an project assignment

Difference Between Assignment and Project

It’s important to know the difference between these two terms.

According to Answers.com , assignments are focused on specific, and predefined tasks whereas projects involve a variety of interrelated tasks which are performed to achieve a particular aim.

With the change happening over the world, and the advancement we see in our educational sector, learning has taken a whole new shape and what was once done within the confines of a place called the classroom has evolved to the point where the teachers are no longer the only source of learning.

Unlike the days of reading from a textbook in a classroom and doing classwork, education has now taken a more solid approach.

Academics have now set sail to project-based work in schools worldwide. Students can now learn in a fun and exciting way.

Projects, despite their many varieties, can be research-based , at the same time, assignments are a series of essays, questions, and answers. As much as both can help a student learn, their execution sets them apart, giving one a higher significance over the other.

• 1.1 Assignments are textbook focused while Project encourages hands-on learning
• 2 Conclusion

Main Differences Between Assignment and Project

Assignments are textbook focused while Project encourages hands-on learning

One could relate a project to simply designing a model to explain a scientific phenomenon, or watching a movie to ascertain its relevance. The freedom it brings, and the lessons learned from its processes are thrilling. Imagine the feeling a student gets from building a science model of real-life outcomes. Assignment, on the other hand, is all cut and dry.

Everything is textbook-focused, which in turn makes learning less fun.

• Evaluation carried out on Assignment can be easily accessed

Just as it’s easy to judge a student’s performance and ability from a given assignment, the opposite is the case for projects. When an assignment is given, the student’s capability is accessed by the report submitted.

The project, on the other hand, is dependent on the performance of others, your team, and a collective effort.

As such, it is not a good judge of a student’s capabilities. Unlike a project, an assignment is also a significant pointer to a student’s weakness and a guide in correcting it.

A lot of students struggle to find the best writing services to assist with their projects or assignments. Lets Grade It provides accurate reviews of the best writing services you can find.

• Assignments are majorly within the curriculum, while Projects can be out of the box.

Consider a given assignment on World War I. Everything done on the questionnaire would be aimed at answering the questions asked. The teacher might even permit the students to consult several textbooks to help them properly frame their responses. Everything is being tailored in line with the curriculum, including the research done on the assignment.

A project on the same topic would mean the students thinking outside the box, like writing a report on the technologies used in fighting the war. The goal is to stretch the student’s minds outside the curriculum but within the context of history. This, in turn, makes research fun with a positive outlook as compared to that carried out when an assignment is given.

• Assignments are individualistic, while Projects are a group task

Assignments are usually given on an individual basis. It helps a student be self-reliant and confident in his ability to accomplish a task. This method helps to personally improve assignment writing skills of students while projects encourage students to interact and work together to come up with a solution. This gives rise to teamwork and the ability to delegate, which are vital for life.

For a college or a university, engaging students with both assignments and projects would help create balanced progress and exposure thereby ensuring an ideal learning experience.

• English Difference Between
• Difference Between Project and Assignment

Difference between Project and Assignment | Assignment vs Project

It is paramount that we use good English grammar, regardless of whether it is for academics or business. Inaccurate grammar usage could lead to misinterpretation of concepts and in some cases, it can be considered a lack of professionalism.

What is the Difference between Project and Assignment?

Project and assignment are two words that are often used interchangeably. However, they have their differences.

Table of Content

• Table Summarising the Difference between Project and Assignment
• The Meanings of Assignment and Project
• Examples for Project and Assignment
• Assignment vs. Project – Conclusion

Mastering English grammar is not easy. One of the biggest reasons is that there are many rules in English grammar as well as countless exceptions in the way that words are used. Moreover, the English language has a vocabulary of over 170,000 words, and therefore, learning English grammar can quickly become daunting. Regardless, adding a few words to your vocabulary each day can make a big difference. In this article, we shall explore the difference between project and assignment, their meanings and usage.

Table Summarising the Difference between Project and Assignment:

The meanings of project and assignment.

As already summarised above, the meanings of ‘project’ and ‘assignment’ are quite different, and they vary according to their usage.

• ‘Project’ meaning – The word project can be used either as a verb or a noun. Its meaning varies accordingly.
• Give an estimate or a projection based on current data

A specific plan or design

• Assignment meaning – The word assignment can only be used as a noun, and it refers to allocation of work or individuals.

Examples for Assignment and Project:

We shall explore some examples:

• Global average temperatures are projected to reach 25 degrees celsius by the year 2030.
• I noticed scaly growths projecting from his skin after exposure to the chemical.
• The image was projected on the wall.

She was captivated by the findings of the project .

• Assignment – The deadline for the assignment is next week.

Project vs. Assignment – Conclusion

As a verb, the word assignment refers to something that you are given to do by someone else. Alternatively, it could also refer to the assignment of individuals to work. A project, on the other hand, can be used as a verb as well as a noun and its meaning varies accordingly. As a verb, the word refers to the process of giving an estimate or a projection. Alternatively, it can also mean ‘to protrude’. As a noun, the word ‘project’ refers to a specific plan or design. To explore more differences between ‘project’ and ‘assignment’, register at BYJU’S. You can also find other important concepts in grammar, as well as resources for your studies here.

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How to Write a Project Outline

By Lulu Richter | August 23, 2022

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An effective project outline sets your project up for success. In this article, you’ll learn the essential components of project outlines and how project managers use them to guide teams. Plus, get expert tips and free, downloadable templates. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a list of key outline components , a step-by-step guide to writing project outlines , a customizable example template , and more.

What Is a Project Outline?

A project outline is a foundational document in project management. Project managers create the outline to formally define the project. A project outline includes project goals, objectives, necessary resources, and timeline. Once approved, it becomes the blueprint for future documents. 

Like a project overview , the project outline is a central part of project planning. It connects the project’s goals and objectives to larger business goals. The designated project leader writes this approximately two-page document as a high-level overview of the project vision and the work necessary to accomplish it. The project overview is also called a project charter or project definition document (PDD) . 

Eric Verzuh, President and Founder of The Versatile Company, stresses the importance of a project outline: “Writing the outline is arguably the most important thing you do on a project. It’s probably the first time someone has put the project down in writing. It takes all the gray out or at least figures out what the project actually is.”

“It’s the starting point for one of the top five project success factors: agreement on the goal,” Verzuh continues. “It answers, ‘Why are we doing this, what do we mean when we do this, and what do we expect when we’re done?’ This is the key moment to resolve any disagreements rather than spend money and make mistakes.”

In addition to agreeing on a goal, the project outline should address each of the top five project success factors noted in Verzuh’s book, The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management . 

Here are the success factors Verzuh describes and how the outline accomplishes each:  

An assigned project owner (typically the project manager or project sponsor ) formally defines the project during the project initiation phase . This phase is the first of five in the project management lifecycle , in which the project owner completes the outline and presents it to management for approval. 

Once approved, the outline becomes the basis for the next phase’s project planning documents . Throughout the project, the team frequently references the outline to ensure that their actions align with the initial goals. 

It is important to note that the project outline is not to be confused with a project proposal , which is a business case for why the project is necessary. An outline communicates how the work will be done, whereas a proposal communicates why.

