What are the benefits of project scheduling?
A project schedule is a general overview that lists out the deadlines, dependencies, resources and tasks that must be leveraged to complete your project. As a project manager, it helps you to:
Conceptualize the end goal of the project
Map out milestones that must be hit to achieve the end goal
Track real-time progress as you work to complete milestone tasks
Recalibrate plans if challenges disrupt the initial project schedule
By creating a project schedule, project members will understand the expectations placed upon them so that they can, in turn:
Make effective decisions with their time and resources
Uncover more efficient workflows that move the project forward
Assist other teammates with tasks that involve greater dependencies
Project schedules align teams around an overarching objective and the intended workflow required to achieve those goals. Using the Project Schedule Template, you can create a clear project plan and align your project team around realistic work schedules.
When to use the project schedule template?
The project schedule template is perfect if your organization:
Is in the planning stage of a new project
Requires a working schedule to map out project milestones
Must outline dependencies and deliverables required to achieve your goals
Has limited resources and must create a schedule to manage bandwidth
The project schedule template is applicable for almost any project across any industry. Let’s say you’re in the manufacturing sector, and your team has been tasked with developing a new component for an important piece of software. To do so, you need to create the project schedule that includes:
The tasks required to conceptualize, design, develop, and deploy the component
Team members who will lead the project through various stages of development
Research, testing, and funding targets that will make the project a reality
Legal and compliance matters to certify all safety protocols ahead of deployment
Each stage of the project requires a different area of expertise. That’s why it’s critical to bring the right people aboard, who will execute the scheduled tasks and guide the project from start to finish. A project schedule sets the course and creates a blueprint to reach the desired goal, and the project schedule template provides a clean, crisp, and concise resource to create your master plan.
How to use the project schedule template
The project schedule template organizes your project tasks into four concise sections: to-do, in progress, review, and completed.
You can use each section to include as many details as necessary to help your team achieve the project goals. Identify any tasks that are dependent on others, and list out the various milestones you hope to achieve throughout the project. Be as transparent as you can be because the project schedule is the master guide to the entire project.
Step 1: Set the project deadline
Part of what makes a project is by implementing a work-back schedule, which sets the final project deadline and breaks down the milestones to achieve that deadline into smaller, more manageable tasks. This ensures that every phase of the project is factored into the project schedule timeline, reducing the need for last-minute rushes.
Use the project schedule template to set your final project deadline, creating a clear, transparent record of expectations for the team. Once you’ve set the final deadline, you can begin building a work-back schedule to map out the entire project timeline.
Step 2: List all the project tasks
Upon setting the final project deadline, you can now list out all the tasks that must be completed and the milestones that must be achieved to complete the full project. The tasks should directly relate to the overarching goals of the project.
For example, if your team is building a new piece of software, include tasks for milestones like market research, financing, testing, and deployment. All tasks should function as a stepping stone towards achieving the final project goal, and you can organize your tasks by setting task due dates in the Project Schedule Template, creating a sequential prioritized order.
Step 3: Invite your teammates to the template
A good project manager recognizes their limitations and understands that they may overlook certain project requirements. That’s why project managers have a team of collaborators, whose particular areas of expertise may identify overlooked tasks that are vital to completing the project.
Invite your project team to view the project schedule template via the project sharing link. When reviewing the project, they can input any tasks that were overlooked, clarify any concerns about posted deadlines, and verify the accuracy of the task requests based on their area of expertise.
Step 4: Use checklists to simplify larger tasks
Your team members will offer their perspective regarding the complexity of tasks on the project schedule template. Take their feedback into consideration, and use the opportunity to break up larger tasks into smaller, simpler deliverables together.
You can use task checklists to keep track of all task components. List out all the sub-tasks or milestones in each task to make each to-do clear for the task assignee.
Step 5: Use Timeline to track project delivery dates
A key benefit of the project schedule template is that it affords you the opportunity to view an entire project in a clear Timeline view. Similar to project management tools like Gantt charts, the Timeline view grants a clear visual overview of all milestones and task delivery dates related to your project.
When building a work-back schedule, the template’s Timeline view is one of your greatest assets. You can set future delivery dates to organize deadlines and ensure no tasks are forgotten throughout the project.
The Timeline view is an excellent way to hold your team members accountable for their responsibilities. Task due dates provide a transparent project management structure, allowing all involved stakeholders to prioritize their work accordingly.
Step 6: Organize and monitor project performance
You’ve listed out your project goals, set the final deadline, assigned stakeholder responsibilities, and delegated tasks to the appropriate team members. Now that the project is underway, it’s your job as a project manager to monitor performance.
Use the project schedule template to keep track of tasks as they’re completed. Move them through each section of the template — simply drag and drop to move a task from one section to another. As more tasks reach the review and completed sections, you can make a realistic judgment whether you will hit the intended project deadline as initially scoped.
