“When can I get the project plan?”
The project plan itself is undeniably important. Clients want something tangible they can review, align on, and use to track progress. However, while the plan matters, I believe the process of getting to the plan is even more critical for a project manager.
That process is what gives you a deep understanding of what the project is truly about. It helps you identify key risks, potential pitfalls, dependencies, and mitigation strategies.
It allows you to understand the project inside and out, so you know exactly what to watch for when the project begins.
Building the Plan Is Not a Linear Exercise
When I start creating a project plan, I rarely work on it in isolation. In parallel, I usually develop:
- The budget report
- The project kickoff deck
- The project plan itself, and
- Communication plan
These deliverables evolve together. As you think through one, you uncover information you’ll need for the other. Treating them as interconnected artifacts makes the planning process far more efficient and cohesive.
From Requirements to Milestones
Creating a project plan starts with evaluating the requirements, scope, and expected outcomes. At this stage, the goal is clarity, making sure everything is well-defined and identifying any gaps early.
These insights naturally feed into the kickoff deck, which you’ll use to align the project team at the start of the engagement.
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Once the scope is clear, the next step is defining the approach:
- What phases or milestones are required?
- What dependencies or prerequisites exist?
- What needs to happen before the project, or for a specific phase can begin or be completed?
After establishing this structure, you can then drill down into more detail, defining tasks and identifying exact resource needs. Depending on your preference, this level of detail can live either directly in the project plan or in a supporting task list.
Finding the Right Level of Detail
One common pitfall I’ve seen is project plans that are overly detailed. These plans require constant updates, to the point where you spend more time maintaining the plan than supporting the team and moving the project forward. Worse, by the time updates are complete, something has already changed, making the plan outdated again.
The key is balance.
Personally, I prefer working with:
- a high-level project plan focused on major milestones, and
- a separate action or task plan, where each action is tied back to a milestone or major task in the project plan.
This approach allows me to track progress at a strategic level while keeping day-to-day execution flexible and manageable. It reduces administrative overhead and ensures my time is spent where it matters most helping the team deliver results.
Communication plan
Depending on the size of the project, the plan can be an extensive document or simply a one‑ or two‑page outline. What matters most is establishing it at the very start. The early stages of a project are often chaotic, and a well‑defined communication plan brings:
- Structure for the team
- Clarity around roles and responsibilities
- Communication lines, such as meeting cadence, reporting expectations
- Documents storage and issue tracking
By putting this framework in place asap, you create order at a time when things typically feel unclear. It reassures the team things are under control and gives every team member an opportunity to contribute, share their insights, and feel aligned with the direction of the project.
Final Thought
A project plan isn’t just a document filled with dates and milestones, it’s a set of deliverables as a result of a thoughtful process. While stakeholders may be eager to see the final project plan’, the real value comes from the analysis, alignment, and decision‑making that go into creating the deliverables. That groundwork is what positions a project for success long before the first task even begins.
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