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Project Management

5 real project management examples for your team.

Content Partnership Specialist

October 4, 2022

Whether it’s a home or a business project, simple or complex by nature, the secret sauce to delivering successful projects is starting strong with the right strategy and execution plan .

You can do this (and do it well) with a go-getter mindset, proper project management approaches, and the right tools.

In this article, you’ll learn about the building blocks of project management, including the key success factors and phases, as well as how project management tools can keep them together. Then we’ll show you how it all works in practice with five real project management examples! 👌

The 4 Phases of the Project Management Life Cycle

Key factors for successful project management .

  • 1. Marketing Project
  • 2. SEO Project
  • 3. Customer Enablement Project
  • 4. Education Project
  • 5. Product Launch Project

Managing projects from start to finish can come with long and complex processes . So, to help make everyone’s job easier, the concept of the project life cycle was introduced. 

Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle, or project management process, consists of four phases: initiating, planning, executing, and closing. It’s a structured path your projects go through to help move them from conception to completion and ensure project objectives are delivered in each phase. Let’s take a look at what the project manager is responsible for in each phase:

1. The initiation phase

Get everyone onboard. The project manager defines the organization, client, or customer’s goal, identifies key stakeholders, the project team, and the scope of work of the project , and determines measurable objectives for the team.

2. The planning phase

Strategically prepare and map out the project. The project manager is responsible for creating a detailed project plan and outlining the project schedule that includes the major project milestones and describes what tasks or deliverables make up each milestone. This is important because the project plan provides a strategy and project checklist to help properly manage resources, budget, and timeline along the project life cycle.

3. The execution phase 

It’s go time. In this phase, the project manager’s main job is to oversee the team’s efforts and ensure everyone understands what’s expected of them, what tasks need to be done, and how and when to complete those tasks to ensure everything is done within the project schedule. 

4. The closing phase

Time to wrap up the project. The project manager must identify that their team has completed all of the requested outcomes, then present the final product to the stakeholders to sign off and officially close the project.

📌 Key takeaway:

By following the project life cycle, you’re ensuring that you are: 

  • Capturing the expectations of your customer
  • Setting your project up for success with a plan
  • Executing project tasks and addressing any issues or project risks that arise
  • Closing out your project to capture any lessons learned and improve the next projects

Critical factors for successful project management can vary from one project to another, but here are a few factors that should remain constant no matter the type of project or what industry you’re in:

✅ Set SMART goals 

✅ Understand the project scope and prevent scope creep

✅ Identify project risks and create a risk management plan

✅ Clearly defined roles and responsibilities

✅ Effective team communication

✅ Maintain a high level of project visibility

How project management software gives teams flexibility 

With so many factors that can impact project success, using project management software can help to keep everyone and everything on track and ahead of curveballs.

A good project management app can take so much of the burden of managing projects off your shoulders by providing teams with the tools they need to get a high-level overview of their work, streamline business processes, create efficient workflows, communicate more effectively, and make collaboration seamless and more enjoyable. 

ClickUp , for one, helps project managers and teams plan, manage, track projects, and collaborate with each other—all in one place. Its fully customizable platform gives teams the flexibility and the advanced tools they need to create the most efficient workflow that best suits their project needs and preferences. 

And because the platform is fully customizable, teams in ClickUp are fully equipped to handle any type of project and support any type of project management methodology , including the most common approaches such as Waterfall, Agile (Scrum and Kanban), Lean, Six Sigma, and more. 

Docs, Chat, and List view in ClickUp

Key ClickUp features for effective project management include :

  • Customizable views : View your projects your way; choose from 15+ views, including Gantt Chart, Timeline, and Workload view
  • Custom automation : Save time, keep your processes consistent, and streamline your workflow
  • Custom task statuses : Add and assign different stages to your tasks to improve project visibility 
  • Custom Fields : Add more context to your tasks and display important information 
  • Goals : Stay on track to hit your SMART goals with clear timelines, measurable targets, and automatic progress tracking 
  • Project milestones : Easily set milestones to help you stay on top of important deadlines and track your team’s progress against major checkpoints
  • Dependencies : Add “blocking” or “waiting on” dependencies between tasks to set a clear order of operations, so your team always knows what to work on first
  • Task checklist : Create a to-do list within each task to ensure all steps are completed before moving the task forward
  • Dashboards : Build a mission control center for each project, team member, and more to  ensure every project stakeholder has the information they need to control any project risk and keep the project delivery within its timeline
  • Global time tracking : Track time spent on tasks, set estimates, add notes, and view reports of your time from anywhere
  • Assigned comments : Create and assign action items directly within a comment 
  • Mobile app : Keep your projects accessible wherever you go with the ClickUp mobile app
  • Integration : Connect ClickUp to over 1,000 of your favorite work tools to streamline your workflow  

Now, let’s take a look at a few real-life project management examples and learn how other industry experts have successfully delivered projects using the right methodology and tools!

5 Project Management Examples and Tips for Successful Project Delivery

1. marketing project example: creating a cross-functional workflow.

Jakub Grajcar , a Marketing Manager at STX Next, leads a team of content and social media specialists, spearheads the Marketing department’s lead generation and brand recognition strategy and works with multiple departments to deliver projects. A typical day for the team includes executing upwards of five content deliverables, with Jakub often reviewing 10+ different projects at a time.

The problem?

Working with our Product Design department was a chaotic process. Our teams struggled with communication because we lacked project visbility—we often didn’t have clear information about whether tasks were still under review or needed more work.  We absolutely needed a system that would allow me and the Head of Product Design to get an overview of the entire process and come to grips with all the work in progress and upcoming tasks.

Jakub Grajcar

The goal? To help improve global collaboration across departments , and content marketing processes, speed up project completion and delivery, and keep the teams aligned on goals, project timelines, and so on by creating a cross-functional workflow and standardizing processes in ClickUp. Here’s how Jakub and his team carried out this initiative: 

Initiation phase

  • Identify the project: To create Marketing Sprints templates and team Dashboards 
  • Define the desired outcome: Manage multiple projects, streamline partner outreach, and speed up the content production process

Planning phase

  • Project management methodology: Agile  

Execution phase

Task checklist:

  • Create Folders for each department and set up Lists within each Folder
  • Within each List, create tasks and subtasks to breakdown the work even further 
  • Save tasks as a template that can be reused as many times as needed
  • Set up Custom Task Statuses to give each stage of the project a designated name 
  • Add Custom Fields to each List to display and keep key information easily accessible
  • Added custom automation to automatically trigger an action and push the project to the next step 
  • Save the Folder as a template to be reused for the next Sprint and to keep processes consistent 
  • Build a custom Dashboard with real-time reporting to display key data and improve task visibility

Closing phase

  • At the end of the project, Jakub and the teams within STX Next tested the new Marketing Sprints template and Dashboard to ensure the process was smooth for everyone involved in the project and all of the custom automation in ClickUp was set up properly.

📌 Use this Marketing Sprint Folder template to help with project planning, keep project activities visible and organized, and streamline your processes. Hit the ground running with pre-set Board and List views, task estimation capabilities, and customizable automation!

