Sample Project Plan For Your Next Project

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Creating a project plan is one of the most important responsibilities of a project manager. This document should include everything the team needs to execute a project, such as its budget, schedule, scope, resource requirements, roles & responsibilities, among other things. However, creating project plans can be challenging for both beginner and experienced project managers alike. That’s why we’ve created this sample project plan to help project managers include what matters most.

Once you’re ready, you can try ProjectManager. We’re online project management software with tools such as Gantt charts to filter for the critical path and baselines so you can track your planned effort against your actual effort in real time. Once you’ve made your project plan, use the Gantt to stick to it. Get started for free.

ProjectManager’s Gantt charts let you create schedules & visualize your project plan timeline. Learn more

Sample Project Plan

It’s important to note that the complexity of a project plan might vary depending on your project or organization. This sample project plan covers the basic areas of your project, such as project scheduling, scope management and task management. On top of that, you can add other sections and even other project documents to include as much detail as you need.

1. Project Scope

Defining your project scope is one of the critical steps when making a project plan. The term project scope refers to the tasks and deliverables that must be done to complete your project successfully.

Based on your project scope, you’ll prioritize tasks and calculate your budget and schedule. List your tasks in order of importance and make an estimate as to how much money and time will be needed to complete the project.

Deliverable	Description	Acceptance Criteria	Responsible
Website design	Creation of the visual design and navigation structure for the corporate website.	Client approval and mobile device compatibility.	Design team
System development	Programming of the backend and database for the client portal.	Fully functional and error-free during user testing.	Developers
User training	Training sessions for staff on how to use the new system.	At least 90% of participants complete and pass the training assessment.	Project manager

2. Project Tasks

The tasks are the small jobs that make up the project. You want to create a detailed, prioritized list determining every step of your project. There will be tasks that are crucial to the project, which must be done, but there will also be some that you can sacrifice without impacting the overall success of the project.

Once you’ve collected the necessary tasks to complete the project, you have to figure out to the best of your ability how long each of them will take to complete. You can only make an estimate, of course, but you should use past experience and any other factors at your disposal to make those guesses as accurate as possible.

To manage your project tasks, we recommend using the following tools:

• WBS: A work breakdown structure (WBS) lets you break down your project scope into individual tasks that can be easily managed.
• Task lists: Task lists are ideal for both project managers and team members. They’re an easy way to plan, schedule and track work.
• Kanban boards: Kanban boards allow project managers to manage workflows with a simple visual task management approach.
• Gantt charts: Gantt charts are a powerful project management tool that let you manage project tasks and timelines.

ID	Task	Priority	Estimated Duration	Responsible	Status
1	Kickoff meeting with client	High	1 day	Project manager	Completed
2	Define functional requirements	High	3 days	Business analyst	In progress
3	Design initial prototype	Medium	5 days	UX designer	Pending
4	Develop authentication module	High	7 days	Backend developer	Pending

3. Project Milestones

These are major phases or events in your project that are collected to break up the monolith of the project into more digestible parts. Project milestones can be added to a Gantt chart, with a description and a delivery date—more on this next.

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Project Plan Template

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Milestone	Description	Delivery Date	Dependencies
Project kickoff	Contract signing and approval of the work plan.	01/05/2025	None
Prototype delivery	Presentation of the functional design and client validation.	01/20/2025	Requirements definition
System testing	Comprehensive testing before launch.	02/15/2025	Development completed
Product launch	Final implementation and client delivery.	03/01/2025	System testing

4. Project Task Dependencies

Not all tasks are created equal, as some cannot start until the one before it is finished. You need to know which tasks are dependent on one another. A dependent task has the potential to block another team member and throw the whole project off-track. Be sure to note those on your project plan and link them so you and the team are aware of the importance of completing one before starting the other.

Task ID	Task	Depends On	Dependency Type	Impact if Delayed
1	Requirements review	None	Start-to-start	Delays overall planning
2	Prototype design	Requirements review	Finish-to-start	Affects development start
3	System development	Prototype design	Finish-to-start	Delays testing and later deliveries
4	Acceptance testing	System development	Finish-to-start	Postpones client delivery

5. Task Duration

To create a project schedule, you’ll need to know the duration of each task. Make sure to include this somewhere in your project plan so team members know the amount of time that’s assigned to each task.

