How to Write a Winning Project Plan with Templates & Examples

Project planning is fundamentally about balancing the goals, schedule, and resources to demonstrate control of the project’s scope. Part of writing a project plan includes creating an overview and a scope statement, determining the deliverables schedule, and defining a budget. You’ll want to gather a risk management strategy, a communication plan, and any other documents the project needs.

1. Set SMART Goals
Every successful project plan starts with setting a project goal: the expected outcome. The goal will become part of the project plan’s executive summary. A specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goal aligns everyone involved, establishes focus, and provides direction. Meet with stakeholders to ensure the goal aligns with business objectives and gain a thorough understanding of their expectations.

Examples of SMART goals for a project include the following:

• Launch two major product features by the end of the year. Measure progress using milestone completion.
• Reduce employee turnover rate by 20 percent within one year. Measure turnover rate and conduct exit interviews to identify reasons for leaving.
• Build two office locations in the metro area within the next four years. Measure progress using milestone completion.
   

Download the SMART Goals Worksheet forMicrosoft Word

  Download the SMART Goals Worksheet for Microsoft Word

Use this SMART goals worksheet to detail the five characteristics of effective goal setting, specific to your project. Once complete, it provides a clear direction of what your project will achieve, how you will measure its progress, and the time it will take to complete.

Learn how to write SMART goals and see examples to get started.

2. Define the Project Scope
Your project scope sets the project’s parameters (the size) and safeguards against unrealistic expectations and conflicting interests throughout the project's lifecycle. It also prevents scope creep, such as doing unnecessary work, overspending, or missing deliverable due dates.

Download a Project Scope Statement Template for
Excel  |  Microsoft Word  |  Adobe PDF

Use this project scope statement template to list project deliverables and tasks, along with the project stakeholders and their roles. The template serves as a resource for stakeholders and team members, particularly in the event of change requests.

A project scope generally includes the reason for the project, the goals, deliverables, tasks, a work breakdown structure (WBS), assumptions, constraints, and costs. Here are a list of actions to consider when defining the project scope:

• Outline the Deliverables and Tasks: Deliverables are the tangible results of individual tasks. They can include reports, prototypes, proposals, meetings, and designs. Collaborate with managers and department leads to ensure deliverables are achievable within specific timeframes and the proper resources are notated.
• Include a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): A WBS breaks down deliverables into smaller tasks, making the project more manageable. Use it to visualize the entire project in hierarchical steps. List the tasks and assign responsibility for each one. This creates accountability and ensures every task is completed. Read this guide on work breakdown structures to learn more.
• Estimate Costs: Allocate costs to each task based on research, data, and past experiences. This information will support budget decisions. Create a project budget to show how funds will be allocated, and include room for unforeseen circumstances or emergencies. Share the budget with stakeholders so they have a clear understanding of the project’s financial details.
• Identify Key Stakeholders and Assign Roles: Stakeholders include anyone involved in the project, such as sponsors, investors, executives, managers, contractors, vendors, consultants, project managers, and team members. It’s important to identify stakeholders, their roles, and their responsibilities, because they are a resource for questions, approvals, change management, and anything that impacts the project’s scope.
• Project Governance Structure: A project governance structure establishes a structured path for project supervision, delineating hierarchical responsibilities for project oversight. For example, in the event of a financial change request, consulting the governance structure provides clarity on who is responsible for approving or denying the request.

3. Define the Success Metrics
Success metrics gauge progress to help determine if a project is on track to meet its goal. You can measure success by looking at cost performance, resource utilization, or the progress of tasks against the project schedule. Here is a list of common project planning success metrics:

• Cost Performance Index: Indicates if the project is staying within budget.
• Cost Variance: Indicates how much the project is over or under budget.
• Customer Satisfaction: Looks at the customer’s level of satisfaction with a product or service by using surveys and online reviews.
• Earned Value: Evaluates the amount of work that’s completed compared to what was planned to be completed at any specific time.
• Quality Metrics: Indicates whether the project is meeting quality standards.
• Risk Metrics: Lists the number of risks identified, risk response effectiveness, or risk impact assessment.
• Schedule Variance: Indicates whether the project is ahead of or behind schedule at a specific point in time.
• Team Satisfaction: Evaluates the team’s level of satisfaction working on the project, as measured by engagement, efficiency, and well-being.

