assignments for project management

• Free Project Management Software
• Agile Project Management Software
• Project Management Software for Nonprofits
• Organization Apps to Boost Productivity
• Resource Management Software
• Monday Review
• ClickUp Review
• Monday Pricing
• ClickUp Pricing
• Wrike Pricing
• Asana Pricing
• Smartsheet Pricing
• Teamwork Pricing
• Airtable Pricing
• Scoro Pricing
• Asana vs Monday
• ClickUp vs Monday
• Wrike vs Asana
• Trello vs Asana
• ClickUp vs Asana
• What is Agile Project Management?
• Key Benefits of Agile Methodology
• Most Important Agile Metrics
• Agile Manifesto: Values and Principles
• Agile Project Management Certifications

7 Main Project Management Activities + Sample Activity List

It seems like you are ready to take on the challenges of project management !

It is a dynamic process involving various activities, skills, and techniques. The main goal behind project management is ensuring the successful delivery of the project within a fixed timeframe and budget.

Managing projects may seem daunting, but with the right mindset and knowledge of activities, you can ensure a smooth and successful execution.

As per pmi.org , a poor project management plan can waste almost 8.8% of the investment. But don't worry; we've got you covered with a comprehensive guide to the essential project management activities in this article.

What Are Project Management Activities?

As a project manager, you'll need to break down the project into a series of related sub-tasks or activities that need to be completed in order to achieve the project's goals.

Project management activities are nothing but the specific actions project managers take to achieve a project's objectives. Each activity has a specific start and end point and a deadline to be met. Such activities are crucial for the successful delivery of the project.

Every project is unique! So, the key to success is tailoring project management activities to fit your project's needs.

A well-defined and sequenced activity plan provides project managers with a framework for monitoring and controlling the project's progress. It is where tools like network diagrams and Gantt charts come in handy. They will help you with the following:

• Understanding the overall flow of the project
• Determining project dependencies
• Identifying the start and end dates for project activities
• Tracking progress throughout the phases of a project lifecycle

Importance of Project Management Activities

Project management activities prove that project managers have a realistic and comprehensive project plan.

It ensures the successful completion of the project, resulting in a project that meets its goals on time and with the desired outcomes.

By breaking down a project into smaller, more manageable activities, project managers can:

• Monitor progress
• Control development
• Identify potential problems at any stage

Project management activities help to identify and address potential problems early on, which can help to prevent them from becoming major issues.

It allows project managers to make informed decisions, stay organized, and keep the project on track, avoiding unnecessary delays.

Lastly, project management activities can reveal what to change in the original plan, enabling project managers to make changes as the project evolves.

Difference Between Activities And Milestones

Complete knowledge of the difference between project activities and milestones is crucial for effective project management and successful completion.

Both play essential roles in making your project a success. So, before we dive deep into the project activities, let's understand the difference between project activities and milestones!

Project Milestones – These are significant events that mark important points in your project's life cycle. These could be completing a project phase, delivering a major project deliverable, or completing a critical task.

Project Activities – Each milestone is achieved by completing a series of tasks and subtasks, which are known as project management activities.

Real-life Example of Project Management Activities and Milestones

The image above is an example of launching a brand new website where we have defined the milestones for each week.

Each milestone includes a series of subtasks (activities) to be met. For Example, to achieve the milestone of designing the landing page (week 5), we need to complete the following subtasks or activities,

• Prepare a color palette
• Design a hero section
• Design header and footer
• Write eye-catchy and concise headlines
• Strategically include CTAs
• Check for responsive design

Note that similar to project activities, milestones help project managers to track progress, identify potential problems, and stay on top of the project's budget and timeline.

What Is A Project Activity List?

Developing and executing a project plan can be time-consuming and challenging.

The key is to create a list that includes all planned project activities. It is a critical step toward the project's success as a project manager or team member.

The project team can identify each task, execute it within a defined timeframe, and ensure successful project completion using a comprehensive project activity list.

An activity list ensures that everyone involved understands their role, the project timeline , the required activity resources, and other relevant information. Additionally, you can manage the project better, track progress, and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

Steps To Creating A Project Activity List

Breaking down all the project work into small units called activities or tasks is crucial for successfully delivering a project. Here are the steps you need to create a project activity list.

1. Project Planning

Planning is the foundation of successful project management.

It allows us to define our objectives, identify the steps required to achieve them, and allocate resources accordingly.

You need to create a comprehensive project plan that outlines all the important details, including its project deliverables , budget, resources, and deadlines. Doing so gives you a project roadmap to keep everyone on track and help them achieve project goals.

Careful project planning allows us to minimize risks and maximize our chances of success.

Note that project plans are not set in stone and may change during the execution phase.

So, it is better to plan for potential problems and be ready to adjust the plan accordingly. With your well-defined project plan, your team can work together to ensure that the project progresses in the right direction while being flexible and adaptable to unexpected changes.

2. Creating WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a project management tool that can help you break down your project into smaller, more manageable tasks to save time and effort.

It can make project management easier and more efficient. It begins with identifying the major activities in project management and then subdividing them into smaller, measurable tasks and subtasks.

To create a WBS,

• List all major project deliverables
• Break each deliverable into smaller activities
• Break each activity into individual tasks and subtasks
• Allocate Resources : identify the necessary resources and timelines for each task and subtask

This approach will help you monitor project progress and control the work more effectively.

It would be best to involve the project team in the WBS preparation process so everyone understands the project objectives and requirements.

The completed WBS should be reviewed and approved by the project stakeholders, including the project sponsor , manager, and team members, to ensure everyone agrees on the scope of work and the project plan.

3. Determining Dependencies

After dividing your project into activities, identify the relationship between each activity and the factors affecting its completion.

There are two types of dependencies: internal and external.

Internal dependencies occur when an activity is related to other activities within the project. It means one activity cannot be started until a related activity has been completed.

On the other hand, external dependencies occur when an activity is related to the factors outside the project, such as environmental, regulatory, or technological factors.

The start and finish conditions of activities can be used to classify the dependencies into four types:

• Finish-to-start (FS): An activity must be completed before another activity can begin. It is the most common type of dependency.
• Start-to-start (SS): An activity must begin before another activity can also begin. This dependency is used when two activities must be synchronized to start simultaneously.
• Finish-to-finish (FF): An activity must finish before another can also finish. This dependency is used when two activities must be synchronized to end simultaneously.
• Start-to-finish (SF): An activity must start before another activity can finish.

Understanding the dependencies between activities is critical for developing a realistic project plan that can be completed on time and within budget.

4. Sequencing Activities

Once you identify the activities and determine their dependencies, it is time to order them.

Your goal is to establish a highly efficient task flow by prioritizing the order of the activities.

It needs to be done properly to ensure that the project activities are completed in the correct order for a smooth and timely progression.

I suggest using dedicated project management software with Kanban tools for effective activity sequencing for comprehensive insights.

Project management software provides an excellent solution for visually representing the project and its phases. It allows for real-time updates and progress reports , resulting in a smooth and timely project progression. Product and software development teams have to use such tools.

However, you can use tools like whiteboards, note cards, or sticky note pads for sequencing activities.

For a more comprehensive understanding of the project activities, involve the team and gather multiple perspectives. This approach will also help you identify potential issues or challenges associated with your project.

5. Scheduling Activities

Once the sequence is established, you can estimate the duration of each activity and schedule project activities accordingly.

Make sure to properly define the duration and timeline for each activity and allocate resources to achieve your project goals within the given timeframe and budget. It is important to create a realistic schedule and avoid overestimating the work that can be done within a given timeframe. Use workflow management software or Gantt charts to visualize the entire project in one place.

When estimating the duration of each activity, we can use data from previous projects to establish baselines for each task. We must properly allocate internal and external resources such as personnel, equipment, and materials.

Note that we may need to adjust the schedule throughout the project's life cycle due to unforeseen events.

Regularly monitoring the project's progress and communicating with stakeholders can help us identify issues early and make timely adjustments.

6. Risk Management

Risk management is a crucial aspect of project management!

Uncertain events that can positively or negatively impact the achievement of the project goals and objectives are known as project risks .

A robust risk management plan is paramount in confidently delivering your project on time, within budget, and to the desired quality standards.

It's essential to implement it throughout the entire project management life cycle to avoid project risks. You can brainstorm with your project teams or use risk management technology to develop a plan outlining the steps to mitigate, monitor, and control the risks.

In general, it includes the following steps,

• Creating a comprehensive list of milestones and activities
• Determining all the possible risks associated with each milestone and activity
• Analyzing the probability of the risk
• Assessing the risk impact on the project

Once you identify all the risks, the key is to prioritize the risks and focus on the most critical ones.

Note that you should frequently monitor and review project progress to identify new risks that may arise, assess their impact, and update the risk management plan accordingly.

7. Preparing Activity List

Now is the right time to create a highly detailed activity list that includes project tasks, sub-tasks, the duration for each of them, and the resources required.

An activity list helps ensure everything is always in order and up-to-date, leading to incredible results.

It is not a one-time document but rather a dynamic one that can be regularly reviewed and updated throughout the project to ensure that it remains accurate and up-to-date.

As a project manager, you have a critical role, and creating a comprehensive activity list is crucial. By defining all the major deliverables and tasks mentioned in the previous steps, you will clearly understand what must be done, how, by whom, and when.

With an activity list, you can ensure that everyone involved understands their tasks and the sequence in which they must execute them.

A team leader plays a vital role in executing the tasks defined in the project activity list.

Activity List Example

Imagine that Jason is about to renovate his home; here is the Project Activity List prepared for him:

Start Date – May 13, 2023 Estimated Completion Date – August 30, 2023

This is a simple activity list where Jason is the project manager responsible for the delivery of the project. It helps Jason with the following,

• Project scope management
• Project initiation
• Cost management
• Forming a communication plan with stakeholders
• Obtaining the desired outcome.

Note that the key to success is practice! You can start with any project on your mind and create the activity list right away.

Explore Further

• How to Write a Project Plan in 9 Simple Steps
• What Are Milestones in Project Management (+ Examples)
• 12 Key Benefits of Using Project Management Software
• What Is Digital Project Management? [Ultimate Guide]
• How to Overcome Parkinson’s Law to Get More Done in Less Time
• 10 Effective Tips on How to Manage A Project from Start to Finish
• Project Failure | 7 Reasons Why Projects Fail & How to Avoid It
• 9 Essential Roles In Project Management

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Anastasia belyh.

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

Project Management Plan: Samples, Examples & Free Template

Learn how to create a project management plan that actually works and ensures you get your project over the line on time and on budget, with samples and examples

Table of Contents

What is a project management plan, what is a project management plan used for, what are the main elements of a project plan, how to write a project management plan, sample project management plan outline, using our project management plan template to build your project plan, project management plan: faq's.

A project management plan is a comprehensive document that outlines how a project will be executed, monitored, controlled and closed. For project managers and their teams, it's the ultimate toolkit for achieving their objectives while managing day-to-day pressures such as time, cost, scope, resourcing and risk. This guide outlines what a project management plan is used for, why it's important , and offers a step-by-step guide on how to make one that actually works.

Your project plan document is where you go deep on the ins, outs, overs, and unders of your project. It's where you break this vision down into the day-to-day execution of your project, covering everything you need to do to reach your project goals.

A detailed project plan will plot out everything from timelines to budget, resourcing to deliverables, and more, giving you a blueprint of what needs to be done (and when) that you can use to guide — and assess — your project.

The key components of a project management plan are:

Project Objectives

Scope Statement

Schedule Management

Cost Management

Resource Management

Communication Plan

Stakeholder Management

Procurement Management

Closure Criteria

Project Organization

Ready to get down to business? Here are 5 key things you need to do when writing a project plan.

1. Identify the baselines for your project

Before you begin writing a project plan, you need to make sure you have the basics down. Start by identifying the baselines for the project’s scope, schedule and cost, as the rest of your project planning will need to fit in around those constraints.

As mentioned above, these baselines should already be roughly outlined in your project charter — but here’s where you really start to map them out and create accurate estimates. And the more detailed, the better, because these are what you’ll be using for comparison to measure how your project performs.

2. Identify your project dependencies

Or in other words, ask yourself: what needs to happen before this other thing can happen? Identifying your project dependencies at the outset of your project means you can plan your timelines more efficiently, spot potential blockers, and ensure that you avoid unnecessary delays.

3. Identify project stakeholders

You’ll already have done the groundwork for this in your stakeholder analysis, but as you flesh out your project management plan and think through the phases of your project in more detail, you’ll likely start to find more project stakeholders at each phase.

Now is also a good time to go deeper on which stakeholders need to be informed and involved at which stages, for a more comprehensive stakeholder management plan you can use at each phase of your project.

4. Identify project milestones

What are the key markers of your project’s progress? It can be a concrete deliverable, the end of a phase in a stage-gate process — whatever milestones make sense to you, breaking your project down into manageable chunks, each with a defined goal, helps to keep the team motivated, allows you to celebrate each achievement, and signposts how the overall progress is coming along.  Learn more about using Milestones here .

5. Identify who’s responsible for what

Once you start to get a big-picture understanding of the work that’s needed and the resources you have to complete it, you can start deciding who should do what. Giving each item an owner is essential to getting things done. No more “oh, was I supposed to do that?” — once you identify who’s responsible for what, you can ensure accountability and transparency.

The 5 Stages of Team Development

All teams develop according to some natural patterns and using that knowledge, you can offer some guidance to build the kind of team that communicates well and finds better ways to collaborate and achieve the goals you’ve established. Here’s what you need to know.

Now let's go through a sample project plan. In the below example, we highlight the main sections of the plan and what needs to be included in each one to set your project up for success.

Section 1: Executive summary

The executive summary offers a concise overview of the entire project. It includes key highlights such as the project's purpose, objectives, scope, timeline, budget, and major stakeholders. It's often the first section stakeholders read to get a high-level understanding of the project.

Section 2: Project introduction

This section sets the stage by providing context and background information about the project. It explains why the project is being undertaken and introduces the main objectives and scope of the project.

Section 3: Project objectives

Here, the project's specific goals and objectives are outlined in detail. Objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to provide clarity and guidance.

Section 4: Project scope

The scope section defines what is included and excluded from the project. It helps prevent scope creep by establishing clear boundaries and also mentions any assumptions and constraints that may affect the project.

Section 5: Schedule management

This section details the project's timeline, including milestones and deadlines. It breaks down the project into tasks and identifies task dependencies. Often, visual representations like Gantt charts are used for clarity.

Section 6: Cost management

Here, the project budget is presented, including cost estimates for various project components. It may also outline cost control measures to ensure the project stays within budget.

Section 7: Quality management

This section focuses on the quality standards and objectives for the project. It describes quality control and assurance processes, as well as any inspection and testing procedures that will be implemented.

Project management template

Save time on setup without sacrificing attention to detail. With our project management template, you can quickly create project management plans that help you complete your project on time and on budget.

Section 8: Resource management

In this section, the project team is introduced, and roles and responsibilities are defined. It addresses resource allocation, scheduling, and, if applicable, procurement needs.

Section 9: Risk management

The risk management section identifies potential risks and uncertainties that could impact the project. It discusses risk assessment, prioritization, and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of these risks.

Section 10: Communication plan

The communication plan outlines how project information will be shared with stakeholders and team members. It specifies communication methods, frequency, and reporting channels to ensure effective communication throughout the project.

Section 11: Stakeholder management

This section lists project stakeholders and analyzes their interests, influence, and expectations. It also outlines strategies for engaging and managing these stakeholders to ensure their needs are addressed.

Section 12: Procurement management

If procurement of goods or services is involved, this section explains the procurement strategy, vendor selection criteria, and how contracts will be managed.

Section 13: Change management

Change management procedures are detailed here, including how changes to the project scope, schedule, or other aspects will be requested, evaluated, approved, and communicated.