Task	Start Date	End Date	Estimated Duration	Actual Duration
Requirements review	01/03/2025	01/05/2025	3 days	3 days
Prototype design	01/06/2025	01/12/2025	5 days	6 days
System development	01/13/2025	01/27/2025	10 days	11 days
Acceptance testing	01/28/2025	01/31/2025	4 days	4 days

6. Resource Requirements

Your project plan should describe the resource requirements for each task. That includes the work hours, equipment hours and materials. By clearly outlining the required resources for each task, you set up the base for effective resource planning, resource scheduling and resource tracking.

Task	Resource	Type	Estimated Hours	Required Materials
Prototype design	UX Designer	Human resource	40 hours	Design tools (Figma, Adobe XD)
System development	Backend Developer	Human resource	80 hours	Test server, IDE, libraries
Acceptance testing	QA Tester	Human resource	30 hours	Testing tools, mobile devices
User training	Instructor	Human resource	16 hours	User manual, projector

7. Project Schedule

Now that you’ve gathered information about your project tasks such as their duration, dependencies, due dates and resource requirements, you can create an accurate project schedule that also considers the resource allocation for each task. Your project schedule should sequence tasks in a manner that allows the team to complete the project smoothly and gives them enough time.

Phase	Included Tasks	Start Date	End Date	Duration
Initiation	Kickoff meeting, requirements review	01/03/2025	01/06/2025	4 days
Planning	Prototype design, schedule definition	01/07/2025	01/14/2025	8 days
Execution	System development, component integration	01/15/2025	02/04/2025	15 days
Closure	Final testing, training, client delivery	02/05/2025	02/10/2025	6 days

8. Project Budget

The financial success or failure of your project depends on the accuracy of your project budget. To create a project budget, you’ll need to estimate the costs of each project task based on the resource requirements that were previously outlined.

Once you have a cost estimate for each task, you can sum those costs for an estimate of your total project cost. This will be the foundation for your project budget. Our free project budget template is a great tool to help you with this process.

Category	Description	Estimated Cost (USD)	Actual Cost (USD)	Variance
Human resources	Salaries for development and design teams	12,000	12,500	+500
Infrastructure	Servers, web hosting, software tools	3,000	2,800	-200
Training	Client staff training sessions	1,000	900	-100
Contingency	Reserve for unforeseen project expenses	1,500	1,000	-500
Total	—	17,500	17,200	-300

10. Risk Log

A risk log is a document where project managers can easily list the existing and potential project risks. A risk log is a critical element of any project plan because it allows project managers to prioritize risks, develop risk mitigation strategies and assign risk owners to each project risk. You can also create a risk management plan to explain your risk management tactics in more detail.

ID	Risk	Probability	Impact	Mitigation Strategy	Owner
R-01	Delay in the delivery of requirements	High	High	Hold weekly follow-up meetings with the client	Project Manager
R-02	Failure in the testing environment	Medium	Medium	Create environment backups and perform pre-launch technical reviews	IT Administrator
R-03	Turnover of key personnel	Low	High	Prepare replacement plans and maintain continuous documentation	HR Manager
R-04	Change in client requirements	Medium	High	Use a formal change management process to evaluate and approve all modifications	Project Manager

11. Change Management Process

There will be circumstances outside of your control that make it necessary to adjust your project plan. For example, a key stakeholder might add a new project requirement right after the project execution starts. This affects what you had initially planned.

To manage situations like this, you’ll need a change management plan. Most change management processes work with a change request that’s submitted by the person who wants to make a change to the project plan. Once that change request is approved, a change order is issued and the change is made.

Who approves the change requests might vary depending on the organization. Some have a change control board (CCB) in place while others use the project manager.

Change ID	Description	Requested by	Request date	Status	Approved by
C-01	Add a custom reporting module to the system.	Client	01/20/2025	Approved	Change Control Board (CCB)
C-02	Update the main interface to include the new logo.	Marketing Manager	01/25/2025	Pending	Project Manager
C-03	Extend the testing phase by one week.	QA Team	01/28/2025	Rejected	Project Manager

12. Project Assumptions

No matter how much you plan and estimate, there will be some assumptions and hypotheses left. Project assumptions refer to all the things that the project management team considers to be true without necessarily having any data or evidence to support them. These assumptions are proven true or false as your project is executed. It’s important to document any assumptions your team has, as they might be important in the future.

