How to Create the Perfect Project Timeline [Template + Examples]

Making a venture timeline the place everybody concerned is aware of what they‘re engaged on (and when it’s due) may help keep off venture creep and nail these essential deadlines.

It is important for protecting initiatives — and the individuals finishing them — on monitor.

As a caretaker, I’ve venture timelines operating invisibly in my thoughts always, and most households can be a scorching mess with out somebody within the managerial position.

The smoothest means for everybody to succeed regardless of the chaos is to have a hand on the wheel and an eye fixed on the timeline. All of it sounds very TVA, and admittedly, that’s how metallic it’s to folks.

That will help you guarantee that your subsequent skilled venture stays on schedule, I will cowl the project management basics of find out how to arrange a venture timeline, the perfect templates to make use of, and a handful of examples to encourage your future scheduling.

And sure — you may completely apply these expertise and assets to life admin, too.

Desk of Contents

What’s a venture timeline?

Merely put, a venture timeline is a visible show that tracks the completion of assorted steps in a venture over time.

It’s a meta-view of all duties concerned in an end result, enabling a venture supervisor to raised direct the people who find themselves accountable for the steps concerned — in addition to report the venture’s standing to stakeholders.

After assigning duties, it’d be fantastic in the event that they received completed on time and with no points, arriving on or earlier than the agreed-upon supply date, proper?

However everyone knows how rapidly a timeline can disintegrate as increased priorities pop up and deadlines slip previous with out a lot progress.

And I’ve seen first hand that initiatives can fail for a lot of causes up the chain of command as effectively, together with a scarcity of assist from management, unexpected finances cuts, or overpromising outcomes.

Lower than ideally suited outcomes are nonetheless pretty widespread even if you do put money into venture administration.

Whereas 59% of formally managed projects are completed on time — which is a wonderful statistic that expert and intentional venture managers may be happy with — this nonetheless signifies that 41% don’t.

Why create a venture timeline?

Time management is without doubt one of the prime expertise employers search for in candidates up and down the org chart. Missed deadlines and rushed initiatives can set total groups — and generally total corporations — not on time.

I don’t wish to be that particular person, and I do know you don’t, both. However there’ll at all times be individuals on groups that want assist to stay the touchdown on expectations that have an effect on the bigger venture.

A well-built venture timeline is far more than a pleasant visible to reassure the stakeholders, and listed here are just some the reason why you must create one. It’s a residing, altering, and useful course of overview that may:

• Convey management and construction to a venture.
• Define what’s being delivered and by when.
• Share who’s accountable for every activity and set expectations for the scope, high quality, and supply of labor.
• Present how the venture end result contributes to firm targets.
• Lower threat by accounting for any modifications to the venture scope, finances, deliverables, or deadlines.

In the end, a venture timeline makes it each simpler and extra environment friendly to handle a venture — significantly if you select a timeline construction that’s well-fit to the venture’s scope.

That is the place a venture timeline template may help you progress ahead.

Undertaking Timeline Template

The best timeline brings path to a venture, but is well adaptable when modifications come up.

With out the best venture timeline template, organizing a venture may be quite a lot of time-consuming handbook work — to not point out the formatting chaos as soon as a number of individuals get their fingers on it. Woof.

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I prefer to create a project timeline for any course of that depends on a schedule (virtually every little thing today), like onboarding workers, dealing with a disaster, or planning social media campaigns.

All it’s good to know is find out how to define the steps of a venture and the duties required to finish every section. Let’s do it!

Create a Undertaking Timeline

Crafting the proper venture timeline takes technique, organizational expertise, and a complete lot of collaboration. You want buy-in from supporters and clear directives for everybody concerned.

To get began, I really useful following this step-by-step information to arrange a structured timeline — regardless of your job, trade, or administration stage.

1. Write a venture transient.

A venture transient communicates how you’ll strategy a venture. It contains particulars on the targets, deliverables, timeline, duties, course of, individuals concerned, and assets wanted to take a venture from begin to end.

Asana outlined the steps to create a easy, but efficient, venture transient. You should utilize this free project plan template to stipulate the venture’s targets, roles, and tasks. You’ll be able to then plan your schedules, deliverables, finances, and extra.

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Professional tip: Whereas this useful resource is a good place to begin for any planning course of, in case you want a extra complete overview that features key messaging and distribution processes, a creative brief would be the proper match to your venture.