2. SEO project example: Scaling content production

Adele Payant , ClickUp’s SEO Specialist, is responsible for researching opportunities and creating content briefs for the writers to use as a guide when drafting articles for the blog page. And to write compelling content briefs, she has to perform keyword research, competitive analysis , and other important related tasks, and ensure the content brief is detailed and easy to follow for the writers.  The problem?

The biggest challenge in our SEO blog workflow was focusing on scaling our content production without impacting the quality of each blog.

Adele Payant

The goal? 

To create a clear and repeatable system to help our SEO team ramp up the volume of briefs without compromising the quality of the brief and reduce unnecessary back-and-forth communication.

Here’s how Adele executed this project:

Initiation phase 

  • Identify the project : Create a detailed and structured SEO content brief template
  • Define the desired outcome: Create a structured and consistent workflow for researching and creating content briefs, and speed up the approval process

Planning phase 

  • Connect with the writing team to capture feedback about the current process 
  • Start a new Doc and use the rich-editing tools to structure your page
  • Add headers to define the sections in your Doc clearly
  • Embed links to example articles and other key data from keyword research
  • Add nested pages to capture notes for the assigned writer to review before drafting the article
  • Save the Doc as a template 

Closing phase 

  • To ensure the content blog brief is up to par, the Sr. SEO Manager, Sr. SEO Specialist, and Sr. Content Managers reviewed the Doc and presented the template to the content writers to review for readability and to gather feedback. The project is officially closed after all stakeholders have approved it.

📌 Use this SEO Content Brief template to clearly state your goals and objectives, and share it with your writers to improve content delivery.

For more SEO project management tips, check out ClickUp’s Sr. SEO Manager’s article: Tips to Optimize Your Workflow . 

3. Customer enablement project: Launching a new program

Robin Wisner , ClickUp’s LMS Administrator, is responsible for delivering a new initiative to give ClickUp customers a fun and interactive way to learn how to use ClickUp and maximize the features within the platform.

The Customer Enablement team, of which Robin is a member, launched ClickUp University (CUU) in November 2021. The new program received an overwhelmingly positive response from ClickUp users and ultimately gave the team the green light to launch another option to help further enhance user experience.

To accomplish this, she led the initiative to launch CUU Certificates—a program intended to recognize the ClickUp users’ product knowledge and reward them for completing the course exams.

The biggest challenge for a project of this scale was managing across so many teams with competing priorities .

Robin Wisner

To delegate work effectively and launch the new certification program on time to provide a measurable process for customers to successfully onboard and enhance their experience as a ClickUp user.

Here’s how Robin and the project team members made it happen:

  • Identify the project : Launch and promote the new certification program 
  • Define the desired outcome: To collaborate with different teams to design and launch the new certification program.
  • Project management methodology: Waterfall
  • Outline objectives for each certification level and course in ClickUp Docs
  • Develop beta test group and SOP for testing in ClickUp Docs
  • Outline the diagram taxonomy and customer journey in ClickUp Whiteboards
  • Create ClickUp Tasks for content development and assign them to the designated team members 
  • Use the ClickUp Form to submit a design request for the certificates
  • Submit a request to create a new help center overview article
  • Collaborate with the Dev Ops team to code and manage website design
  • Run tests with the beta test group and collect feedback 
  • Create internal and external enablement materials
  • Submit a request for marketing promotional materials 
  • To finalize and close this project, the project stakeholders reviewed the creative designs and tested the website’s performance and user experience. The approval was given once project requirements are met. 

📌 Use this Feedback Form template to customize your feedback collection, view all your feedback in one place, and improve your products and services.

Bonus: Project Management Software for Freelancers

4. Education project example: Building company-wide data reporting dashboards

Morey Graham , the Director of Alumni and Donor Services (ADS) at Wake Forest University, leads and manages fundraising campaigns , alumni relationships, brand identity, and publications within the Wake Forest community. 

Because teams worked on separate platforms, it created work silos that led to duplicated efforts and poor team communication. We also lacked visibility into our data which impacted our ability to make strong business decisions for the organization.

Morey Graham

To find a new project management tool that is user-friendly for all the departments and to create a business dashboard that displays and updates data in real-time to help improve project visibility across the organization.

Here’s how Morey and the ADS department delivered this project:

  • Identify the project : Create an accurate and reliable project dashboard for leadership and team members
  • Define the desired outcome: Improve data reporting and task visibility across departments, and align team goals

Task checklist

  • Consolidate work tools and integrate apps together to streamline the data reporting process
  • Set an all-hands meeting with the department to collect feedback about the current process and document meetings notes in a Doc or Notepad
  • Create a Space for each department to organize work by departments
  • Within each Space, create a Folder for each project
  • Within each Folder, create a List for each team member 
  • Create Custom Statuses for every stage of the project
  • Set up and add tags to tasks to categorize and link related tasks together 
  • Establish goals and document targets for each in ClickUp Goals  
  • Define your Dashboard audience and data story
  • Choose the right KPIs to support the data story
  • Select the widget that matches your reporting requirements
  • Present the project to the department head and key stakeholders for review and approval to close the project. 

📌 Create custom Dashboards in ClickUp to get a high-level overview of all your initiatives, highlight KPIs, project status, and progress, to keep everyone on track and aligned at all times.

5. Product launch project example: Launching a new product feature

To further expand ClickUp’s list of features for project management, the company set out a huge initiative to build and successfully launch a new product feature, ClickUp Whiteboards . Spearheading the project is ClickUp’s Group Product Manager, Zach Blodgett . The company’s vision was to create a powerful yet easy-to-use digital collaboration tool that project managers, executives, and team members could use to level up their brainstorming, planning, and execution processes.

The problem? 

The biggest challenge was team size and a rapidly approaching deadline. The deadline was immovable and we had a ton of stakeholders from GTM, sales, pricing & packaging, growth, support, CSMs, EPD. We had to ensure they knew what was going out, what was next, and how to talk about Whiteboards.

Zach Blodgett

To use a project management tool to help manage tasks, communicate with stakeholders across the globe, and minimize risks and bottlenecks to deliver the new and highly-anticipated product feature within the agreed-upon timeline.

Here’s how Zach and the company launched a successful project launch:

  • Identify the project : New feature rollout 
  • Define the desired outcome: To successfully deliver a responsive and functional new feature and create GTM campaigns for launch day
  • Project management methodology: Lean
  • Delegate tasks to the respective team members within the Product and Engineering team
  • Use the ClickUp-Github integration to preview branches populated in the tasks
  • Create Clip videos to report bugs in development and to easily relay complex issues to other teams
  • Connect with the Creative team to shoot promotional videos and ads
  • Connect with the entire company to run beta testing and collect feedback
  • Run tests with the Security team
  • Collaborate with Sales to determine the pricing model
  • Work with the Product Marketing GTM team to create a marketing campaign plan for the launch
  • Set important milestones and schedule for beta release

Closing Phase 

  • The CEO, Sr. VP of Engineering, and other key project stakeholders reviewed the product feature, and approved the final product before launch day.

Here’s the final look—check it out!

📌 Create a step-by-step approach to how your organization will bring a product to the market, and use this Go to Market Strategy template to help you ship faster!

