Project Planning Tool

When collaborating with your team on a project it's important that you make your intentions as completely clear as possible.  This tool can help you to get your intentions, and limits clear and on paper.

First download the .doc file by clicking here: Project Planning Tool

Once you've labeled it with the project name there are four areas too fill out on this tool.

1. Project Purpose: Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve? By giving our team the "Why" we help them to make decisions that will lead to that ultimate goal.
2. Principals & Limits: Here we outline any "rules of the road" that we want the team to work from. Good things to list here include who they should talk to, what their budget (in time and money) is and any areas that you might not want them to pursue (e.g. don't talk to clients about this yet).
3. Outcome: What does success look like? How will the team know they've done a good job? Measurable goals are important here. "We want to find 20% cost savings," or "we want to have 200 people at the event, and close 5 new clients".
4. Tactics: Here we list the steps that the team will use to complete the project.  This is best done collaboratively as they will think of steps you don't.  It's good to brainstorm first, then put them in order. Each task has someone assigned to insure that it's completed and a date for completion.

By using this tool you will create a stronger assignment, your team will have a better idea of where they are going and should be able to respond better to any issues or changes that come up; and you will be free to move on to the next project!

This tool is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States so you can freely distribute or useit as long as you point people back to this page and share any modifications or improvements that you make.