the project with a team, and a communication plan if you need to report to someone about the
project.
3- Launch & execution: this is the phase where you actually execute the plan and manage resources to make
progress on the project.
4- Monitoring & control: during the whole project, you’ll have to monitor your progress, the team’s perfor-
mance & assess the quality of the deliverables.
The last step is to close the project: once it’s finished, you review the whole project and see what went well, and
what you could do better on a future project.

PLANNING & DOCUMENTING PROJECTS

There are 2 things any project manager needs to worry about: planning and documenting. The planning part is
pretty obvious if you want to meet your project’s deadlines. But documenting your project is about as critical. Do-
cumenting your project is about keeping track of all the decisions you made and got you where you stand. And in
the end, it’s a worthless material to review your work and improve your project management skills on the long run.

PLAN ACTION
PLAN

ADJUST DO SPECIFY

REVIEW BRAINSTORM

PLANNING DOCUMENTING

You’re in the planning loop everytime you’re organizing
your tasks & time to make progress on your project, or
assess the work you’ve done through project reviews.
Planning your project and keeping your plan up to date
helps you keep it on the right tracks.
You’re in the documenting loop everytime you take notes
on your project, jot down ideas and brainstorm to solve a
problem you run into while working on your project.
The documenting process helps you keep track of all yours
ideas and actions, and nurture your project with new ideas.
Once specified, the ideas become a part of your project’s
plan.

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEXICON

Here are some definitions that will be useful to understand all the steps you’ll go through in this
workbook. Not to mention that it can be of some use if you ever want to speak the project manager’s
language to understand them and get understood in return.

PROJECT
A project is an individual or collaborative enterprise that is planned to achieve a particular aim. A project has a
defined starting and end points, and defined scope and resources. In opposition to routines, a project is a specific set
of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal.

GOAL
Before you start to plan your project, make sure to make the goal of it clear: the goal of a project is a specific objec-
tive that you aim to accomplish with your project.

DELIVERABLE
The deliverable of a project is the expected tangible outcome.
A project usually involves several deliverable, depending on the project’s phases. The deliverable is the result of
executing the project’s sequence of actions.

RESOURCES
Your project’s resources are all the things you need to achieve your project: time, money, skills, equipment… Make
sure to clearly identify the resources needed for each project phase and tasks. If you don’t have all the resources
required to achieve your project, you’ll need to outsource them (ask for a lawn, borrow equipment or get help from
someone else for instance). And the time spent to gather the needed resources will probably have a huge impact on
the overall schedule of your project.

DEADLINE
Time is a critical resources in your project.
You need to put your project in a timeframe and set deadline to make sure you make regular progress on your
project. When you reach a deadline, you should assess progress on your project and adjust your plan regarding the
result of your project review.

MILESTONE
Milestones are projects checkpoints. They usually are linked to the completion of a major project deliverable.
Milestones and deadlines can be aligned, but time difference can occur if the project phase get stretched.

PROJECT PHASE (OR LEG)

Projects are usually broken down into smaller, more manageable steps called project phases. For instance, you can
have a design phase, development phase and implementation phase. Each project phase as a clear goal and delive-
rable. The project phase ends when the deliverable is approved by the client and when everything’s ready to start
the next phase.

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 THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

GOAL, PROJECT, TASK... WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

The difference between goals, projects and tasks is critical to understand how the 3 are connected. They are
closely linked to one another.

The goal is your vision of your future situation. It is result oriented: your goal is the ideal outcome you’d like to
experience.
The project is action oriented. It is the path you decide to follow to reach your goal: it takes the form of a detailed
plan with clear actions and deadlines. If the goal is basically your final destination (where you want to go), your
project can be seen as your itinerary. Project phases and tasks are the legs of your journey.

CLARIFICATION PROCESS
GOAL
ABSTRACTION LEVEL

Where I want to go in the future

PROJECT
My detailed itinerary to go there

TASKS
All the baby steps I’ll need to take to get closer to my goal
PRACTICAL CASE

Here’s a simple example of the difference between goals, projects and tasks:
Goal: earn 1500 euros with my side hustle by the end of the year
Project: Build and email list to promote my work
Tasks: benchmark emailing platforms, design forms, implement the form on my
site, create a freebie to encourage people subscribe, promote freebie on Pinterest...

When it comes to jumpstart a project, we always go from the most abstract level to the more specific and action-
nable one. The project planning process is a funnel that aims to clarify the goal, turn it into a project by defining a
clear strategy and then break down this project into small, actionnable tasks organized in a project masterplan.

POTENTIAL PROJECT PHASES MASTERPLAN

SMART GOAL
STRATEGIES & TASKS

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 STEP 2/5

TURNING YOUR GOAL

INTO A PROJECT

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

SMART GOALS

Projects are meant to help you get closer to a goal.

