This Is How To Develop An Effective Project Plan — Part 1
A series about project planning essentials: what is a project plan, steps to prepare a plan, tips for clear communication and more.
“When will you have the project plan ready?”
Last week, a colleague stuttered to answer a stakeholder's question about project timelines during a status call. His inability to provide a clear process or estimate revealed he hadn't commenced work on the project. His attempt to evade answering directly further annoyed the stakeholder who was keen to understand resource requirements for the new plan.
His situation inspired me to come up with a series about project planning process, I think this would not only help him but also others that are struggling to understand this. In this series, I’ll cover topics from project planning to it’s execution.
What you’ll find in this guide:
What is a Project Plan in simple words ❓
The process of preparing a Project Plan 🏗️
Tips for Clear Communication in Project Planning 🗣️
[Special] How to answer the question: “When will you have the plan ready?” 🗓️
Question for you: How long takes you to do a whole project planning? 1 month? 2 months? Less? Share your experiences in the comments below!
What is a Project Plan, exactly?
A project plan is a formal document that guides the execution and control of a project. It outlines goals, stakeholders, timelines, tasks, resources, and funding. It is a timeline for completing a project with specific objectives. On the other hand, a product is a tangible or intangible item or service created to meet customer and business needs.
Unlike a project plan, a product exists beyond a specific timeline and requires continual updates and improvements to stay competitive and meet customer needs. It is designed to deliver value and generate revenue in the long-term.
How to prepare a Project Plan
To answer this question and before diving into how to communicate a project plan’s readiness, let's understand the key steps involved in creating a project plan:
Step 1: Define your goals and objectives
This is your 'why' for the project. Keep in mind that your goals are the broader targets aligning with your business objectives whereas the objectives are the deliverables you'll have in hand at the end. This way, no matter what comes up, everybody knows where they are heading!
Step 2: Set success metrics
Once you've set your goals and objectives, add a way to measure if you're on track. This is similar to the speedometer showing you're neither over-speeding nor trailing behind on your road trip. For example, if you're running an event, success may be measured by the number of attendees you manage to attract.
Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles
Recognizing everyone's roles, from who's driving the project forward to who needs to be kept in the loop, helps everything run smoothly. You'll know who turns the wheel and who reads the maps!
Step 4: Set your budget
You can't embark on a road trip without considering your fuel costs, you shouldn't start a project without a budget. Your budget is closely linked to your goals and stakeholders, so remember to consider all angles before settling on a figure.
Step 5: Align on milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies
Just like when you're checking off waypoints on a journey, hitting your project milestones signifies a significant accomplishment. Your deliverables are your tangible outcomes, and dependencies ensure that the next phase of the journey doesn't start prematurely.
Step 6: Outline your timeline and schedule
Keeping everyone aligned on your project timeline helps balance workload and ensures no details get lost in the crush. A clear start and end date, just like the ETA on a road-trip, keeps the project moving and stakeholders informed.
Step 7: Share your communication plan
Decide how communication will be managed. Like reading through Substack notes for updates and tendencies, this ensures everyone is aware of the project status and what lies ahead.
Extra tip: Everyone should have easy access to your project plan to reference during the project's lifecycle. This way, you're all equipped to handle any bumps that come up on your journey together.
Tips for Clear Communication in Project Planning
Going back to the question that originated this post. Here are some tips for communicating when your project plan will be ready:
Be transparent: Share your timeline openly and honestly, taking into account the various factors influencing the planning process. If there are uncertainties, it is better to communicate them upfront.
Even if you haven’t worked already on this, many stakeholders appreciate honesty and the gesture of telling the truth.
Provide updates: Keep stakeholders informed of any changes in the project planning timeline, especially if your initial estimates change. Interested parties have an agenda too, they depend on you so they can communicate immediately any change or risk.
Outline the planning process: Explaining the steps involved in project planning will provide context for the time it takes to finalize the plan. Planning can vary for each person!
Present risk factors: Discuss any challenges or potential roadblocks that could impact the project plan timeline with your stakeholders.
Offer flexibility: Stay agile and adjust your planning process to accommodate changes or unforeseen events. Choose a framework or method that can help you turn to other direction easily.
🌟 How to answer the question: “When will you have the plan ready?” When you don’t
When it comes to estimate and plan, nothing is easy. But there are ways give different answers depending on the situation:
Scenario 1
When there’s already a timeline in mind
If the Product Manager already has an idea about how long it will take to develop the project plan, they can simply share the timeline. However, because no one can predict the future, it's often wise to add some buffer time to handle any unexpected issues.
"I expect to have the initial draft of the project plan ready in two weeks. However, depending on feedback and potential revisions, the finalized version should be ready one week after that."
Scenario 2
Go through a checklist while explaining the process
As I mentioned, stakeholders might not be aware of what's involved in preparing a project plan. But Product Manager can outline the steps, then provide a timeline based on these.
The good thing about this exercise is that by explaining the process, anyone will be able to connect the steps that follow.
"First, I need to do a thorough needs analysis, which might take a week, followed by a feasibility study, taking another week. From there, creating the project plan will take approximately one more week. So you can expect the project plan in approximately three weeks."
Scenario 3
Depending on the availability of resources or information
Availability of information or other resources could also impact timing. The Product Manager might explain how not knowing or having this is a blocker for the whole project at all. This is valid, specially when there’s so much information missing and projects get delayed from above.
"I still need some critical information from other teams to complete the project plan. As soon as I have this, I'll need about a week to finalize the project plan. Depending on when I receive this information, the project plan could be ready as early as next week."
Scenario 4
Depending on other projects and lack of time
Similar to the availability of resources, if the Product Manager is dealing with several projects, the time frame for developing the project plan may be delayed. But what could also be happening is that there are other projects that act as obstacles for others.
At the end, it’s like a domino effect.
"As you know, we're finalizing Project X currently and that's taking most of our resources. However, I will start working on this project's plan as soon as that's complete, and you should have it within two weeks of Project X's completion."
Remember that it's important to remain transparent and keep communication lines open so that everyone is always on the same page. Also, if you’re dealing with scenarios like the last 2 you way want to check how to properly say no. Here’s how you can 👇
Learning How To Say NO The Right Way
Are you liking this series so far? Do you have questions? You can always drop a message or leave a comment!
This is definitely something to have in bookmarks. Project management is essential to the job, we have to do it clean so we can spend time in the most important tasks later. Thanks for sharing!