Handle Any Project With Confidence By Using ClickUp

Successful project management starts with understanding what the ultimate goal of the project is, understanding the key elements that go into an intelligent project plan, and creating a smooth and actionable strategy to get there—refer to the project management examples above to help spark ideas.

You’ll also need to ensure to implement the appropriate methodology to guide you through the entire process and utilize the project lifecycle to keep you on track. 

And to make your life as a project manager as easy as humanly possible, you need to use a project management tool like ClickUp to help keep everything in order and bring all your work to one centralized place. Use it to track project progress, manage project risks and resources effectively, collaborate with your entire organization, and so much more. 

With its extensive list of customizable and functional features, you’ll be fully equipped to handle any type of project management approach, manage multiple complex projects at once, set up the most streamlined workflow, support your remote and hybrid teams, and confidently deliver quality projects on time, every time. 

(cue “That was easy” sound effect 😉)

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Project Management Examples: Success Stories Case Studies, and Examples

By Kate Eby | January 3, 2023

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The best real-world project management starts with meticulous planning and ends with achieving goals. Take charge of your next project with the techniques and tools that experts use to avoid failure and deliver stellar results.

In this article, learn about eight real-world project management examples , project success criteria , five famous project management failures , and how modern project management software supports success .

Successful Real-World Project Management Examples

Successful real-world project management examples have one thing in common: they support company strategy. Examples show how detailed research, planning, and organization of resources helped real-world project managers achieve a particular aim that moves the organization forward.

Successful project management examples reveal that, in order to reach the final goal, you must have and maintain a big-picture view. Other success factors include involving stakeholders, reviewing multiple frameworks and solutions, and keeping the lines of communication open.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Case Study: Increased Outpatient Surgical Center Performance

Jay Arcilla

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital is a 357-bed not-for-profit community hospital and trauma center in Santa Clarita, California. Jay Arcilla, Director of the Performance Excellence Office, is charged with studying and adapting the functions and processes to increase the achievement of desired outcomes, better meet patients' needs, and assure quality. 

  • Challenge: In every hospital, starting the day's first scheduled in-patient or out-patient surgery on time has a knock-on effect on subsequent surgery timelines. Meeting schedules can always be challenging. The pandemic created even more hurdles, from having the right supplies and equipment on hand to keeping up with documentation and ensuring the right personnel are available to cover every patient's needs. Arcilla focused on raising surgery on-time start times to 70 percent. 

HMNH implementations

  • Work Sessions: A team work session helps frontline staff analyze the root cause and create a consensus-driven, interdisciplinary team.

HMNH dashboard

  •  Communication: Disseminating information and encouraging discussion for all stakeholder groups.
  •  Accountability: The operating room executive leadership created and enforced an Outpatient Surgery Center First Case On-Time Start (OPSC FCOTS) Escalation Plan, holding all staff accountable for showing up to first cases on time.
  • Takeaway: In complex, multi-layered project situations, there is often no single silver bullet. Instead, results manifest over time. In this case, within seven months, monthly performance went past the 70 percent target to 89 percent for April 2022.

Behr Process Corporation Case Study: Paving the Way for Road Show Marketing Achievement 

Lisa Kudukis

Behr is one of the largest purveyors of architectural paint and exterior wood care products in the United States and Canada. Lisa Kudukis, Director of Professional Products and Services for the Behr Process Corporation , oversees promotions, including a major road show.

  • Challenge: Kudukis created the BehrPro Experience Tour to connect with U.S. contractors. The annual event employs five tour teams covering 75 markets and 500 Home Depot locations in 34 states. Initially, each manager used different tools and organizational tactics to run their activities. Supervising people and processes and collaborating to maximize efforts was challenging. The Behr marketing team needed a way to operate more efficiently and stay on task. 
  • Solution: After an exhaustive review, Kudukis chose Smartsheet as the group's project management tool. Everyone on the team now uses a single, custom template. A master dashboard relays information about key initiatives and features a drill-down menu so anyone with access can check on small details.  
  • Takeaway: For the team, it is a huge time and money saver since anyone can view the project status and provide assistance if necessary. It also helps the team identify new business development opportunities or obstacles to inform future promotions and projects.

Successful Software Project Examples

Software projects involve generating an overall plan, scheduling, allocating resources, executing, tracking, and delivering quality software and apps. These examples show that successful software projects deliver the product with the pre-agreed level of quality within the given time and cost. 

Software companies create, change or maintain valuable products. Software project management is one of the most complex and fastest-growing endeavors in business today.

Hyland Software: More Responsive Updates and Website Requests

Jacob Huston-Lowery

Jacob Huston-Lowery manages web operations at Hyland Software , a content services platform and developer of Onbase, an enterprise content management (ECM) and process management software suite. Hyland cuts dozens of hours from the website request process while capturing data to drive ongoing improvement for its clients. Clients include insurance, manufacturing, higher education, and finance businesses that provide web-based services to their customers.

  • Challenge: Providing efficiency and seamless services is paramount to maintaining Hyland's standards. Service requests from internal staff who noticed system issues, along with those on behalf of customers, created log jams and confusion. When Huston-Lowery came on board, there were five different contact forms, and some requesters were bypassing the process and sending emails. 
  • Solution: Huston-Lowery turned to Smartsheet to find an easy-to-use solution for the critical challenges his team faced. Using project messaging and alerts within the app helped eliminate email delays. When users complete an online form with an alert for urgent projects, Smartsheet routes website requests to a sheet Huston-Lowery manages. As requests come in, all projects are prioritized, scheduled, and assigned to team members or third-party website management agencies.
  • Takeaway: By replacing email trails with built-in alerts and update capabilities, the Smartsheet solution saves communication time and eliminates duplication. The ability to handle requests strategically helps the team implement a support program that runs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week – a process that was impossible before instituting the new project management process.

Examples of Successful IT Projects

Information technology (IT) projects ensure that software, devices, and systems work together to help people get things done. 

Managing IT projects and creating efficient IT project plans involve all aspects of planning, design, implementation, project management, and training.

Convergint: A Single System of Record Improves Processes and Customer Service

Jenn Hilber

Jenn Hilber is the Business Architect, Operations for Convergint , the largest privately held security integrator in the United States. Convergint has more than 175 locations worldwide, providing a range of services, including installation and management of card readers and cameras, alarm systems, fire systems, building controls, and more.

  •  Challenge: The company prides itself in creating an outstanding customer experience, but managing all the details seamlessly was difficult. Convergint relied on manual practices and printed playbooks, with no single unified process for most of its activities.
  •  Solution: Convergint turned to Smartsheet to capture all of its data, best practices, and resources in a single place. As a result, teams can make strategic decisions and act on customer priorities with confidence knowing that they have the most current and accurate information at their fingertips.
  • Takeaway: Convergint teams now enjoy better cross-team and global communication, a clearer insight into customers' needs and status, and greater accountability for internal processes. Customers also experience quicker turnaround time for requests.

Exoft: Shifting to Mixed Methodologies Rescue an IT Project Management Client Relationship

Bohuslava Zhyko

Bohuslava Zhyvko is Head of Marketing for Exoft , a software development services company located in Lviv, Ukraine. Exoft builds robust web and mobile solutions with a focus on increasing clients' efficiency and solving technology challenges. 