4. Determine the Project’s Methodology
The methodology is the process framework of your project. It can look different depending on the project’s flexibility, timeframe, type of work, and complexity. Learn more about project frameworks. 

Popular Project Frameworks

Learn the differences between Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and Kanban.
 

5. Gather and Manage Project Resources
Secure resources you need to complete your project in advance to avoid scrambling midway. Resources include people, finances, technology, tools, equipment, and knowledge. Gather input from your team about the resources they require for executing their assigned tasks.
 

  Download the Project Resource Planning Template for Excel

Use a project resource planning template to list resources, their cost, and where they are needed in the project’s lifecycle. Enter the hours and cost of each resource. The template will auto-populate the totals.

6. Create a Project Schedule
A project schedule organizes tasks, sets expectations, and tracks progress. When you create the schedule, plan for unexpected delays, team members’ time off, holidays, and more. Include a timeline for each deliverable to keep the project moving forward. Adding milestones will help with building momentum, motivating the team, and monitoring progress. Store the schedule in a central location so that everyone involved can view the project’s status at any given time.
 

Download a Project Schedule Template for
Excel  |  PowerPoint  | Google Sheets

Use this customizable project schedule template to create a visual map of your project’s tasks and phases. The template will use any dates you add to the matrix to create a color-coded Gantt chart.

7. Implement Risk Management
Every project will encounter risks. Risk management is a proactive approach for keeping your project on track and mitigating the impact of risks. Learn more about project risk management and the importance of being prepared rather than ignoring the potential disruptions.

Download the Simple Business Risk Register Template for Excel

Use a risk register template to identify risks, their impact, probability, impact, and mitigation notes.

8. Implement Quality Management
Quality management guarantees adherence to standards, consistency, and continual improvement, which is essential for meeting stakeholder and client expectations.

Download a Project Quality Management Plan Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

Use this template to document quality issues that could arise within the project. Enter quality descriptions, expected and actual results, who tested them, and whether the issues pass quality controls. Collecting and documenting this information helps regulate the project’s quality standards.

9. Develop a Communication Plan
Meet with your stakeholders to learn what information they want to receive and how often. Then, create a communication plan to establish how and when to share updates with stakeholders. The plan includes a list of key stakeholders and team members, their contact details, and when to send project updates. Not all stakeholders require the same level of engagement. For example, an investor won’t require details about every project deliverable, but they will want to be informed about budget or cost changes.

Download a Project Communication Plan Template for
Microsoft Word  |  Adobe PDF  | Google Docs

Use this project communication plan template to document your key stakeholders’ details and preferred contact style and frequency. Enter your communication goals and customize the plan to fit your needs and be sure to communicate with them regularly.

Gianluca Ferruggia, General Manager at DesignRush, oversees numerous complex digital projects. Project planning forms a significant aspect of his role to achieve successful outcomes. Ferruggia advises, “Maintain crystal-clear communication at all stages. For instance, when we rolled out our new agency search feature, we ensured that everyone involved knew their responsibilities, timelines, and how their work tied into the larger project.”

10. Write and Share a Project Summary
Anyone should be able to understand the project plan through a well-crafted project summary. The one-page document explains the purpose of the project plan, the goals, schedule, budget, resources, risks, expected outcomes, and any recommendations. 

Write your project summary at the end of your project planning to guarantee all relevant information is included. Once complete, share it with the team and key stakeholders.

Download a Project Summary Template for
Excel  |  Microsoft Word  |  Adobe PDF

Download and complete this project summary template to provide a project overview to team members and stakeholders. Enter project milestones, budget information, schedule, and more. Customize the sections to fit your project needs.