Before you switch to project mode, let’s take a step backward and have a look at your goal and check if it’s SMART.
A SMART goal is:
S - specific: make your target super clear
M - measurable: quantify your goal and define and indicator of progress
A - achievable: make your goal challenging yet realistic
R - relevant: set a goal that makes sense for you or your business
PRACTICAL CASE

Here are a few examples of vague goals turned into SMART goals.
Vague goal: make a living from my craft
SMART goal: earn 1500 euros a month selling my craft in the next 2 years
Vague goal: have an healthy diet
SMART goal: eat 5 vegetables a day and no more than 2 takeouts starting from April

Take your goal and turn it into a SMART goal by completing the sentence:
«I want to.... before / starting from...».
Make sure to include something measurable in your goal, so that you’ll be able to assess the progress made towards
your goal based on objective data.

MY GOAL

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

SWITCHING FROM GOAL TO PROJECT MODE

To turn your goal into a project, you’ll have to think of all the potential ways you have to reach your goal.
This is basically the part where you’ll brainstorm about your strategy.

To establish a strategy, you’ll have to think of as much ways as possible you could take to meet your goal.
Create a mindmap & put your goal at the center of it.
Ask yourself :
- How can I reach that goal?
- What could I do to get closer to it?
- What would an other person (think of someone who inspires you) would do?

Let’s say your goal is to learn Spanish in the next 6 months.

PRACTICAL CASE

Here are a few strategies you could adopt to do that:

- Take intensive Spanish class
- Plan a one-month trip in South America
- Attend weekly afterworks where you’d get to meet Spanish speaker people
- Watch all films and series in Spanish from now on
...

STRATEGY 1

MY GOAL

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

PICKING THE RIGHT STRATEGY

List the strategies you imagined to reach your goal and rate them regarding the following criterias:
A - Motivation: assess how enthusiastic you feel about this strategy, from 1 to 5 (1: not enthusiast about it / 5: can’t
wait to start!)
B - Resources needed: this criteria includes both time and money that is needed to implement the strategy (1: lot
of time and money needed / 5:very few time and money needed)
C - Expected benefits: assess how closer to your goal this strategy could bring you (1: small benefit / 5: big benefit)

Then, rank the strategies listed & decide which one you will adopt to reach your goal. It’s your main project.
You can also decide to combine 2 or more complementary strategies. You’ll have to consider each of them as a
separate project from here.

STRATEGIES A B C RANK

MY PROJECT IS TO

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 STEP 3/5

YOUR PROJECT’S
DASHBOARD

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

THE FINAL DELIVERABLE

A project is an enterprise that is planned to achieve a particular aim. A project has a defined starting and end points,
and defined scope and resources.
The end of a project can be a specific date, but a project is considered finished if it meets the expected result. The
expected result of a project is called a deliverable.
The deliverable is the result you want to achieve at the end of the project.

The deliverable of a project can be something tangible such as a product or a prototype for instance, a digital pro-
duct (website, application, software...) or a document that describes something (business plan, sales brochure...).
PRACTICAL CASE

Let’s say your goal is to earn 500 euros a month by selling your craft.
Your project is to build a website to show your work with an eshop to
allow people to buy it.
The deliverable of your project could be: «a professional website that
matches the requirements, and that allow me to sell my craft online»

The project ends when the final deliverable matches the initial requirements of the project and fulfill the project’s
aim.
Don’t be afraid to be specific when defining your final deliverable. The more specific it will be, the easier it will be to
assess the degree of success of your project.

MY PROJECT’S FINAL DELIVERABLE

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

THE RESOURCES ANALYSIS

Identifying the resources you’ll need to achieve your project is key... Managing them while you run your project is
equally critical. There are 3 types of resources in the project management theory:

Human resources
We call «human resources» all the people involved in the project, and the skills they have. If you’re working on
your own on your project, the human resources you have are limited to yourself, your skills, and the time you can
free to make progress on your project.

Material resources
We call «material resources» everything that you own and that you’ll need to achieve your project: software
licences, specific equipment (tools and machines), computer, supplies...

Financial resources
We call «financial resources» everything that you will need to achieve your project, but that you don’t own. These
are the resources you’ll need money for: supplies, subscriptions, travel tickets, things you’ll need to buy or rent...

Assessing the resources you’ll need is key to make sure your project is viable.

WHAT I NEED WHAT I HAVE

HUMAN RESOURCES
MATERIAL RESOURCES
FINANCIAL RESOURCES

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

PROJECT DASHBOARD

Besides the deliverable and resources your project will need, there are a few other things that will need your atten-
tion before you start working on your action plan.
Now that you have a better idea of what your project looks like, you should be able to fill in this project dashboard
to build a clear overview of your project and its components.

MY PROJECT’S NAME
Pick a name that motivates
& inspires you!

The goal you’re chasing WHY I’M DOING THIS

with this project

The result that will make

FINAL DELIVERABLE
you consider your project
a success.