ID	Assumption	Basis of assumption	Associated risk if not met
A-01	The client will deliver all requirements before development begins.	Verbal commitment from the client during the kickoff meeting.	Delays in planning and extra costs due to scope redefinition.
A-02	The development team will be available 100% throughout the project.	Assignment confirmed by the IT department.	Delays in deliverables due to lack of resources.
A-03	The software will be implemented in a stable production environment.	Confirmation from the infrastructure provider.	Possible technical failures or service interruptions.

13. Project Constraints

There are constraints that apply to every project. Initially, most project management experts agreed on three constraints including time, cost and scope, which are known as the triple constraint of project management. However, most project managers today agree there are three more constraints including quality, risk and resources.

Constraint	Description	Potential impact	Control action
Time	The project must be completed before March 15, 2025.	Reduced flexibility in case of delays.	Weekly progress tracking and schedule control.
Cost	The maximum approved budget is USD 18,000.	Limitations on hiring external resources.	Use contingency reserve only with formal approval.
Scope	Includes only the development of the main module, no future extensions.	Risk of additional out-of-scope requests.	Strict application of the change management process.
Quality	The software must comply with ISO 9001 quality assurance standards.	Increased validation and testing time.	Internal quality audits in each project phase.
Resources	The available team is limited to six people.	Work overload and risk of schedule slippage.	Prioritize critical tasks and redistribute workload.

Project Plan Template

This free project plan template is a great tool to create a project plan. Use it to describe your project scope, schedule, budget and other important project management details.

You may even add additional documentation to it. Check out our library of project management templates for more free project management templates.

Using Project Management Software to Track a Project Plan

As you can see, even a simple project requires a lot of information to collect and organize. You can do it the old-fashioned way on paper. But there are planning tools that make that work so much easier for you and more efficient and productive for the project.

As stated above, there are project management templates you can use that help you step-by-step in building a project plan. While those are a step in the right direction, they’re standalone documents that are problematic to share. They can be overwritten or duplicates can float around in people’s emails, all of which can lead to muddied communications and seriously dire project consequences.

It’s not that you should throw away project planning templates. They’re a great way to start the process of planning for your project. But online project management tools give you greater flexibility, more features and a platform on which you can build true collaboration for project success.

ProjectManager Is Ideal for Project Planning

No project management tool does more for project planning than ProjectManager. Our award-winning software has a number of powerful features to help with every aspect of project planning.

One such feature is our online Gantt chart. Gantt charts are great tools to visualize your schedule, with a bar chart that creates a linear timeline showing you tasks, duration and even task dependencies. The latter are linked, so you can see where team members potentially may be blocked.

When you take your Gantt chart online, you open up a new world of managing possibilities. First, you can easily import your project plan into ProjectManager from whatever template you composed it on, be it MS Word or an Excel spreadsheet, and it keeps your formatting and automatically populates the spreadsheet and bar chart of your Gantt chart.

Because the Gantt chart is online, it’s easy to use. All tasks are saved and stored remotely and they’re easy to share over any device. Collaboration is conducted on the task level and you can attach files and keep the conversation tied to the task at hand.

As noted, things will change, and an online Gantt chart allows you to adjust task durations with a simple drag-and-drop of your cursor. This saves you time, as does the automated notifications that alert you when a task is completed or about to go off-track, so you can see it in real-time and fix it before it becomes a problem.

Online Project Planning Tools Make for More Productive Planning

That’s just one of the advantages of planning with ProjectManager. You still have to collect the data, but now it’s collected online where it can be easily accessed and shared with team members and stakeholders. Each time you import your task list into project management software, it creates the project plan for you, leaving you free to deal with managing a successful project.

When you’re planning a project and managing all its phases through successful completion, you want the right tools to streamline the process and foster collaboration and communications. ProjectManager has all the features you need to plan your project and it’s an online PM tool, which reports in real-time, so you are always clear on the plan versus the actual execution of the project. See for yourself by taking our free 30-day trial.