The project plan is prepared in order to get an overview, create the opportunity to manage so that deliverables and impacts are provided on time and on budget. In addition, the project plan creates a common understanding and acceptance of the tasks among project participants and stakeholders. Who does what and when?

The plan must ensure the pace and intensity of the project, so that planned deliverables and impacts are created with a minimum of effort and time spent.

Finally, an important purpose is to create a link between project objectives and the individual’s efforts and responsibilities. 

The project plan structures the project and maps the best path from challenge to solution.

Here you will find our services regarding the project plan, the milestone plan and visual planning.

What is a project plan?

A project plan is a complete description of how a project is implemented and should proceed. The plan is based on the purpose of the project, the impact you want to achieve. The plan specifies the procedure and the necessary resource consumption.

The project plan is drawn up on several levels because different stakeholders need different overviews. Typical levels of planning can be:

• The Master Plan or the overall project plan
• The milestone plan
• The detailed visual work plan

The overall project plan

An overall project plan, often called the master plan, includes:

• The objective of the project with its purpose, deliverables and success criteria
• Stakeholder Management Plan. It is important that the project plan includes an analysis of the key stakeholders and where they may play a role in the project.
• Timetable with milestones ensuring short feedback loops for effective follow-up on the plan.
• Resources and costs: The project plan must include an inventory of the resources and costs associated with the various activities. The project budget must be divided so that it is possible to follow the progress of the plan and the costs.
• Risk analysis that describes what can go wrong in the project and how you can prevent these incidents. The project plan must indicate when the individual risks are mitigated.

The plan should create coherence between organization and division of responsibilities and tasks.

Another level of the project plan is the milestone plan and even more detailed is the visual work plan, which is also known from agile methods.

What does the milestone plan contain?

This type of project plan contains the partial results during the project. The partial results or milestones that together create the project’s deliverables.

Milestone planning is carried out in the following stages:

• Workstreams: The project is divided into workstreams. Workstreams can profitably be defined on the basis of deliverables, critical issues or an appropriate division of responsibilities in the project.
• Milestones: The milestones on the road: The next step is to divide the road into milestones. At the end of each workstream there is a project objective, a final deliverable. If these final deliverables are broken down, a number of milestones suitable for managing emerge.
• Dependencies and temporal order: When the milestones in the individual workstream are placed in the correct order, there may be dependencies across the workstreams. Dependencies mean that the milestone in one workstream must be reached before the milestone in another workstream can be completed.
• Phases and the most important decisions: Once the milestones are defined for the different workstreams, it is possible to draw some temporal boundaries where the project changes character. It is in these phase transitions and decision points that the steering committee must be consulted for approval.

Once the milestone plan has been prepared, it is possible to plan the activities that must meet the individual milestones. There is logic in this order – first defining what the project team should achieve, then assessing how this can be accomplished.

What is visual planning?

In all projects, it is necessary to break down the overall milestone plan into some detailed work plans e.g. with a 14 days planning horizon. Here you can profitably use the planning boards that are used in the agile approach.

The visual planning board must ensure that everyone in the project has the same overview and thus create commitment and common focus. All project participants must have the opportunity to provide input and knowledge. The use of such a weekly schedule also ensures short feedback loops, so new knowledge comes into play quickly in the project and the visual plan supports the facilitation of short follow-up meetings in the project team.

The visual planning board is used for daily work planning in the project team or working group. The team plans the week’s work standing at the planning board and a short follow-up meeting is scheduled each morning.

Who should develop the project plan?

The first rough draft of the project plan or milestone plan is prepared by the project manager in collaboration with the project owner. The actual plan – or the master plan – should be prepared in the project team at a planning workshop.

If the project is so large that there are multiple teams and workstreams, each team will prepare their plan based on the master plan and the overall milestone plan.

At all levels, a rough plan is drawn up for the entire project period. This plan is then continuously detailed for each phase and later for the nearest time e.g. for the next quarter or the next month.

If the project group consists of less than 8 participants, the plan can be drawn up in the team.