  • Challenge: Zhyvko began a new assignment with an IT client previously managed by another project manager. Zhyvko learned the IT client didn't want to hear about Agile methodology or process at Exoft; he simply wanted to complete his project ASAP. 
  • Solution: Zhyvko immediately requested a kick-off conference call. During the call, she discussed the goal and purpose of the project and clarified the main issues that were creating stress points. After the call, Zhyvko gathered the team and included Exoft's CTO. The weaknesses of the client's planning and reporting systems became apparent, and Zhyvko offered the solution: Agile, after all. The team used a mix of Scrum and Kanban to replace Waterfall , which wasn't the right approach for the nature and goals of the project. They divided the project's scope into milestones and sprints, then switched the look of the workboard in Jira. Zhyvko supplied the client with a process improvement proposal and SOW with all the features he wanted. Zhyvko explained how the project's formal change request procedure worked and shared the documentation, so the client could clearly understand the development process, which they accepted and signed.
  • Takeaway: After three months, when two milestones were closed, the client was pleased with the deliveries and the Scrum working process. The project concluded after milestone 11 with a client who was pleased with the outcome. His startup is growing extremely fast, and the company and Zhyvko have an excellent relationship. Solid planning, reporting, and communication can turn around even the most complex project management challenge.

Examples of Successful Completed Business Projects

Efficiently reaching project objectives is a key element of project management success. Efficiency relates to how the project’s limited resources are managed to meet its goals while building good relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Whirlpool: Regional Alignment for Smoother Operations

Thiago Zapparoli

Thiago Zapparoli is a Senior Planning Engineer at Whirlpool Corporation . The global home appliance company relies on regional project managers to manage its extensive portfolio.

  • Challenge: When you're responsible for managing a project portfolio of a global home appliance company — including approximately 400 individual projects across five worldwide regions — you need a comprehensive system to keep everything on track. That's why Zapparoli looked for a way to get project managers, leadership, and other stakeholders on the same page with the laundry and dryer portfolio he manages.
  • Solution: Zapparoli knew he needed an effective and unique system for all project managers to aggregate the 400 projects that covered multiple regions around the globe. At a minimum, the project management system needed to identify responsibilities for each project and task; key performance indicators; and open, completed, and delayed tasks. Smartsheet offered an all-up view of an entire region, providing real-time visibility into the overall project status and numerous tasks. First deployed in Brazil, the holistic tracker transformed how the 10 project managers and cross-functional leaders in that region approach their daily work and stay in sync.
  • Takeaway: After implementations in Brazil and the United States, Zapparoli’s Smartsheet trackers are used in all three remaining regions and assisted deployment in four other Whirlpool internal organizations. Project managers are engaged because they have control over projects. Cross-functional leaders are satisfied with the visibility, and senior leadership can now see how they can help.

Simplus: Improved Sales Process

Katherine Albiston

Katherine Albiston is a Content Manager for Simplus , an Infosys company that provides a strategic, industry-focused digital transformation for customers in the Salesforce ecosystem. She shares how Simplus’ customer Ziehm Imaging needed to improve its sales process to garner maximum efficiency and profits, as well as the company’s solution for them.

  • Challenge: Simplus customer Ziehm Imaging, Inc. was using a legacy configure, price, quote (CPQ) system process for defining new products or modifying bundles. As a result, it took up to a week to go to market. A Microsoft Excel-based process further complicated managing market-specific annual pricing updates, which required a manual price override to apply pricing for each segment. The manual work increased errors, eroded margins, and led to customer communications about pricing adjustments – not good for relationships. 
  • Solution: Simplus simplified Ziehm's bundle configuration process and centralized compatibility management rules. It now uses a lookup-based rules setup for products that enforces business policies in real time as sales reps interact with the CPQ system. 
  • Takeaway: Streamlining and installing coherent systems decreased Ziehm's quote creation time by 93 percent, troubleshooting time by 87 percent, and the time to add products by approximately 87 percent. The lesson is clear: A holistic approach to process improvement can reap impressive benefits.

designdough: A More Refined Recruitment Process

Molly Govus

Molly Govus is the Marketing Manager of designdough , a full-service U.K. design firm. The company tightened its use of project and time management tools to run projects and realized it needed to do the same for managing internal projects.

  • Challenge: designdough audited its recruitment process and discovered four key issues: Permanent and temporary staffing ebb and flow was always in flux depending on client project demands. There were no clear start-to-finish timescales, and they lacked transparency with staff regarding project timescales. Staff capacity related to assigned tasks was unclear. Finally, the firm lacked designated client communication points.  
  • Solution: They started by planning and documenting every resource and task using a project management tool that provided visibility for all team members. They wanted to clarify the audit's issues and organize information and project processes around recruiting by implementing clearly delineated stages (Administration, Interview, Offer, Induction, and Confirmation). Now, they set start dates for each step and complete tasks before moving to the next stage. Additionally, they add relevant tags, such as meeting , to tasks so they can easily identify who is assigned the task assignment and dates attached to every job. 
  • Takeaway: Thanks to a straightforward process and an efficient project management tool, the team met its recruitment project goals. They now encounter fewer bottlenecks and have an easier recruitment process that has improved staff and client satisfaction and relationships.

What Is the Measure of Project Success?

The measure of project success is meeting the initial criteria established by the internal or external client and the project team. Teams use these specs, milestones, and deliverables to evaluate a project after it closes. 

Jason Scott

“Project managers are experts at helping people define problems,” notes J. Scott, CEO of 120VC and author of The Irreverent Guide to Project Management . “Data drives and measures success to control the outcome and move the project forward as aggressively as possible, leaving no time or money on the table.”

In its 2020 report, “Ahead of the Curve: Forging a Future Focused Culture,” the Project Management Institute (PMI) found that organizations that operated from mature ROI capabilities geared toward meeting strategic goals, working within predetermined budgets, delivered segments and the entire project on time with limited scope creep . High-maturity companies had 50 percent fewer project failures than low-maturity organizations.      

A success measurement framework includes:

  • Buy-In: Worthy projects and outstanding ideas can fail if critical stakeholders aren't behind the effort. With buy-in, resources will be available, and you can move the project forward.
  • Strategic Approach: One of the best ways to guarantee buy-in is to make a business case that shows how the project fits into overall company goals and will positively impact the organization’s future. According to an article on the six questions to ask before starting a big project in the Harvard Business Review, a good distribution of resources is 60 percent in support of the core business, 30 percent in the adjacent business area, and 10 percent unrelated to your core business.
  • Meticulous Planning: Completing projects on budget and on schedule relies on thorough advanced planning. Professional planning includes defining the scope and objectives of the project and operating from an understanding of the resource and budget limitations that affect your project. 
  • Continuous Monitoring: Once the project begins, it's essential to monitor all activities, resources, and expenditures almost constantly. You will likely find that you’ll need to make adjustments to some elements in every project. You will want to monitor the execution of tasks against milestones, keep an eye on quality, track whether you are on schedule, and verify money is spent according to plan. 
  • Make Relationships a Priority: Stay in touch with clients, vendors, and internal team members to stay informed about project status and build relationships. Once the project concludes, check in with stakeholders to see what worked and what didn't so that you can apply winning strategies and tactics to subsequent projects.