Who Should Create a Project Outline?

A project sponsor or project manager should create the project outline. The person responsible for leading the project is also responsible for the outline, regardless of their title. This project owner involves stakeholders and team members to assemble the document. 

Joe Heagney, President of QMA International, LLC and author of Fundamentals of Project Management , points out that "the information populating the project outline/charter is often provided by the project sponsor or another senior person within the organization, but the project manager should try to get involved as soon as possible. Remember, it is your project." 

If you are assigned as the project owner, it is crucial for you to write an outline, even if it is not required. Verzuh shares, “You may not always be asked to write one, but you always should if you’re leading a project. It shows that you understand what you’re being asked to do and is best practice for clarifying the assignment.” 

As the sponsor or manager assembles the document, they’ll involve project members as needed. These may include team members, clients, or stakeholders. The outline then helps to create a shared understanding between all project contributors and decreases miscommunication during stakeholder management activities.

Project Outline Components

The components of a project outline inform the reader of key project information. This information includes project scope, background, timeline, team members, resource requirements, and more. These items provide context and clarify any ambiguities prior to project execution.

Here are the components of a project outline: 

• General Information: This section includes basic information, such as the project name, project sponsor, project manager, and creation date. 
• Project Summary: The project summary is a concise overview of the project that briefs the reader on the project’s context. 
• Background: This includes all pertinent information supporting each project activity. Background information can be a separate section or be used throughout the document to help the reader understand why you included certain factors in the outline. 
• Project Scope: A project scope is a detailed list of what the project entails and the methods needed to deliver the work. The scope also outlines the project boundaries or what it does not include.  
• Objectives: Objectives are measurable statements specifying how the project will meet its goals and how the team will know the goals have been met. 
• Constraints and Assumptions: Constraints are any known project limitations. These might relate to budget, quality, or other factors. Assumptions , on the other hand, are factors believed to be true by the team.
• Key Stakeholders: Include a detailed list of the internal and external stakeholders involved in the project, as well as their roles and responsibilities. 
• Key Team Members: Include a list of team members, each of their roles, and their responsibilities. 
• Deliverables: Include deliverables , or a brief description of the project’s inputs, outputs, and ancillary results, such as reports.  
• Project Timeline: The project timeline should include the start date, end date, and significant milestones. 
• Resource Requirements: Include any resource requirements , or a list of the activities and components necessary to complete the deliverables. 
• Comments: This section includes any project notes or action items that will help the team understand the document or clarify details about the project. 
• Budget: This final section is optional. Include initial budget information if it is available.

Verzuh also recommends including potential risks, even at a basic level: “Risk is always worth pointing out. Significant risks are always worthwhile because it tends to influence a lot of individual things and the overall project.”

Writing a solid project outline takes thought, communication, and planning. As you write it, your primary activity will be to collect and assemble information that defines the project. Make time to gather feedback and revise the document before submitting it. 

Before you get started, create a timeline and completion checklist to keep yourself on track. While the time it takes to write the outline varies per project, plan enough time to collect information, populate the document, and review it before the submission date. 

You can use an existing project outline template to get started or create your own from scratch. Follow the steps in the order we’ve listed below, or do them in the order that makes the most sense for your project. For any step, be sure to get feedback and contributions from team members. 

Here is a step-by-step guide to writing your project outline:

• Add Basic Information: Start by filling in the project title, basic information, author, and version date at the top. 
• Identify Key Stakeholders and Team Members: Determine and recruit the best possible members for the team, and record their names, roles, and responsibilities. You may need to ask for recommendations from trusted colleagues. List all team members, sponsors, stakeholders, clients, and customers who will at some point be affected by the project. Confirm with each team member that they understand their role. For team members and stakeholders, Verzuh shares that it’s helpful to include information about the “time team members will spend (for example, if they’re on the project part-time) and, in addition to key stakeholders, helpful information such as who’s paying and who’s the executive sponsor, specific clients, or internal customers.” 
• Summarize the Project: Write a brief overview that helps the reader understand the project and how it creates business value. The summary can be as short as two or three sentences.  Verzuh reminds us that “projects are meant to deliver business value. The PM’s job is to keep an eye on business value and keep all stakeholders moving toward business value. The project summary is important because it creates the context.” 
• Articulate Project Goals: Take time to specify the aims of the project. What does it need to deliver? Why does it need to deliver it? How will this project achieve that goal? Write the goal succinctly, and include any background rationale for the project decisions. Keep the goal at a high level, and make sure it connects to the overall business goals. Example: Increase our social media presence in order to triple inbound website traffic within the next fiscal year.
• Example 1: We will launch four campaigns per quarter for each existing social media channel, increasing impressions and views by a factor of 10.
• Example 2: Our engagement will increase an average of 80 percent per quarter, per channel, tracked by click rate and number of user comments. 
• Example 3: We will drive campaign messaging based on user feedback collected from the previous quarter’s campaign in order to increase site retention by 25 percent each quarter and decrease bounce rate by 20 percent. Pro Tip: Verzuh says, “Think of the project summary and project objectives as the North Star to return to and ask, ‘Are we still on track with these?’”
• Define the Scope and Deliverables: According to Verzuh, “Scope and deliverables go hand in hand. The scope is written as a verb. The deliverable is the noun that results.” Clarify what scope of work is within the project boundaries and what is outside. It is especially important to detail what is out of scope. 
• List Required Resources: Provide a broad overview of any required resources, including people, facilities, costs, equipment, time, or information. You don’t need to get too detailed during this step. Once the project is approved, you’ll expand on your initial estimation. Cite any supporting background information, such as historical data or comparisons to previous projects, as evidence. 
• What if we don’t get it done by the decided date?
• Will that be a problem if we go past the date? Is there a penalty for missing it?
• Is there a business reason for having it done by that time?
• How does it sync up with your purpose statement? 
• Identify Project Constraints and Assumptions: Consider all constraints within which the project needs to be accomplished. Use the six constraints as you consider what factors might impact your project. 

• Next, list the assumptions, or what your team believes to be true. For example, what do you expect to rely on or hold to be true about time, staff, resources, costs, or equipment? In this section, also consider and include any significant risks that will impact or interfere with the project’s success.
• Note the Costs: You do not need a detailed budget, but it is helpful to include costs. Verzuh suggests writing “something basic so that it’s acknowledged, such as ‘We expect to spend X amount on personnel.’” 
• Get Feedback: If you haven’t already, ask team members and stakeholders to review the document or pertinent sections. Be receptive to their perspective, and be open to making changes. 
• Review and Revise: Read through the document, and modify any language that is unclear. Make final revisions based on your review and the feedback from the previous step. Take your revisions back to team members to get input on the adjustments. Repeat until you have crafted a high-quality document. 
• Present the Outline: If you are required to present the outline, enter the meeting prepared with a presentation deck. Practice discussing the project outline with colleagues. Anticipate any questions that might occur during the presentation.

Project Outline Sample Template

Download a Sample Project Outline Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Download a Blank Project Outline Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Use this project outline sample template to help you articulate your project goals and align your team to them. Download the one-page sample template to see an example of how to write a high-level project overview, project summary, objectives, scope, and key deliverables. Then use the blank template to create your own project outline.

