How to Plan Your Project

If you have received a project charter from the project sponsor and if you have identified your project stakeholders, you may be asking, what are the steps to plan for a project? There are seven steps that you should complete to plan for your project (before you start any work on the project).

Access our Project Planning Checklist Template (including examples)!

Steps for How to Plan Your Project

Keep reading to learn about the seven steps to plan a project:

• Create a Project Management Plan
• Create a Team Charter
• Create a Scope Baseline
• Create a Schedule Baseline
• Create Cost Estimates
• Create a Constraints, Assumptions, Risks, Issues, and Changes Tracker
• Plan and Facilitate the Kickoff Meetings

Create a Project Management Plan

A project management plan defines how the project team will execute, monitor, control, and close a project, and it documents the baselines for the scope, schedule, and costs for a project. A project management plan helps you ensure that your project team understands and agrees to the defined processes and procedures to execute your project and improves the performance of your project.

You draft a project management plan based on the information from the project charter, stakeholder register, and agreed upon ways of working. Next, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders at the project kickoff meetings. Shortly after the project kickoff meetings, you finalize the project management plan based on the input from the project team and client stakeholders. Setting and agreeing to a project management plan early decreases misunderstandings and increases productivity.

Check out How to Create a Project Management Plan to further understand what information you should include in a project management plan and the questions to ask to create a project management plan.

Create a Team Charter

A team charter serves to focus and document the project team’s purpose. It defines the team’s mission and values, clarifies roles and responsibilities, defines operating rules, and helps gain stakeholder buy-in. Setting and agreeing to the team charter guidelines early decreases misunderstanding, increase productivity, and improves the performance of your project.

You draft a team charter based on the information from the project charter, stakeholder register, and project management plan. Next, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders at the project kickoff meetings. Shortly after the project kickoff meetings, you finalize the team charter based on the input from the project team and client stakeholders. Setting and agreeing to a team charter early decreases misunderstandings and increases productivity. It is also important to remember that, just like the composition of the team itself, the team charter is not static. It can and should adapt and evolve as the team moves through the project.

Check out How to Create a Team Charter to further understand what information you should include in a team charter and the questions to ask to create a team charter.

Create a Scope Baseline

A scope baseline includes a scope statement and work breakdown structure to describe a product, service, or result, and can only change through a formal change management process documented in the project management plan. A scope baseline, like all project baselines, helps you deliver your project and deliverables within scope, meet all stakeholder requirements and expectations, and improves the performance of your project.

You draft a scope baseline based on the information from the project charter and project management plan. Next, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders at the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings. Shortly after the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings, you finalize the scope baseline based on the input from the project team and client stakeholders.

Check out How to Create a Scope Baseline to further understand what information you should include in a scope baseline and the questions to ask to create a scope baseline.

Create a Schedule Baseline

A schedule baseline is an approved version of the start dates and finish dates of scheduled activities and can only change through a formal change management process documented in the project management plan. A schedule baseline, like all project baselines, helps you deliver your project and deliverables on time, meet all stakeholder expectations, and improve the performance of your project.

You draft a schedule baseline based on the information from the project charter, project management plan, team charter, resource calendars, and scope baseline. Next, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders at the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings. Shortly after the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings, you finalize the schedule baseline based on the input from the project team and client stakeholders.

Check out How to Create a Schedule Baseline to further understand what information you should include in a schedule baseline and the questions to ask to create a schedule baseline.

Create the Cost Estimate

Cost estimates are the approximate costs of resources (e.g., employees, consultants, hardware, software, office supplies, building materials, etc.), needed to complete the project work. Creating cost estimates helps you deliver your project and deliverables on budget, meet all stakeholder expectations, and improve the performance of your project.

You draft cost estimates based on the information from the project charter, project management plan, and schedule baseline. Next, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders at the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings. Shortly after the project kickoff meetings and requirements meetings, you finalize the cost estimates based on the input from the project team and client stakeholders.

Check out How to Create Cost Estimates to further understand what information you should include in the cost estimates and the questions to ask to create the cost estimates.

Create a Constraints, Assumptions, Risks, Issues, and Changes Tracker

You use a constraints, assumptions, risks, issues, and changes tracker (CARIC tracker) to track a project's constraints, assumptions, risks, issues, and changes throughout the project. Creating a CARIC tracker early in the project helps you identify, plan for, monitor, and respond to project constraints, assumptions, risks, issues, and changes throughout the project, and improves the performance of your project.

You set up a CARIC tracker based on the information from the project charter, stakeholder register, team charter, scope baseline, schedule baseline, and cost estimates. Next, at the project kickoff meetings, and throughout the project lifecycle, you collect input from the project team and client stakeholders to update, monitor, and maintain the tracker regularly.

Check out How to Create a Constraints, Assumptions, Risks, Issues, and Changes Tracker to further understand what information you should include in CARIC tracker and the questions to ask to create a CARIC tracker.

Plan and Facilitate the Kickoff Meetings

Internal Kickoff Meeting

The purpose for the internal kickoff meeting is to kick off the project with the internal project team. This gives the internal project team a chance to discuss the planning activities, share feedback on the planning activities, and prepare for the client kickoff meeting.

Before holding the internal kickoff meeting, you draft the planning activities (which should include the kickoff meeting agenda), project management plan, team charter, and other planning documents (as discussed earlier in this post). You may also want to hold an internal prep meeting with the project sponsor, to prepare for the internal kickoff meeting, prior to holding the internal kickoff meeting with the project team.

Check out How to Plan and Facilitate Kickoff Meetings to further understand how to prepare, facilitate, and follow up on internal kickoff meetings.

Client Kickoff Meeting

The purpose for the client kickoff meeting is to kick off the project with the client stakeholders. This gives the project team and client stakeholders a chance to discuss the kickoff activities and share feedback on those activities together.

Check out How to Plan and Facilitate Kickoff Meetings to further understand how to prepare, facilitate, and follow up on client kickoff meetings.

What’s Next?

After you complete these seven steps to plan your project, you are ready to finalize your planning documents and execute, monitor, and control your project.

Check out How to Execute Your Project (coming soon) for more information on the steps to execute a project.