A Beginner’s Guide to Project Planning

A project's success comes down to how well your company planned the project. Here
are a set of project management steps to follow so you can create a project plan.

Maricel Rivera
Technology Journalist Updated January 14, 2021

You know what they say about planning (or the lack thereof). “If you fail to plan,
you plan to fail.” That couldn’t be any more true in project management.

When managing a project, there are so many things to consider: scope, budget,
project schedule, stakeholders, communication, equipment, project management
tools, change requests, risks, and so on. Keeping everything balanced so the
project satisfies all requirements necessitates a game plan.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what project planning is, the steps to follow, some
project management best practices, and the various tools you can use to create a
project plan.

What is a project plan?

Rushing off to start a project without a plan is akin to traveling to a foreign
country for the first time without an itinerary, or demolishing a kitchen for a
renovation project that you have no idea how to carry out.

Sure, you’ll eventually get to where you want to go, but that may take time, a lot
of walking aimlessly around, and asking strangers or locals (who may not speak
your language) for directions. If you’re in the area for just a day, you won’t see as
many places and maximize your stay.

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 As for the kitchen, you may figure out a way to eventually build it to your liking,
but that, too, can be time consuming and may end up costing you way more than
if you’d started with a plan.

A project management plan is a document that details how a project will be

executed, monitored, and controlled throughout its life cycle. It’s essentially the
roadmap that allows teams to take what was once just an idea and bring it to life
in the form of a product or service.

It’s a necessary ingredient for success, as it ensures that everyone knows what’s
coming next. It provides a big-picture view of the project, what needs to be done,
and how everything’s going to be done.

A good project development plan answers the four Ws:

• Why: Why is the project being put into motion? Why is it valuable? What
problems does it address?
• What: What tasks and activities should be performed to complete the project?
What are the project’s deliverables?
• Who: Who will be involved? What are their roles and responsibilities?
• When: When is the project slated for completion? At what point in the
project’s timeline should milestones be achieved?

Tools for more efficient project planning

To create a plan that will steer your project to successful completion, knowledge
of the project management basics is a requirement. This means recognizing the
different project management process tools and techniques you can leverage to
create and better communicate your project plan.

Work breakdown structure

As its name suggests, a work breakdown structure (WBS) is a project
management tool that breaks down large projects into more manageable

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 sections. It defines the project’s deliverables and provides a visual decomposition
of the project’s scope.

The WBS is created with the team first identifying the major deliverables, and
then breaking those deliverables down into smaller, more digestible bits until they
can be assigned as tasks to members of the team.

Network diagrams
A project management network diagram graphically represents the project’s tasks
and workflow. It lays out the project’s schedule and sequence of activities, and
uses boxes and arrows to connect work segments and illustrate the dependencies
between tasks.

Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is a visual snapshot of the different project management activities
on a timeline. A bar represents each activity, with the location and length of the
bar signifying the start and end dates and duration of the activity.

A quick glance at a Gantt chart will let you know right away the start and end
dates of the entire project, what the project’s activities are, each activity’s start
and end date, how long they’re scheduled for, and if there are any overlapping
activities to be mindful of.

How to be successful when project

planning
A project plan can make or break a project. A well-thought-out plan will guide
teams from beginning to end, while a haphazardly done one can lead to
confusion, wasted time and resources, and a major headache down the line.

Below, we’ve outlined a set of project management steps to follow so you can
create a plan that incorporates all the essential components.

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 Step 1: Stakeholder identification and interviews
Anyone affected by the project is a stakeholder. This can include the project’s
sponsors, the product’s end users, the customers who will use or receive the
deliverables, the project manager, and the project team.

How to put stakeholder identification into action

• Determine stakeholders’ needs and expectations: The same way you

should conduct a feasibility study to create a credible project proposal, you
must meet with stakeholders to understand what they need or expect from
the project. From there, figure out the underlying benefits of their
requirements. Project proposals are selected during the project intake process;
it's important to fully consider your stakeholder's needs in order to advance
past this phase.
• Establish baselines: Prioritize the benefits, and label irrelevant expectations
as "low priority." Once the priorities have been determined, you’re ready to
establish scope, budget, and timeline baselines. Your objectives in your
statement of work should clearly state the project’s scope boundaries, i.e.,
which deliverables are within or out of scope.

Step 2: Project goal setting

Setting clear and concise project goals is one of the most important project
management principles that project managers live by. That’s because ambiguous
goals can easily be misinterpreted, which can cause the entire project to fail.

How to put project goal setting into action

• Prioritize goals: Make a list of stakeholder needs and expectations, and rank
them according to priority, i.e., which ones are more important or urgent. From
your list, create goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and time-bound).
• Record the project’s goals: Include the stakeholder needs that each goal
aims to address.

