Project Planning Software Free Download
Bruna Callier
Project planning is a discipline addressing how to complete a project in a certain timeframe, usually with defined stages and designated resources. One view of project planning divides the activity into these steps:
Project planning and project management software facilitate the project planning process. The best tools support collaboration among stakeholders, have intuitive user interfaces and provide built-in time tracking and invoicing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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-cut 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.
Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan. 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.
Your first milestone is to finish the content calendar, which shows all topics for the year. The deliverable is a sharable version of the calendar. Both the milestone and the deliverables should be clearly marked on your project schedule.
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:
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.
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.
Definition: Project planning is a crucial part of project management focused on creating a detailed plan that outlines the steps and resources necessary to achieve the project's objectives, including identifying the project's scope, establishing a timeline, assigning tasks and resources, and budgeting for the project.
Project planning is an iterative process, and the project plan may need to be adjusted as the project progresses. It is important to regularly review and update the project plan to ensure that it stays on track and meets its objectives.
Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. This includes the milestones and smaller tasks the team must complete by the end of the project. It is important to get input from all stakeholders when creating the work plan to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Define the project's scope by creating a work breakdown structure, schedule, and budget. The work breakdown structure details the tasks that need to be completed, the schedule outlines the timeline for the project, while the budget identifies the resources required and costs associated with the project.
Each team member needs to know what is expected of them. This includes their deliverables and deadlines. The project manager assigns tasks depending on each member's strengths and weaknesses. This ensures tasks are completed effectively, and the project stays on track.
A kickoff meeting marks the beginning of the execution phase. It sets the pace for the project. This is when the team puts all the pieces together and starts working towards the project goals. To organize a successful kickoff meeting:
This is a mix of both vertical and horizontal planning. Part of the project is planned sequentially, and some parts are planned at the same time. This type of planning is also known as integrated planning.
A project plan is a detailed roadmap for achieving a specific goal or outcome. It is a comprehensive document answering the questions of who, what, why, how, and when, which guide the execution of a project.
A stakeholder is anyone who is affected by the results of your project plan. That includes your customers and end users. Ensure you identify all stakeholders and keep their interests in mind when creating your project plan.
Meet with the project sponsors and key stakeholders to discuss their needs and project expectations, and establish a scope baseline, budget, and timeline. Then create a scope statement document to finalize and record project scope details, get everyone on the same page, and reduce the chances of costly miscommunication. Cost control, in particular, is also critical during this stage of the process.
Objectives and key results (OKRs) can be useful tools here. The objectives part of OKRs refers to clearly defined goals, while the key results are specific measures used to track the achievement of these goals. By defining your project goals as OKRs, you can create a clear link between what you want to achieve (the objective) and how you will measure success (the key results).
Once your goals are set, include them and the stakeholder needs they address in your project plan. This ensures that they are communicated to all team members and stakeholders. It also makes them easily shareable, which promotes transparency and alignment across the project team.
Next, identify any dependencies. Do you need to complete certain tasks before others can begin? Input deliverables, dependencies, and milestones into your Gantt chart, or choose from the many online templates and apps available. Be sure you also understand how to write a project management report for a summary overview of the project status.
When developing a project plan, you should know how to manage risk in a project and consider the steps you should take to either prevent certain risks from happening or limit their negative impact. Conduct a risk assessment and develop a risk management strategy to prepare.
The project includes the ideation, creation, and distribution of content across various platforms. It includes blog posts, social media posts, email newsletters, and promotional videos. It does not include any PR activities or customer service-related communication.
The project will be overseen by a steering committee that includes top executives and department heads from FashionCo. They will approve all key decisions and changes to the project. The project manager will manage the content team for the project and liaise with the steering committee.
Quality will be ensured through regular code reviews during development and extensive software testing, including unit tests, integration tests, and user acceptance tests. There will be bi-monthly review meetings to assess the quality of all other aspects of the project, such as marketing materials and training effectiveness.
The project manager will maintain a change log to record all changes and their impact on the project. Any changes to the project scope, timeline, or budget must be approved by the steering committee.
From dynamic calendars to streamlined approval processes and real-time reports, Wrike makes project planning seamless. Click here to start your free two-week trial and kick off your project plan today.
A project plan is a series of formal documents that define the execution and control stages of a project. The plan includes considerations for risk management, resource management and communications, while also addressing scope, cost and schedule baselines. Project planning software is used by project managers to ensure that their plans are thorough and robust.
ProjectManager allows you to make detailed project plans with online Gantt charts that schedule task dependencies, resource hours, labor costs, milestones and more. Plus, your team can execute the plan in any of our five project views, while you track progress along the way with dashboards. Start today for free.
Your project plan is essential to the success of any project. Without one, your project may be susceptible to common project management issues such as missed deadlines, scope creep and cost overrun. While writing a project plan is somewhat labor intensive up front, the effort will pay dividends throughout the project life cycle.
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