How to build a project plan? our tips

Because any project management requires starting from a solid base and knowing in which direction you are going, it is essential to establish a project plan in advance.

But how?

In a competitive environment where companies must work on increasingly complex and innovative projects, how can you ensure that you consider all the elements essential to their successful conduct? Is it possible to accurately consider all the tasks to be accomplished, the deadlines to be met, and the resources to be allocated?

The answer is yes.

However, to achieve this, proper project planning requires the monitoring of a precise and structured methodology.

In this article we explain how to plan the phases of a project to arrive at a successful end result. And since this activity requires performing a number of rather complex tasks, we also present a selection of supporting software and an Excel template of the Gantt chart.

But before we go any further, let's return to the definition and benefits of planning a project in more detail.

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What is a project plan?

The life cycle of a project includes a number of phases. However, before you can start working on the project itself, you need to dive into the essential phase of the project planning process.

Planning a project consists of:

• identifying the different tasks that make up the project
• prioritizing these tasks
• defining their duration and deadline
• identifying the costs and human resources needed to carry out the project
• planning all the steps clearly

This preparatory work requires a high degree of precision, but there are many advantages for the project manager.

What are the advantages of a project plan?

Usually presented as a table or chart to be more visual, a project plan includes the essential data. By providing teams with an overview, it allows them to:

• structure ideas in advance. In fact, planning requires a series of questions to be asked. Which tasks are really essential for project implementation? Which ones are superfluous? What resources should be sought? What should the end result be? Planning a project means organizing your ideas.
• Carefully monitor the progress of the project. Based on a project schedule, you can identify over the course of the project what goals have or have not been met and react accordingly. Also, it is best to anticipate the impact of problems throughout the project life cycle.
• Promote communication and collaborative work. All project stakeholders have the opportunity to refer to the program to manage their daily activities. They can also more easily identify their place in the project, the hierarchy of tasks, and thus the impact of their work.
• Allocate the right resources. By including factors such as the duration of each task or possible overlap between them, scheduling allows projects to be carried out more realistically, thus avoiding unnecessary sources of stress.

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What are the stages of planning a project?

Now that we have seen all the aspects of planning a project, let's look at the stages of its development.

Understanding the goal and conditions of the project

Understanding the objective of the project remains the basis. This preliminary thinking minimizes the risk along the way of realizing that you have gone in the wrong direction.

Before any planning, be clear about:

• To the different deliverables, expected results and deadlines
• time requirements
• Of the budget available to you

That said, we can take the next step.

Define the different tasks that make up the project

The success of the project largely depends on this crucial step.

💡 The method that might help you:

To precisely define the different tasks that make up your project, and make sure you don't forget any of them, use the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) method.

It consists of identifying the most important deliverables and then dividing them into subsets. Each of these subsets is then broken down, to define the tasks or tasks.

The WBS method in detail:

Task scheduling

Once all your tasks have been identified, it is time to link them together so that they can be sorted . This is called task planning.

In each task sequence there is a starting task and an ending task, all the tasks in between are connected by a logical sequence. These linkages are divided into four types:

• End-to-start linkages: task B cannot be started until task A is completed.
• End-to-end links: activity B cannot be completed until activity A is completed. However, it is not mandatory to wait for the completion of A for the start of B.
• Start-to-start connections: activity B cannot be started until activity A is started. On the other hand, it is not mandatory to start B at the same time as A.
• Start-to-finish linkages: activity B cannot be completed until activity A has been started.

Note that the project manager can plan different scenarios for scheduling activities. Therefore, depending on the progress of the project and the difficulties encountered, another plan can still be used.

💡The methodogy :

Scheduling of activities, particularly in complex projects, is often done using the PERT diagram.

Generally used in parallel with the Gantt chart, its construction reveals the connections and interdependencies between tasks, as well as their execution time.

In practice, a task is represented by an arrow surrounded by two nodes that materialize steps. Each step has a first and last date.

The PERT diagram method in detail:

© R. Martelli

Estimate the duration of each task and project

With this decisive step, a correct overview of the overall project duration is obtained.

However, it requires the involvement of all players: everyone is better able to provide a correct estimate of the time needed to complete the tasks that concern them.

Also, always take into account different time constraints to optimize your planning. For example, some tasks, for legal reasons, absolutely must be completed by a specific date.

💡The methodology :

While the PERT diagram seen above helps determine the start and end dates for each task, the Critical Path Method allows you to estimate the entire duration of the project.

Indeed, we have seen with the PERT diagram how to calculate the total margin of each activity (i.e., the difference between the first and last dates). But if a margin is 0, then the task in question is on the Critical Path of the project .

In other words, the sequence of tasks on the Critical Path should not be delayed.

The Critical Path Method in detail :

Allocation of resources for various tasks

The question here is "who does what?"

To this end, define the work time that each project actor (including external service providers) can devote to task execution, taking into account all constraints: holidays, public holidays, time devoted to other tasks, etc.

Organizing a schedule

Once the previous steps have been completed, all you have to do is build your calendar.

💡The methodology :

Thanks to the PERT diagram, you can now build a Gantt chart.

This represents in a table the different tasks of a project with horizontal bars, delimited by a beginning and an end. It thus offers a clear and quick visualization of the progress of the project.

The Gantt chart is also a good tool on which to visualize milestones (or milestones), i.e., key stopping points in the project life cycle (end of a phase, major event such as product launch, budget, etc.) Beware, once a milestone is passed, there is no turning back.

Finally, note that for small projects, where you benefit from easy time management, it is customary to use the Gantt chart directly without going through the PERT chart.

What are the tools for planning your project + Excel template

WBS, Gantt... Needless to say, a sheet of paper or a whiteboard will not be enough to draw up a readable and accurate project plan. That is why we present some essential tools. The first one we can think of is Excel. With a simple spreadsheet you can draw a basic Gantt chart. Here is our free Excel template for you:

In any case, Excel shows its limitations in more complex projects because of the ease with which mistakes can be made. That is why we present today some of the most suitable project management software.

Project management software

Why use project management software to create your project plan?

• They take into account the many parameters of the project and facilitate the implementation of previously developed phases;
• They are versatile, and also allow you to ensure post-planning follow-up and react more easily in case of problems;
• They facilitate exchanges and communication among project stakeholders.

But which solution should you choose in relation to your needs? Focus on a few proven software products.

Monday.com

Monday.com is a project management software that has earned worldwide fame and the trust of some of the most important brands on the market. It will not be you adapting to the platform, but it adapting to you through the different templates it provides. Thanks to this tool you will be able to "plan, monitor and collaborate" without stress.

Its features include:

• Time tracking
• Various visualization options
• Dashboards

Trello

Trello ranks as one of the leading free project management software in terms of visual representation. Because of this ease of interaction, it is a favorite tool for students and professionals to manage their activities.

Thanks to trello you will be able to:

• Have visualization in Kanban mode
• Create Gantt Charts
• Manage your tasks

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Thanks to the project plan, no more unpleasant surprises!

As you may have guessed, planning a project involves the consideration of many variables. You must therefore ensure that you strictly apply the required project management methodology.

We therefore recommend using software that can intelligently walk you through your processes, thus avoiding the problems of deadlines, resources and budgets that are sometimes difficult to anticipate.

In addition, these software packages go beyond a simple task planning tool to include the management of the project as a whole: project lifecycle management to completion, KPI tracking, collaborative exchanges, document sharing, etc.

Thanks to them, no more unpleasant surprises for the project manager and all company stakeholders in general.

What about you? what methodologies and software do you use? tell us about your experience!!!