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 Step 3: Deliverables identification
Next, determine the specific deliverables or output expected from the project.
Your deliverables should coincide with the goals you’ve established in the previous
step.

How to put deliverables identification into action

• Estimate deliverable due dates: Create a list of deliverables, their estimated

due dates, and how you plan to deliver each one.
• Identify who’s responsible for the deliverables: Write down who will receive
each deliverable on the client’s side.

Step 4: Project schedule mapping

To create the project schedule, define the tasks needed to accomplish each
deliverable and how much time it will take to complete every task in the list. Use
milestones to break the project down into more manageable stages.

How to put project schedule mapping into action

• Create a detailed task list for every deliverable: Write down the number of
hours or days needed to complete each task and the employee responsible for
it.
• Check for dependencies: Are there task dependencies to keep track of?
Gantt charts can help you spot dependencies at a glance.
• Involve your team and ask them for input: Leverage your team’s
experience and expertise. They’re the best people to ask for insights into how
certain tasks are done, how long each task takes, and who can best
accomplish it.

Step 5: Supplementary plans preparation

Aside from the main project plan, supplementary plans may be needed as part of
the planning process. They don’t have to be created as individual documents and
can be included in the core plan.

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 Examples of supplementary plans

• Risk management plan: This outlines how you intend to address or mitigate
known and unknown risks, such as upcoming holidays or the possibility of
parts not being delivered on time.
• Human resource plan: This details how you will balance resource availability
and skills requirements.
• Financial plan: This plan provides insight into how the financial aspects of the
project will be handled, such as cost management, budgeting, procurement,
and supplier engagement.
• Communications plan: This describes how project updates and other
information will be communicated to stakeholders, when, and in what format.
• Quality management plan: This determines the project’s quality guidelines,
criteria, procedures, authorities, and responsibilities.
• Change control plan: This outlines how change requests that will affect the
project’s scope, time, budget, and quality will be managed, as well as how to
integrate approved changes.

Once your plan is ready, next up is getting it approved by the major stakeholders
and sharing it with the rest of the team.

The best project management software

for planning an airtight project
Now that you know the basics of creating a project plan, the next question to ask
is: Do you need project management software?

Projects involve a lot of connected pieces (e.g., people, scope, cost, schedule,
quality, etc.), and you want visibility into the entire project so as to effectively
manage all those parts. The best project management software can give you that
level of visibility.

Here are some examples of project planning tools that do just that. We’ve
highlighted specific features that are essential for project planning.

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 1. Mavenlink: Resource allocation
When working with simultaneous projects, on-demand visibility into the
availability and workload of your resources will help you pick the right people for
the job while not overworking your employees.

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 Know which employees are available to help with your project with Mavenlink. Source: Mavenlink

With Mavenlink's resource management feature, you have access to all your
resource pools in one centralized location, allowing you to quickly identify staff
who are both capable and available to work on your projects.

2. Asana: Project scheduling

One key aspect of the project that needs constant monitoring is the schedule.
Projects have deadline requirements, and even slight delays can throw a project
off course.

Asana’s project schedule feature provides a visual timeline of the entire project. Source: Asana

As a top project scheduling software, Asana offers users multiple features to help
plan out their projects: timeline (Gantt chart), task lists, and kanban boards. Plus,

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 Asana allows you to turn a schedule into a project timeline template so you don’t
have to start from scratch the next time you plan a new project.

3. Podio: Task management

The ability to assign, view, manage, and track tasks from one central location
keeps teams on the same page. Authorized users can provide timely task updates
by attaching files to tasks and leaving comments.

Podio lets you manage personal and team tasks from a single location. Source: Podio

Podio provides users with a single project workspace where everyone can monitor
and discuss tasks, and get notified of upcoming deadlines. Its workflow
automation feature also lets you configure recurring tasks or set the system up to
automatically create new tasks.

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 4. monday.com: Team communication
Project planning involves a lot of communicating with other people: the members
of your team, other project managers whose input may help you better plan your
project, and all other stakeholders.

Communicate with team members and provide updates with ease using monday.com. Source:
monday.com software.

monday.com offers teams the ability to communicate in context using tools such
as @mentions, message boards, and task comments. Plus, you can see right away
which team members have seen your message by placing your cursor on the eye
icon at the bottom right of your update.

Plan your projects for success

Starting a project without a plan can be tempting when there’s so much to do in
so little time. However, rushing to get started could be a recipe for disaster. A

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 carefully crafted plan keeps projects on track and directs the project down the
path of successful completion from start to finish.

The Motley Fool has a Disclosure Policy. The Author and/or The Motley Fool may have an interest in
companies mentioned.

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