Section 14: Closure criteria

Criteria for determining when the project is complete and ready for closure are specified in this section. It may also include plans for project handover and post-project evaluation.

Section 15: Project organization

This section describes the project team's structure, roles, and responsibilities, ensuring everyone understands their positions and reporting lines. It may also mention external stakeholders and their roles if applicable.

Once you’ve documented your project management plan, bring it to life with a project management tool that will help you to stay on track, keep your team accountable, and promote transparency.

Here are 3 ways you can use Teamwork.com to supercharge your project management plan.

Add your supporting documentation to Teamwork Spaces

Use the Teamwork.com and Teamwork Spaces integration to link a project in Teamwork.com with a space in Teamwork Spaces, so your important project documents are only ever a click away.

Some documents you might want to add in addition to your project charter and project management plan include:

Scoping documents

Risk assessments

Change management plans

SOPs for important project processes

List of stakeholders and their roles

Outline of approval processes

Communications management plan

Any other best practices documentation or supporting info as necessary

You can even embed task lists into your pages and mark tasks as complete right from Teamwork Spaces, so you can keep work flowing without even needing to switch tabs.

Start adding your Milestones

Break down your work into Milestones and task lists that are going to help you reach them. With Teamwork.com, you can assign an owner to each Milestone, map out your Milestone due dates and see them represented in the project calendar, and even get a full change history for milestones so you can track any edits.

Visualize your task dependencies with a Gantt chart

Gantt chart-style views are a useful way to get a visual representation of your tasks and their dependencies, allowing for better scheduling and resourcing. In Teamwork.com, you can drag and drop to quickly rearrange your project schedule , without throwing everything out of order or straying off-plan.

Remember: software should support the way you work, not dictate it. So regardless of methodology or team type, create a project plan that works for you and your team — and find a tool that helps you put it into action.

Use our project plan template

Now that you know how to create a project management plan that actually works, you’re ready to implement using our team management software . To help you get up and running quickly, we’ve created a ready to use project plan template . Our project template will help you quickly create project plans that ensure all of your projects are completed on time and on budget

What is a project management plan template?

A project management plan template is a pre-designed framework that provides a structured format for creating a project management plan. It serves as a starting point for project managers and teams to develop their specific project plans, saving time and ensuring that key project management components are properly addressed.

How can a template help you build a great project management plan?

A template can help you build a great project management plan by saving time, ensuring comprehensive coverage of project management aspects, and incorporating industry best practices and visual aids for clarity. They also support collaboration, version control, and customization to fit the unique needs of each project, making them a valuable tool for project managers in achieving successful project outcomes.

What is the main purpose of a project management plan?

The main purpose of a project management plan is to provide a comprehensive and structured roadmap for successfully executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. It serves as a central document that outlines project objectives, scope, schedule, budget, quality standards, resource allocation, risk management strategies, and communication approaches.

What tools do I need to help manage a project plan?

To effectively manage a project plan, you'll need a set of tools and software that cover various aspects of project management. These include project management software, communication and collaboration platforms, file and document management solutions, time and task tracking apps, and budgeting and financial management tools.

What steps are involved in the project planning process?

The steps involved in the project planning process include defining specific project objectives and scope, identifying deliverables and key milestones, budgets, risk assessment and quality control measures. It should also include a communication plan and stakeholder engagement strategies.

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Blog Marketing What is a Project Management Plan and How to Create One

What is a Project Management Plan and How to Create One

Written by: Midori Nediger Dec 11, 2023

Have you ever been part of a project that didn’t go as planned?

It doesn’t feel good.

Wasted time, wasted resources. It’s pretty frustrating for everyone involved.

That’s why it’s so important to create a comprehensive project management plan   before your project gets off the ground.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to create and design a successful project management plan.

We’ll also showcase easy-to-customize project plan templates you can create today with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. Let’s get started!

  Click to jump ahead:

What is a project management plan?

How do you write a project management plan, project management plan templates and examples, what is the importance of a project management plan, what should a project management plan include, 5 key tips for creating a project management plan, project management plan best practices, common mistakes to avoid when creating a project management plan.

A project management plan is a formal document that defines how a project is going to be carried out by outlining the scope, goals, budget, timeline and deliverables of a project. Its crucial role lies in ensuring the project stays on course.

You write a project plan  during the project planning stage of the  project life cycle , and it must be approved by stakeholders before a project can move on the execution stage.

If some of these terms are new to you, you can get up to speed with this post on project management terms . 

This means your project plan must be engaging, organized, and thorough enough to gain the support of your stakeholders.

Further Reading : New to project management? Read our blog post on the 4 stages of the project life cycle .

To write a successful project management plan, follow these 5 steps below to create an effective plan that serves as a valuable tool for project management:

1. Highlight the key elements of your project plan in an executive summary  

An executive summary is a brief description of the key contents of a project management plan .

I t’s usually the first thing stakeholders will read, and it should act like a Cliff’s-notes version of the whole plan.

It might touch on a project’s value proposition, goals, deliverables, and important milestones, but it has to be concise (it is a summary, after all). First, make sure you develop a proof of concept .

In this example, an executive summary can be broken into columns to contrast the existing problem with the project solution:

The two-column format with clear headers helps break up the information, making it extremely easy to read at a glance.

Here’s another example of a project management plan executive summary. This one visually highlights key takeaways with big fonts and helpful icons:

In this case, the highlighted facts and figures are particularly easy to scan (which is sure to make your stakeholders happy).

But your executive summary won’t always be so simple.

For larger projects, your executive summary will be longer and more detailed.

This project management plan template has a text-heavy executive summary, though the bold headers and different background colors keep it from looking overwhelming:

It’s also a good idea to divide it up into sections, with a dedicated header for each section:

Regardless of how you organize your executive summary, it should give your stakeholders a preview of what’s to come in the rest of the project management plan.

2. Plot your project schedule visually with a Gantt chart

A carefully planned project schedule is key to the success of any project. Without one, your project will likely crumble into a mess of missed deadlines, poor team management, and scope creep.

Luckily, project planning tools like Gantt charts and project timelines make creating your project schedule easy. You can visually plot each project task, add major milestones, then look for any dependencies or conflicts that you haven’t accounted for.

For example, this Gantt chart template outlines high-level project activities over the course of an entire quarter, with tasks color-coded by team:

A high-level roadmap like the one above is probably sufficient for your project management plan. Every team will be able to refer back to this timeline throughout the project to make sure they’re on track.

But before project kickoff , you’ll need to dig in and break down project responsibilities by individual team member, like in this Gantt chart example:

In the later execution and monitoring phases of the project, you’ll thank yourself for creating a detailed visual roadmap that you can track and adjust as things change.

You can also use a project management tool to keep your team organized.

Further Reading:   Our post featuring  Gantt chart examples  and more tips on how to use them for project management.

3. Clarify the structure of your project team with a team org chart

One of the hardest aspects of project planning is assembling a team and aligning them to the project vision.

And aligning your team is all about communication–communicating the project goals, communicating stakeholder requests, communicating the rationale behind big decisions…the list goes on.

This is where good project documentation is crucial! You need to create documents that your team and your stakeholders can access when they have questions or need guidance.

One easy thing to document visually is the structure of your team, with an organizational chart like this one:

In an organizational chart you should include some basic information like team hierarchy and team member contact information. That way your stakeholders have all of the information they need at their fingertips.

But in addition to that, you can indicate the high-level responsibilities of each team member and the channels of communication within the team (so your team knows exactly what they’re accountable for).

Here’s another simple organizational structure template that you can use as a starting point:

Create an organizational chart with our organizational chart maker .

4. Organize project risk factors in a risk breakdown structure

A big part of project planning is identifying the factors that are likely to derail your project, and coming up with plans and process to deal with those factors. This is generally referred to as risk management .

The first step in coming up with a risk management plan is to list all of the factors at play, which is where a risk breakdown structure comes in handy. A risk breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of project risks, organized by category.

This risk breakdown structure template, for example, shows project risk broken down into technical risk, management risk, and external risk:

Once you’ve constructed your risk breakdown structure, you’ll be ready to do a deep dive into each risk (to assess and plan for any triggers and outcomes).

Streamline your workflow with business process management software .

5. Plan ahead: create project status reports to communicate progress to stakeholders

As I mentioned earlier, communication is fundamental in any project.

But even so, something that’s often overlooked by project managers is a communication management plan–a plan for how the project team is going to communicate with project stakeholders . Too often, project communication defaults to ad-hoc emails or last-minute meetings.

You can avoid this by planning ahead. Start with a project kickoff meeting and include a project status report template as part of your communication plan.

Here’s an example of a simple project status report that you might send to stakeholders on a weekly basis:

This type of report is invaluable for communicating updates on project progress. It shows what you’ve accomplished in a clear, consistent format, which can help flag issues before they arise, build trust with your stakeholders , and makes it easy to reflect on project performance once you’ve reached your goals.

You might also want to include a broader status report for bigger updates on a monthly or quarterly basis, like this one:

The above template allows you to inform stakeholders of more major updates like new budget requirements, revised completion dates, and project performance ratings.

You can even include visualization of up-to-date project milestones, like this example below:

Want more tips on creating visuals to enhance your communications? Read our visual communication guide for businesses . 

A project management plan is probably the most important deliverable your stakeholders will receive from you (besides the project itself).

It holds all of the information that stakeholders will use to determine whether your project moves forward or gets kicked to the curb.

That’s why it’s a good idea to start with a project management plan template. Using a template can help you organize your information logically and ensure it’s engaging enough to hold your stakeholders’ attention.

Construction project management plan template

Time is money, especially with construction projects. Having a construction plan template brings order to the chaos.

Instead of staring at a messy pile of construction stuff, you’ve got a plan that breaks everything down into bite-sized pieces.

And let’s not forget the paperwork. Construction projects have rules and regulations to follow. Your project plan helps you stay on the right side of the law with all the necessary documentation and compliance measures.

Start with a meticulous project overview, like in the second page of this template:

Though you may think this project will be similar to others you’ve done in the past, it’s important to nail the details.

This will also help you understand the scope of work so you can estimate costs properly and arrive at a quote that’s neither too high or low. Ontario Construction News has great advice on this process.

Simple project management plan template

This simple project management plan template that clearly lays out all of the information your stakeholders will need:

Simple project management communication plan template

A key part of project management is making sure everyone’s in the loop. A project communication plan ensures everyone knows how, where, who and when the team will communicate during the course of the project. Also construction scheduling is a critical aspect of the project management plan as it helps to ensure that all necessary tasks are completed within the allocated time frame and budget.

The key is to figure out what kind of communications is valuable to stakeholders and what is simply overwhelming and won’t lead to better decisions.

This template clearly outlines all of these factors to help manage expectations and eliminate confusion about what will get communicated and when:

Commercial development project plan template

The below project management plan template is simple and minimal, but still uses a unique layout and simple visuals to create an easy-to-read, scannable project overview.

This template is perfect for building or construction management , or any technical projects:

When picking a project plan template, look for one that’s flexible enough to accommodate any changes your stakeholders might request before they’ll approve the project. You never know what might change in the early planning stages of the project! You can also use  project management tools  to help you with your planning!

A well-developed project management plan sets the foundation for a successful project by providing a roadmap that guides the project team toward successful project completion. A good project management plan can ensure that:

• Project objectives and goals are clearly defined and understood
• Project scope is effectively managed
• Resources are allocated efficiently to maximize productivity and minimize waste
• Risks are identified, assessed and mitigated
• Project tasks and activities are well-organized and executed in a timely manner.
• Communication among team members , stakeholders and project sponsors is effective and transparent
• Changes to the project are properly evaluated, approved and implemented
• Lessons learned and best practices are documented for future reference and improvement
• Stakeholders are engaged and satisfied with the project outcomes
• The project is delivered within the specified timeline, budget and quality standards

Before you start assembling your own plan, you should be familiar with the main components of a typical project plan .

A project management plan should include the following sections:

• Executive summary: A short description of the contents of the report
• Project scope & deliverables: An outline of the boundaries of the project, and a description of how the project will be broken down into measurable deliverables
• Project schedule: A high-level view of project tasks and milestones ( Gantt charts are handy for this)
• Project resources: The budget, personnel, and other resources required to meet project goals
• Risk and issue management plan: A list of factors that could derail the project and a plan for how issues will be identified, addressed, and controlled
• Communication management plan: A plan for how team and stakeholder communication will be handled over the course of the project
• Cost and quality management plan: This section encompasses the project’s budget, cost estimation, and cost control mechanisms. It also includes quality assurance testing and control measures as well as any testing or verification activities to be performed.

Basically, a project plan should tell stakeholders what needs to get done, how it will get done, and when it will get done.

That said, one size doesn’t fit all. Every project management plan must be tailored to the specific industry and circumstances of the project. You can use a project management app for smoother project planning.

For example, this marketing plan looks client facing. It is tailored to sell the client on the agency:

Whereas this commercial development plan focuses on specific objectives and a detailed timeline:

With those basics out of the way, let’s get into how to write a project management plan that’s as engaging as it is professional.

Further Reading : If you’re looking to create a proposal, read our in-depth business proposal guide. Then try our job proposal templates or business proposal templates .  

Before diving into creating a project management plan, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the project objectives and the expectations of stakeholders involved.

Without a firm grasp of these fundamental elements, your project may face significant challenges or fail to deliver the desired outcomes.

Here are key points to consider when creating a project management plan:

• Project Objectives: Clearly understand the project objectives and what you want to achieve. Identify the desired outcomes, deliverables and the purpose of the project.
• Scope of the Project: Determine the boundaries and extent of the project. Define what is included and excluded to ensure clarity and prevent scope creep .
• Stakeholders: Identify all stakeholders who will be impacted by or have an interest in the project. Understand their needs, expectations and level of involvement.
• Resources: Assess the resources required to execute the project successfully. This includes human resources, budget, equipment and materials. Determine their availability and allocation.
• Risks and Constraints: Identify potential risks, uncertainties and constraints that may affect the project. Understand the challenges, limitations and potential obstacles that need to be addressed.

Now that you have these key areas identified, let’s get started with creating your project plan.

Before you dive in, remember: a clear and adaptable plan is crucial for project success. Here are some best practices to keep your project plan on track:

• Use headers, columns and highlights to make your executive summary easy to read
• Plot your project schedule with a Gantt chart (with tasks color-coded by department or team member)
• Use visuals like organizational charts and risk breakdown structures to communicate across your team and with stakeholders
• Pick a flexible template that you can update to align with stakeholder requests

Creating a solid project management plan is crucial for setting your project up for success. Here are some common mistakes to avoid:

• Lack of clear goals: Don’t just have a vague idea of what you want to achieve. Define clear, SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) for your project. That way, everyone will be on the same page and it’ll be easier to measure progress effectively.
• Unrealistic timelines: Be optimistic, but also realistic. Don’t underestimate the time required for tasks. Factor in potential delays and buffer time when creating your project schedule.
• Scope creep: New requirements mid-project can affect deadlines and budgets. Plan the project clearly upfront, and take into consideration any changes that might come up.
• Poor communication: Communication is key throughout the project lifecycle. Regularly update stakeholders, team members and clients on progress, roadblocks and changes.
• Ignoring risks: Things don’t always go according to plan. Identify potential risks upfront and have a mitigation strategy in place for each one.
• Not involving stakeholders: Get key stakeholders involved early on. This helps manage everyone’s expectations and that you have the buy-in you need for success.
• Neglecting resource constraints: Don’t overload your team or underestimate the resources needed. Carefully consider the skills, time and budget available when planning your project.
• Micromanaging: Trust your team! Delegate tasks effectively and give them the autonomy they need to do their jobs.
• Failing to document: Keep good records. Document project decisions, plans and communication. This helps maintain transparency and ensures everyone has access to the latest information.
• Not adapting to change: Be prepared to adapt your plan as needed. Projects are rarely static, so be flexible and willing to adjust your approach based on new information or developments.