Setting Success Metrics

For the best results, the only way to measure project failure or success is by collecting and tracking data from the first day until the project closes. "You can't manage what you don't measure" is Peter Drucker’s time-honored adage for setting project success metrics. 

Management consultant Drucker's gold standard in project management metrics is his specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals framework, known as SMART . To start setting those strategic types of project metrics, the Performance Management Institute (PMI) suggests asking three questions to inform the metrics you will use to measure the success of your project .

 The key questions to help set metrics are the following:

  • Why is the project needed? Understand the purpose or goal of the project or work.
  • What are the success factors? Determine what critical success factors are mandatory for you to succeed and achieve the goal.
  • What are the metrics? Identify how you will measure the fulfillment for each critical success factor for the project or program, and collect and share data.

Common Project Management Success Metrics

Metrics for on-target project management track productivity, assess resource utilization, monitor the scope of work changes, and measure quality. Assuring a low number of defects throughout the project and providing a quality deliverable at its end should be a metric for any project. 

Examples of crucial project metrics include the following:

  • Resource Utilization: This metric assesses how individual team members or the project team spend their time against the total number of hours allocated for the project. Periodically checking time spent on the project can help assess how human energy is being used. For organizations that bill hours, this is an important metric to monitor and review at the end of a project.
  • Schedule Variance: This metric helps project managers determine if projects are running according to the planned budget or ahead of it. A negative schedule variance means the project is behind schedule.
  • Cost Performance: This metric measures efficiency. Divide the work performed or earned value by how much money it took to accomplish tasks. Accurate budget estimates rely on forecasting cost performance. 
  • Cost Variance: This metric pinpoints how you are operating within a planned budget. The purpose is to see if you are running below or within budget. If cost variance is negative, the project is over budget. If it’s under budget, that means you are achieving budget and project success.
  • Gross Margin: A strategically planned project aims to contribute to the company by increasing profits. The gross margin is the difference between the total income and total project spend. It’s best to establish the gross target margin before a project begins and measure it on an ongoing basis. Achieving or exceeding a gross margin is the primary mark of project management excellence.

With project metrics in place and the right tools to track that data, it is easier to crunch the numbers on previous projects to see what went right and what task ended up causing a significant delay.

What Skills and Tools Support Project Management Success?

You need various tools and skills to guide projects to the desired goal. Soft skills are people skills or emotional intelligence. Hard skills are specific to project managers and can be learned through formal training or on the job. 

The exact project management techniques and tools you need depend on your industry, company, and team preferences. The vital foundation for success is to create your project plan and lean into best practices that focus on organization, communication, and team leadership. "There are many methodologies project managers employ," says 120VC’s J. Scott. "Waterfall, Agile, Lean, and more – but the most important skill to have is leadership and a people-centric framework since it is people that get [expletive] done.”

Project management skills and tools to help you meet project management challenges – and win –  include the following:

  • Soft Skills: Soft skills are interpersonal skills such as communication, flexibility, leadership, teamwork, and time management.
  • Project Management Tools: Tools is another word for software. Purpose-built project management software supports teams in the planning, tracking, and managing of projects to meet stated goals on time and within budget. These also serve as a repository for data that will inform the post-project analysis.
  • Project Management Methodologies and Frameworks: The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide describes all the PM methodologies and techniques available to manage projects. Project managers choose frameworks such as Critical Chain Project Management, Lean, Scrum, and Waterfall for their projects.

Reasons Projects Fail and How Modern Project Software Supports Success

Projects fail for many reasons. Those include inadequate preparation, poor documentation and tracking, and poor communication. Modern project software can help solve those problems and support success. 

"Project management, particularly at the enterprise scale, is about getting to desired outcomes as efficiently as possible under any conditions," says 120VC's Scott. "You must be agile (with a lowercase a) to get things done to reach those outcomes." Modern software is the way forward.

“IT projects have an exceptionally high failure rate of 44 percent,” says Scott. “These projects fail due to a lack of alignment between business and project objectives. As software project failure statistics show, the lack of alignment of projects with the business objectives is why nearly half of the strategic initiatives fail.”

5 Famous Project Management Failures and How They Could Have Been Solved

Project management failures are part of most projects. The key is to learn from past failures and track projects closely to get back on track when things go awry. 

1. Citibank Interest Payment Failure Citibank intended to make a $7.8 million interest payment to creditors of its client Revlon. Instead, the company paid $900 million because of errors due to aging software. Citibank's employees set up a transaction as if they were paying off the entire loan to calculate the interest correctly, then check numerous boxes to deliver the majority of the sum to an internal Citibank account. Three different people signed off on this transaction, most of which wasn't due to creditors until 2023, but the Citibank employees didn’t check all the proper boxes. Creditors kept more than $500 million of the payment. A judge ruled that they didn't have to return the money because he said it was not believable that one of the largest and most sophisticated financial institutions on earth could make such a mistake. 

  • Takeaway: The big lesson is to modernize your software and user interfaces, so employees can perform their duties in a streamlined, logical fashion. Remember: You might suffer less when you make mistakes if people aren't angry enough to take advantage of those errors.

2. J.C. Penney Rebrand Failure Ron Johnson, who has a successful branding track record, took over as J.C. Penney's CEO in 2011. Johnson's "cheap chic" rebranding for Target was enormously successful, as was his previous work with Apple to generate its outstanding and consistent brand experience. Defying expectations, Johnson's rebrand for Penney's was a dismal failure. His goal was to revitalize the chain by making "hip" changes. He wanted to shake things up at the company by doing away with sales and coupons, nixing some of the legacy merchandise, and modernizing the store’s physical layout. It failed miserably. Revenues dropped from an already low level, and after 17 months, Johnson was out.

  • Takeaway: No matter how cool or innovative a new brand concept seems, robust market research is mandatory. J.C. Penney's poor financial state forced Johnson to act too quickly. As such, he failed to align the likes and dislikes of J.C. Penney's loyal existing customer base with new tactics. That's not to say the change involved in rebranding has to be totally at the mercy of your customers' extant preferences. When a brand has long-standing customer favorite factors such as discounts and coupons, it may be best to roll out changes slowly rather than all at once to acclimate existing customers to a new direction.

3. McDonald's Arch Deluxe Burger The fast food giant put an unprecedented $150 million into advertising for the Arch Deluxe Burger, only to discover its customers weren't interested in the sophisticated, ”gourmet” menu option. Mistakes include marketing to a new, disinterested Gen X demographic while neglecting the brand's core audience, overpricing the burger to cover the additional costs it took to create, and franchisee disinterest. 

  • Takeaway: The message is to never ignore your buying base and pick the right metrics when you start and run a project. If McDonald's had a more accurate picture of what its customers wanted and conducted more testing with existing customers, the company could have saved its money, resources, and reputation. 

