How to Create a Project Plan That Actually Works

Things rarely go exactly to plan, especially in busy agencies.

Clients change their minds, deadlines shift, and teams juggle multiple projects at once.

That’s why a solid project plan isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s essential.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the key steps to building a project plan that actually works. You’ll get structure, examples and practical tips. Plus, we’ll show you how awork helps you turn that plan into something dynamic and manageable, even when things get hectic.

Ready? Let’s bring some structure (and sanity) to your projects. ✨

What is a project plan?

A project plan brings together everything you need to make your project a success: tasks, steps, timelines.
Especially in agencies, where projects often change direction quickly, a clear and flexible structure makes all the difference.

Usually, the plan is created at the start by the project lead or manager, and ideally, it’s updated as the project evolves.

👉 Sounds like a lot of work? That’s because it is, especially when your team is juggling multiple clients and deadlines at once.

With awork you're able to plan ahead and be prepared for every coincidence.

[.b-button-primary] Try awork for free [.b-button-primary]

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What does a project plan look like? The Structure

[.toc-name]The project plan structure[.toc-name]

The easiest way to structure a project is to break it down into smaller, manageable parts.

A proven method for this is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – this means splitting a project into sub-projects, task bundles and then individual tasks. Think of it as a tree structure.

When planning, ask yourself:

• What are the main phases of the project?
• What task groups belong to each phase?
• What tasks are in those groups?
• Can those tasks be split into subtasks?

This way, you get a clear picture of what needs to be done, when, and in what order.

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[.b-button-primary] Test the free WBS template [.b-button-primary]

[.b-important-block]Write down all your ideas in the form of a task list. Then bring order to the chaos by dividing the tasks into different lists and/or arranging them on a timeline (Gantt chart), for example.[.b-important-block]

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[.b-important-block] Structure the project using milestones and dependencies. These provide important insights into milestones and show which tasks are influenced by others.[.b-important-block]

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The 6 classic project planning questions

[.toc-name]6 planning steps[.toc-name]

Great project planning starts with the right questions.These six classic W-questions help you build a plan that’s clear, realistic and works in day-to-day life:

The 6 questions of project management: Where? Why? What? Who? When? How much?

Follow them step by step, and you’ll create a project plan that actually helps, not just looks good in a presentation.

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1. Where are we now? – The starting point

The goal of this question is to clarify the initial situation and bring all participants up to the same page.

Consider the following:

• What's the current situation?
• How did we get here?
• What characterizes the problem we aim to solve?

🎯 Goal: Get everyone on the same page.

[.b-important-block] You don’t need to start from scratch every time. In awork, you can save any project as a template and re-use it whenever needed.[.b-button-secondary]Learn how to use awork templates[.b-button-secondary][.b-important-block]

[$tag]💡 Tip[$tag]

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2. Why are we doing this project?

In project management lingo, the answer to this question is often referred to as the "success outlook". In essence: What will improve when the project is successfully completed? This should not be confused with the planned project goal or outcome, which specifies what will actually be produced. This is covered in the next step.

Defining the "why" of a project is relevant because projects are more successful when their benefits are clearly communicated. This also motivates team members during challenging project phases. So, it's crucial to precisely understand why you want to carry out this project. 🙏

Consider the following:

• What's the project's vision?
• What's the long-term benefit of implementing the project?
• What's the value of our project results?

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3. What do we aim to achieve?

Once you've established the "why" of project execution, it's time to focus on the project goal. This should accurately and preferably measurably describe what should be produced within the scope of the project.

There are various methods for defining goals. However, especially for beginners, less is often more. A project goal can simply be the tangible outcome. 🎯

Consider the following:

• What do we want to produce in this project?
• What are we doing in this project?
• What are the result objects?

Here's a simple example of a project goal and its success outlook (the preceding point):

• Project: Website Relaunch
• Project Goal: The finished website with the following 10 subpages is live.
• Success Outlook: Improved conversion rate in marketing and sales.

If you already have more experience in project management, consider using the S.M.A.R.T. principle for goal-setting. Formulate your goal as follows:

• Specific: Focus on a specific area that you aim to achieve with this goal.
• Measurable: Use quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure goal achievement.
• Attractive: How can you motivate your team with this project goal? What added value does the desired outcome bring?
• Realistic: Set ambitious goals but remain realistic.
• Timely: Give your team a realistic deadline and plan enough buffer to address potential delays.