Tips for Writing a Project Outline

We’ve rounded up expert tips to help you write a great project outline. Use these tips to keep your document focused and effective. A successful outline will help align stakeholders and team members to the project goals. 

Here are our top tips for writing a project outline: 

• Use a Template: Start with a template. You can create your own or use a pre-existing project outline template . 
• Stay Organized: Keep the document well-structured. 
• Don’t Rush: Set aside enough time to create a quality outline. 
• Identify Conflicts: Act as a detective who is finding out where stakeholders disagree. Verzuh says, “We always know there's a disagreement; we don’t know what it is until we discover it. This is a great time to discover those problems.”
• Get Feedback: Be open to feedback, and be ready for revisions. 
• Be Persuasive: Write for the reader with the goal of getting everyone on board. Keep in mind that the outline could be the first critical gate of the project, as the project's approval most likely relies on the document. Verzuh says, “Devise your project outline to address the key things that need to be said about the project. Particularly for internal work, this could be the basis for deciding whether to move forward on a project.” 
• Remember Your Audience: Read all completed sections with your audience in mind. Make sure the content clearly answers what each group or person needs to know. View the process as a means to shed light on the project. Heagney says, “The process of creating the outline is one of clarification. The project manager must engage with stakeholders, identify their wants and needs, then begin constructing requirements.”
• Edit and Revise: Cross-check your work by having team members from multiple areas review it. By doing so, they might discover information gaps or sections that are unclear. 
• Keep It Simple: Simple is best. After reading your outline, flag sections that didn’t make sense and rewrite them. If you don’t easily understand it, your reader won’t either. Use formatting, such as bullets, to your advantage. 
• Use Quantifiable Data: When writing requirements, Heagney recommends making sure they “are measurable and verifiable.”
• Acknowledge Constraints: Be realistic when determining the triple constraint (scope, schedule, and cost). Verzuh recommends asking yourself, “Are there any threats within the project environment that would prevent you from meeting the schedule, goals, or project objectives, or cause it to be much more expensive than anticipated?”
• Acknowledge Risks: Don’t make decisions based on the perfect execution of the project. Assume that at least 20 percent of the project will encounter challenges.

Benefits of Writing a Project Outline

The benefits of writing a project outline make it worth taking the time to create one. Doing so supports your project’s success, avoids costly miscommunication, and empowers your team. Ultimately, it eases your job as a project manager.  

Here are the benefits of writing a project outline: 

• Better Team Alignment: By clearly stating goals and objectives, the outline aligns all team members to the project goals. 
• Clearer Communication: Establish unambiguous communication from the outset with a project outline.
• Clearer Roles: The project outline clarifies roles and responsibilities from the start.
• Fewer Disagreements: By aligning team members from the outset, project outlines help resolve disagreements before they become costly. 
• Improved Stakeholder Relations: Keeping stakeholders apprised of project goals means you are better able to manage stakeholder expectations and relations.
• Improved Time Management: Help the team manage time by including a timeline and schedule in your outline.
• More Helpful Milestones: Create success points within the project with milestones.
• Optimized Workflow: By clarifying team roles and responsibilities in the project outline, you help foster efficient workflows.
• Reduced Scope Creep: Defining your project’s scope in the outline helps avoid or mitigate scope creep .

Additionally, Verzuh notes that creating a project outline “builds your own expert authority, demonstrates you’re the person who’s competent and organized to lead the project, establishes the document as an authority over stakeholders as a touchpoint to remind them of the agreement, and serves as the first project success factor.”

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Assignment vs. Project: What's the Difference?

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How to write an effective project plan in 6 simple steps

Contributing writer

If you’re a Type A personality, project planning might sound like music to your ears. Setting deadlines, organizing tasks, and creating order out of chaos — what’s not to love?

The reality is that project planning isn’t for everyone. In one survey by Association for Project Management, 76% of project professionals said their main project was a source of stress . Poor planning, unclear responsibilities, and overallocation are often the culprits behind the stress. 

An effective project plan helps teams stay within budget, scope, and schedule, while delivering quality work. In short, it gets you to the finish line without the stress.  

What is a project plan?

A project plan, also known as a work plan, is a blueprint of your project lifecycle. It’s like a roadmap — it clearly outlines how to get from where you are now (the beginning of the project) to where you want to go (the successful completion of the project). 

“A project plan is an action plan outlining how…[to] accomplish project goals,” says Jami Yazdani , certified Project Management Professional (PMP), project coach, project management consultant, and founder of Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation . 

A comprehensive project plan includes the project schedule, project scope, due dates, and deliverables. Writing a good project plan is key for any new, complex project in the pipeline.

Why Are Project Plans Important?

Project plans allow you to visualize your entire project, from beginning to end—and develop a clear strategy to get from point A to point B. Project plans steer stakeholders in the right direction and keep team members accountable with a common baseline.  

Project plans help you stay agile

Projects are bound by what is traditionally called the “iron triangle” of project management . It means that project managers have to work within the three constraints of scope, resources (project budget and teams), and schedule. You cannot make changes to one without impacting the other two.    

Modern-day project management has shifted to a more agile approach, with a focus on quality. This means that resources and schedules remain unchanged but a fixed number of iterations (flexible scope) helps teams deliver better quality and more value. 

A project plan puts this “agile triangle” in place by mapping out resources, schedules, and the number of iterations — sprints if you’re using a Scrum framework and work in progress (WIP) limits if you’re using the Kanban methodology . 

As Yazdani points out, “Project plans help us strategize a path to project success, allowing us to consider the factors that will impact our project, from stakeholders to budget to schedule delays, and plan how to maximize or mitigate these factors.” 

Project plans provide complete visibility

A project plan, when created with a comprehensive project management software , gives you 360-degree visibility throughout the project lifecycle. 

As a project manager, you need a single source of truth on team members and their project tasks, project scope, project objectives, and project timelines. A detailed project plan gives you this visibility and helps teams stay on track.

Project plans also help to get everyone involved on the same page, setting clear expectations around what needs to be accomplished, when, and by who. 

“Project plans create a framework for measuring project progress and success,” says Yazdani. “Project plans set clear expectations for…stakeholders by outlining exactly what…will [be accomplished] and when it will be delivered.”

Project plans boost engagement and productivity

A well-written project plan clarifies how each individual team member’s contributions play into the larger scope of the project and align with company goals. When employees see how their work directly impacts organizational growth, it generates buy-in and drives engagement , which is critical to a project’s success. 

“Project plans provide…teams with purpose and direction,” says Yazdani. “Transparent project plans show team members how their individual tasks and responsibilities contribute to the overall success of the project, encouraging engagement and collaboration.”

How To Write A Project Plan in 6 Steps

Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they’re available for the duration of the project. After all, you want to set your teams up for success with realistic end dates, buffer time to recharge or catch up in case of unexpected delays, and deliver quality work without experiencing burnout .