So, that’s the scoop on project management plans! I hope this piece will help you to avoid confusion, keep expectations in check and be ready to tackle any bumps for your upcoming projects.

If you ever need a revision, just follow the steps we talked about, use those best practices and you’ll have a plan that sets your project up for a win. Just remember, even the best plans need some tweaking sometimes. Be flexible and adjust as needed and you’re good to go!

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• The Workstream
• Project management

The Complete Guide to Project Management

Get more projects across the finish line (with less stress)

Browse topics

What is project management? Project management is the coordination of your processes, tools, team members, and skills so you can deliver projects that exceed your goals.

You and your team are getting ready to conquer a major project. It’s like a long stack of dominoes — it’s so cool when it works, but a big ol’ disappointment if a single piece is even slightly out of place. 

These types of projects can be both daunting and exciting, and you might be tempted to start as soon as possible. Do you cross your fingers that everything magically falls into place? Rub a lamp and hope a wish-granting genie arrives to lend a helping hand? 

Those would be nice (and let us know if you find a way to make them work!). But, in reality, the secret to success for your big, hairy projects is effective project management.

What is project management, and why is it important?

Project management is the practice of coordinating processes, tools, team members, and skills to deliver projects that meet goals and satisfy requirements.

It empowers your team to complete projects by rallying them around clear objectives, increasing transparency and visibility, streamlining communication, and establishing the project scope. Need more convincing? Consider that  Project overruns are frighteningly common. In the IT industry alone, McKinsey found that on average, large IT projects run 45% over budget and 7% over time. 

Project management methodologies

Have you heard that old adage “more than one way to cook an egg”? There’s no one strategy for completing a kick-ass project. That’s where a project management methodology comes into play. It’s a set of rules, principles, and processes for managing a project.

Methodologies might sound formal, but you have some room to innovate here! It’s important to note that many teams and companies use a combination, rather than relying exclusively on one. Regardless of which approach you choose, it should help promote a strong culture of transparency .

1. Waterfall project management

When you think of traditional, sequential project management, you’re picturing waterfall project management . With this method, you break your project into different phases. When one phase ends, the next one begins — there’s no overlap between them. 

When to use : For long projects that require a single timeline and a sequential order.

Commonly used in : Construction. Building a house or structure requires a successive order. You can’t put on a roof before you’ve poured a foundation, for example. 

2. Agile project management

Agile project management is an iterative approach and is much more flexible than waterfall project management. It's a DevOps best practice that breaks projects into chunks that are tackled in short bursts (called sprints). After each sprint, your team reevaluates the work you’re doing to make any necessary changes and ensure you’re staying on target.

Scrum project management is one of the most popular Agile  methodologies used by project managers. Like Agile, scrum is centered around continuous improvement . You can use a framework like scrum to help you start thinking in a more Agile way and practice building Agile principles into your everyday communication and work.

When to use:  For projects that aren’t yet well-defined and require a lot of adaptability. 

Commonly used in : Software development. This profession pioneered agile, and this approach allows developers to build higher-quality software because they’re able to test and review at regular intervals.

3. Lean project management

If you’ve heard of lean manufacturing, those same principles apply to lean project management . The goal of this methodology is to increase output and value while reducing waste. To use it, you’ll need to map a value stream, which is the sequence of project activities. Then, you take a magnifying glass to that stream to identify and eliminate work that doesn’t add value. This means your project process will be as streamlined, optimized, and efficient as possible.

Kanban is a specific implementation of Lean project management. Project tasks are represented visually on a Kanban board , allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work at any time.

When to use : For projects that need to be delivered quickly. 

Commonly used in : Manufacturing. When you’re producing physical goods, you want as little waste as possible to minimize spend and maximize profit. That’s why this approach is popular in manufacturing, especially in the automotive industry .

The 5 stages of the project management process

Imagine that you’re starting a project from the very beginning. Project management doesn’t come into play only when you actually start checking off tasks — you need to lay the groundwork first.

With that in mind, the Project Management Institute (PMI) established five distinct stages of project management .

Stage #1: Initiating

Think the first step of the project management process is planning? Not quite. Before you can map out a strategy for your project, you need to get stakeholder buy-in. This is where a project charter comes in to outline the business objective of your project for approval. We recommend using a project poster instead, as a more digestible format that’s faster and easier to read. In this stage, you should answer questions like:

• What’s the business case for this project? Our strategic plan template can help!
• Is this project feasible?
• Should we pursue this project?

To put it simply, in this stage you’re trying to decide if this project is even worth tackling before you invest too much elbow grease. 

A great way to help facilitate this discussion is a premortem , a thought exercise in which you imagine what could go wrong and decide how to prevent it.

Stage #2: Planning

If you decide to move forward, you’ll next head into the planning stage. This is where you’ll develop a detailed project plan that your entire team will follow––and thank you for! Planning is essential for avoiding scope creep . Our to-do list template can help! . Questions to answer in this stage include:

• What is the goal of this project?
• What are the key performance indicators (KPIs)?
• What is the scope?
• What is the budget?
• What are the risks?
• What team members are involved?
• What tasks are involved?
• What milestones need to be met? 

This step is to ensure you and your team all have shared expectations before you get started. If you think you’re getting too caught up in the minutiae, you aren’t. And strategic planning frameworks can help!

Stage #3: Executing

Grab your coffee and get your power cable, because it’s go-time. This is where you and your team will roll up your sleeves and start conquering project tasks with your project plan as your guide. In the execution stage , you’ll need to: 

• Allocate necessary resources
• Ensure assignees carry out their tasks
• Host status meetings
• Set up tracking systems

The bulk of the work happens in this stage, and it’s also where you’ll start to see your project really coming together. See? All that planning was worth it.

Stage #4: Monitoring

Just because you have a project plan doesn’t mean things will run smoothly on their own. It’s like setting a budget for yourself — having the budget doesn’t do anything if you don’t keep a close eye on how you’re managing your money. 

That’s why you need to monitor project progress to ensure things stay on track. You should evaluate your project against the KPIs you established in the planning stage.

What should you do if your project feels like it’s strayed from the path or fallen prey to scope creep? Take a moment to reevaluate. You can decide if you need to realign things, or if your original plan needs to shift. That’s the great thing about monitoring — you have regular checkpoints to course correct.

Stage #5: Closing

The closing stage is about wrapping up loose ends. This includes:

• Hosting a postmortem or retrospective to evaluate the project
• Preparing a final project report
• Collecting and storing necessary project documentation somewhere safe. A collaborative documentation space like Confluence is great for this, by the way.

Not only does this give your team the chance to officially wash their hands of the project, but it also makes it easier to refer back to it when necessary.

7 Tips for successful project management

Even if you follow all of the above steps, effective project management isn’t a set-and-forget scenario. There are a few other best practices you’ll want to implement to help your project run as smoothly as possible.

Host a project kickoff meeting

Your project kickoff meeting is when you’ll establish goals, break down your timeline , and generally get everybody on the same page about your project. Our team meeting agenda template can help!

Regardless of how excited your team is to get to work, don’t skip this sitdown. You’ll proactively clear up confusion and rally your team around a shared goal.

Be mindful of task and resource dependencies

Remember when we talked about projects that feel like a string of teetering dominoes? That’s especially true for large, cross-functional projects. Maybe Daisy can’t start creating graphics until Joel has drafted the content (that’s a task dependency). Or maybe Choua can’t use a piece of software while Derek is using the shared license (that’s a resource dependency).

Your project tasks don’t happen in a vacuum, so it’s important that you account for these dependencies using a Gantt chart template . 

When all of your tasks and resources are connected, you need to understand how they fit together, or you run the risk of watching in horror as your whole line of dominoes comes toppling down.

Identify your critical path

Identifying your critical path is a great way to prevent schedule overruns. While it might sound like something out of an action movie, your critical path is just your longest string of dependent project activities. If you hit a snag or delay on that path, you know the whole project is at risk of coming in late. 

Finding your critical path allows you to know where you have some wiggle room in your schedule, and where you need to stick as close to your timeline as possible.

Be realistic with your timeline

It’s common to underestimate the time it takes us to complete tasks, and it can be a real detriment to your project timeline.

Keep yourself in check by referring back to timelines for previous projects. Consult your time-tracking software (if you have it) to see how long typical tasks take, and ask your team to gut check their schedules.

Use project management software

If your team members need to dig through endless email threads or folders to find what they need, your project is bound to drag behind. 

That’s why it’s helpful to use project management software (like Jira ) to store your documentation and organize your project in a knowledge management software (like Confluence ). It increases visibility into all project steps and tasks, centralizes communication, and gives your project team one single source of truth .

Establish clear roles and responsibilities

To get the best output from your team, people need to know exactly why they’re involved. What is their role and what are they expected to contribute? 

Not only does this instill a sense of purpose and accountability in your project team members, but it also prevents them from stepping on each other’s toes and allows you to play to everyone’s strengths. A RACI   framework is a popular way to assign roles and responsibilities . The acronym RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. Confluence slightly tweaks this framework, calling it DACI , with “D” standing for “driver.”

Make it a collaborative process

Managing a project can be stressful, and you don’t have to do it all alone. Your team will have a lot of great insight into your project plan , including if your timeline is realistic or if you’re forgetting about dependencies.  Team brainstorming is a great way to share and hash out ideas. Here are some tips for running an effective brainstorming session .

Even if you’re part of a hybrid or remote team , resist the temptation to plan projects in isolation. Involve your team to hash out a more reasonable plan and boost their sense of ownership over the project. Our brainstorming template can help!

Key members of a project team

Every project must begin by identifying r oles and responsibilities . Knowing your role upfront sets everyone up for success in staying on track to meet project deadlines. Potential project roles include:

• Project manager : Person who oversees the entire project and is responsible for the project’s success.
• Project sponsor : Senior manager who champions the project and works closely with the project manager.
• Team member : People who actively work on the project tasks.
• Supplier : People who provide goods or services for a project.
• Primary stakeholders : People who actually do the work and are actively involved in the project.
• Secondary stakeholders : People who might come to meetings and play a small part but aren’t key decision-makers in the project.
• Interested stakeholders : People who are in the loop on the project but don’t play an active part or have a lot of influence.
• Client : Person who receives the final project, if it’s a client-facing project rather than an internal one. 

What to look for when evaluating project management software

Choosing the right project management software can be tricky. To ensure your team gets the most out of its project management tool, we recommend that you look for a solution that offers the following capabilities:

• Create a shared calendar to track project milestones and deadlines
• Share files and documents for easy access and collaboration
• Create task lists and assign tasks to team members
• Track project progress and generate reports
• Facilitate and streamline communication between team members and stakeholders
• Estimate project duration and budget
• Allow team members to comment on tasks and provide feedback
• Generate automated reminders and notifications
• Set up project templates to streamline project creation
• Manage resources and workloads
• Track issues and risks
• Manage change requests
• Create detailed reports
• Monitor project performance

Why use Confluence for project management

Confluence sets itself apart as a collaborative knowledge hub to supercharge project management with thousands of templates , plays , and integrations for maximum flexibility and scale.

Consolidate tools and centralize work

With Confluence you have knowledge, task, and project management combined with team collaboration. Embed a Trello board for Kanban-style project management, like Sprout Social . Or, integrate Confluence with Jira  for an Agile approach to project management, like Castlight Health . Jira makes it easy to plan, track, and manage your projects, while Confluence boosts transparency and centralizes your project-related conversations and resources. 

Scale with team and company growth

Confluence is designed to enable project management for technical teams and business teams, as well as for small businesses , remote teams , and enterprise-scale companies . Scale with unlimited instances to provide organizational autonomy, segregate data for security reasons, or customize environments. Confluence also has the security, compliance, performance, and reliability needed to support enterprises, including guaranteed SLA uptimes; data residency in US, EU, Australia, or Germany; and certifications with GDPR, SOC2, and more.

Secure and protect work and knowledge

What happens when a teammates leave your company, does their work leave too? Confluence protects project work from being lost, even if teammates leave a company. You can create permissions, set controls, and assign admins roles.

Analyze and optimize performance

You can’t manage what you can’t measure, right? In combination with Jira , you can track progress, monitor activities, and generate reports to help optimize project processes and workflows.

Project management is the engine powering team productivity. But not all project management solutions are created equal. Find out why more than 85,000 companies use Confluence.

Project management templates

Persona template.

The Persona template helps you create detailed profiles of target customers for marketing and product development, complete with persona names, goals, challenges, and information sources.

Customer journey mapping template

Use this template to understand your customer’s experience with your product, including their emotions and pain points.

Disruptive brainstorming template

This Confluence template will help your teeam generate fresh ideas.

DACI template

Use this DACI template to define each person's role in the decision-making process and make the right call sooner.

Project poster template

If project briefs and project charters aren’t your cup of tea, try this template for a project poster instead.

Key benefits of project management

1. improve collaboration.

We know we need to work with others to meet our goals, yet effective collaboration doesn’t come easy for most of us. There are varying communication styles, different approaches to organization, and so many other factors that make collaboration challenging. 

Project management software gives teams greater visibility into what their colleagues are working on, what deadlines are set, how individual tasks fit into the overall project process, and more. All of this contributes to the greatest benefit of project management software: better and easier project collaboration.

2. Centralize communication

Your team is struggling to communicate with disorganized email threads, direct instant message pings, and comments that get lost in the shuffle. 

That’s bad news (and a big time-waster) for your projects. When team members have too many places to check for information, wires are crossed, deadlines are missed, tasks are forgotten, and confusion builds. 

Project management software keeps all of your communication — from timelines and status updates to feedback and questions — in one single place that’s easily accessible to everyone. This breaks down silos so that everybody can not only share knowledge, but effectively manage how and where they share it. 

3. Streamline task management

For your projects to be delivered successfully, team members need to know which tasks they’re responsible for and when they need to have them completed.

Unclear responsibilities and directions from managers are a big piece of that; working within numerous apps and tools only adds to the mayhem. 

If a team member is assigned a task in one tool but they spend more of their time in another platform, they’ll miss that important notification. Managing your projects in one piece of software patches those holes and also breaks your biggest most overwhelming projects into individual steps and action items. 

From there, you can assign those tasks to the correct team members with a deadline so they’re aggregated in one place, and people will get notified of their new to-dos.

4. Create a single source of truth

Your project management software will be your repository of project-related information. Documents, assets, updates, timelines, meeting notes, and everything else should be stored in your software. (Here’s a handy template for meeting notes to keep track!) Doing so ensures it’s accessible, organized, and searchable. Team members can find what they need without wasting a ton of time digging for the truth. 

5. Boost efficiency

Add all of the above benefits together, and you get the best benefit of all: your team can move work forward faster. A lot faster. 

With project management software in place, your team is communicating well. They know what’s expected of them and what they should get started on next. They can easily locate the information they need.

Working together like a well-oiled machine significantly cuts down on lost time. The Jira project management template helps teams get started faster with tried-and-tested workflows, instead of starting a blank page every time they need to create a new project. 

Now, work no longer drags on and on because your team is equipped with the resources they need to crank out high-quality results at an impressive pace.

6. Track progress

You don’t want to deliver just any project. You want to deliver a project that stays under your budget, honors your timeline, and meets its original goals.

Those important elements are easy to lose track of when you’re up to your eyeballs in project work, and it’s a slippery slope. If you don’t keep a close eye on those limitations and expectations, you’ll struggle with schedule, budget overruns, and wasted effort when team members need to re-do work to get the project back on track.

Project management software organizes your work so it’s simpler to track things like your spend and deadlines. Additionally, you can generate reports to monitor progress as you move forward — rather than realizing too late that you’ve missed the mark.