4. Dyson Electric Car James Dyson spent a small fortune – more than $600 million – on a seven-seat electric car with a 600-mile range. Then Dyson scrapped it before the prototype ever hit the road. Electric vehicles are costly, and the battery, battery management, electronics, and cooling system are much more expensive than an internal combustion engine. Tesla — hailed as a success by many — has burned through $19 billion of investor cash and is still not profitable. It turned out that each Dyson would have had to fetch roughly $183 million to break even. 

  • Takeaway: The British government wants to ban sales of all fossil-fuel cars by 2035, so Dyson shifted its focus. The company continues to work on solid-state battery manufacturing. Solid-state batteries are the key to making electric vehicles functional and desirable. Highly efficient, as well as smaller and lighter than ion batteries, solid-state batteries generate less heat and are easier to recycle. Dyson says he could return to electric vehicle production when commercial and financial circumstances change.

5. Coca-Cola and New Coke The company tested New Coke with 200,000 consumers. Most people who tried it preferred New Coke over the traditional product. Based on that information, Coca-Cola launched New Coke in 1985. But the new product did not sell, and product loyalty and people’s old-fashioned habits got in the way. The cost to the company was $30 million in unsellable backstock and $4 million lost to development. New Coke remains one of the most famous failures in marketing history.

  • Takeaway: While Coca-Cola researched the market, it missed the mark when assessing the power of brand loyalty. Understanding customers is imperative in product development. Ensure your information is comprehensive and those insights are realistic and accurate.

How Modern Project Management Software Cures Common Project Woes

Modern project management software provides real-time visibility into work conducted across projects, programs, and processes. Store, track, manage, and automatically report on all work, so you can save time and help your team focus on the work that matters most.

Take Charge of Your Next Project with Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet

From simple task management and project planning to complex resource and portfolio management, Smartsheet helps you improve collaboration and increase work velocity -- empowering you to get more done. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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What Is a Project? Definition, Types & Examples

ProjectManager

What is a project, exactly? We talk a lot about specific facets of project management, but it’s sometimes valuable to start at the root and dig into the basics.

To fully understand high-level project management concepts, it’s important to know the simple answers. When you can call on this knowledge, more complicated concepts are easier to master. Whether you’re the project manager or a stakeholder, give your next project definition with these project management tips in mind.

Project Definition

A project is a set of tasks that must be completed within a defined timeline to accomplish a specific set of goals. These tasks are completed by a group of people known as the project team, which is led by a project manager, who oversees the planning , scheduling, tracking and successful completion of projects.

the projects examples

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Project Plan Template

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Besides the project team, projects require resources such as labor, materials and equipment. Organizations and individuals manage projects with a wide range of objectives. These can take many forms, from constructing a building to planning an event and even completing a certain duty. Retailers, for example, may pursue projects that improve the way they track order fulfillment. Construction teams complete projects any time they plan and build something—and so on!

Project management software gives you the tools to manage all the parts of a project so it is delivered on time and within budget. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software with features to plan, manage and track your project in real time. Organize tasks on our robust Gantt, link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays and save your project plan by setting a baseline. This allows you to track your actual progress against your planned progress to help you stay on track. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

ProjectManager's Gantt chart

What Are the Characteristics of a Project?

There are certain features or characteristics that are unique to projects and differentiate them from the daily operations or other types of activities of an organization. Here are the main characteristics of a project.

1. Any Project Needs a Project Manager and a Project Team

One of the most important characteristics of a project is that it’s a team effort. While the structure of project teams might change from one organization to another, projects usually involve a project manager and a team of individuals with the necessary skills to execute the tasks that are needed.

2. Every Project Needs a Project Plan

Project team members need clear directions from the project manager and other project leaders so that they can execute the work that’s expected from them. These directions come in the form of a project plan. However, a project plan is more than just a set of instructions for the project team. It’s a comprehensive document that describes every aspect of a project, such as the project goals, project schedule and project budget among other important details.

3. All Projects Go Through the Same Project Lifecycle

The project life cycle refers to the five phases all projects must progress through, from start to finish. The five phases of a project lifecycle serve as the most basic outline that gives a project definition. These five phases are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure.

4. All Projects Share the Same Project Constraints

All projects no matter their size or complexity are subject to three main constraints: time, scope and cost. This simply means that projects must be completed within a defined timeline, achieve a defined set of tasks and goals and be delivered under a certain budget .

These project constraints are known as the triple constraint or the project management triangle and are one of the most important project features to know about.

5. Every Project Needs Resources

A resource is anything necessary to complete a project, such as for example, labor, raw materials, machinery and equipment. For example, in construction, raw materials such as wood, glass or paint are essential project resources . That said, other resources — like time, labor and equipment — are just as important.

A project manager must be able to identify all of the project resources in order to create a resource plan and manage the resources accordingly. When resources are left unaccounted for, it is easy to mismanage them.

resource plan template

Types of Projects

Projects can take many shapes and forms, which makes classifying them into types a very difficult task that requires different approaches. Here are some of the types of projects grouped by funding source, industry and project management methodology .

Types of Projects By Funding Source

One simple way to categorize projects is to look at their source of capital.

  • Private projects: Projects that are financed by businesses or private organizations.
  • Public projects: Projects which are funded by Government agencies.
  • Mixed projects: Projects that are financed by a public-private partnership.

Types of Projects By Industry

Projects can be executed by large or small organizations from any industry. However, some industries are more project-intensive than others. Here are some of the most common types of projects by industry.

  • Construction projects: The main goal of any construction project is to make a building that can be used for different purposes such as infrastructure, residential or commercial use.
  • Manufacturing projects: Manufacturing projects consist of manufacturing physical products to generate profits for a company.
  • IT projects: Information technology projects consist in establishing an IT framework for the processing of data at a company-wide scale.
  • Software development projects: The main goal of a software development project is to create a software product for a client.
  • Business projects: The term business project could refer to creating a new business, creating a new business unit for an existing company or simply launching a new business initiative.

Types of Projects By Project Management Methodology

Besides the types of projects mentioned above, projects can also be classified by the project management methodology that’s used to plan, schedule and execute them.

  • Waterfall projects: Waterfall is the most traditional project management methodology, where the project plan is defined before the project begins and each major project phase must be completed in sequence.
  • Agile projects: Agile projects are planned and executed in short iterations known as sprints , where project teams plan their activities as they execute the project.

Project Examples

Now that we’ve reviewed the main characteristics of a project and the various project types that exist, let’s review some common project examples to better illustrate what a project is.

Construction Project Examples

  • Construction infrastructure projects: Building a bridge, a road, a mass transportation system or a water treatment facility.
  • Residential construction projects: Building a house, a residential building or an apartment complex.
  • Commercial construction projects: Building a shopping mall, a parking lot or a hotel.