[.b-important-block] Communicate project goals across the team. This not only avoids conflicts and helps manage difficulties better but also fosters the necessary focus for all project participants. [.b-important-block]

[$tag]💡 Tip[$tag]

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4. Who is involved in this project?

Every project has different roles, and the bigger the project, the more clearly those roles should be defined. All participants together form the "project cosmos". 🪐

Some project roles are present in every project, whether it's a client project or internal team effort. Sometimes, several of these roles are carried out by the same person – the larger the project, the more likely these roles will be handled by separate individuals:

• Sponsors are the creators of the project. Their responsibility is to define a clear project goal and approve the final project results.
• Contractors align with sponsors on the project's content and framework data. They serve as the team's point of contact and assist in resolving questions.
• Project management takes care of the operational project leadership, including task and time planning, maintaining the project plan in a narrow sense, and risk management.
• The team ultimately handles the substantive tasks of the project.

In every project, it's crucial to define exactly how collaboration among the participants will take place. Prior discussions should cover the intended workflows and communication methods, as well as the tools to be used for these purposes.

Don’t forget to clarify:

• How will we communicate?
• What tools will we use?
• How are feedback and approvals handled?

[.b-important-block] With awork Connect, you can loop in clients and freelancers easily – no endless email chains or extra tools needed.[.b-button-secondary]Discover awork Connect[.b-button-secondary][.b-important-block]

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5. When is the deadline?

The project's deadline – the date by which the project goal should be accomplished – is set by the client. This could either be an external party or someone from the team if it's an internal project. Regardless of whether you're collaborating with internal or external clients, make sure to allocate enough buffer time for possible delays.

⏳ awork shows you when your team is actually available, so you can build timelines that truly work.

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6. How much can the project cost?

Last but certainly not least: Calculate how much the planned project resources can cost. This includes both internal resources, such as personnel costs, and budget for external resources like agencies, tools, freelancers, or material expenses. If you have a client for the project, they often provide the project's cost limits. This informs your internal cost planning. 💸

📊 In awork, you can track time and budgets live, so you always know where you stand.

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Consider the following questions:

• What budget items are present in the project?
• How should the budget be distributed?
• What are the total costs resulting from this?
• Optional: Does the budget fall within the predetermined range?

Throughout the project, it's essential to continuously check whether you're still within the budget framework and time allocation. Similarly, at the project's conclusion, it's vital to perform a comparison to determine whether you were under or over budget. From the outcomes, you can then learn for future projects to enhance your ability to estimate costs more accurately. This applies not only to expenses but also to planned versus actual time investments.

How to create a project plan: an example

[.toc-name]Project plan example[.toc-name]

We can illustrate the structure of a project plan using the following project plan example. Imagine you're tasked with redesigning a company website for a client. 👩‍💻

Creating a project plan – example:

• For the project "Website Redesign," there are sub-projects such as
  "Website Design"
  "Technical Implementation."

• Under the sub-project "Website Design," you have work packages like
  "Corporate Branding"
  "Graphics"
  "Animations"

• The work package "Graphics" includes tasks such as
  "Design Mockups"  
  "Optimize Graphics."

[.b-important-block] In awork, you can assign planned effort to each task.
During task execution, your team can track time spent, allowing you to compare planned vs. actual time used.
This is especially useful for estimating future time requirements more accurately. [.b-important-block]

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[.b-related-article]Project planning from a customer pov[.b-related-article]

Creating a project timeline via gantt chart, including milestones

[.toc-name]Timeline & milestones[.toc-name]

Let's stick with the website redesign project example. What's the current state of your project plan?

1. So far, you've only outlined the structure of the existing project planning elements, and now you need to add a time dimension. Setting deadlines will help ensure you complete your project on time.
2. How do we achieve this? By using a Gantt chart to visualize the project timeline. The chart displays the duration of each work package as bars. These bars are placed on a horizontal timeline, defining the start and end of each task.
3. To meet deadlines, it's crucial that your team's necessary resources are available. They should be involved in the process as early and transparently as possible. Distribute work packages and tasks among the team members. An important aspect here is to estimate task durations as accurately as possible.

🤓 The major advantage of the Gantt chart: It's much more effective at visualizing tasks that span a long period, dependencies, and milestones compared to the traditional list or calendar format.