Based on organizational capacity, you can lay down project timelines and map out scope as well as success metrics, outline tasks, and build a feedback loop into your project plan. Follow these project planning steps to create a winning plan:      

1. Establish Project Scope And Metrics

Defining your project scope is essential to protecting your iron, or agile, triangle from crumbling. Too often, projects are hit with scope creep , causing delays, budget overruns, and anxiety.

“Clearly define your project’s scope or overall purpose,” says Yazdani. “Confirm any project parameters or constraints, like budget, resource availability, and timeline,” says Yazdani.

A project purpose statement is a high-level brief that defines the what, who, and why of the project along with how and when the goal will be accomplished. But just as important as defining your project scope and purpose is defining what metrics you’re going to use to track progress.

“Establish how you will measure success,” says Yazdani. “Are there metrics, performance criteria, or quality standards you need to meet?”

Clearly defining what your project is, the project’s overall purpose, and how you’re going to measure success lays the foundation for the rest of your project plan—so make sure you take the time to define each of these elements from the get-go.

2. Identify Key Project Stakeholders 

Get clarity on the team members you need to bring the project to life. In other words, identify the key stakeholders of the project. 

“List individuals or groups who will be impacted by the project,” says Yazdani. 

In addition to identifying who needs to be involved in the project, think about how they’ll need to be involved—and at what level. Use a tool like Confluence to run a virtual session to clarify roles and responsibilities, and find gaps that need to be filled. 

Let’s say you’re managing a cross-functional project to launch a new marketing campaign that includes team members from your marketing, design, and sales departments. 

When identifying your key stakeholders, you might create different lists based on the responsibility or level of involvement with the project:

• Decision-makers (who will need to provide input at each step of the project)
• Managers (who will be overseeing employees within their department) 
• Creative talent (who will be actually creating the project deliverables for the campaign) from each department. 

Give your project plan an edge by using a Confluence template like the one below to outline roles and responsibilities.

Define roles, discuss responsibilities, and clarify which tasks fall under each teammate’s purview using this Confluence template. 

Getting clarity on who needs to be involved in the project—and how they’re going to be involved—will help guide the rest of the project plan writing process (particularly when it comes to creating and assigning tasks).

3. Outline Deliverables

Now is the time to get granular.

Each project milestone comprises a series of smaller, tangible tasks that your teams need to produce. While a big-picture view keeps teams aligned, you need signposts along the way to guide them on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Create a list of deliverables that will help you achieve the greater vision of the project. 

“What will you create, build, design, produce, accomplish or deliver?” says Yazdani. “Clearly outline your project’s concrete and tangible deliverables or outcomes.” Centralize these deliverables in a Trello board with designated cards for each one, like in the example below, so you keep work moving forward.

Each card on a board represents tasks and ideas and you can move cards across lists to show progress.

Defining the concrete items you need your project to deliver will help you reverse-engineer the things that need to happen to bring those items to life—which is a must before moving on to the next step.

4. Develop Actionable Tasks

Task management is an important component of any project plan because they help employees see what exactly they need to accomplish. Drill down those deliverables into actionable tasks to assign to your team. 

You can use either Confluence or Jira for different task management needs. If you want to track tasks alongside your work, like action items from a meeting or small team projects, it’s best to use Confluence. But if a project has multiple teams and you need insight into workflows, task history, and reporting, Jira makes it easy.      

“Let your deliverables guide the work of the project,” says Yazdani. “Break down each deliverable into smaller and smaller components until you get to an actionable task.” If a major deliverable is a set of content pieces, the smaller actionable tasks would be to create topic ideas, conduct research, and create outlines for each topic.  

Once you’ve broken down all of your deliverables into manageable, assignable subtasks, analyze how each of those tasks interacts with each other. That way, you can plan, prioritize, assign, and add deadlines accordingly.  

“Highlight any dependencies between tasks, such as tasks that can’t be started until another task is complete,” says Yazdani. “List any resources you will need to accomplish these tasks.”

When a task has multiple assignees, you need to streamline the workflow in your project plan. Say the content pieces you outlined need to be edited or peer-reviewed. A couple of articles may need an interview with a subject matter expert. Lay down a stage-by-stage process of each piece of content and pinpoint when each team member comes into play so you prevent bottlenecks and adjust timeframes.     

5. Assign Tasks And Deadlines

Assign tasks to your team and collaborate with employees to set deadlines for each task. When you involve employees in setting workloads and deadlines , you increase ownership and boost the chances of delivering quality work on time.  

After all, you want to move projects forward at a steady pace, but you also want to make sure your teams stay motivated and engaged. So, when writing your project plan, make sure to “set realistic and achievable deadlines for completing tasks and deliverables,” says Yazdani. “Highlight dates that are inflexible and factor in task dependencies. Add in milestones or checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate successes .”

Use Jira and Confluence to create tasks that live alongside your project plan or meeting agendas.

Once you map out all of your tasks and deadlines, you should have a clear picture of how and when your project is going to come together—and the initial writing process is just about finished.

But that doesn’t mean your project plan is complete! There’s one more key step to the process.

6. Share, Gather Feedback, And Adjust The Project Plan As Necessary

While steps 1 through 5 may make up your initial writing process, if you want your project plan to be as strong and complete as it can be, it’s important to share it with your team—and get their input on how they think it can be improved.

“Share the plan with your project team and key stakeholders, gathering feedback to make adjustments and improvements,” says Yazdani. 

A tool like Confluence helps knowledge flow freely within teams and departments, leading to better teamwork, higher collaboration, and a shared understanding of priorities. Coworkers can use comments, mentions, notifications, and co-editing capabilities to provide and discuss feedback. 

After you gather your team’s feedback —and make any necessary adjustments based on that feedback—you can consider your project plan complete. Hooray! 

But as your project progresses, things may change or evolve—so it’s important to stay flexible and make changes and adjustments as needed.

“Expect to update your plan as you gather more information, encounter changing requirements and delays, and learn from feedback and mistakes,” says Yazdani. “By using your project plan to guide your activities and measure progress, you’ll be able to refine and improve your plan as you move through the project, tweaking tasks and deadlines as deliverables are developed.”

Download a  template to create your project plan and customize it based on your needs.

Example of a simple project plan 

A project plan doesn’t have to be a complicated spreadsheet with multiple tabs and drop-down menus. It’s best to use a project planning tool like Confluence — or at least a project plan template — to make sure you cover every aspect of the project. A simple project plan includes these elements:

• Project name, brief summary, and objective.
• Project players or team members who will drive the project, along with their roles and responsibilities.
• Key outcomes and due dates.
• Project elements, ideally divided into must-have, nice-to-have and not-in-scope categories.
• Milestones, milestone owners, and a project end date.
• Reference material relevant to the project.

Best Practices For Writing Effective Project Plans

A project planning process can quickly turn into a mishmash of goals and tasks that end up in chaos but these best practices can give you a framework to create a project plan that leads to success.

Use Other Project Plans For Inspiration

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new project! Instead, look to other successful project plans for inspiration—and use them as a guide when writing the plan for your project.

“Review templates and plans for similar projects, or for other projects within your organization or industry, to get ideas for structuring and drafting your own plan,” says Yazdani.

To get started, use a Trello project management template and customize it for your project plan by creating unique lists and adding cards under each list.

