With robust project planning, what can go wrong? The answer? A lot of things. Ever heard of the “black swan theory”? It is an unexpected event with a huge (usually negative) impact. Even with perfect planning, it is not always possible to detect in advance every obstacle or deviation.That’s why organizations consider change control as one of the three main challenges of their projects.
If you don’t solidify a management plan, your team won’t know what to do when unplanned changes occur.A dynamic change management plan will outline the steps to take and the person to turn to when unforeseen changes arise.That way, your project becomes much more agile — and able to “bend without breaking”. templates to help you write a great project plan
It’s not easy to write a project plan right away—you’ll need time to structure it. These tools from monday.com are very helpful in visualizing each section. Try these 5 project plan templates to simplify your planning process.
1. Structure your project
Looking for a generic project plan template? This project overview panel is particularly useful if you are using the waterfall framework. Using this highly visual template from monday.com, you can structure your subprojects by defined time periods and allocate the professionals responsible for each phase. Prioritize each project and add a timeline to indicate when results are expected.
2. Plan your resources
Resource management is super simple with these easy-to-use templates from monday.com. Use this dashboard to organize all your project resources, from technology tools to expert team members. You can allocate resources to individuals and establish a schedule so that everyone knows what resources they are responsible for in each phase. Attach a location so teams know where to deliver resources as they move from one phase to the next.During project execution, you will be able to track the resources so that nothing is missing.
3. Calculate your project budget
It’s much easier to plan a budget when you can see all your costs in one place. That’s why this project cost management template from monday.com is incredibly useful… Add all subprojects and plan the projected costs, allocating the totals to each department. You can use the document to estimate the required budget and record the approved project budget.
4. Create your project schedule
Plan your schedule with this project timeline template. While this board is not suitable for Kanban framework, it is ideal for those working with waterfall or Scrum frameworks. For waterfall projects, add your milestones, attach a timeline, and allocate a set number of working days to complete tasks for each milestone. Tag the team lead for each phase so project managers know which milestones they are responsible for.
During project execution, teams can use the status bar to track progress. You can also add updates to milestones by clicking on each element, which encourages collaboration across teams.For Scrum projects, you can organize the dashboard by sprints, adding specific tasks as they are defined.
5. Calculate potential project risks
View the entire project scope and calculate its risks in this program risk record template. There’s nothing better than a vivid color coding system to highlight which elements involve considerable risk. Use color-coded status bars to illustrate the status of the risk, along with its probability and impact to project scope and schedule.
You can even categorize risks, add culprits and suggest mitigation strategies. That way, other project team members will know what to do if these risks start to turn into real problems.
Optimize your project management plan instantly
Have a better idea for structuring your project plan? It’s time to start making this framework consistent with the details of your own projects.
Remember, it’s much easier to write the executive summary at the end, when you know the points you need to summarize. Don’t try to write it first — you’ll just be stuck on the first page of your project plan.
Likewise, don’t worry about planning your project plan. Use monday.com’s ready-made planning templates to help detail each section of the plan as you go.