2. Listing all duties and motion objects.

Each activity concerned in attaining a venture’s targets wants to enter the venture timeline. After creating the transient, make an inventory of those duties. You can begin with massive duties and break them down into smaller to-dos.

Let‘s say you’re accountable for making a advertising video to launch your organization’s latest product. Your checklist could embrace the next:

• Set up venture leads from every division.
• Set venture finances.
• Discover a video manufacturing firm.
• Format the video storyboard.
• Select important options for video.
• Write video script.
• Seize video content material.
• Add in sound and background music.
• Add animations and graphics.
• Edit video.
• Write announcement copy.
• Craft advertising marketing campaign.
• Create clips for social sharing.
• Get video and advertising belongings permitted.

As soon as I’ve the foremost milestones down, I then like to interrupt down every activity into smaller items. For instance, selecting a video manufacturing firm can contain:

• Analysis video manufacturing corporations.
• Curate an inventory of manufacturing corporations.
• Get quotes from every manufacturing firm.
• Examine quotes and slender down choices.
• Meet with the chosen corporations.
• Select a manufacturing firm.
• Finalize the contract.

3. Join dependencies.

In a venture, sure duties can‘t be began till one other is full. These duties are known as dependencies. For instance, a video can’t be filmed till the storyboard is finalized. And the storyboard cannot be finalized till the video theme is chosen.

Mapping out dependencies helps you solidify the order of every activity and resolve who’s accountable for what. Everybody will know what a part of the venture they’re engaged on, which duties have to be accomplished earlier than their very own, and who to contact for the deliverables they want.

Here is a take a look at how dependencies can play out in a venture timeline.

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Within the instance, you may see that hiring a caterer has to occur earlier than finalizing the lunch menu. However different duties, like discovering a DJ and deciding on an occasion theme, can occur on the identical time. So, as you map out every activity, you may should see which steps can overlap and which want to attend for others.

4. Estimate the time it is going to take to finish every activity.

As soon as you determine the sequence of duties, it’s good to work out how a lot time every will take. With out direct expertise and/or figuring out your group members, this may be the trickiest half, however attempt to not break your brains on it. Simply estimate as carefully as you may so that you’re not shedding an excessive amount of time attempting to inform the long run.

A part of this psychological math contains contemplating the opposite initiatives and priorities your group has happening. A designer might be able to give you a tough draft of video animations in a single week, but when they’re wrapping up one other venture, they could not have the ability to begin on yours for one other two weeks.

Being aware of your group‘s time will make it simpler to place collectively an inexpensive, dependable timeline. It’ll be simpler to create the venture roadmap and perceive the venture’s general timeframe as soon as you set collectively all of those estimations.

5. Create the venture timeline.

Construct your timeline by organizing your duties from the primary to the ultimate step.

Make any needed changes to the duty instances, add milestones, and solidify the deadline. In case your group works with a timeline maker or project management software, set up the timeline and duties so it is able to share after the venture kickoff assembly.

Professional tip: It can save you time throughout this step through the use of one of many venture timeline templates under. It is easy to customise every and keep away from the additional work of making your personal from scratch.

6. Share the timeline with the venture group.

Whew! Your timeline is full. Subsequent, you get to share it with stakeholders. This contains everybody who’s concerned within the venture.

You‘ve already listed these individuals in your transient (throughout the 1st step), so it’s time to share your venture’s path ahead with them.

It is a good suggestion to carry a project kickoff meeting for each stakeholders and particular person contributors so everybody begins on the identical web page.

You’ll be able to talk the venture targets, deliverables, roles, and deadlines — with out going into an amazing quantity of element.

From there, you‘ll wish to schedule time with the venture’s rapid contributors to talk specifics and reply any questions earlier than the work begins.

Need assistance visualizing all the venture? I like to recommend together with a timeline graphic just like the one under to offer everybody a way of the general timeframe. You’ll be able to add or take away steps, relying on the complexity of your venture.

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7. Adapt as you go.

Keep in mind how simply over half of initiatives are completed on time? Roadblocks and setbacks are inevitable in each venture. So, in case your group runs right into a delay, you may have to grasp the affect and alter the timeline if needed.

Whereas it‘s doable to make up for delays with out altering the ultimate deadline, it’s your job because the venture proprietor to replace stakeholders on the venture‘s progress.

Reporting a minor subject like a coworker being out sick for a number of days isn’t at all times needed for higher-ups.

