How to Create a Project Plan

A good project plan provides your team with direction and important context. It creates a shared understanding of responsibilities, goals, and deadlines.

A great project plan sets realistic expectations. It clarifies project outputs and estimates project costs and resources. Finally, the best project plans are proactive. They predict issues before they happen and provide guidance on how to handle them. They create a plan for communication and receiving feedback.

Main Sections of a Project Plan

This is where you put together the things that you have discussed in your project kickstart and initiation phase.

Five main sections comprise a typical project plan. Some project plans may go into more or less detail depending on the team, management style, and scope of the project. However, these five sections will provide you with a solid foundation.

What Differentiates a Successful Project Plan?

Project plans fail when objectives and tasks are generic, accountability is centralized, and the team constraints or project risks aren't incorporated. Project plans need to be specific, well-researched, and proactive. It's worth the extra time and effort to make your project plan as accurate and effective as possible. Otherwise, the issues in your project plan will only manifest in your project's execution—and potentially prevent you from achieving your goals.