Manufacturing Project Examples

  • Building a factory from scratch
  • Manufacturing products for retail sale
  • Manufacturing products for a B2B purchase order
  • Improving an existing production line by acquiring new machinery and training employees

Key Project Terms to Know

No matter the project, there are universal project terms that are used regardless of project type, project size or any other factor. Know these seven terms like the back of your hand and you’ll be a step ahead before the project begins:

Project Scope

Project scope is a key aspect of the project planning stage. In many ways, it is the starting point. Determining project scope requires the project manager and their team to set goals and objectives, detail deliverables, create tasks, establish important dates and more. Project scope defines desired outcomes and all specific factors which will affect reaching them.

project scope template for managing projects

Project Stakeholder

A stakeholder refers to anyone and everyone involved in a project. A stakeholder can be involved at every stage of the project, or just in a certain way. Stakeholder analysis helps categorize how investors, team members, vendors, contractors and more can affect your project.

Project Deliverables

A deliverable refers to the specific outcome(s) a project creates. Deliverables can be “tangible” or “intangible,” meaning they can be a physical product or something conceptual. Typically, deliverables are the need that inspired the project in the first place. If someone contracts a builder to design and construct an office space, the office is a tangible deliverable.

Project Milestones

Milestones are predetermined achievements that help track project progress. Think of milestones as checkpoints. These checkpoints are decided on before a project begins, so the project manager and team know when they are on track to achieve deliverables. Without milestones, it’s difficult to know if the project is on the road to success or needs to reroute.

Project Dependencies

Project dependencies refer to how resources must be shared and allocated within a project. Many projects will use the same physical materials for different purposes and across different stages. Understanding this dependency is the only way to ensure there is enough resources to go around. Similarly, all projects are broken down into tasks. When one task cannot begin before another is completed, these tasks share a dependency.

What It Means to Work on a Project

Whether it’s the project manager, a team member or any other project stakeholder, they’re a member of the greater project team and their actions directly affect other team members. Like any team, you “win” or “lose” as a unit, so it’s incredibly important to communicate and listen to other team members in order to coordinate efforts and succeed. Most project mishaps and project failures are the direct results of poor communication or lack of collaboration.

Why does this matter as long as the work is getting done? Working on a project is about understanding the project as a whole just as much as it is about doing the work. The only way to see this big picture is by listening to the team and learning from one another.

What Is Project Management?

The process of project management starts with the conception of the project and continues all the way through the project lifecycle. This requires detailed knowledge of company resources and how to assign them in order to complete tasks, duties, events and other projects.

A wide range of industries relies on project management methods and tools to execute projects. A few examples of these industries are construction, IT, engineering, marketing and advertising. Any team working together to reach a shared objective is engaging in some form of project management.

What Does a Project Manager Do?

A project manager is more than just a manager, in the traditional sense. This individual is the leader of the project team and oversees every aspect of the project, from beginning to end. The project manager will typically write the project plan, run team meetings, assign tasks and do quality control tests to ensure everything is running smoothly. A project manager can’t carry the entire project on their back, though. One of their key duties, in fact, is knowing how to entrust various responsibilities to team members.

With the help of their team, project managers will create project schedules and budgets. They will also create project reports throughout the project lifecycle.

As you can see, their responsibilities are widespread, but that doesn’t mean spreading too thin. Ideally, a project manager creates the foundation of the project—like the foundation of a house. They then appoint other individuals to finish out each room.

Project Definition: Best Practices for Project Management

Regardless of the project, the size of the team, or anything else, there are practices that exponentially increase the chances of success. As vital as it is to hit goals and achieve deliverables , it’s just as important to create a positive culture within the project. These five tips may seem simple, but they make a big difference:

Set Regular Team Check-ins

It’s easy to meet with the team “as needed,” but once a project begins it gets harder to find time in everyone’s schedule. Instead, schedule regular meetings before a project even starts. These meetings serve as check-ins where team members can give each other updates, voice concerns, ask questions, make adjustments and do anything else they may need. When these check-ins are already built into the schedule, no one is waiting to meet until there’s a mishap or issue.

Part of what gives a project definition is knowing how to delegate. Whether it’s the project managers or a team member, they’ll more than likely need help with a task at some point. Now, this doesn’t mean just passing along the task to someone else. It means that every team member has equal responsibilities. Instead, the best project managers know how to relinquish some control and delegate to team members.

Know the Team

Everyone on the project management team should be familiar with each other’s strengths, weaknesses and specialties. For example, if a team member needs information from a different department, they should know exactly who to ask. This familiarity cuts down on lost time. It is especially important for a project manager to know their team extremely well.

When a project member knows these things, they can make decisions that play to their team members’ strengths, not around their weaknesses. Knowing the team is a huge aspect of creating a positive culture within a project, as it celebrates everyone’s abilities.

team charter template for project management

Celebrate Milestones

Speaking of positive culture, never underestimate the power of taking a moment to mark meeting a milestone . Reaching one means the team has made significant progress and the project is still on track. At the very least, it’s important to announce reaching milestones during team check-ins. This keeps everyone on the same page and improves team efficacy.

Choose Superior PM Tools

Project management is an extremely complex job. Without the proper tools, it’s easy to make mistakes, become disorganized and even fail to complete the project. The best way to protect your project from these missteps is by choosing tools that simplify the entire process.

The best project management software does just that. Using project management software unleashes your team’s and the project’s full potential and takes the end result to new heights. The key is finding an intuitive, user-friendly project management software that makes no compromises in functionality.

How ProjectManager Makes Managing Projects Easy

ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that makes managing projects easier than ever. Our online software allows the entire team to work on the project while in the field or on the go, and our modern interface combines functionality with user-friendly navigation. This means no more wasted time just trying to familiarize yourself with a new tool and more time perfecting your project definition.

Plan on Gantt Charts

Plan your projects from start to finish with ProjectManager’s powerful Gantt chart feature, which allows you to map out project tasks in phases. You can even create dependencies and set milestones. Plus, you can import Excel files and Microsoft Project files, so switching over to our software is seamless.

ProjectManager's Gantt chart

Track on Project Dashboards

As the project team moves forward with tasks, project managers can track every status update on our real-time dashboard that you can personalize to show the most important metrics. Every change to a task is tracked and automatically updates the colorful, easy-to-read charts and graphs. Keeping an eye on your project’s progress has never been easier!

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

Get all these features and more when you use ProjectManager. All of these tools are available in our software to help you plan, track and report on your project in real time. See what it can do for you by taking this free 30-day trial run!

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Get inspired: 4 great project management examples

the projects examples

We’re all familiar with is project management example. The moment when (eek!), your boss says, “Could you just…[insert incomprehensible but seemingly important task]?”

There is quite a wide range of project management tasks out there, all demanding that you complete the project on time and within budget. An example of an IT project could be creating a system to manage issues tracking, while one for operations could be creating a roster of employee dietary needs against package deliveries from start to finish.

No matter how simple or complex the project, we have it on good authority—and so do groups like the Project Management Institute — that starting with a sample project methodology is a great way to start.

In this article, we’ll cover that, identify the four key factors common to successful project examples, and share some top project management examples you can draw inspiration from.

Why do the best project management examples start with a methodology?

Identifying a methodology during the project planning phase is both good project management practice, and common sense.

Organizations that invest in good project management practices, waste 21  times less money than those without an effective project management approach.

Methodologies set you up for success by providing the big picture perspective on each part of the project schedule and how the project is going to run.

There are traditionally 2 methodologies used for managing projects and they both have pros and cons:

This example of a project management methodology is a linear, step-by-step approach where each new project phase follows the end of the previous one.