Why use Jira for project management

Jira  helps teams successfully plan, track, and deliver top-quality products supported by specialized project management apps for Jira .

Centralized reporting

Jira brings all your project data together, allowing you to effortlessly track task completion, identify bottlenecks, and make decisions with confidence.

Real-time updates

Everyone stays in the loop with Jira’s instant updates, ensuring quick reactions and consistent project alignment.

No-code automation

Jira cuts the hassle with simple no-code automation, saving time on repetitive tasks and letting you focus on what matters.

Manage projects with confidence

Steer teams of all sizes toward success and achieve objectives confidently with Jira.

Offering tailored solutions for nonprofits and small businesses

Related resources

• Project Management Resources
• Project Initiation Resources

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Project poster template.

A collaborative one-pager that keeps your project team and stakeholders aligned

Project Plan Template

Define, scope, and plan milestones for your next project

Enable faster content collaboration for every team with Confluence

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Project Management For Beginners: How To Manage A Project From Start To Finish

You don’t have to be a project manager to be “doing” project management. Whether you’re a freelancer, an in-house manager, or someone who’s just stepped into a manager’s role, learning about the basics of project management will help you manage your work better. 

In this article, you’ll learn how to plan and manage a project from start to finish. Specifically, you’ll learn:

• What is project management?
• Importance of project management
• Roles & Responsibilities within the project teams
• Phases of a project’s life cycle
• Project management methodologies
• Steps involved in the project management process
• And, project management tools

Project Management Basics

Before we look at the steps involved, let’s first understand the basics of project management.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is the process by which a project is planned, tracked, controlled, and reported. Each project has a specific start date and end date. In addition, a project produces a specific deliverable.

Proven project management processes help move a project towards completion. These include:

• Planning & scheduling
• Resource management
• Risk management
• Task management & monitoring

Project managers are responsible for planning and executing a project along with the project team to produce the desired deliverable and meet stakeholder expectations.

You might also like » 10 Proven Project Management Tips For Small-Team Project Managers

Why Project Management Is Important?

According to PMI, organizations that do not value project management report 67 percent more projects as failed . Also, the same report finds that poor project management results in an 11 percent wasted investment.

With so much at stake, following proven project management practices should be a no-brainer. Here are the reasons why project management is important:

• Ensures an alignment between the team and the delivered value.
• Provides leadership and direction to projects.
• Ensures smooth communication between the project team and clients.
• Creates a roadmap for executing projects and meet business goals.
• Improves planning by providing realistic work estimates.
• Ensures that a project stays on schedule.
• Extracts learning from past projects.
• Reduces risks in delivering the project.

Project Management Roles And Responsibilities

A project does not happen in isolation. You need people to execute a project. And, these people need to play a well-defined role. 

Let’s look at the common roles and responsibilities in project management.

• Team members: Team members are skilled persons who are responsible for executing the project and producing the deliverable. 
• Suppliers: Suppliers are often external teams who sub-contract part of a project where internal resources or skilled team members are not available.
• Project manager: Project managers are responsible for planning, tracking, and controlling the project. In addition, they also lead the team members, manage suppliers, and guide the project towards completion.
• Program manager: Program managers are responsible for a set of related projects. One or more project managers report to a program manager.
• Project sponsor: Project sponsors (or account managers) are senior managers accountable for the project deliverables. They’re answerable to a client and also the single point of contact between the team and the clients.
• Project portfolio manager: Portfolio managers manage projects of one or more clients across the organization. 
• Stakeholders : Stakeholders are the people that are directly or indirectly affected by the project. Their inputs and feedback are sought to define the project’s deliverables.
• Clients: A project is finally delivered to clients, who, pay for it.

What Are The Four Phases Of Project Management?

Next, we need to understand the four phases that define a project’s life cycle . From start to finish, every project goes through these four phases:

• Initiation phase: This starting phase is all about understanding the goals, scope, risks, and priorities of a project. 
• Planning phase: In this phase, project activities and required resources are identified. Also, managers create an estimated timeline required to complete the project.
• Execution phase: Skilled team members come together to turn the project plan into deliverables. Managers track project progress.
• Closure phase: Teams hand over deliverables, analyze project performance and are finally dissolved.

Project Management Methodologies

How you execute these four project phases is up to you and your team. However, over years, project management professionals have come up with tried and tested methodologies that can make life simpler.

Three project management methodologies are popular among teams:

• Waterfall: The Waterfall methodology follows a linear approach to project management — gather detailed requirements, put a plan together, build a solution, test, and deliver it. This method works great when the requirements are clear.
• Agile: The Agile project management methodology follows an iterative approach. Each phase of the project is time-boxed and the complete project features are delivered iteratively. This method works for projects where you want to see quick wins and can be built over iterations.
• Lean: Lean project management is an iterative approach that focuses on reducing waste. The lean methodology tries to reduce three types of wastes: useless activities, overburdened team members, and unevenly distributed workloads.

How To Manage A Project From Start To Finish?

The project life cycle gives you a high-level overview of the phases a project goes through. In practice, there’s a lot more in each of these phases.

Initiation Phase

As discussed above, the initiation phase is all about understanding the project. This involves meetings, discussions, and documentation. However, there’s very little planning that goes into this phase.

High-level role players including clients, client-side stakeholders, project sponsors, and project managers are involved in this phase.

Key steps involved in this phase include:

Step# 1: Identify project goals and deliverables.

A project kickoff meeting starts the project management process. All the high-level role players in the project attend this meeting.

The objective is to identify the project’s goals and deliverables from the clients’ perspective.

At the end of this step, key goals and deliverables are documented.

Step #2. Uncover project risks, constraints, and priorities.

Once the high-level goals are documented, it’s time to identify all the internal and external variables that can impact the project’s progress adversely. These include:

• Risks: Factors that negatively impact the project’s goals, schedule, or budget.
• Constraints: Factors that limit the project’s execution, such as, budget, schedule, or resources.
• Priorities: Factors that impact the order of the project including dependencies between project activities.

Identifying these threats early can help you manage risks and plan your project better.

Step #3. Establish Project Scope

Now that you know all the factors that can affect your project, you can start breaking down the goals and deliverables into activities. Based on the identified constraints in step #2, scope boundaries are set.

Project scope defines what’s included and what’s not included in the project.

It’s critical to document the agreed-upon scope and freeze it mutually with the client before proceeding further.

Failure to do so results in scope creep. Further, scope creep results in over-delivery, poor management, and ultimately project failure.

While you can manage scope creep , it’s best not to let your project’s scope increase during the execution phase.

Step #4. Submit the project proposal

All the information collected in the initiation phase is documented and presented to clients as a project proposal. In addition, the project proposal also includes a high-level budget and timeline, based on the project scope.

Unlike a project plan, which includes a detailed schedule, the proposal includes a high-level schedule.

At the end of the initiation phase, the project sponsor and manager present this proposal to clients. Here’s an example proposal template .

Planning Phase

Once the client approves the project proposal, the project moves on to the planning phase. 

It’s important to note that project planning is not a one-time activity in the project’s life cycle. A lot of things can change as the project moves forward. Client goals may change, resources may become unavailable, or estimates may go wrong. 

That’s why planning is an ongoing activity that happens throughout the life cycle of a project. As things change, you may need to revisit and adjust your plans accordingly.

A project manager is the main role player for this phase. The steps involved in this phase are:

Step #5. Create a project roadmap

To create a project roadmap , the high-level project activities identified in the project proposal are mapped on the timeline. The project roadmap is presented using Gantt charts .

When creating the project timeline , a project manager needs to consider the risks, constraints, and priorities documented in the proposal. In addition, project managers also need to consider resource allocation .

For larger projects, the timeline is divided into phases. At the end of each phase, the project team delivers some deliverables to the client. The end of a phase marks a milestone . Milestones are checkpoints to evaluate a project’s progress.

A project manager creates a project roadmap and presents it to the client for approval.

Step #6. Create a detailed project plan

Once the client approves the project roadmap, a project manager creates a task-level project plan by breaking down roadmap activities. 

Tasks are low-level project activities. Team members take up tasks and are responsible for completing them. That’s why a task must include all the information necessary for a team member to complete the task.

Execution Phase

Once the initial project and resource plan is in place, the project moves on to the execution phase. 

This is where the actual work happens. Skilled team members work on the planned tasks and move them from to-do to done. 

However, task management is not all that happens in this phase. A project manager also needs to:

• Revaluate and adjust the project plan based on changes
• Communicate the project’s progress

Step #7. Manage tasks and track project progress

Task management involves managing the task workflow and monitoring task progress.

A task workflow is a sequence of steps where a task moves from planning to completion. Workflows can be simple as To do → Doing → Done. Or, they can involve complex steps as in the case of software projects. As a project manager, you’re responsible to ensure that the team has everything they need to move the task along this workflow.

The second activity a project manager needs to look at is tracking task progress. Delayed tasks can sometimes derail the entire project.

Step #8. Review and adjust the project plan

The project moves towards closure as tasks get done, milestones are achieved, and deliverables are delivered to clients. However, often things don’t go as planned. Estimates go wrong, suppliers miss a deadline, or client priorities change.

That’s why, at least after every milestone, a project manager needs to review the project’s progress. Review resource availability and priorities. And then, adjust the project plan and schedule accordingly. 

Step #9. Communicate project progress

Project managers spend most of their time on task management and reviewing plans. However, they also need to communicate the project’s progress with all stakeholders from time to time.

Typically, the project sponsor does this at the end of a phase or on reaching a milestone.

Keeping clients up to date with project progress helps in the following ways:

• Demonstrates progress to clients and prevents any last stage surprises
• Provides an opportunity for the client to review the deliverables and adjust priorities accordingly
• Acts as an opportunity for the project team to get project feedback from stakeholders and correct the course if necessary

A project manager creates status reports to communicate the project’s progress. This can be a simple email or an elaborate document.

Closure Phase

Finally, after clients are satisfied with the results and sign-off on the deliverables, it is time to close the project.

Step #10. Handoff deliverables, analyze performance and release resources

Activities involved at this stage include:

• Handover of deliverables: The project team hands over the deliverables to clients including documents and manuals.
• Analyze performance: A retrospective analysis of the project’s performance helps the team extract learnings from the project.
• Release resources: The project manager releases team members and other allocated resources back into the resource pool.

The most important responsibility of the project manager here is to analyze the project team’s performance. This is for both — to celebrate the successful completion of the project, as well as, to extract learnings from it.

Finally, team members document the extracted learnings. This helps avoid or manage challenges in other projects.

Project Management Tools & Templates

According to PWC , 77 percent high performing projects use project management software. 

Project management software not only helps in managing projects but also handles communication between the team and clients. Capterra found that two out of three project teams use project management software to communicate with clients.

What is the best project management tool?

Choosing a project management tool depends on your budget and your team’s needs. 

However, reliability, ease of use, and ease of integration are the top criteria that project leaders use to choose a project management tool.

We’ve compiled a list of top project management software tools spanning budgets and features. Shortlist a few that you like and try them out to find a tool that suits your needs.

Toggl Plan: A Simple Project Management Tool

Toggl Plan is an online project management tool. Unlike other tools, Toggl Plan makes it easy to manage projects across remote teams by encouraging transparency and accountability.

It comes with:

• Gantt chart timelines for creating project roadmaps and plans.
• Team timelines for managing your team’s workloads.
• Kanban-style boards to manage tasks with customizable task workflows.
• Read-only views for clients and stakeholders.
• Notification emails to keep everyone in the loop.

Pricing-wise, Toggl Plan comes with a free plan for solo users that has all the above features. You can use the free plan for unlimited projects and up to five team members. Team plans start at $9 per user, per month. 

Jitesh is an SEO and content specialist. He manages content projects at Toggl and loves sharing actionable tips to deliver projects profitably.

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Project Management Basics: Definitions, Methods and Tools

Welcome to project management 101. Project management can seem like a daunting discipline, but once you get a grasp of the fundamentals and combine that with some intuition, you’ll be on your way to leading successful projects, no matter your situation.

Maybe you’ve been unexpectedly assigned to lead a project and a big promotion is on the line, or maybe you’re a team member who wants to better understand their role in the project. Regardless, we’re going to give you a brief overview of the major details involved in project management for actionable information.

If you need more help with project management, check out all of our resources and project management tools for reaching your full potential. ProjectManager is powerful project management software that can be used by both experienced and beginner project managers and team members to manage projects. Get started for free today.

The first project management basic is the definition of a project, which allows us to understand what project management is and why it’s so important for any type of organization.

What Is a Project?

A project is a sequence of tasks that lead toward a singular goal. Projects have boundaries, such as the time, people and resources needed to complete the project. These all depend on what results you want to achieve and when you want to achieve them.

Those results are your outcome, which produces deliverables. They’re anything that’s produced or provided because of the project. Deliverables can be both the result of the project itself, but also the results of the process of the project, such as the project plan , reports or other documents. Projects are made up of deadlines. Each task and phase of the project has a due date, which means your project has a schedule.

Budgets are also part of a project. You need money to pay for the resources to meet the demands of the project within the time allotted. Typical resources include the workforce, work supplies and equipment. A project budget outlines these expenditures. Now that we’ve determined what a project is, we can define project management as a discipline.

What Is Project Management?

Project management is a discipline that consists in using project management methodologies, tools and techniques to manage the project life cycle, which is a set of stages that are common to every project. While there are several project management roles within a project team, the project manager is usually in charge of overseeing the process of planning, executing and monitoring projects from start to finish.

Let’s review four foundational project management concepts that shape the project management discipline: the project life cycle, the triple constraint of project management, the project management knowledge areas and some of the different project management methodologies you can use as a project manager.

Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle describes the five phases all projects go through. Here’s a quick overview of each.

• Initiation: Here’s where you set out the project scope , the goals, the organization of the project, its business case, its constraints, who the stakeholders are, what the risks are, the project controls, the reporting framework, etc.

• Planning: This is where you build the roadmap to take you from point A to Point B, which means creating a schedule of the tasks, deadlines and resources needed to complete everything on time.
• Execution:  The project begins and the project plan is put into action.
• Monitoring & Controlling: To ensure the project is proceeding as planned, you need to set up mechanisms for monitoring progress. If the project isn’t proceeding as planned, work to control and resolve issues before they become problems.
• Closing: Projects are temporary endeavors, so they eventually come to an end and need to be formally closed . But it’s not as simple as producing deliverables; there’s paperwork to sign off on, resources to reallocate and other loose ends to tie up.

The Triple Constraint

Regardless of the method you use to manage a project, understanding the triple constraint is key. All projects are carried out with certain constraints. These are cost, time and scope. That is, projects must come in within budget, be delivered on time and meet the agreed-upon scope.

If you think of the triple constraint as a triangle , then if you’re managing the cost, time and scope, the triangle is quality. So, if you’re managing the cost, time and scope of the project, then you’re going to meet the customer’s quality requirements.

But the triple constraint is more than that; it’s like the ballast on a ship and keeps the project balanced no matter how rough the waters get. For example, if you need more money, then you’re going to have to adjust the time or scope of the project. Accordingly, if you’re short on time, then the budget or scope will have to change.

If you keep the triple constraint in mind while managing your project, along with the project phases and management tools, then you have the means to make the necessary adjustments that can keep the project on track. It’s the formula for success.

Project Management Knowledge Areas

Project management knowledge areas can be simply defined as categories that describe the different types of work that are done by project managers and team members to complete projects successfully. Project managers should be very knowledgeable in each of these 10 project management knowledge areas so they can guide teams through the project life cycle and make sure the triple constraint is well balanced.

