What if you start working on a project and suddenly have to wrap it up because things didn’t go your way?
Therefore, it would be wise to create a Project plan timeline using Gantt charts and other tools that describes your plan well. So, the very basic thing you need to start from would be making a Project plan timeline.
It doesn’t matter what type of project you will start; you must learn the importance and skills of project management to succeed in whatever you plan. If you take project management for granted, you will make a major mistake.
What is the project plan timeline?
A project timeline that will be highlighting the importance details of your future project including tasks, team, resources, budget, deadline and other important aspects. To show these details, you will be using Gantt charts. Gantt charts make it easier to show the projects, tasks, or any details that will be an important part of the project.
You make Gantt charts and use other tools to highlight your project details so everyone can understand them better. Without a Project plan timeline, everything will be a mess that you might be unable to unclutter easily. Everything here leads to better project management if you want things to work out in your favor and your team's.
It is important to use tool like Instagantt for a better performance of your project. It will help in scaling the overall performance by using Gantt Chart.
Steps to follow to make a project plan timeline
If you haven't had a chance to make a Project plan timeline for any of your projects before, then here are the steps that you need to follow to create one:
Know your project scope
If you want to start any business, then it is important to write its scope and whether it will get successful and generate good revenue.
Writing the budget and the scope of business getting successful and what odds you might not succeed. So, this is the first and one of the most important steps to get started with the project plan timeline.
WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
The type of task depends on the project you are willing to start with. This is the work breakdown structure step in which you will mention the names of the people with the tasks you would like to assign them soon. Keep the skills of people in mind while making their names on the list of your project team members.
Break the project into tasks
You will use Gantt charts to break projects into tasks and chunks that you and your team will complete on the given deadline. You can make a Gantt chart of every member that they will keep updating once they submit any task. That charts will help you to analyze everyone's progress and if any of your team members is behind in submitting their tasks.
Resources your project would be dependent on
Now it is time to write down your project budget details and resources. There is a possibility you might need a helping hand to complete the project, so you must mention every detail in this step.
Deadline to complete every chunk of the project
You will assign everyone a deadline; everyone must complete their task and submit it on time. Never try to work on a project simultaneously; you must divide the whole project into chunks. It gets easier if something goes south and you get stuck at a dead end. Keep the workload on time while deciding the deadline for everyone on your project team.
Do you have enough resources?
It is time to talk about the money you will be investing in the project, but you also want something as a backup. If we talk about raising investments, then you must mention the investors in the project plan timeline so in the meantime, you don’t have to get stressed about the money. The project plan timeline will also help raise money, as you will have to show your investors what you have been doing so far, and they might invest.
Add milestones for an efficient work schedule
The most efficient way to complete any project would be by adding milestones. For example, if you are working on software, you must add milestones to achieve. Milestones can be different project phases that you must complete on time to finish the project before the deadline.
After achieving a milestone, you can check every task detail and jump on to the next milestone. Without milestones, you might be unable to analyze where you and your team stand. The number of milestones entirely depends on the length of the project.
Project management deadlines
The last and another important point you need to follow to create a project plan timeline would be the deadlines for the project, whether you or a manager would be handling this. After completing the project, you would like to test it to look for errors. Once you make the project structure, including choosing team members and their roles, adding a deadline for the tasks is the last step.
Benefits of project plan timeline
You might still be a little confused whether project plan timeline will benefit you in any way or it will be just a waste of time and energy. Here are a few benefits that will certainly help you understand the beneficial facts of using project plan timeline strategy for your projects:
1. Helps in creating a structure for your business
Without a road map, how will you be able to know what would be the first step to start any project? It is impossible to start a project without doing your homework and giving structure to your thoughts and ideas. It will be a mess only and a waste of time and money.
Therefore, with the help of a project plan timeline, you will learn the pros and cons of working on that certain plan.
It will help you make the right decision, and you will have a proper plan like a document, and you will know whether it will work. So, the number one benefit that would be the base of your project is that with this, you will have a structure that will help you to execute your further plans.
2. An efficient strategy to complete a project on time
You will never be able to complete any project if you don’t have a timeline, deadline, and proper instructions to follow. With a project plan timeline, you will have everything and a proper strategy to help you complete your project on time.
Otherwise, it will be a waste of time and effort, you won’t be getting anything done at the end of the day, and you might have to start from scratch again. A project plan timeline will guide you to work on time and to finish the project, sometimes even before the deadline.
3. You would know about setbacks and deal with them
Once you know what type of setbacks you can face while working on a specific project, you ensure you have already found the solution to the problem. If you don’t plan things and face a major setback, it will cause problems. This won’t be the case if you have already planned things; even if anything goes wrong, you can contain the situation.
4. Improves your project time management
When you have everything pretty planned and when it comes to executing the plan, it gets easier to manage the whole project. You can lead the team or hire someone to be the project manager. Without a proper project plan timeline, keeping things in check will be nearly impossible.
So, project plan timeline surely plays a great role in project time management because everyone follows a schedule to turn in their tasks on time.
Is a project plan timeline important for project management?
The simple answer to this question would be yes. A project plan timeline helps you to keep everything organized and also helps in completing your projects on time. It will help in analyzing all your team members, their work, and whether you can complete the assigned project on time.
If all of your team members start working without planning, you might see everything getting messed up. It would be a waste of time, energy, and resource. You would certainly don’t want to face this outcome. Therefore, a project plan timeline is the only way to keep everything aligned and get it done on time.
You plan everything, share it with your team members, let them know their tasks and deadlines, and then you can start the project. If you don’t want to face chaos while working on any kind of project, then managing it like a pro is the only way.
Final Words:
You might have understood the importance of project management and how a Project plan timeline can help you finish your projects on time. If you want to complete any project or you want to start a business and want it to be successful, take a start with a Project plan timeline and then go further.