Build your team’s ideal workflow and mark each stage of the project plan as a list, with cards for each task. 

Get Your Team Involved In The Process

You may be in charge of spearheading the project. But that doesn’t mean that you have to—or even that you should—write the project plan alone. 

“Collaborate with your project team and key stakeholders on crafting a project plan,” says Yazdani. “Input into the project plan supports buy-in to project goals and encourages continued engagement throughout the project.”

With Confluence , you can organize project details in a centralized space and build a project plan collaboratively.

Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good

You may be tempted to write (and rewrite) your project plan until you’ve got every detail mapped out perfectly. But spending too much time trying to get everything “perfect” can actually hold up the project. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good—and instead of getting caught up in getting everything perfect from the get-go, stay willing and flexible to adjust your project plan as you move forward.

“Focus on outcomes, not plan perfection,” says Yazdani. “While it would be awesome for the first draft of our plan to require no changes while also inspiring our team and ensuring project success, our goal shouldn’t be a perfect plan. Our goal is a plan that allows us to successfully deliver on project goals. Responsiveness to changing needs and a shifting environment is more important than plan perfection.”

Use the right tools to succeed with your project plan

Writing a project plan, especially if you’re new to the process, can feel overwhelming. But now that you know the exact steps to write one, make sure you have the tools you need to create a strong, cohesive plan from the ground up—and watch your project thrive as a result. 

Atlassian Together can help with project planning and management with a powerful combination of tools that make work flow across teams.

Guide your team to project success with Atlassian Together’s suite of products.

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2. Project Management Overview

Adrienne Watt; Project Management Open Resources; and TAP-a-PM

Click play on the following audio player to listen along as you read this section.

The starting point in discussing how projects should be properly managed is to first understand what a project is and, just as importantly     , what it is not.

People have been undertaking projects since the earliest days of organized human activity. The hunting parties of our prehistoric ancestors were projects, for example; they were temporary undertakings directed at the goal of obtaining meat for the community. Large complex projects have also been with us for a long time. The pyramids and the Great Wall of China were in their day of roughly the same dimensions as the Apollo project to send men to the moon. We use the term “project” frequently in our daily conversations. A husband, for example may tell his wife, “My main project for this weekend is to straighten out the garage.” Going hunting, building pyramids, and fixing faucets all share certain features that make them projects.

Project Attributes

A project has distinctive attributes that distinguish it from ongoing work or business operations. Projects are temporary in nature. They are not an everyday business process and have definitive start dates and end dates. This characteristic is important because a large part of the project effort is dedicated to ensuring that the project is completed at the appointed time. To do this, schedules are created showing when tasks should begin and end. Projects can last minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years.

Projects exist to bring about a product or service that hasn’t existed before. In this sense, a project is unique. Unique means that this is new; this has never been done before. Maybe it’s been done in a very similar fashion before but never exactly in this way. For example, Ford Motor Company is in the business of designing and assembling cars. Each model that Ford designs and produces can be considered a project. The models differ from each other in their features and are marketed to people with various needs. An SUV serves a different purpose and clientele than a luxury car. The design and marketing of these two models are unique projects. However, the actual assembly of the cars is considered an operation (i.e., a repetitive process that is followed for most makes and models).

In contrast with projects, operations are ongoing and repetitive. They involve work that is continuous without an ending date and with the same processes repeated to produce the same results. The purpose of operations is to keep the organization functioning while the purpose of a project is to meet its goals and conclude. Therefore, operations are ongoing while projects are unique and temporary.

A project is completed when its goals and objectives are accomplished. It is these goals that drive the project, and all the planning and implementation efforts undertaken to achieve them. Sometimes projects end when it is determined that the goals and objectives cannot be accomplished or when the product or service of the project is no longer needed and the project is cancelled.

Definition of a Project

There are many written definitions of a project. All of them contain the key elements described above. For those looking for a formal definition of a project, the Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates a definite beginning and end. The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been achieved or when the project is terminated because its objectives will not or cannot be met, or when the need for the project no longer exists.

Project Characteristics

When considering whether or not you have a project on your hands, there are some things to keep in mind. First, is it a project or an ongoing operation? Second, if it is a project, who are the stakeholders? And third, what characteristics distinguish this endeavor as a project?

Projects have several characteristics:

• Projects are unique.
• Projects are temporary in nature and have a definite beginning and ending date.
• Projects are completed when the project goals are achieved or it’s determined the project is no longer viable.

A successful project is one that meets or exceeds the expectations of the stakeholders.

Consider the following scenario: The vice-president (VP) of marketing approaches you with a fabulous idea. (Obviously it must be “fabulous” because he thought of it.) He wants to set up kiosks in local grocery stores as mini-offices. These offices will offer customers the ability to sign up for car and home insurance services as well as make their bill payments. He believes that the exposure in grocery stores will increase awareness of the company’s offerings. He told you that senior management has already cleared the project, and he’ll dedicate as many resources to this as he can. He wants the new kiosks in place in 12 selected stores in a major city by the end of the year. Finally, he has assigned you to head up this project.

Your first question should be, “Is it a project?” This may seem elementary, but confusing projects with ongoing operations happens often. Projects are temporary in nature, have definite start and end dates, result in the creation of a unique product or service, and are completed when their goals and objectives have been met and signed off by the stakeholders.

Using these criteria, let’s examine the assignment from the VP of marketing to determine if it is a project:

• Is it unique? Yes, because the kiosks don’t exist in the local grocery stores. This is a new way of offering the company’s services to its customer base. While the service the company is offering isn’t new, the way it is presenting its services is.
• Does the product have a limited timeframe? Yes, the start date of this project is today, and the end date is the end of next year. It is a temporary endeavor.
• Is there a way to determine when the project is completed? Yes, the kiosks will be installed and the services will be offered from them. Once all the kiosks are installed and operating, the project will come to a close.
• Is there a way to determine stakeholder satisfaction? Yes, the expectations of the stakeholders will be documented in the form of requirements during the planning processes. These requirements will be compared to the finished product to determine if it meets the expectations of the stakeholder.

If the answer is yes to all these questions, then we have a project.

The Process of Project Management

You’ve determined that you have a project. What now? The notes you scribbled down on the back of the napkin at lunch are a start, but not exactly good project management practice. Too often, organizations follow Nike’s advice when it comes to managing projects when they “just do it.” An assignment is made, and the project team members jump directly into the development of the product or service requested. In the end, the delivered product doesn’t meet the expectations of the customer. Unfortunately, many projects follow this poorly constructed path, and that is a primary contributor to a large percentage of projects not meeting their original objectives, as defined by performance, schedule, and budget.

In the United States, more than $250 billion is spent each year on information technology (IT) application development in approximately 175,000 projects. The Standish Group (a Boston-based leader in project and value performance research) released the summary version of their 2009 CHAOS Report that tracks project failure rates across a broad range of companies and industries (Figure 2.1).

Jim Johnson, chairman of the Standish Group, has stated that “this year’s results show a marked decrease in project success rates, with 32% of all projects succeeding which are delivered on time, on budget, with required features and functions, 44% were challenged-which are late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions and 24% failed which are cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used.”