Milestones are especially useful for time management and progress tracking. They serve as fixed dates in the project plan by which specific tasks must be completed. This aids in monitoring the project's progress and ensuring it stays on course. Moreover, reaching a milestone, which represents a measurable interim outcome, can be highly motivating for the team. 🎉

Dependencies indicate which tasks need to be completed before others and which tasks might only begin after certain other tasks have been finished. Visualizing dependencies in the project plan helps provide a better understanding of how delays or changes can impact other parts of the project.

In the Gantt chart, thanks to this visual planning, you can also allocate responsibilities. It's immediately evident who has how many tasks in each project phase. This also helps in identifying bottlenecks and potential project risks before they materialize.

[.b-important-block] In awork, you can additionally see your team members' cross-project capacity. The workload overview displays overbookings or idle periods instantly, allowing you to adjust your plans accordingly.[.b-important-block]

[$tag]💡 Tip[$tag]

[.b-button-primary] Discover capacity planning [.b-button-primary]

Creating a project plan in awork

[.toc-name]Project plan in awork[.toc-name]

Having familiarized yourself with creating and structuring a project plan, let's now put this knowledge into practice using the project management tool awork. Here's how you can create your own project plan step by step:

1. Hierarchical input of project plan contents: In your awork project, begin by creating a list for each sub-project. Then add the relevant tasks and subtasks, and you can equip them with checklists if needed.

2. Task information: Add all possible information for each individual task and subtask: timings, responsibilities, priority markers, planned effort, descriptions, checklists – the more, the better. 😉

3. Visual Scheduling of your Project: Switch from the list view to the timeline view. This displays all the tasks in your project over time – like a Gantt chart, but even better. Tasks for which you've already set start and end dates will be automatically displayed in the timeline. Tasks without scheduling can be simply dragged and dropped from the list on the right side of the screen to the appropriate position.

4. Assigning responsibilities: The timeline view is also perfect for assigning your team to their respective tasks. To ensure that nobody is overbooked, have a look at the workload overview in the planner.

5. Dependencies and milestones: Define them to highlight priorities and important milestones. Dependencies clarify which tasks your team should address first.

[.b-important-block] The project plan is all set. But then spontaneous requests come in that disrupt everything? Simply assign them to team members who have some available time in their schedules. You can quickly identify those available slots using the awork planner.[.b-important-block]

[$tag]💪 Pro Tip [$tag]

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The most frequently awork project templates

Once you've created a planning that suits you, you can also save it as a project template or task template – for example, using the templates in awork. These will make kicking off future projects a breeze!

[.b-button-primary] Template annual planning [.b-button-primary] [.b-button-primary] Template campaign planning [.b-button-primary]

[.b-button-primary] Template team meeting [.b-button-primary] [.b-button-primary] Template WBS [.b-button-primary]

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Summary

A project plan is more than just a checklist. It brings structure, clarity, and keeps everyone aligned – especially in agencies, where deadlines are tight, changes are frequent, and multiple projects run in parallel.

By answering the six key questions and breaking your project down into manageable steps, you lay the groundwork for smooth and successful delivery.

And it works even better when your planning lives in a tool that supports your day-to-day reality – like awork.
With tasks, timelines, availability, and collaboration all in one place, your plan becomes more than a document – it becomes action.

👉 Start your free trial with awork – and make project planning feel like progress.

[.b-button-primary] Curious? Try awork for free! [.b-button-primary]

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Frequently Asked: Why is a project plan beneficial?

A project plan consolidates all the plans and tasks needed to execute your project. It helps you simplify the complexity of your endeavor, saving you a lot of time in project management. 💪

A project plan is an essential tool for successful project execution. It aids in structuring and organising your project, efficient time and resource management, communication with all stakeholders, and identifying and addressing risks. If you're interested in even more project planning magic, take a look in our project planning hub and discover use cases, articles and practical templates.

What do you need for a good project plan?

To build a functioning project plan, you first need a real overview of all your dimensions. By dimensions, we mean your team, your project portfolio, the combined capacity planning and a realistic assessment of changes (no project without spontaneous cancellations or changes).

If you build your planning basis from these dimensions, you will be equipped to plan projects profitably and realistically. In our blog article on 4D planning, you can find all the information you need on the best way to plan in dimensions.