• Project integration management
• Project scope management
• Project time management
• Project cost management
• Project quality management
• Project human resource management
• Project communications management
• Project risk management
• Project procurement management
• Project stakeholder management

If you’re interested in this topic, you can check out our project management knowledge areas blog for more information on these key principles of project management.

Project Management Methodologies

There are many ways to structure a project’s process, and project managers are experts in one or more of them. The most traditional is called waterfall, which follows a linear approach to managing a project, breaking down the project into a very structured sequence.

A different approach that is gaining popularity is called Agile , which comes from software development. It’s a process that works in small phases or cycles called “sprints,” and lends itself to small teams. Like its name, the process embraces change and is flexible and is continuously changing direction according to client feedback.

Why Is Project Management Important?

Every business, non-profit or any other type of organization needs to execute projects, which makes project management important for any organization.

Effective project management not only means that your team will deliver projects on time and under budget but also brings other organization-wide benefits such as increased productivity, reduced costs, better leadership and motivated employees.

In a nutshell, project management helps organizations become more efficient through planning and monitoring of tasks, goals and team performance.

What Is a Project Manager?

A project manager is the person in charge of the project. That much is clear, but that might be too simple of an explanation. The project manager leads the project through every phase. That means they’re responsible for first selling the project to stakeholders, then planning and defining the scope of the project.

What Does a Project Manager Do?

Project managers figure out all the tasks necessary to achieve the project goals, then they sequence those tasks into a schedule. Those tasks and schedules are then given the resources needed to achieve the project’s objectives. That means assembling a team, getting the tools and supplies they need and securing a site and the necessary resources.

The project manager is also the person who creates the project budget in order to pay for those resources. They’re responsible for managing all the documentation and then archiving those documents at the end of the project. They also manage risk and monitor project progress to make sure people are working unobstructed and within the schedule and budget.

So essentially, anything project related is under the purview of the project manager. They are the leaders of the project and manage the teams that are executing the project plan. However, they’re not the boss. The project manager has sold the idea of the project to a sponsor or stakeholder, and they report to them on the project’s progress.

Therefore, a project manager is a very well-organized person, one who is goal-oriented and passionate about the process. A project manager must work well under pressure, provide leadership and know how to motivate people to do their best. Beyond people skills, communication skills are paramount. And they must know the methods and techniques that help deliver projects successfully.

Project Management Tools

As you may have noticed, projects can be complicated. You plan, schedule and monitor to make sure all elements of the project are running smoothly. The more tools in hand, the more manageable the project and your tasks.  Project management software  can contain all the tools needed to help project managers and team members with every aspect of their projects.

When project management software is cloud-based, data and collaboration can happen in real-time, which provides a more accurate picture of the project and helps in decision-making. Plus, project management software often contains many of the major tools for managing projects, like those discussed below.

Project dashboards gather metrics from all parts of the project. Those numbers are then displayed in easy-to-read charts and graphs, giving a manager or a team member a live look at project progress and data. Dashboards can also assist in reporting. Running a project means reporting to the project’s sponsors on the progress of the project. Graphs and charts can be filtered to deliver just the data you need for targeted reports.

Gantt Charts

Online Gantt charts are great tools for planning because they display your task list graphically over a timeline. Each task has a deadline, which creates a line marking the start and finish of that task. Tasks can then be linked, if dependent.

Ideally, you can share the Gantt with your team and track their progress as they update their statuses. With some Gantt charts, the bar between the start and finish dates will fill in as the team works on their tasks, and if you need to change the schedule, you can simply drag and drop the bar to reflect the new due date.

Task Management Tools

There are task management tools that allow you to create to-do lists for yourself and assign tasks to team members. These tasks can sometimes have notes, files, links and images attached that relate to the task, and team members can dialogue and collaborate at the task level. You can also automate email notifications to know when a task is completed and to remind people of impending deadlines.

Timesheets and Workload Tools

In terms of managing the people working on the project, which can be a project by itself, there are timesheets . These are online documents that make it easy for each employee to track and record their hours worked, and they can be filed to the manager when complete for sign-off.

When it comes to managing the workload, resource allocation tools allow you to see at a glance if you’ve allocated your resources properly across the project so that everyone is working and the workload is balanced. In some cases, you can run reports from your workload management software, too.

Project Management Templates

We offer dozens of free project management templates to help you save time and streamline your projects. Here are some essential project management documents you can download for free.

Project Plan Template

A project plan is a document that explains everything about your project from how it’s scheduled to how it’ll be executed and completed. This free project plan template will help you get started with your projects.

Project Budget Template

Every project needs resources such as people, materials and equipment. These resources cost money, so you’ll need to estimate all your project costs to create a project budget. This free template is ideal for beginner project managers.

Project Timeline Template

It’s important to create a project timeline that maps out how project work will be carried out, including start and end dates for all your tasks. This free project timeline template helps you do so.

What Is Project Management Software?

Project management software does the heavy lifting to allow managers to easily plan, schedule and track projects in a much faster and more efficient manner than traditional methods such as drafting project schedules by hand.

Project management software can be defined as a type of software that incorporates the project management tools mentioned above, along with other features such as timesheets, real time team-collaboration or unlimited file storage, so that project managers and teams can keep track of projects in one central platform.

However, not all project management software works in the same way. There are many options on the market and while some are easy to use, they might not provide all the planning, scheduling and tracking tools that you need.

How ProjectManager Helps With Project Management

ProjectManager is online project management software that helps you manage every aspect of your projects. It’s equipped with all the project management tools any project manager would need, regardless of your expertise level. Project management software like ProjectManager is what makes managing a project manageable.

Store Documents

All the paperwork generated during the project initiation phase can be saved to ProjectManager. This way, you can collect everything in one place, making it easy to find what you need. Don’t worry about uploading large files and images, ProjectManager has unlimited file storage.

Plan & Schedule Work

When you plan your project, ProjectManager does the heavy lifting. An online Gantt chart helps you schedule by mapping all your tasks across a project timeline. Now you can link dependencies, set milestones and even start assigning team members.

Monitor Progress

As teams execute their tasks, they can use ProjectManager’s tools to monitor and control their progress. Resource management features make sure that no one team member is carrying the entire load and their workload is balanced. Plus, our real-time dashboard can track progress, cost, health and more.

Of course, there’s more to project management than the information in this project management 101 article. It gets deep, and it’s constantly evolving. However, there’s one constant in the eye of the hurricane that’s managing a project: tools.  ProjectManager is online project management software with real-time dashboards, online Gantt charts and features to manage workload, resources, schedules and every aspect of your project. See how it can help you succeed by taking this free 30-day trial today!

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Activities in Project Management: Roles, Activity List, Templates

Home Blog Project Management Activities in Project Management: Roles, Activity List, Templates

Many of us have heard about project management, especially as an upcoming career path. But only a few know the actual drill. Project management encompasses several phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. Every stage is an activity in project management. 

Whether you are an experienced project manager looking to upgrade your skills or a curious beginner for insights into the art of successful projects, this fundamental guide will educate you with knowledge and tools to work with project management fundamentals. 

What is Activity in Project Management?

When it comes to knowing what project activities are, project activity is typically defined and identified during the project planning phase and is organized in a logical sequence to ensure the smooth flow of work. It is also known as a project task. You can also say that activity in project management is a discrete segment contributing to the entire project's completion. 

Each activity or project task comprises smaller subtasks, all logically connected. Completing one array of related activities will lead to the next stage. Eventually, when you have completed every task and subtask in a project, it will be considered the project completion and deliverable ready. 

What is the Role of Project Activity?

Planning and management are crucial factors in a project's success. With a high level of management and techniques like the Work Reakdown Structure (WBS), the project can be guided closer to its objectives.

The project planning activities give the project manager granular control over everything by breaking down a high-level aim into a low-level objective. This, further, splits into a series of activities and sub-tasks necessary to fulfill it.

Here are some key roles that project activities play:

Progress Measurement

Project activities offer a quantifiable and observable tool to monitor development throughout the project. Project managers can analyze how well the project is progressing overall and make the required adjustments by keeping track of how each activity is being completed.

Task Coordination

Within a project, activities aid in task coordination. By laying out the order and dependencies of the work, they make sure that each task is completed in the right order and within the allotted time.

Resource Allocation

Resource allocation is probably one of the most challenging tasks, but here's when project activity comes to the rescue. It makes effective resource allocation easy. Project managers can allocate resources, such as team members, tools, and budget, to each activity based on its needs by segmenting the project into different activities.

Time Management

It's one of the most crucial factors for project completion, and project activities facilitate effective time management. Project managers may efficiently manage timelines by developing realistic schedules by calculating the length of each task and determining their interdependencies.

Risk Identification and Mitigation

Another significant role that project activity plays is risk identification and reduction. Analyzing each action allows project managers to spot possible problems or bottlenecks and create backup plans to deal with them.

Performance Evaluation

Project activities give us a way to gauge how well individuals and teams accomplish. Project managers can evaluate team member performance and pinpoint opportunities for development by keeping an eye on the timeliness and caliber of completed tasks.

From the above discussion, it’s apparent that project activities play a crucial role in planning, overseeing, and managing all the tasks and resources a project requires. They aid in the project's execution's success and guarantee that it is in line with the aims and objectives that have been set up.

Elevate your project management career with  PMP online training . Enroll now to gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence to ace the PMP exam and propel your career to new heights.

How Activities Vary from Milestones?

In project management, activities and milestones are two separate components, each with a specific function:

Activities are certain tasks or work items that must be finished to accomplish project goals. They have specified beginning and ending places, lengths, and dependencies. An activity in project management is typically depicted in project schedules and Gantt charts and is used to track progress, allocate resources, and manage time. It assists with the project's overall execution and conclusion.

Milestones 

Milestones, on the other hand, are significant junctures or occurrences in a project that signify the end of a crucial phase or delivery. They are frequently used as checkpoints to gauge progress and denote significant accomplishments or decision points in the project timeline. In contrast to durations, milestones are frequently portrayed as precise dates or occurrences.

What is a Project Activity List in Project Management? 

Identifying all of the project's activities is one of the crucial tasks in project planning. By creating an activity list in project management, you can accomplish that. 

A project's activities are listed in a document called an activity list. Each activity should be thoroughly described in it. In this manner, each project team member should be fully aware of the steps necessary to complete each activity. 

A project list should contain all necessary details about the project activity. The critical activity in project management consists of the following data:

• The sequence of their completion, 
• The start and end dates,
• Their timeline,
• Required resources, etc.

How to Create a Project Activity List?

A project should be divided into smaller tasks or activities before you begin working on it. Controlling the progress and the budget will be a lot simpler this way.  PRINCE2 certification online will help you prepare for industry-agnostic project management skills and get educated on the project activity list.

Step 1: Create a Project Plan

Building a project plan is one of the project initiation activities. It's typically vital to prepare a project plan, which is a document that defines all pertinent elements regarding how the project is executed, assessed, controlled, and completed, before attempting to identify and sequence all actions required for your project. 

The project's primary objectives and scope are outlined in the project plan, which serves as a guide for the team in the responsibility of finishing the project and its stakeholders. 

A project plan is typically a crucial tool for ensuring that everyone involved is aware of the project's objectives, even though it may change throughout the execution phase based on new information.

Step 2: List All Activities Related to the Project

When you have a project plan in place, you can begin making a list of all the tasks that must be accomplished for the project to be successful. 

Finding all of the project's primary activities and then breaking each one down into individual tasks and subtasks is typically the most efficient approach to accomplish this. 

By making each task measurable, you can ensure that you can evaluate activity success while the project is being carried out. You can typically break down the actions into smaller, possibly measurable tasks if they seem challenging or impossible.

Step 3: Identify the Dependencies Between Each Activity

It is crucial to identify the project's dependencies on one another after all the tasks necessary to complete it have been listed. 

For a project to be successfully scheduled, completed, and free of unexpected delays, determining all project dependencies is significant. 

A project's activities might be dependent on each other in one of four ways:

• Finish-to-start: An activity must be completed before another can start.
• Start-to-start: An activity must commence so that another can also start.
• Finish-to-finish: An activity must be completed before another one may be completed.
• Start-to-finish: One activity must start before another can also be completed.

Step 4: Align All Activities

You may arrange all tasks and activities in a logical and effective sequence now that you are aware of how they relate to one another. 

You do not yet need to provide exact deadlines and due dates for the activities on your list; you simply need to decide on their order. 

You can design a task flow that is more effective by concentrating on the sequence before deciding how much time should be allotted for each.

Step 5: Assess Activity Durations and Required Resources

Finding previous projects with similar responsibilities is one of the best ways to determine how long each activity would take. If no pertinent information is available, you can estimate something by averaging the best, worst, and most likely scenarios. 

No matter how well you forecast a task's completion time, keep in mind that it also depends on how you distribute project resources. 

For instance, if an employee must complete several jobs, they can often only complete one at a time. This can impact the project's schedule.

Step 6: Create an Activity List

You can make an activity list after outlining the project strategy and establishing a general understanding of all the significant tasks necessary for its fulfillment. 

A typical activity list contains information about the project, such as its name, project manager, start date, and stakeholders, as well as a list of all the activities, along with the people to whom they are allocated and additional notes for each. The list of tasks can optionally be given a number to help you remember their order.

Complete your project with confidence by implementing thorough project closure activities, including documentation, evaluation, and stakeholder communication, to ensure a smooth and successful conclusion.

Examples of Project Activity List 

Before discovering project activities list examples, let us have a look at the template for the project activity list. In the template, the introductory section of the activity list comprises information related to the project, such as:

• The project name
• The project number
• Project manager
• Start date 
• Estimated completion date
• Client name

After the introductory segment comes the main body- the description of each activity. This section includes information such as:

• Activity number
• Activity name
• Activity description
• Assigned to
• Additional comments

Let us take another template, for example:

The introductory part in the above template of the activity list contains- the project number, date, full project name, and the project manager.

The next part, i.e., the body of the activity list, also known as the description, contains information related to the project, such as activity ID, activity title, activity description, and the scope of work. 

An activity in project management is the foundation of any project. To produce the intended results, you must first ensure you have all the necessary information and resources. Spend time and energy defining tasks in detail so that they can later serve as a template for new projects. 

Due to their shared goal of achieving the same project objective, project activities are interconnected and dependent upon one another. They have start and end dates, which make them significantly vital in tracking the project’s progress. However, they are only as effective as the person managing them—the project manager.

A project manager makes an activity list to get a comprehensive perspective of all the project's activities. This is a document that lists every step of a specific project.

An organized project activity list demonstrates your complete control over the undertaking and your understanding of the goals. It also enables you to assess the success of your project and track its progress.

Level up your project management skills with KnowledgeHut short courses in Project Management designed to equip you with practical tools and techniques to excel in your projects. Enroll today and unlock new career opportunities in the dynamic field of project management.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Project activities are important for the successful completion of a project. The main role of project activity in project management is to break down various segments into smaller ones so that assigned resources can work toward completing specific tasks. This helps in a smooth workflow. 

Based on the nature of the project, project activities can vary greatly. However, some common examples of project activities include conducting user research, creating wireframes and prototypes, and developing and testing software. 

To develop or create a project activity, you must define project objectives first, then break down deliverables, sequence activities, estimate activity durations, assign resources, establish milestones, define activity dependencies, document activities, create a project schedule, and review and refine the developed activities. 

Kevin D.Davis

Kevin D. Davis is a seasoned and results-driven Program/Project Management Professional with a Master's Certificate in Advanced Project Management. With expertise in leading multi-million dollar projects, strategic planning, and sales operations, Kevin excels in maximizing solutions and building business cases. He possesses a deep understanding of methodologies such as PMBOK, Lean Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve business/technology alignment. With over 100 instructional training sessions and extensive experience as a PMP Exam Prep Instructor at KnowledgeHut, Kevin has a proven track record in project management training and consulting. His expertise has helped in driving successful project outcomes and fostering organizational growth.