When are companies going to stop wasting billions of dollars on failed projects? The vast majority of this waste is completely avoidable: simply get the right business needs (requirements) understood early in the process and ensure that project management techniques are applied and followed, and the project activities are monitored.

Applying good project management discipline is the way to help reduce the risks. Having good project management skills does not completely eliminate problems, risks, or surprises. The value of good project management is that you have standard processes in place to deal with all contingencies.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques applied to project activities in order to meet the project requirements. Project management is a process that includes planning, putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and performance.

Managing a project includes identifying your project’s requirements and writing down what everyone needs from the project. What are the objectives for your project? When everyone understands the goal, it’s much easier to keep them all on the right path. Make sure you set goals that everyone agrees on to avoid team conflicts later on. Understanding and addressing the needs of everyone affected by the project means the end result of your project is far more likely to satisfy your stakeholders. Last but not least, as project manager, you will also be balancing the many competing project constraints.

On any project, you will have a number of project constraints that are competing for your attention. They are cost, scope, quality, risk, resources, and time.

• Cost is the budget approved for the project including all necessary expenses needed to deliver the project. Within organizations, project managers have to balance between not running out of money and not underspending because many projects receive funds or grants that have contract clauses with a “use it or lose it” approach to project funds. Poorly executed budget plans can result in a last-minute rush to spend the allocated funds. For virtually all projects, cost is ultimately a limiting constraint; few projects can go over budget without eventually requiring a corrective action.
• Scope is what the project is trying to achieve. It entails all the work involved in delivering the project outcomes and the processes used to produce them. It is the reason and the purpose of the project.
• Quality is a combination of the standards and criteria to which the project’s products must be delivered for them to perform effectively. The product must perform to provide the functionality expected, solve the identified problem, and deliver the benefit and value expected. It must also meet other performance requirements, or service levels, such as availability, reliability, and maintainability, and have acceptable finish and polish. Quality on a project is controlled through quality assurance (QA), which is the process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.
• Risk is defined by potential external events that will have a negative impact on your project if they occur. Risk refers to the combination of the probability the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event occurs. If the combination of the probability of the occurrence and the impact on the project is too high, you should identify the potential event as a risk and put a proactive plan in place to manage the risk.
• Resources are required to carry out the project tasks. They can be people, equipment, facilities, funding, or anything else capable of definition (usually other than labour) required for the completion of a project activity.
• Time is defined as the time to complete the project. Time is often the most frequent project oversight in developing projects. This is reflected in missed deadlines and incomplete deliverables. Proper control of the schedule requires the careful identification of tasks to be performed and accurate estimations of their durations, the sequence in which they are going to be done, and how people and other resources are to be allocated. Any schedule should take into account vacations and holidays.

You may have heard of the term “triple constraint,” which traditionally consisted of only time, cost, and scope. These are the primary competing project constraints that you have to be most aware of. The triple constraint is illustrated in the form of a triangle to visualize the project work and see the relationship between the scope/quality, schedule/time, and cost/resource (Figure 2.2). In this triangle, each side represents one of the constraints (or related constraints) wherein any changes to any one side cause a change in the other sides. The best projects have a perfectly balanced triangle. Maintaining this balance is difficult because projects are prone to change. For example, if scope increases, cost and time may increase disproportionately. Alternatively, if the amount of money you have for your project decreases, you may be able to do as much, but your time may increase.

Your project may have additional constraints that you must face, and as the project manager, you have to balance the needs of these constraints against the needs of the stakeholders and your project goals. For instance, if your sponsor wants to add functionality to the original scope, you will very likely need more money to finish the project, or if they cut the budget, you will have to reduce the quality of your scope, and if you don’t get the appropriate resources to work on your project tasks, you will have to extend your schedule because the resources you have take much longer to finish the work.

You get the idea; the constraints are all dependent on each other. Think of all of these constraints as the classic carnival game of Whac-a-mole (Figure 2.3). Each time you try to push one mole back in the hole, another one pops out. The best advice is to rely on your project team to keep these moles in place.

Here is an example of a project that cut quality because the project costs were fixed. The P-36 oil platform (Figure 2.4) was the largest footing production platform in the world capable of processing 180,000 barrels of oil per day and 5.2 million cubic metres of gas per day. Located in the Roncador Field, Campos Basin, Brazil, the P-36 was operated by Petrobras.

In March 2001, the P-36 was producing around 84,000 barrels of oil and 1.3 million cubic metres of gas per day when it became destabilized by two explosions and subsequently sank in 3,900 feet of water with 1,650 short tons of crude oil remaining on board, killing 11 people. The sinking is attributed to a complete failure in quality assurance, and pressure for increased production led to corners being cut on safety procedures. It is listed as one of the most expensive accidents with a price tag of $515,000,000.

The following quotes are from a Petrobras executive, citing the benefits of cutting quality assurance and inspection costs on the project.

“Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for the generation of exceptional share­holder wealth through an aggressive and innovative program of cost cutting on its P36 production facility.” “Conventional constraints have been successfully challenged and replaced with new paradigms appropriate to the globalized corporate market place.” “Elimination of these unnecessary straitjackets has empowered the project’s suppliers and contractors to propose highly economical solutions, with the win-win bonus of enhanced profitability margins for themselves.” “The P36 platform shows the shape of things to come in the unregulated global market economy of the 21st century.”

The dynamic trade-offs between the project constraint values have been humorously and accurately described in Figure 2.5.

Project Management Expertise

In order for you, as the project manager, to manage the competing project constraints and the project as a whole, there are some areas of expertise you should bring to the project team (Figure 2.11). They are knowledge of the application area and the standards and regulations in your industry, understanding of the project environment, general management knowledge and skills, and interpersonal skills. It should be noted that industry expertise is not in a certain field but the expertise to run the project. So while knowledge of the type of industry is important, you will have a project team supporting you in this endeavor. For example, if you are managing a project that is building an oil platform, you would not be expected to have a detailed understanding of the engineering since your team will have mechanical and civil engineers who will provide the appropriate expertise; however, it would definitely help if you understood this type of work.

Let’s take a look at each of these areas in more detail.

Application knowledge

By standards, we mean guidelines or preferred approaches that are not necessarily mandatory. In contrast, when referring to regulations we mean mandatory rules that must be followed, such as government-imposed requirements through laws. It should go without saying that as a professional, you’re required to follow all applicable laws and rules that apply to your industry, organization, or project. Every industry has standards and regulations. Knowing which ones affect your project before you begin work will not only help the project to unfold smoothly, but will also allow for effective risk analysis.

Some projects require specific skills in certain application areas. Application areas are made up of categories of projects that have common elements. They can be defined by industry group (pharmaceutical, financial, etc.), department (accounting, marketing, legal, etc.), technology (software development, engineering, etc), or management specialties (procurement, research and development, etc.). These application areas are usually concerned with disciplines, regulations, and the specific needs of the project, the customer, or the industry. For example, most government agencies have specific procurement rules that apply to their projects that wouldn’t be applicable in the construction industry. The pharmaceutical industry is interested in regulations set forth by government regulators, whereas the automotive industry has little or no concern for either of these types of regulations. You need to stay up-to-date regarding your industry so that you can apply your knowledge effectively. Today’s fast-paced advances can leave you behind fairly quickly if you don’t stay abreast of current trends.