What benefits can you

expect from this project, BENEFITS RISKS & CONSTRAINTS
aside from the goal you
set? (new skills, new oppor-
tunities...)
What would happen if
your project fails? What
are the risks & constraints
that could make your
project fail?

The resources you need to KEY RESOURCES

achieve you project. human resources material resources financial resources

The people that will STAKEHOLDERS

take part of your project
(clients, friends, contrac-
tors...).

Your project due date, and PLANNING

the big steps you need to
achieve to complete your
project.

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 STEP 4/5

YOUR PROJECT’S
MASTERPLAN

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

ACTION PLAN

Now that you have a better idea of what your project is made of, it’s time to plan it out!
You’re going to focus on the «Planning» box of your project’s dashboard, and dig deeper to draw a detailed action
plan.
The aim of this first step is to draw a mindmap with the big phases of your project, and to create new branches on
the map, trying to list all the tasks you’ll need to perform in order to achieve your project.

benchmark
e-shop
design inspiration
blog
sales funnel

technical specifications e-shop features

overall architecture
DESIGN BRIEF Wordpress theme
D: functional & technical
architecture site map
design brief
navigation & menus

test mock ups V0

PRACTICAL CASE

E-SHOP DESIGN graphic design T : 2J

R : Graphic designer
ACTION PLAN
D: web site
FINAL DELIVERABLE : WEB SITE mock ups
WITH A BLOG + ESHOP
T : 1J
transactional emails R : Illustrator, Photoshop
T : 2J
products description
R : camera & lights

SET-UP shipping
T : 1J
D: e-shop shipment tracking

users’ accounts T : 1/2J

check out & payment T : 1/2J

TESTS transactional emails

D: debugged eshop users’ accounts

LAUNCH check out & payment

D: eshop is live! shipment tracking

D: delivrable / T : estimated workload / R : resources

For each one of the tasks you listed, assess the workload (the time you’ll need to achieve it) and the resources you’ll
need to get it done.

Once you’ve draw your mindmap and that you’re about sure you didn’t left any big task aside, it’s time to create a
master plan of your project, and to get to work. Your mission: get organized to tackle all the listed tasks and achieve
your project!

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 STEP 5/5

GETTING ORGANIZED
FOR SUCCESS

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 THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

GET ORGANIZED FOR SUCCESS

CONGRATS!
You’re now ready to launch your project! Well... Almost.
You’ve refined your objectives, and decided on an action plan to make it happen.
It’s now time to get organized to take action. And let me tell you that running a project is not always an easy ride...
Life always finds ways to challenge our plans.

PROJECT LAUNCH PROJECT COMPLETED

All the steps you need to complete

while life tries to ruin your plans

Youa re here
Once you’ve drawn an action plan, you have a list of tasks that is ready to be turned into a masterplan: the phases of
your project are defined and should be organized in a timeframe at this point. To jump from the action plan to the
project masterplan, you’ll now need to put all the tasks you listed in a real timeframe, drawing a schedule of your
project.
Doing so, you’ll create a masterplan for your project, and enter the planning & execution phase of it.

Mastering your organization is key to run your project successfully. Having an efficient organization system lowers
the ridks of dropping your project in the middle of it. A good organization system:
- Nurtures your motivation: making regular reviews of your project will help you celebrate your progress and
adjust your plan as needed to stay on track
- Helps you manage your time: being organized allows you to find time to work on your project while you
keep your eveyday life under control
- Allows you to stay in control: once your organization routine is on a roll, you can always tell how much pro-
gress you’ve made on your project. Your organization system keeps all the info related to your project (deadlines,
remaining tasks...) and allows your brain to focus on what you have on your plate at the moment.

IO
IZAT N SYS
AN
TE
G
OR

Appointments,
ideas & notes
tasks & deadlines

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THE PROJECT LAUNCHPAD WORKBOOK

GET ORGANIZED FOR SUCCESS

To help you overcome the challenge of getting organized to manage your projects whilke keeping your everyday
life under control, I created a tool designed to plan and document your project in an whole organization system:
PROJO - the project journal.

PROJO is a 3-month undated planning tool that helps you plan & organize your
projects. It’s 2 distinct notebooks (the P. Book & the N. Book) working together as a
whole organization system, and giving you the right balance between structure and
freedom. It’s like having an organization coach in your bag!

THE PROJO FEATURES

- The P. Book (planning book) and its 60 planning pages to help

you run your project and organize your everyday life
- The N.Book (notes book) that features 60 dotted pages and gives
you free space to explore ideas and document your projects
- A clear cover that holds the 2 books togeteher and allows you to
switch between them easily
- A quick start guide to be off to a great start with your PROJO
- An access to exclusive online resources

PROJO - THE PROJECT JOURNAL

Skyrocket your projects while keeping
your everyday life under control with
PROJO

GET PROJO NOW

Use the code STARTER at check out
to get 10% off your PROJO

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