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Who is Studying Project Management?

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Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. It is also the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to ensure that the objectives of the project are met within time constraints and with a minimum expenditure of resources.

In simple terms, project management is all about managing change in an organized way so that you can reach your goals successfully. Also you can get management assignment help if you don’t have enough time for writing.

Students studying Project management are a diverse group. There is a wide range of ages, interests, and backgrounds among students in this field.

However, there are some commonalities that apply to most students studying project management. For example, most students studying project management have an interest in the field and a desire to work in it after graduating from college. They also have a strong interest in learning about how projects are managed and organized from start to finish. Many students studying project management also enjoy working with others on group projects and enjoy collaborating with others on projects to solve problems.

Project management is an important subject in any business because it is vital to the success of any organization. Project managers are responsible for all aspects of a project, from its conception and planning to its execution and completion. They are responsible for ensuring that the project is delivered on time and within budget.

Projects are often given to external agencies or people who may not have any experience in managing large-scale initiatives, so it is very important that these individuals understand how to manage a project effectively. If you want to become a project manager, this course will give you an excellent grounding in all aspects of the role, including risk management and stakeholder management. You will also learn how to manage complex projects that involve multiple stakeholders from different departments within an organization. Our assignment writing service can help with any difficulty subject so you can trust us.

• Project Management And Innovation
• How To Increase Productivity In A Team?
• How To Be More Efficient With Your Time?
• How To Make Sure That You’re Meeting Deadlines On Time?
• How To Use The Right Tools For The Job?
• What Makes An Effective Project Manager?
• Tips For Staying Motivated At Work
• How To Use Project Management Software?
• Project Management Best Practices
• Tips For Successful Project Management
• The Impact Of Project Management On The Overall Business
• Project Management And Its Role In Other Projects
• Project Management Success Stories In Business And Government
• What Makes A Good Project Manager?
• How Do You Know If You’re A Good Project Manager?
• Project Management Vs. Business Management
• Different Types Of Projects
• How To Use A Project Plan?
• Project Management Methods And Tools
• The Role Of The Sponsor In Projects
• The Role Of The Customer In Projects
• The Role Of The Team Members In Projects
• Project Management Certifications And Qualifications
• Project Management Basics
• Project Management Roles And Responsibilities
• Project Costs And Budgeting
• Project Scheduling
• The Importance Of Communication In Project Management
• Different Approaches To Software Project Management
• Management Interview Questions And Answers
• Project Management Overview, Definitions, Terminology
• Software Project Manager Resume/CV/Bio Examples
• Software Project Cost Estimation And Scheduling Techniques
• Project Management Metrics, KPI, Kpis, Okrs
• Cost And Schedule Risk Management Techniques
• Project Scope And Stakeholder Communication
• How To Use A Project Management Software?
• Enabling Rapid Scaling And Instant Deployment
• User, Resource, And Dashboard Monitoring
• Monitoring Services And Processes
• Quick Resolution For Service Disruptions
• Low Resource-Utilization Levels
• Quick Recovery From Critical Issues
• Enforcement Of Compliance With Slas
• Highly Responsive During Peak Usage Periods
• Utilize Teamwork To Create Better Software Products
• Implement Formal Change And Problem Management Processes
• What Are The Elements Of A Good Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Implementation?
• How Does The SDLC Relate To The Agile Manifesto?
• What Are The Best Ways To Manage Risk In Software Development Projects?
• What Are Some Examples Of Tools That Can Help With Risk Management In Software Development Projects?
• Benefits Of Using A Project Management Software
• Project Resource Allocation
• Risk Management And Issue Tracking
• How Does The Project Management Process Work?
• What Is A Good Project Manager?
• What Is The Difference Between A Project Manager And An Operations Manager?
• What Are The Different Types Of Projects That Are Managed Using Project Management Techniques?
• What Is The Difference Between A Budget And A Forecast? How Do You Decide If You Need To Make Cuts Or Add More Resources?
• How Do You Manage Communication In Your Organization? Is There A Formal System, Or Do You Just Let People Figure Out How To Communicate With Each Other?
• What Tools Do You Use For Project Management, And How Much Time Do They Save? If You’re Using Something New, How Has It Improved Your Process?
• What Are The Different Types Of Projects?
• How Do You Define A Project?
• How Do You Plan A Project?
• What Are The Phases Of Project Management?
• The Role Of A Project Manager In The Organization
• The Importance Of Assigning Roles And Responsibilities To Team Members
• How To Manage Stakeholder Expectations And Keep Them Updated On Progress Throughout The Project Lifecycle?
• How Do You Determine The Size Of A Project?
• What Are Some Best Practices For Communicating With Your Team?
• How Should You Manage Client Expectations?
• What Is An Issue Log, And How Can It Help You Manage Your Projects More Effectively?
• When Do You Need To Plan The Project?
• What Are Some Common Mistakes That People Make When Planning A Project?
• How Do You Determine Which Resources Should Be Assigned To A Project?
• How Do You Measure Progress Against The Plan For Your Project?
• What Are The Most Important Things To Consider When Managing A Project?
• What Are Some Of The Common Mistakes Made By New Project Managers?
• How Can You Optimize Your Team’s Productivity On A Project?
• What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Project Management?
• Why Do Businesses Need Project Managers?
• How To Manage Scope, Time, Cost And Quality?
• What Are The Different Roles In Project Management?
• How Can You Use Technology To Help You Manage Your Projects?
• Comparing The Effectiveness Of Different Project Management Approaches Used By Organizations
• Investigating The Gap Between Project Management Strategies Used By Organizations And Their Actual Implementation
• Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Various Tools Used By Organizations To Manage Their Projects
• Identifying The Challenges Faced By Organizations In Managing Their Project Portfolios
• Identifying The Organizational Factors That Influence The Success Or Failure Of Projects
• Project Management And The Social Impact Of Technology
• The Effect Of Project Management Tools On The Team’s Performance
• How To Improve The Effectiveness Of Project Management In Your Company?
• How To Reduce The Risk Of Failure In Projects?
• The Role Of Project Management In Improving Productivity At Work
• The Impact Of Project Management On Organizational Culture And Performance.
• The Effect Of Project Management On Customer Satisfaction
• The Impact Of Project Management On Organizational Performance
• The Relationship Between Project Management And Human Resource Management
• Project Management And Organizational Culture
• Project Management In Government Organizations
• Project Management For Start-Ups
• What Are Some Strategies That Organizations Can Use When Implementing Projects?
• The Nature Of The Relationship Between Strategic And Operational Project Management In Organizations
• How Has Technology Changed The Way We Approach Project Management?
• The Influence Of Leadership Style On Project Management
• The Relationship Between Risk Management, Change Management, And Project Management
• The Impact Of Globalization On Project Management
• The Effect Of Project Budget On Project Management
• How Does The Project Management Body Of Knowledge Differ From Other Project Management Methodologies?
• Is There A Difference In How Projects Are Managed In Different Organizations? If So, What Is It?
• How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Simultaneously When They Have Dependencies On Each Other?
• What Is The Difference Between Schedule-Driven And Cost-Driven Projects?
• How To Avoid Scope Creep?
• How To Handle A Project That Has Been Going On For Too Long And Needs To Be Re-Prioritized?
• How To Create A Timeline And Schedule For A Large Project?
• How To Identify And Resolve Conflict Within A Team?
• How To Prioritize Projects And Make Sure That The Most Important Ones Are Completed First?
• How To Identify If A Project Needs To Be Canceled Or Postponed?
• How To Keep Track Of All Projects And Make Sure That Nothing Falls Through The Cracks?
• How To Make Sure That A Project Is Done On Time And Under Budget?
• How To Manage Projects Like A Boss?
• Understanding The Importance Of Project Management
• How To Handle Disputes?
• Business Communication Tips
• How To Manage Projects That Have A Large Number Of Stakeholders (I.E., Multiple Departments Or Teams)?
• The Best Way To Introduce A New Project Management Methodology Into An Organization
• How To Manage Projects That Have Strict Deadlines And Limited Resources (I.E., Time And Budget Constraints)?
• How To Handle Situations When Employees Are Not Working As Hard As They Could Be On A Project?
• How To Handle Difficult Personalities On A Project?
• Mentor Vs. Coaching Vs. Training

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• Agile Project Management
• Earned Value Management (EVM)
• Project Portfolio Management (PPM)
• Portfolio Risk Management (PRM)
• The Influence Of Data-Driven Decision Making In Project Management
• The Benefits Of Gantt Charts
• Managing Emergencies, And When They Occur
• The Importance Of Communication In Project Management, And How To Improve Your Communication Skills
• How To Make Sure That You Have The Right Resources For Your Projects
• Using Data To Make Informed Decisions About Your Projects
• How To Use Technology To Improve Your Workflow?
• How To Establish Processes That Will Make Your Team More Productive?
• How To Set Up A Team Structure That Will Work Well For Your Projects?
• Project Life Cycle And Project Management Process
• Program Evaluation And Review Technique (PERT)
• How To Plan A Project When You Don’t Have The Resources Or Skills To Do So?
• Strategies For Managing Projects With Multiple Teams, Or Teams With Different Specialties
• Quality Management System (QMS)
• Productivity And Measuring Productivity Within Projects
• Innovative Solutions For The Future That Require New Technology Or Processes
• Projects That Involve International Collaborations Between Different Companies Or Countries
• Projects That Involve Large Numbers Of People Or Resources In Multiple Locations Or Countries
• Baby Boomers And Disease Management
• Using Project Management To Increase Patient Safety
• Using Project Management In Healthcare IT Infrastructure Development
• The Importance Of A Project Manager In Health Care
• The Challenges Of Developing A Home Care Package
• Can We Afford Not To Manage Healthcare Project Risks And Issues?
• Personnel Risks Management For Medical Facilities In Hospitals
• The Creation, Development, And Implementation Of Healthcare Projects
• The Monitoring Of All Aspects Of A Project, Including Finances, Communications And Documentation
• Why Are Healthcare Delivery Systems Complex?
• What Is The Purpose Of Project Management In Health Care?
• How To Ensure Project Success In Health Care?
• Importance Of Communication When Managing Projects In Health Care
• Risk Identification And Analysis
• How Does Risk Management Help Your Project?
• What Are The Best Practices For Managing Risks?
• What Are The Different Types Of Risks In A Project?
• How Do You Determine Whether A Risk Is High Or Low?
• Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Approach To Project Management
• Risk Categorization And Prioritization
• Risks Arising From Contracts, Procurement And Supplier Arrangements
• Risks Arising From Human Factors
• Contractual And Financial Risk Management
• Risk Communication And Reporting
• Risks Associated With Project Changes, Including Change Control Procedures, Change Impact Analysis And Change Review Boards (Crbs)
• How Do You Write A Risk Statement?
• What Should Be Included In Your Risk Action Plan (RAP)?
• Risks Associated With The Organization And Environment
• Risks Associated With Cost, Schedule, And Performance Expectations
• The Importance Of Teamwork On Projects
• How To Manage Change During Projects?
• How To Lead Teams Effectively During Projects?
• How To Support Your Project Manager With Their Workload?
• What Makes A Good Project Manager? What Makes A Bad One? And What Should You Look For In An Employee?
• How Does Project Management Differ From Other Types Of Management? Is It More Difficult Than Other Forms? What Makes It So Challenging? Do You Need Specific Skills Or Qualifications To Be Successful
• The Impact Of IT On Project Management
• The Role Of Leadership And Motivation In Project Management
• Project Management: Information Technology Applications In Projects
• Project Management: Global Issues, Trends And Challenges
• Procurement Management In Projects
• Project Management In International Business
• A Review And Assessment Of Educational Programs In The Field Of Project Management
• Project Planning & Scheduling Techniques
• Risk Analysis & Management (Risk Management)
• Quality Assurance & Quality Control (QA/QC)
• Project Communications Management: Communication Is Key When It Comes To Completing Projects
• Women In Project Management: A Comprehensive Review Of Studies
• Women In Project Management: Gender Bias And Its Impact On Performance
• Women In Project Management: Barriers To Leadership Development
• Women In Project Management: Dispelling The Myths About Them
• Top Women In Project Management
• Women In Project Management: An International Comparison
• The Effect Of Women On Project Teams
• The Impact Of Gender Stereotypes On Project Teams
• Gender And Cultural Diversity In Project Management
• Women In Leadership Roles In Developing Countries
• The Impact Of Gender On Leadership Styles In Project Management
• How To Encourage Women To Pursue Careers In Project Management?
• Why Should Women Consider Pursuing Careers In Project Management?
• What Are Some Good Reasons For Encouraging More Women To Pursue Careers In Project Management?
• Benefits Of Hiring Women For Project Manager Positions

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The 25 project management skills you need to succeed

Anyone who oversees projects is a project manager, but to become a more thoughtful manager (with a higher impact), you need to develop the right project management skills. Learn what skills are necessary to become a successful project manager and how to build them.

If you’re interested in honing and developing your project management skills, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we’ll cover 25 key skills you need to succeed as a project manager or project administrator , and how you can develop those skills over time.

What are project management skills (and why do they matter?)

Project management skills are the attributes you develop to become a more experienced project manager. Building a project management skill set includes learning technical and hard skills, such as portfolio management and project scoping, and soft skills (for example, adaptability).In honing these skills, you’re preparing yourself to more effectively perform in your role. 

Project management is the practice of organizing and executing work efficiently—and helping your team do the same. For a while, project managers had to be trained and certified in complicated project management technology. Traditional project management tools were hard to set up and required constant maintenance, which is where the position “project manager” comes from.

Modern project management tools

Modern project management evolved from traditional project management in two distinct ways. As companies and teams democratized their project management processes, they needed more team members and team leads who were able to manage a process from conception to completion. In order to support those team leads, project management software has also evolved, from complex mechanisms to flexible and easy-to-use tools.

Today, any team member may be called upon to run a project and become the de-facto project manager—which is why modern project management tools are built to be flexible enough for anyone to use on any project, so you’re able to jump in and hit the ground running. 

These tools, like Asana , make it easy to track, manage, and organize work—without the learning curve associated with traditional tools. With today's project management tools , you can easily implement project management best practices and bring a new level of clarity and visibility to your project team. 

How to use your project management skills

Project management tools do the heavy lifting when it comes to reducing silos, increasing visibility, and facilitating cross-functional collaboration. As the project manager, you can use these tools to give your team the insight they need to get their best work done. While you don’t need to learn complicated skills or tools in order to become a successful project manager , there are hard, soft, and technical skills you can develop in order to improve your management and collaboration skills.

Some of these skills might not apply to you—while others might be things you’re already seasoned in. Like everything in the five phases of project management , approach this list with flexibility and work on the skills that are most relevant to you.

10 soft skills for project managers

Soft skills are what we call “non-technical skills,” or skills that can help you improve your quality of work—without a specific tool or technical requirement. These are also called “people skills” or “interpersonal skills” because they often help you work with and relate to others in your workspace. These 10 skills are the most important soft skills for project management:

1. Collaboration

Collaboration is the cornerstone of all project management skills. In project management, collaboration helps you get work done quickly and more efficiently. When you can coordinate across teams, you gain valuable insights into your project that you might not find within your team. If more minds are involved in the work, projects are inherently more creative and well developed.

To improve your collaboration skills, practice having conversations. Use techniques like active listening , where you stay engaged and focused when others are speaking to you. It sounds simple, but learning how to have open communication, reduce boundaries, and co-create are critical for a collaborative team.

2. Teamwork

Everyone on your team has something to bring to the table, and your team is more effective working together than they would be alone. Teamwork ensures that everyone feels welcome, valued, and they are supported to contribute.