But when it is a main roadblock that requires an excessive adjustment to the timeline — like a core contributor leaving the group — it’s a must to talk a brand new timeline to stakeholders.

Change is a part of each course of, so don‘t panic if it’s a must to alter your timeline.

It’s higher to be clear in regards to the scope of labor and timeline than to maintain individuals at nighttime, hoping it’ll work out. The sooner you alter to vary, the extra time it’s a must to pivot — and the simpler will probably be to get again on monitor.

Undertaking Timeline Examples

Visualizing a venture makes it easy to grasp what must occur from begin to end.

Whether or not you want a template for a product launch or marketing campaign assembly, these well-designed project timeline templates I’ve gathered as much as present you’re excellent to your subsequent planning session.

Worker Onboarding Timeline

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This vertical timeline affords a method to plan and monitor your new rent’s journey as they ramp up. As you get to know them and discover the place they want assist, you may make changes to the timeline to extra precisely chart their progress, put together the assets they may want, and so on.

Professional tip: Onboarding is essential and deserves deep planning. Many professionals get their first actual introduction to an organization by way of the onboarding course of, so that you need it to go easily with all doable helps able to throw within the ring.

You’ll hold your group entire and happier for longer in the event that they know they’re being led with competency from the very begin.

Product Launch Timeline

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This horizontal product launch timeline may help you see the overlap of processes as time strikes ahead like a river. This provides group members an concept of when their cohort might want to lean in because the venture strikes alongside.

Finest for: This is a wonderful communication automobile for oversight functions. This isn’t getting slowed down with particulars — it’s a roadmap for stakeholders to grasp the general circulation, their locations in it, and the way they may contribute.

Disaster Response Undertaking Timeline

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It’s okay to hope for the perfect in any administration position, but it surely’s usually your job to plan for the worst. The easiest way to deal with an issue is to anticipate it and talk prematurely of it, which this disaster response timeline does superbly.

What I like: The essential Regrouping step on the finish. The very best venture managers I’ve ever labored with guarantee that the final steps embrace studying from the disaster outcomes to enhance the plan for when — not if — it occurs once more.

Historic Timeline

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Historic timelines like these are acquainted from faculty initiatives, however as professionals, they’re wonderful to have readily available to your firm for quite a lot of causes. You’ll have firm representatives to teach, guests to impress, or potential buyers who wish to see proof of progress and growth over time.

Finest for: Academic functions.

Process Undertaking Timeline

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Process timelines are nice for getting individuals shifting with out having to personally direct them.

Sending these as an electronic mail attachment can prevent heaps of communication time, get individuals the place they must be on the proper time, and direct people to what they must be doing when it must be completed.

Professional tip: Constructing a picture of a timeline is nice for a psychological understanding of the entire time period, and it units expectations. To truly get individuals the place they must be for every step, I’ve personally discovered that it helps to create and share a calendar with alerts inbuilt.

Assembly Undertaking Timeline

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I like a very good assembly timeline. These talk the who, what, and when your group members must know in an effort to navigate the day and perceive the general objective of the assembly block.

They are often made much more helpful by offering hyperlinks to the bios of the presenters, offering the speaking factors for every assembly prematurely, and dispersing the hyperlinks and passwords for any digital assembly areas.

What I like: As a neurospicy introvert that should handle my social vitality, my expertise has taught me that assembly timelines are significantly invaluable. I wish to know who I’ll be listening to, what sort of vitality to count on/could also be anticipated from me, and when to roust myself from gremlin work mode to public social mode.

Gantt Chart Instance

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A Gantt chart takes the timeline venture examples above and hoists them to the subsequent stage. It takes all of the wild threads of exercise and creates a tapestry of time and duties.

You’ll be able to seize a substantial amount of granularity in a Gantt chart and talk a ton of data directly.

You could must work together with your group members on find out how to learn it and profit from the data with out being overwhelmed by it.

Finest for: Undertaking Managers who need professional-grade instruments to deal with large-scale initiatives.

Use Undertaking Timelines to Keep on Schedule

Should you’re not precisely positive what you want but and need as many templates as you may get your fingers on, obtain all of those venture timelines (and extra) without spending a dime. With the best timelines in hand, it is simple to maintain everybody updated and knowledgeable.

Now all it’s a must to do is be sure your initiatives keep on schedule. Better of luck on the market, buddies!

Editor’s observe: This put up was initially revealed in September 2021 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.