How to make a project plan and allow enough time, money and resources to prevent budget blowouts or delays.

If you’re about to start a project, it’s best that you invest enough time building a plan first.

Project management means you’ll need to manage resources, timeframes, budgets and other constraints to deliver a specific outcome.

Before you start any project, you should create a project plan which will help you to stay on track and avoid getting distracted by ‘scope creep’ and budget blowouts.

Spend at least 30% of your time to planning the project, before you begin. However there’s also the balance between over-strategising and just getting stuff done.

So spend as much time as you need to get started, making sure you factor in a reasonable buffer for your resources (sometimes people need time of work, or experience burnout) and budgets (economic pressures might increase the price, and supply issues might cause delays), and allow time for rework.

Also, allow enough time and budget for the unexpected things which may occur:

• If you’re building a project plan to renovate your kitchen, allow extra budget for decorative touches which I’m sure you’ll decide to do towards the end.
• If you’re implementing a software solution at your company, allow extra budget for additional security tools or automation plugins which may be needed for a complete integration.

Remember a Project Plan is a plan. Plans should be designed to help you control the outcomes, but uncertainty may arise, so you must allow for rescheduling, or additional funding.

By following these steps, you can create a comprehensive plan that will help you successfully complete your project.

How to create a project plan

To create a project plan, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Identify the goal of your project and define the objectives that will help you achieve that goal. This will give you a clear idea of what needs to be done and how you will measure the success of your project.
2. Create a timeline for your project. This will help you keep track of the different tasks that need to be completed and the deadlines for each task.
3. Identify the resources that you will need to complete your project, including people, materials, and equipment.
4. Create a budget for your project. This will help you plan for any expenses that you will incur and ensure that you have enough money to complete the project.
5. Create a risk management plan. This will help you identify potential risks to your project and develop strategies to mitigate those risks.
6. Create a communication plan. This will help you keep stakeholders informed about the progress of your project and address any concerns they may have.
7. Monitor and review the progress of your project. This will help you ensure that you are on track to meet your goals and make any necessary adjustments to your plan.

Remember, creating a project plan requires careful planning and attention to detail.

Which software should I use to manage my project?

Here’s our recommended tools for managing any project.

• Monday.com — Highly effective teams choose monday.com to manage their work.
• asana — Asana organises work so teams are clear about what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done.
• Hive — The tool for productive teams. Thousands of companies all over the world are moving faster with Hive.
• Productive.io — Manage your agency in one place, end-to-end.
• Project Express App — Over 35,000 people worldwide trust Project Express to manage projects, at work and at home.
• Teamwork — At last, easy-to-use project management software you won’t outgrow
• Trello — From high rises to the home office, the way your team works is unique—accomplish it all with Trello.
• Wrike — Only Wrike’s work management platform gives your team full visibility and control over all your tasks and projects.
• Accelo — Accelo is a cloud-based software platform that helps businesses manage their projects, clients, and teams.
• TickTick — Join millions of people to capture ideas, manage to-dos and make the most of your life with TickTick.
• nTask — Project management software that enables your teams to collaborate, plan, analyze and manage everyday tasks.
• Adobe Workfront — Connect, collaborate, and simplify workflows using Adobe Workfront to launch campaigns and deliver personalized experiences at scale.
• ProofHub — ProofHub is a project planning software with every tools your team needs to get work done faster, together. No per user fee. Free trial. No learning curve.
• Workfront — Workfront is a cloud-based project management and work collaboration platform designed to help teams and organizations manage their work more efficiently.
• JIRA — JIRA is a project management and issue tracking software developed by Atlassian.
• ProjectLibre — ProjectLibre is an open source project management software that provides users with a comprehensive suite of tools to help them manage their projects.
• OneNote — Organize your thoughts and quickly capture ideas with OneNote, the digital notebook that lets you type, draw, and more.
• Process Street — Process Street is a simple, free and powerful way to manage your team’s recurring checklists and procedures.
• Smartsheet — Smartsheet enables teams to manage projects, automate processes & scale programs in one powerful platform.
• Flock — Flock, the best team communication app and online collaboration platform, comes with team messaging, project management and other great features that improve productivity and boost speed of execution.
• Nutshell — Nutshell is an easy-to-use CRM that helps small businesses build relationships, track sales, and grow. It’s designed to be simple and intuitive, so you can focus on what matters most: your customers.
• ClickTime — ClickTime helps organizations plan and account for the time, costs, and revenue associated with their projects.
• PeerBie Inc — Transform the way you and your team works with one super app for everyone and everything you need to get work done.
• Insightly — Our CRM software can help your sales team build customer relationships, quickly create personalized marketing campaigns, and automate business processes.
• GoProof — GoProof® online proofing software with its unique creative collaboration and text editing workflows is part of the Oppolis creative work management ecosystem.
• Sembly AI — Sembly records, transcribes and generates smart meeting summaries with meeting minutes.
• Harvest — Time tracking and management software with powerful easy reporting and streamlined online invoicing. Loved by 73,000 businesses. Get started for free.
• TimeCamp — Increase project profitability with time tracking by TimeCamp.
• Citrix Podio — Build powerful low-code business solutions to customize work and communication. Start for free.
• Miro — Scalable, secure, cross-device, and enterprise-ready team collaboration whiteboard for distributed teams. Join 45M+ users from around the world.
• VeriClock — Get employee time tracking anytime, anywhere with VeriClock. Easily integrate with your accounting, bookkeeping or payroll software.
• Workzone — More robust than entry-level tools, like Basecamp, less complicated than MS Project, Workzone is the perfect project management solution for most teams.
• Paymo — Manage projects, track work time, bill your clients, and measure profitability from the same platform.
• Nutshell — Nutshell is an easy-to-use CRM that helps small businesses build relationships, track sales, and grow. It’s designed to be simple and intuitive, so you can focus on what matters most: your customers.
• Filestage — Filestage is a review and approval platform that runs itself. Share any content, set your due dates, then let the feedback come to you.