If you’re working to boost your teamwork skills, dig deeper into team brainstorms , 1:1 conversations, and ask for feedback from your team—how can you be a better team member? Notice if there’s someone who hasn’t spoken up in a while, and be supportive when another team member has a new idea.

3. Communication

Miscommunications are common when you’re working with a group of people. Learning how to communicate well and avoid these will make projects run more smoothly and be more enjoyable. 

To develop your communication skills, practice being open and honest with your coworkers. This requires a lot of trust between you and your team members. To build this trust, encourage your team members to bring any thoughts into a discussion—even if you disagree with them.

4. Time management

Time management and organization skills go hand in hand. As you become better at organizing your tasks, you’ll also have a clearer sense of everything that’s on your plate and how long your upcoming tasks are going to take.

Still, it can be hard to buckle down and prioritize your work. To improve your time management skills and reduce procrastination, try prioritizing tasks. When you’re clear on which tasks are higher priority, you can tackle them first, to make sure nothing gets left behind or falls through the cracks.

5. Leadership

Even if you don’t think of yourself as a leader or have a role in team management, when you’re managing a project, your project team is looking to you for leadership, guidance, and support. 

To develop your leadership skills, practice approaching situations with empathy and understanding. Good leaders bring everyone together and make them feel supported to foster teamwork and collaboration.

6. Organization

For a lot of project managers, organization is the most intimidating soft skill. You might think organization is either something you “have” or “don’t have.” But, like every other project management skill in this article, you can develop your organizational skills and become a Marie Kondo in your own right.

The best way to become a better organizer is to create (and maintain) a central source of truth for your work and your team’s work. We’re often disorganized because work is disconnected—in fact, the average employee switches between 10 tools per day . Instead of splitting your time between 10 tools, try using a digital organization tool to act as that one central source of truth for your team.

7. Problem solving

Problem solving skills are collaborative, iterative skills that help you approach a problem and, ultimately, solve it. Developing problem solving skills isn’t about always having the “right” answer to every problem—rather, people with great problem solving skills practice approaching problems from new perspectives and methodically working towards a solution.

To become a better problem solver, use data-driven decision-making frameworks or routine analyses. For example, if you need to solve for how to boost sales by 10% over your competition, you can run a competitive analysis to determine where you currently stand in the market. Then, use that information to solve the problem of lower sales. In this case, you could develop a new marketing strategy coordinated with the sales team.

8. Critical thinking

Critical thinking, like problem solving, doesn’t have a “solution.” You can’t “win” at critical thinking, but you can practice approaching problems logically instead of making decisions based on your emotions. Good critical thinkers practice analyzing information in front of them and forming their own conclusions based on the facts—the way Sherlock Holmes solves a mystery.

To practice critical thinking, always take a step back and ask yourself: how did I come to this conclusion? Could there be another answer? Am I being swayed by something other than factual information? Emotional decisions aren’t necessarily bad—in fact, some of the best decisions are those we’re passionate about. But critical thinking is a helpful way to make sure you’re approaching a situation from the right perspective.

9. Adaptability

At some point, whether it’s this project or the next one, aspects of your project plan will change. Maybe your deadline or priorities shifts, and you need to adapt your workflow accordingly. Great project managers are able to pivot and adapt to new situations to continue steering their project team in the right direction.

Becoming more adaptable is all about understanding when and how to shift gears. To do this, you need to understand yourself. Developing other soft skills, such as self-awareness and mindfulness, can help you be more in touch with and manage your emotions, which are often in flux during times of change.

10. Conflict resolution

Inevitably, conflict will arise during the projects you manage. It could be that a stakeholder wants to change the project scope. Or maybe you missed your budget or deadline. Conflict resolution is about addressing both sides of the conflict so everyone feels heard and supported. If there are harmed parties, take the time to listen to them and try to find a solution that works for everyone. Even when that can’t happen, approaching the conversation with patience and empathy can help defuse a potentially frustrating situation and lead to a better result.

7 hard skills for project managers

Unlike soft skills, hard skills are quantifiable abilities. While the soft skills mentioned above are applicable for many work skills, these seven hard skills are relevant specifically to project management. Developing these will help you become a more well rounded and efficient project manager.

1. Project planning

At its core, a  project plan  (sometimes called a project charter) is a blueprint of the key elements your project needs to succeed. Typically a project plan will include seven things:

Goals and  project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders  and  roles

Scope  and  budget

Milestones ,  deliverables , and  project dependencies

Timeline  and  schedule

Communication plan

Some of these things, like your goals or your milestones, might already be defined in your project roadmap or brief. But your project plan is where all of these project elements come together to create a cohesive picture of your upcoming work.

A lot of planning goes into the beginning of the year for what our vision is and where we will be by the end of that particular year. Once that is done, we summarize it in a project so it's visible to everyone... Having that visual representation in Asana makes it easier to move things around.”

2. Project scoping

Project scope is the size, goals, and limitations (i.e., deadlines and resources) for your project. Your project scope will define what you can achieve within a certain timeframe and budget. Setting and defining your project scope is important in order to prevent scope creep , which is when your project deliverables outgrow your original project scope.

In order to improve your project scoping skills, practice setting project scope early and often. Once you’ve set your project scope, share it with stakeholders and surface it frequently, so everyone is on the same page about the project’s aims and limitations. Use it as a point of reference, so you know when to say no to new asks.

We have been able to reduce the number of products that we’ve oversold and the number of times we have to contact the customer to push a ship date out.”

3. Writing a project brief

Your project brief outlines your general project objectives and how you plan to get there. This can serve as a helpful North Star to guide planning sessions.

The most important thing to remember about your project brief is that it’s a living document. As you develop your project plan and get input from stakeholders, you can adapt and update your project brief. In general, your project brief should contain a link to your project roadmap if you created one, a list of your project stakeholders and their responsibilities  (sometimes called a RACI chart), other relevant documentation or files, and any other high-level information your team might need.

Having executive oversight and insight into projects is key so we can quickly get up to speed on what is happening at any point.”

4. Hosting a project kickoff meeting

A kickoff meeting is an opportunity to align with your project stakeholders. This is your chance to clarify your project goals and scope, and share any documents you’ve already put together like your project roadmap, project brief, or supplemental documentation like a bill of materials for a marketing campaign or a creative brief for a design team.

To host a successful kickoff meeting, plan to share the documentation you have put together with project stakeholders. Then, host a brainstorming or Q&A session to align on any additional variables, like budget,  resources , or final deliverables.

5. Project roadmapping

A project roadmap is a high-level overview of your project’s key deliverables and timeline. Project roadmaps are helpful for complex initiatives with a lot of stakeholders because they help the entire project team get on the same page before the project even starts.

Traditionally, project roadmaps are created in Gantt chart-like software , in order to display a general schedule of your project as a horizontal bar chart. To create a project roadmap, use a tool like Timeline in Asana to create a rough timeline of your project, adding key milestones or important dependencies.

6. Mapping your project timeline

Your project timeline is the order and duration of events during your project lifecycle. Knowing your project timeline helps your team track project success and deliver the right assets on time.

In order to build a great project timeline, make sure you clarify the start and end dates of your project, as well as any key milestones. As you continue building out individual tasks and deliverables, set dependencies between tasks, and clarify the start and end date of each piece of work.

7. Task management

Once your project is officially underway, task management refers to how well you manage your and your team’s time. The best project managers have visibility into what their team is working on in real-time, so they can help their team effectively prioritize and execute work.

But you don’t have to magically know everything that’s happening in your project—instead, use task management software.  Task management software  is more than a to-do list—it’s a way to get a holistic view of all of the work happening in your project. With effective task management, you can empower your team to work more productively, efficiently, and effectively.

With Asana, we can see project progress and blockers, plus feedback and action items, all in one place. We're now able to complete work more efficiently and effectively, which has become even more critical while working from home. We’d be lost without it!”

8 technical skills all project managers need

Soft skills: check. Hard skills: got it. The only thing you have left to master are technical skills!

Technical skills refer to your knowledge of specific tools and softwares within project management. These tools aren’t hard to learn—as we mentioned before, modern project management is built to be flexible and easy to use. These eight skills are aspects of project management roles you should become familiar with, so you know when and how to leverage them.

1. Project management software skills

Project management software  has come a long way from legacy tools that were difficult to use and required a project management professional to implement. But like any tool, even easy-to-use ones, the software you choose takes time to learn and truly master. Make sure the tool you select has a written  guide  and  helpful videos  to teach you the ins and outs of how to use it.

2. Gantt charts

Gantt charts are a way to visualize your project as a horizontal bar chart, where each bar represents a piece of work and the length of each bar represents the amount of time that work will take.

Project milestones

Dependencies

Real-time project progress

Start and end dates

Traditional Gantt chart technology can be tricky to use and limited in scope, which is why, at Asana, we took the best of Gantt chart technology and created  Timeline , a Gantt-chart like tool that helps you see how all of the pieces fit together.

Launching an album has so many moving parts, and Asana helps us track every detail, who’s responsible for it, and when it needs to be completed.”

3. Kanban boards

Another popular type of visual project management is the  Kanban board . Each column in a Kanban board represents a stage of work, like  New ,  In progress , or  Done . Individual work is represented by cards, which move through the columns until they’re completed.

Kanban boards tools  are a popular visual project management tool for lean project management teams, particularly product, engineering, and software development teams. They’re an Agile methodology , designed to be adaptable and flexible to adjust to development needs in real-time.

4. Agile management

Agile management is a lean project management methodology that’s particularly popular with product, engineering, and software development teams. Agile operates on a system of continuous improvement and incremental evolution, and it encompasses several lean methodologies, like lean portfolio management ,  Scrum , and  Kanban .

In order to manage an Agile team, it's the project manager’s job to coordinate between team members and stay flexible. This can mean changing the project schedule, aligning with teams working on a different project, or just staying in touch with effective communication.

5. Workload management

If you’ve managed projects before, you know how hard it is to gain clarity on who is working on what—but it doesn’t have to be.  Workload management  helps you measure your team’s bandwidth and make sure they aren’t over- or under-worked. It’s an interactive process that doesn’t have a beginning or end state—rather, an effective project manager will continuously monitor their team’s workload to ensure no one is burning out.

There are two steps to using workload management software . First, start by figuring out your team’s capacity, competencies, and current workload. From there, allocate resources based on individual workload, or rebalance workloads as needed.

6. Cost management

In project management, cost management is considering how each task impacts your budget at every stage of the project. Cost management is a key part of project leadership, and an important element of whether or not your project is a success. Staying within budget is as important as hitting your project due date, and cost management can help you get there.

To manage cost effectively, good project managers define their costs and budget at the beginning of a project. Make sure project stakeholders and team members all understand the budget. Then, during the project, keep cost and budget in mind. Check in on your spending several times during the project to make sure you aren’t overshooting your budget. Once the project is completed, tally predicted cost vs. actual cost to determine how effective your cost management strategies were. This can also help you benchmark for future projects.

7. Project portfolio management

With project portfolio management (PMM), you can get a bird’s-eye view of your team’s work across multiple projects. Unlike traditional project management, PMM involves working on multiple projects or large-scale initiatives simultaneously. Project portfolio management tools help you get a holistic view of all of your team’s work in real-time, so you can connect strategy to execution.

Portfolios are also a key Asana feature for our team. It is a great tool for our executive team so they can see our big pieces of work all in a single place with the status, progress and ownership. Our CEO visits our portfolio daily and adds comments. He loves to be able to see what's going on in a snapshot.”

8. Change management

If you’ve ever rolled out a big organizational change, you’ve likely practiced change management, even if you didn’t know it. Change management is the process of introducing organizational change—like new processes or tools—over a set period of time to make them easier to adapt to.

At Asana, we use the Asana Way of Change, a six step process developed by our Customer Success team that incorporates proven change management strategies. To learn more,  read our guide to change management .

The standard of our creative team, for a while, was just to react to work. But we’ll never do the best work we possibly can without a clear process.”

How to build your project management skills

Twenty five skills might feel like a lot, but remember that you don’t need to master every skill in this list. Some, like Agile, are only relevant for specific teams. Others, like organization, become virtually effortless with a little focus and great tools .

Keep in mind that developing your project management skills takes practice. Challenge yourself to focus on one or two new skills for each project—whether that’s trying out a new  visual form of project management  like Kanban, drafting your first ever project plan, or leaning into time-management.

There are also classes you can take to develop hard and soft project management skills. Though you no longer need certifications in order to be considered a project manager, the  Project Management Institute  (PMI) offers courses, learning events, and their famous  Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) , which was the first project management guide ever published.

Finally, once you’ve  selected a project management tool , you can also take their classes to learn technical project management skills. At Asana, we’ve developed the  Asana Academy  and  How to Asana  series to help new project managers learn new soft, hard, and technical skills.

Build your project management toolkit

If you manage a project, you’re a project manager—and you likely already have some key project management skills. The most important thing is to be intentional, listen to your team, and collaborate with your team members. The rest will follow.

Project management doesn’t need to be complex. Asana was designed specifically to keep project manager’s organized, with tools, automations, and customizations built for collaborating and coordinating everything from a simple brainstorming session to a full-fledged product launch. 

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What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in Project Management?

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Introduction to Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Project management is a complex process that involves multiple stakeholders, tasks, and resources. To ensure the success of a project, it is crucial to assign clear roles and responsibilities to team members and accurately define their tasks. 

One tool that can help project managers achieve this goal is the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM). In this article, we will explore the definition and benefits of RAM, as well as some examples.

If you’re looking for a RAM template that will help you assign roles and clarify responsibilities, Wrike has a customizable template ready to go.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in project management?

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management, also known as a RACI chart or RACI matrix, details all the necessary stakeholders and clarifies responsibilities amongst cross-functional teams and their involvement level in a project. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed and each letter corresponds to a team member.

A RAM in project management should be referred to by all parties throughout a project because it helps plan an individual’s roles and responsibilities before work begins. A RACI matrix ensures all stakeholders know who is responsible for completing a task or getting feedback on deliverables.

The four roles are broken down as follows:

• Responsible: The person(s) completing the task
• Accountable: The team member coordinating the actions, making decisions, and delegating to those responsible for the task
• Consulted: The person(s) who will be communicated with regarding decisions and tasks
• Informed: The person(s) who will be updated during the project and upon completion

Read more about RACI here . 

Identify and visualize roles seamlessly with Wrike

Responsibility assignment matrix example.

A common RAM   template looks like the example below. Notice how all stakeholders can have more than one role:

Responsibility Assignment Matrix template

Below you can see a powerful RAM template . The chart helps with visualizing roles and workload clearly. Therefore, project managers and team members follow the progress easily and stay on track.

Clarify roles with Wrike

In conclusion, RAM is a useful tool for any project manager who wants to ensure their team is clear on their responsibilities. It helps to establish a structured approach to project management, allowing for better communication, accountability, and ultimately, project success.

Using Wrike’s pre-built template, you can define the roles of each team member so everybody is on the same page. The template will also help you balance your workload and create complete transparency on your team structure.

What is a RACI Chart?

Project Scheduling 101: How To Schedule Your Projects

Published: Aug 27, 2024, 8:40am

Table of Contents

What is a project schedule, what is included in a project schedule, project scheduling in 7 steps, project scheduling techniques, common pitfalls in project scheduling and how to avoid them, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Project scheduling is the backbone of successful project management , ensuring that tasks are completed on time and resources are optimally allocated. Understanding project scheduling is crucial for anyone looking to manage projects efficiently, whether in construction, IT, marketing or any field requiring meticulous planning.

In this article, you will learn what a project schedule is, its importance, the key elements included in a project schedule and steps to create an effective project schedule. Let’s dive into the world of project scheduling and uncover how to set up schedules that lead to project success.