Having some level of experience in the application area you’re working in will give you an advantage when it comes to project management. While you can call in experts who have the application area knowledge, it doesn’t hurt for you to understand the specific aspects of the application areas of your project.

Understanding the Project Environment

There are many factors that need to be understood within your project environment (Figure 2.7). At one level, you need to think in terms of the cultural and social environments (i.e., people, demographics, and education). The international and political environment is where you need to understand about different countries’ cultural influences. Then we move to the physical environment; here we think about time zones. Think about different countries and how differently your project will be executed whether it is just in your country or if it involves an international project team that is distributed throughout the world in five different countries.

Of all the factors, the physical ones are the easiest to understand, and it is the cultural and international factors that are often misunderstood or ignored. How we deal with clients, customers, or project members from other countries can be critical to the success of the project. For example, the culture of the United States values accomplishments and individualism. Americans tend to be informal and call each other by first names, even if having just met. Europeans tend to be more formal, using surnames instead of first names in a business setting, even if they know each other well. In addition, their communication style is more formal than in the United States, and while they tend to value individualism, they also value history, hierarchy, and loyalty. The Japanese, on the other hand, tend to communicate indirectly and consider themselves part of a group, not as individuals. The Japanese value hard work and success, as most of us do.

How a product is received can be very dependent on the international cultural differences. For example, in the 1990s, when many large American and European telecommunications companies were cultivating new markets in Asia, their customer’s cultural differences often produced unexpected situations. Western companies planned their telephone systems to work the same way in Asia as they did in Europe and the United States. But the protocol of conversation was different. Call-waiting, a popular feature in the West, is considered impolite in some parts of Asia. This cultural blunder could have been avoided had the team captured the project environment requirements and involved the customer.

It is often the simplest things that can cause trouble since, unsurprisingly, in different countries, people do things differently. One of the most notorious examples of this is also one of the most simple: date formats. What day and month is 2/8/2009? Of course it depends where you come from; in North America it is February 8th while in Europe (and much of the rest of the world) it is 2nd August. Clearly, when schedules and deadlines are being defined it is important that everyone is clear on the format used.

The diversity of practices and cultures and its impact on products in general and on software in particular goes well beyond the date issue. You may be managing a project to create a new website for a company that sells products worldwide. There are language and presentation style issues to take into consideration; converting the site into different languages isn’t enough. It is obvious that you need to ensure the translation is correct; however, the presentation layer will have its own set of requirements for different cultures. The left side of a website may be the first focus of attention for a Canadian; the right side would be the initial focus for anyone from the Middle East, as both Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left. Colors also have different meanings in different cultures. White, which is a sign of purity in North America (e.g., a bride’s wedding dress), and thus would be a favoured background colour in North America, signifies death in Japan (e.g., a burial shroud). Table 2.1 summarizes different meanings of common colours.

Project managers in multicultural projects must appreciate the culture dimensions and try to learn relevant customs, courtesies, and business protocols before taking responsibility for managing an international project. A project manager must take into consideration these various cultural influences and how they may affect the project’s completion, schedule, scope, and cost.

Management Knowledge and Skills

As the project manager, you have to rely on your project management knowledge and your general manage­ment skills. Here, we are thinking of items like your ability to plan the project, execute it properly, and of course control it and bring it to a successful conclusion, along with your ability to guide the project team to achieve project objectives and balance project constraints.

There is more to project management than just getting the work done. Inherent in the process of project management are the general management skills that allow the project manager to complete the project with some level of efficiency and control. In some respects, managing a project is similar to running a business: there are risk and rewards, finance and accounting activities, human resource issues, time management, stress management, and a purpose for the project to exist. General management skills are needed in every project.

Interpersonal Skills

Last but not least you also have to bring the ability into the project to manage personal relationships and deal with personnel issues as they arise. Here were talking about your interpersonal skills as shown in Figure 2.8.

Communication

Project managers spend 90% of their time communicating. Therefore they must be good communicators, promoting clear, unambiguous exchange of information. As a project manager, it is your job to keep a number of people well informed. It is essential that your project staff know what is expected of them: what they have to do, when they have to do it, and what budget and time constraints and quality specifications they are working toward. If project staff members do not know what their tasks are, or how to accomplish them, then the entire project will grind to a halt. If you do not know what the project staff is (or often is not) doing, then you will be unable to monitor project progress. Finally, if you are uncertain of what the customer expects of you, then the project will not even get off the ground. Project communication can thus be summed up as knowing “who needs what information and when” and making sure they have it.

All projects require sound communication plans, but not all projects will have the same types of commu­nication or the same methods for distributing the information. For example, will information be distributed via mail or email, is there a shared website, or are face-to-face meetings required? The communication management plan documents how the communication needs of the stakeholders will be met, including the types of information that will be communicated, who will communicate them, and who will receive them; the methods used to communicate; the timing and frequency of communication; the method for updating the plan as the project progresses, including the escalation process; and a glossary of common terms.

Project management is about getting things done. Every organization is different in its policies, modes of operations, and underlying culture. There are political alliances, differing motivations, conflicting interests, and power struggles. A project manager must understand all of the unspoken influences at work within an organization.

Leadership is the ability to motivate and inspire individuals to work toward expected results. Leaders inspire vision and rally people around common goals. A good project manager can motivate and inspire the project team to see the vision and value of the project. The project manager as a leader can inspire the project team to find a solution to overcome perceived obstacles to get the work done.

Motivation helps people work more efficiently and produce better results. Motivation is a constant process that the project manager must guide to help the team move toward completion with passion and a profound reason to complete the work. Motivating the team is accomplished by using a variety of team-building techniques and exercises. Team building is simply getting a diverse group of people to work together in the most efficient and effective manner possible. This may involve management events as well as individual actions designed to improve team performance.

Recognition and rewards are an important part of team motivations. They are formal ways of recognizing and promoting desirable behaviour and are most effective when carried out by the management team and the project manager. Consider individual preferences and cultural differences when using rewards and recognition. Some people don’t like to be recognized in front of a group; others thrive on it.

Negotiation

Project managers must negotiate for the good of the project. In any project, the project manager, the project sponsor, and the project team will have to negotiate with stakeholders, vendors, and customers to reach a level of agreement acceptable to all parties involved in the negotiation process.

Problem Solving

Problem solving is the ability to understand the heart of a problem, look for a viable solution, and then make a decision to implement that solution. The starting point for problem solving is problem definition. Problem definition is the ability to understand the cause and effect of the problem; this centres on root-cause analysis. If a project manager treats only the symptoms of a problem rather than its cause, the symptoms will perpetuate and continue through the project life. Even worse, treating a symptom may result in a greater problem. For example, increasing the ampere rating of a fuse in your car because the old one keeps blowing does not solve the problem of an electrical short that could result in a fire. Root-cause analysis looks beyond the immediate symptoms to the cause of the symptoms, which then affords opportunities for solutions. Once the root of a problem has been identified, a decision must be made to effectively address the problem.