Project scheduling is a detailed plan that outlines what needs to be done, by whom, by when and what resources are needed. It helps teams visualize the entire project from start to finish. Project schedules are not just about timelines; they encapsulate the project’s scope, resource allocation, task durations and dependencies among tasks. This comprehensive blueprint is essential for ensuring that a project achieves its stated outcomes within the stipulated time and budget.

Why Is Project Scheduling Important?

Project scheduling ensures that project milestones are met, resources are efficiently utilized and potential bottlenecks are identified early. Effective scheduling aids in risk management by allowing project managers to anticipate issues and make informed decisions. Moreover, it facilitates better communication among stakeholders by providing a clear picture of project progress and expectations.

Ultimately, a well-crafted project schedule is indispensable for delivering projects on time and within budget while also satisfying stakeholders and enhancing team productivity.

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A comprehensive project schedule includes several critical elements. By integrating these components, project managers can create a roadmap that guides the project from conception to completion.

• Deliverables: These are the specific outputs or products that are to be delivered to the client or stakeholder at various stages of the project. They can range from documents and software to constructed buildings, depending on the project’s nature.
• Tasks and Milestones: Every project is broken down into manageable tasks, each with specific milestones to mark significant achievements.
• Start and End Dates: Precise timing for each task and milestone helps track progress and ensure the project remains on schedule.
• Resources Assigned: This includes the allocation of human, financial and material resources necessary for each task.
• Dependencies: Understanding how tasks are interlinked is crucial for sequencing activities and avoiding project delays.
• Work Packages: These are groupings of tasks that form a major component of the project, allowing for easier management and assignment of responsibilities.
• Budgets: Budgets are detailed financial plans that outline the costs associated with each phase or component of the project, ensuring that expenditures are kept within the allocated amounts.

Creating an effective project schedule demands attention to detail and a methodical approach. Project managers can craft a detailed and effective project schedule by breaking down the process into manageable steps. This sets the foundation for successful project execution and also ensures that all team members are aligned and informed about their contributions to the project goals.

1. Define Project Scope and Objectives

Start with a clear understanding of what the project aims to achieve and its boundaries. This clarity is crucial for aligning all project activities towards the desired outcome.

2. Break Down the Project Into Tasks and Subtasks

Segment the project into smaller, actionable items. This detailed breakdown makes it easier to manage, delegate and track progress.

3. Develop Work Packages

Group related tasks into work packages. This approach helps streamline task assignments and focuses on completing significant project components.

4. Estimate Task Durations and Assign Resources

Determine how long each task will take and allocate the necessary resources, including personnel, equipment and budget. Accurate estimations are key to setting realistic deadlines and ensuring resource availability.

5. Identify Dependencies and Define the Critical Path

Understand the relationship between tasks to identify dependencies. This allows you to sequence tasks effectively and identify the critical path, which is the longest sequence of dependent tasks that determines the project’s minimum completion time.

6. Draft the Project Schedule Using Scheduling Tools

Utilize project scheduling software to compile all the information into a cohesive schedule. Tools such as Microsoft Project , Asana or Trello can offer visual representations of the schedule, facilitating easier adjustments and updates.

7. Review, Optimize and Communicate the Schedule

Engage stakeholders in reviewing the draft schedule to ensure it meets project objectives and is realistic. Make necessary adjustments based on feedback. Finally, communicate the finalized schedule to the entire project team, ensuring everyone knows their tasks and deadlines and how their work fits into the larger project timeline.

Project managers employ various techniques to enhance the effectiveness of their schedules. By leveraging these techniques, project managers can create more accurate and flexible project schedules, adapt to project changes, optimize resource allocation and ensure successful project delivery. Here are some of the most widely used project scheduling techniques:

Critical Path Method (CPM)

This technique involves identifying the longest sequence of dependent tasks that determine the project’s minimum completion time. By focusing on the critical path, project managers can prioritize tasks that directly impact the project’s deadline, ensuring that delays in these tasks do not derail the entire project.

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

PERT is a statistical tool used to analyze project tasks, estimate completion times for each task and determine the minimum time required to complete the entire project. PERT involves creating a project model that includes all the tasks, their durations, dependencies and the critical path.

Gantt Charts

A Gantt chart is a visual scheduling tool that illustrates a project schedule. It shows the start and finish dates of the various elements of a project. Gantt charts are useful for planning and scheduling projects, helping project managers visualize task durations, their sequences and how tasks overlap and link with each other.

Resource Leveling

This technique is used when resources are over-allocated or scarce. It involves adjusting the project schedule to smooth out the demand for resources, ensuring that they are used efficiently and without overburdening any resource at any time.

Time-Scaled Network Diagrams

Similar to Gantt charts, these diagrams represent tasks and their dependencies over time but offer a more detailed view of how tasks interconnect. This technique is useful for visualizing the flow of tasks and identifying potential bottlenecks.

Agile Scheduling

While not a traditional project scheduling technique, Agile methodologies offer a flexible approach to project management, focusing on delivering work in short, iterative cycles known as sprints. Agile scheduling is handy in projects where requirements evolve rapidly.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of all the tasks that must be completed to meet project objectives and create the required deliverables. By breaking down the project into smaller components, project managers can assign tasks more efficiently, estimate costs and durations more accurately and track project progress more effectively.

Project scheduling can be challenging, with some of the most common pitfalls being:

• Unrealistic deadlines that lead to rushed work and quality issues
• Poorly defined project scope that leads to scope creep and can derail the project timeline
• Inadequate resource allocation , which can create bottlenecks and delay project progress
• Dependency mismanagement that can lead to scheduling conflicts and delays
• Lack of contingency planning that doesn’t account for potential risks and can lead to issues and schedule disruptions

To avoid these pitfalls, engage in thorough planning, maintain open communication with the team and adopt a flexible approach to project management. Regularly reviewing and adjusting the project schedule in response to unforeseen changes can also help mitigate risks and keep the project on track.

Project scheduling is a critical skill that underpins successful project management. Project managers can significantly enhance project outcomes by understanding its importance and mastering the art of creating detailed and adaptable schedules. As you become more familiar with project scheduling, consider exploring advanced project management techniques and tools to further refine your skills and contribute to your projects’ successes.

What are the three types of project schedules?

The three main types of project schedules are the master schedule, milestone schedule and detailed schedule. The master schedule provides an overview of the project’s key phases and milestones. The milestone schedule focuses on major events and deliverables without detailing individual tasks. The detailed schedule breaks down each task, including start and end dates, resources needed and dependencies, offering an in-depth roadmap for project execution.

What are the seven steps of project planning?

The seven steps of project planning are:

• Define objectives
• Determine deliverables
• Assign resources
• Create a timeline
• Identify risks
• Establish communication protocols.

These steps guide from project conception through to execution, ensuring clarity and direction.

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A seasoned small business and technology writer and educator with more than 20 years of experience, Shweta excels in demystifying complex tech tools and concepts for small businesses. Her work has been featured in NewsWeek, Huffington Post and more. Her postgraduate degree in computer management fuels her comprehensive analysis and exploration of tech topics.

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08-27-2024 WORK LIFE

3 things people get wrong about collaboration

These common mistakes can derail those big, ambitious projects that require lots of working together.

[Source Photo: Thirdman /Pexels]

BY  Art Markman 3 minute read

Most of the problems we have to solve at work are too big for any individual to handle. There are too many different areas of knowledge needed to be successful. The projects require too much time for one person to do in a timely fashion. And, the tasks that need to be done are not always the most appropriate for one person to carry out.

As a result, these projects must be done collaboratively . Unfortunately, effective collaborations don’t just happen naturally. They have to be built. Sadly, we don’t teach people how to do this well. As I often say, most of our education is an individual sport, while much of work life is a team sport.

So, here are three big collaboration mistakes people make:

Bad lane assignments

Collaboration works best when everyone is clear on what is expected of them. Members should be added to a team because they have something to contribute. The roles that people are expected to play should be outlined early in the process.

A lack of clear assignments creates two problems. First, it leads to duplication of effort. Several people are likely to move forward with elements of a project without knowing that someone else is doing the same thing. It’s frustrating to put good work time into something only to discover that someone else has also worked on the same aspect of the project.

Second, it can also lead to inaction. When you are part of a project, you’re also going to be reluctant to step on other people’s toes. So, you may be aware of an issue, but wait for someone else to address it. Projects can end up crawling along, because people are not sure which aspects of the project are the ones they are supposed to address.

Lack of real trust

A team can only work together effectively if everyone takes care of the aspects of the project they are assigned and they bring them together effectively to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. In order to enable every person on the team to do their work, there has to be trust.

In the absence of that trust, you start to see some team members encroaching on the work of others. A team member who micromanages the work of others is operating from a lack of trust that the other people will do their work well. Team members who proactively do or redo the work that others have done are also displaying a lack of trust.

There are two dimensions of trust to consider. One is that you have to develop trust that the people on your team are good enough at their jobs to carry out their work without a lot of oversight. (If you have concerns, then you should discuss this with supervisors who made the assignments rather than taking on this oversight for yourself.)

The second is that you have to recognize that when you work on a team, the project may come out differently than if you did it yourself. It can be difficult to see a project move in a direction differently than the one you envisioned. It’s important to ask yourself whether your concerns are that the project is going in a bad direction, or just a direction you did not plan on. If you have real concerns that the final output is going to reflect poorly on the group, then say something. But, if the output is just going to be different from what you would have done alone, then you have to learn to love the result.

Lack of project management

A common collaboration mistake for many teams is that they have lots of domain experts, but they don’t have anyone to manage the project. Project management is an underappreciated skill that needs to be engaged more explicitly in collaborative projects.

A good project manager helps the team to develop roles for members, defines key milestones toward project completion, compiles and organizes documents related to the project, and ensures that team members stay on-track to complete their portions of the project.

Ideally, your organization has some project managers who can be brought into a collaboration. If not, then it’s important for someone to take on that role. While formal training in project management is valuable, even being willing to be responsible for keeping a project moving, enforcing deadlines, and holding onto key documents greatly increases the chances that the project will be completed successfully.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Art Markman , PhD, is a professor of Psychology, Human Dimensions of Organizations and Marketing and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Art is the author of Smart Thinking and Habits of Leadership , Smart Change , Brain Briefs , and, most recently, Bring Your Brain to Work .   More

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Project Management Specialist

Advertised on behalf of.

Tirana, ALBANIA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application deadline :.

10-Sep-24 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Duration of initial contract :, time left :.

13d 13h 25m

Languages Required :

English  

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 year (with possibility of extension)

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

While Albania has made significant progress in promoting gender equality, women continue to face barriers in fully enjoying their human rights. Women are less likely to participate in the labour market, with a labour force participation rate of 15.9% lower than men’s. Stereotypes and gender norms continue to be pervasive and contribute to the persistent marginalization of women, especially those belonging to minorities, including rural women. Young people also face specific challenges: at 27.1%, their unemployment rate is about twice as high as that of the working-age population. Most of the young professionals and students leaving Albania look for opportunities to stay in the host country, rather than returning.

Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment is a key priority for Albania, underpinning all actions listed in the recently adopted National Strategy for Sustainable Development and European Integration 2022-2030. The Strategy also recognizes rural development as key for Albania’s sustainable development. Agriculture is the sector that employs the majority of Albanian citizens, accounting for approximately 33.8 % of the employees during 2021, however, agricultural activity is challenged by increased transport and production costs, limited maximization of investment limited efficiency of distribution channels. Meeting national and international quality and food safety standards and building an administrative capacity to support these processes also remain a challenge.

Women play an important role in agriculture and rural development in Albania, making up 40% of the agriculture workforce, although in most cases invisible and informal. Male gender roles in agriculture are predominantly associated with tasks that involve control over agricultural assets and implements, mobility, decision-making and access to market; whereas female gender roles are associated with manual work, including pre-harvest and post-harvest activities, food processing, quality control, and household tasks. Furthermore, women’s access to technical and financial resources and information through agricultural extension service remains very limited, and women represent only 10 % of all beneficiaries of extension services. Women are rarely members of, or represented in, formal associations or committees. Their limited access to transportation in rural areas has direct implications for their access to health and social services, education, employment and participation in decision making, making them dependent on male relatives and putting them further at risk of marginalisation. This is especially alarming with the persistence of patriarchal attitudes in rural areas, which often result in GBV.

Women are also strongly discriminated compared to men in term of access to property, While existing legislation guarantees women’s property rights and co-ownership, the implementation of the legislation has been too often hindered by discriminatory cultural and social attitudes, practices at the institutional and community levels, and women’s lack of knowledge of their rights. This has affected women’s inheritance rights as well as entitlements.

To address these challenges, UN Women with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and funding from the by the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will implement a project aiming to improve the empowerment of women in Northern Albania and promote their role as active contributors to sustainable rural development. The region of intervention was selected based on latest data on poverty rate and persistency of gender inequalities and stereotypes.

Overall, this project will contribute to the realization of SDG targets 2.3, 5.a, 8.3. The intervention is aligned with the EU Gender Action Plan III, The National Strategy for Gender Equality (NSGE) 2021-2030 and the National Strategy for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of Country Office Representative and in day-to-day coordination with the National Programme Officer, the Project Management Specialist is responsible for managing the project, including relationships with national partners and stakeholders, donor, the monitoring and reporting the activities, the finances and personnel of the portfolio

The Project Management Specialist works in close collaboration with Head of Programmes (NOC), Programme Analyst (P2), Technical Project Analyst (SB4), and the rest of the programme and operations team to ensure successful implementation of UN Women programme implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Manage and lead the overall implementation of Empowering Women for Rural Development in North Albania

• Manage the overall Project work plan development and implementation according to the project document and UN Women Albania strategic note;
• Design, conceptualize and manage work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the Project Steering Committee, Cooperation Framework Results Groups and UN Women;
• Lead and manage systems for project planning, implementation and monitoring, in collaboration with partners;
• Ensure project record keeping, documentation and filing of project related files and communications by the project team.

Manage relations with national partners and other stakeholders engaged in the project

• Manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Project Portfolio, raise potential problems and provide solutions;
• Provide guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
• Lead the selection of responsible parties for the implementation of specific outputs/sub-outputs of the project as per the approved project document and budget and in line with UN Women partner selection policy and procedure. 
• Oversee identification of capacity building needs and support provided to partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, cross-partner learning, and capacity development initiatives.

Manage and lead the monitoring and reporting on the Project

• Coordinate the process of gathering information and preparing progress reports on programme implementation; prepare technical reports; Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on project from the planning to the evaluation stages;
• Lead the preparation of the project annual progress report and final report including other reports/presentations/updates required for each Steering Committee meeting; review and coordinate the submission of responsible parties’ financial and narrative reports;
• Provide inputs from project component activities and results to Country Office and joint UN reporting.

Manage financial resources and supervise project personnel

• Supervise and manage a team of professional and administrative personnel, including the Technical Project Analyst, review performance and mentor/ coach subordinate personnel;
• Coordinate development and preparation of financial reporting of the Project components including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to responsible parties and other contractors.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

• Provide technical support to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Identify potential programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships.

Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication

• Ensure documentation of the project implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN Women guidelines;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the project;
• Lead major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The incumbent will lead one Technical Project Analyst and one Project Assistant on Service Contract Modality. The incumbent may also lead other part-time affiliates contributing to the project implementation.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong analytical skills
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management
• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 
•  A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in progressively responsible experience in programme management, including programme design, programme coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building is required.
• Experience in working in a gender related area is required, including in areas such as Women Economic Empowerment, EVAW, human rights and others.
• Experience in setting priorities, budgets, work plans, participating in programme development and programme writing is required.
• Experience in leading teams effectively is desirable.
• Previous experience working with international organizations, or the UN system is desirable.
• Previous experience in Albania or the Western Balkans is desirable. 
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish). 

How to Submit the Application:   To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc  )
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11) and Cover Letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.
• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications, we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.