Solutions can be presented from vendors, the project team, the project manager, or various stakeholders. A viable solution focuses on more than just the problem; it looks at the cause and effect of the solution itself. In addition, a timely decision is needed or the window of opportunity may pass and then a new decision will be needed to address the problem. As in most cases, the worst thing you can do is nothing.

All of these interpersonal skills will be used in all areas of project management. Start practicing now because it’s guaranteed that you’ll need these skills on your next project.

Image Descriptions

Figure 2.5 image description: The sign says, “We can do good, quick, and cheap work. You can have any two but not all three. 1. Good, quick work won’t be cheap. 2. Good, cheap work won’t be quick. 3. Quick, cheap work won’t be good.” [Return to Figure 2.5]

Text Attributions

This chapter was adapted and remixed by Adrienne Watt from the following sources:

• Text under “Project Attributes,” “Project Characteristics,” “Process of Project Management,” and “Project Management Expertise,” were adapted from “What is a Project?,” “Project Characteristics,” “What is Project Management,” and “Project Management Areas of Expertise” in Project Management for Skills for All Careers by Project Management Open Resources and TAP-a-PM. Licensed under a CC BY 3.0 licence .
• Table 2.1 was adapted by Merrie Barron and Andrew R. Barron from P. Russo and S. Boor, How Fluent is Your Interface? Designing for International Users , Proceedings of the INTERACT ’93 and CHI ’93, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. (1993). The table is from “ Project Management Areas of Expertise ” in Project Management. Licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence .

Media Attributions

• Chaosreport2009 © Merrie Barron & Andrew R. Barron is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
• Triple constraint triangle © John M. Kennedy T is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
• Whac a mole © sakura is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
• Petrobras sinking © Richard Collinson is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives) license
• Good-quick-cheap © Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers. is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
• Areas of expertise © Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
• Project environment © Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers, is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
• Interpersonal skills © Barron & Barron Project Management for Scientists and Engineers is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license

2. Project Management Overview Copyright © 2014 by Adrienne Watt; Project Management Open Resources; and TAP-a-PM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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What is project planning? How to write a successful project plan

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 project planning?

Project planning is the second stage in the project management process, following project initiation and preceding project execution. During the project planning stage, the project manager creates a project plan, which maps out project requirements. The project planning phase typically includes setting project goals, designating project resources, and mapping out the project schedule.

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: Similar to a project plan, your work breakdown structure (WBS) helps you with project execution. While the project plan focuses on every aspect of your project, the WBS is focused on deliverables—breaking them down into sub-deliverables and project tasks. This helps you visualize the whole project in simple steps. Because it’s a visual format, your WBS is best viewed as a Gantt chart (or timeline), Kanban board , or calendar—especially if you’re using project management software .

Why are project plans important?

Project plans set the stage for the entire project. Without one, you’re missing a 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.

Components of a project plan

Planning a project can feel overwhelming—where do you even begin? A solid project plan boils down to key components that guide every step.

Goals and project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders and roles

Scope , budget , and resource allocation

Milestones , deliverables , and project dependencies

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan

With the essential parts of a project plan in place, you're ready to begin creating a project plan of your own!

Free project plan template

Choose between 30 project planning templates

How to create a project plan in 7 steps

Ever had a project where deadlines keep slipping, tasks seem to happen out of order, and everyone’s scrambling to catch up? That’s where a good project plan makes all the difference. 

In this section, we’ll cover the 7 project planning steps that bring order to chaos, keep you on schedule, and ensure everyone’s on the same page. Plus, don’t miss the project planning template later in the article to help you get started right away. Let’s make a project together!

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 twice 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 scope statement 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, an event goal 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.

As you plan project work, incorporate risk assessment strategies to identify and mitigate potential challenges that could impact your success metrics.

Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles

Running a project usually means getting collaborators involved in the execution of it. In your project management planning phase, 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? How is your project team structured (i.e., do you have a project manager, a project sponsor , etc.)? 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 project cost? 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 task dependencies —tasks that you can’t start until others are finished. Task 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 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. Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution phases of your project. Using project planning tools or task management software that integrates with apps like Slack and Gmail can ensure all your communication happens in one easily accessible place. 

Throughout these steps in project planning, be sure to incorporate change management practices to adapt to evolving project needs while maintaining alignment with your original project goals.

Project plan example: Content calendar

Here are two example project plans for marketing and design projects that will guide you during your own project planning.

Let’s imagine you’re the content lead, tasked with building and executing a content calendar for the upcoming year. Here’s a sample approach:

Goals and success metrics : Aim to increase engagement by 10%, with success measured by email open/click-through rates, social media followers, and search engine rankings.

Stakeholders and roles :

Content Lead: Manage and update the calendar

Writers: Draft outlines and content

Editor: Review and provide feedback

Producer: Publish content

Budget : $50,000 for the project and content for the year

Milestones and deliverables : Complete the content calendar with all yearly topics, and ensure it’s shareable and visible on the project schedule.

October 15 - November 1 : Research content topics

November 2 - November 30 : Select topics

December 1 - January 1 : Build the calendar

January 1 - December 31 : Writers create content, Editor reviews

January 16 - December 31 : Content publishing on a rolling basis

Communication Plan : Kick-off meeting, monthly updates, and weekly Friday status reports within a project management tool .

Project planning example: ClassPass

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.

What to look for in project planning software

For project management professionals, picking the right software can feel overwhelming with so many platforms available. Here’s what to consider when choosing the perfect project planning tool:

Pick user-friendly software that is simple for everyone on your team to use.

Ensure it can handle task breakdown, scheduling, and progress tracking.

Real-time updates and communication features keep everyone in sync and collaborating.

Whether it’s Gantt charts, Kanban boards, or calendars, multiple customizable view options help teams stay organized.

Project management planning tools like Asana offer seamless integrations with your existing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Google, and Slack.

Reporting and analytics insights and dashboards help track project progress and ensure goals are on target.

The right project planning software makes your workflows smoother, more efficient, and ultimately more successful!

Project planning best practices

Project planning in project management takes more than good intentions! Here are the fundamentals of smart, efficient planning:

Establish clear project goals and objectives from the outset. A well-defined destination helps everyone understand what success looks like and how to get there.

Break down the work into tasks, milestones, and dependencies using a work breakdown structure (WBS). This method makes the project more manageable and allows for clear assignments.

Set realistic timelines and deadlines. Align the project scope with achievable timeframes, factoring in task dependencies and potential setbacks to avoid scheduling surprises.

Communicate early and often with stakeholders and team members. This helps prevent misunderstandings, minimizes scope creep, and builds accountability.

Track progress regularly, analyze outcomes, and be prepared to adjust plans as needed. Flexibility can be the difference between a smooth project and one that hits unnecessary roadblocks.

Following these best practices makes each project phase smoother and drives your team members toward key milestones!

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 project planning software like Asana . Work through each of the steps of your project plan with confidence, and streamline your communications with the team.

Related resources

What is project risk management? 6 steps to boost success

What is a product backlog? (And how to create one)

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

How Asana drives impactful product launches in 3 steps