With this methodology, having a robust project plan is vital and lots of work needs to be done upfront to get really clear on the project goal. Examples of project teams who may use this method are those with fixed timelines and budgets, such as aerospace or defense teams.

waterfall methodologies pros and cons

The Agile project management method in contrast is a more iterative approach where the project team members and business stakeholders work together to refine the project outcome through feedback and review.

Project activities are delivered through short “sprints” or iterations and a list of what needs to be done next — usually called the “backlog” — is prioritized according to feedback. Project activities are delivered through short “sprints” or iterations and a list of what needs to be done next — usually called the “backlog” — is prioritized according to feedback. IT projects are examples where Agile might be used.

agile methodologies pros and cons

Whichever methodology you choose, there are a number of things you can do to increase your chance of a successful project and start earning kudos from your boss.

What are the critical success factors?

The Association for Project Management (APM) says there are 12 conditions for project success. It came as no surprise to us here at monday.com that proven methods and tools were one of the 12. After all, that’s what we’re in the business of. Read on for a list that could make you rethink how you craft project management project ideas.

These 12 conditions fall into 4 main factors:

  • Visibility . From the outset, the project’s goals need to be clear to all stakeholders. During the life cycle of the project, it’s important to understand who is working on what and when. A well-defined project management plan reduces confusion and makes sure the workload is evenly spread across the project team.
  • Efficiency . To maximize the project’s value you need to minimize waste during the project lifecycle. Whether that’s wasted time, effort, or money, these things need to be monitored and well-controlled to determine project progress.
  • Communication . Communication between members of the project team and the wider business is key for successful implementation. Effectively communicating the benefits of the project can improve the chance of its outcome lasting longer than ice cream on a hot day.
  • Collaboration . Few projects run independently. Most success in project examples is attributed to collaboration across teams, and with internal or external stakeholders for creating a project and getting the job done.

How can tools help?

Ok, you’ve picked a methodology and you’re ready to get started. So why exactly does the APM think tools are so important for project success in any business project example?

Well first of all, you need a place to organize all of your information and to craft a smooth and automated workflow. Check out what one user had to say about monday.com as their project management tool.

monday.com is excellent at planning. Personally, we think it’s the best. What might surprise you is how intuitive it is to use. And how it integrates with all your other favorite tools. And inspires you more than a gantt chart . Which might be just what’s needed after that stakeholder meeting on a dreary November afternoon. Don’t miss more quality content! hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: "5945317", css: "", formId: "dbfb5b7f-21a2-4092-a3fb-0b6365ad349c", target: '#subscribe-cta-banner-form-0', formInstanceId: 'hs-from-instance-0', });

screenshot of table showing current and planned monthly tasks to complete

monday.com makes it easy to monitor the project through its lifecycle, keeping a keen eye out for scope creep with intuitive and customizable templates. Our project management software can also help you out with  resource management , time tracking,  and managing project risk.

And, what about a more Agile approach? Well, good visibility and communication are key.

Using a project management tool, such as a Kanban board , to help you track what’s been done, is being done, and needs to be completed is important for managing the backlog.

screenshot of work organized on a kanban board

Using a sprint retrospective tool  allows you to review the sprint and collect the feedback necessary to decide on the next steps. Without an ability to gather and track this feedback it’s likely that effort will be spent doing the wrong things, decreasing the project’s overall value.

Don’t miss more quality content!

4 great project management examples.

To get an inside look at how monday.com is the perfect platform to get your optimized project management workflow up and running, here are four examples from real monday.com customers.

1. The National Hockey League (NHL)

  • Challenge: Increase visibility

After first loading NHL game stats onto the web over 25 years ago, NHL developers have managed 100s of requests for custom applications. In-house developers now share the workload with a team in Belarus.

Relying on email and text to collaborate over different time zones was causing several challenges including unclear prioritization and ineffective workload management.

  • Solution: Development roadmap and sprint planning

Using the monday.com platform has brought transparency across the development cycle. Now, at any moment, everyone on the team can see who is working on what, and when.

Using the bar graph view, the business can easily track which units have commissioned the most development cycles across the year. The team also uses the Calendar and Chart app to organize and track fan engagement programs.

screenshot showing chart of all NHL development efforts by business unit

While initially focused on improving their sprint planning , the NHL has also begun to exploit other capabilities of the monday.com Work OS. Building workflow apps within the platform has reduced the need for custom development, reducing the development time by 4+ weeks per cycle.

For more on how the NHL increased their visibility and saved 4 weeks per development cycle, check out their case study .

  • Challenge: Improve efficiency while scaling globally

Zippo compiled their product catalog on paper-based worksheets before transferring them to a digital version. The process took around 2 weeks for 20–30 active projects and became outdated almost as soon as it was completed. Zippo knew if they wanted to scale their business their processes needed to become more efficient.

  • Solution: In integrated Work OS capable of managing internal workflows and external suppliers

Initially signing on 10–15 users with a monday.com Pro account, Zippo now has around 125 users on an Enterprise solution. Building the product catalog has become a collaborative effort with users able to drag-and-drop projects into the catalog and shift things around in real time as priorities change.

Through the dashboard views, stakeholders can track progress across all the projects and monitor the overall workload of the team. This means people can be matched to resource gaps speeding up delivery.

Zippo also set up an automated system for workflow approval. A reminder is sent to the task owner if there is an outstanding request. This makes the approval process faster and increases efficiency.

These changes mean that, over the last 8 months, Zippo could focus on global expansion, acquiring new businesses, and entering new markets.

For more on how Zippo improved their efficiency and saved £82k/year while expanding into new markets, check out their case study .

  • Challenge: Enable global collaboration while keeping the ‘local hero’ approach

The music streaming service, Deezer has a team of editors worldwide who understand local music tastes and market towards them. Coordinating this dispersed team from the European HQ was challenging and campaign management was siloed within countries.

Business development was also managed regionally. With no centralized system, it was hard to prioritize support requests to other departments such as finance and legal. This meant new deals took a long time to reach the market.

  • Solution: An integrated, intuitive workspace that brings multinational collaboration

Deezer used monday.com to build a centralized pipeline of all business development projects which meant work could be analyzed and prioritized globally. This streamlined the work required from the support departments improving time to market speed.

There were also benefits for the customer engagement team. With the monday.com Work OS, campaign planning , management, and evaluation are now visible to teams in all countries.

For more on how Deezer improved global collaboration and increased their customer engagement by 483%, check out their case study .

4. Israeli Government

  •  Challenge: Ensure effective communication during a global pandemic

As the number of cases grew, Israel set up a National COVID-19 Control Center. The Control Center brought together civilian and military agencies, for the first time, to manage the crisis and support front-line workers. Each agency had its own processes and way of working but a coordinated response was needed immediately if the situation wasn’t to grow out of control.

image showing a conversation between team members in the Covid-19 Control Center, Israel

( Image Source )

It was proving incredibly challenging to get accurate testing information from labs and hospitals meaning it was impossible to create a “big picture” perspective of the situation. Essential equipment and suppliers were sourced in an ad-hoc manner and there was no central communication channel to monitor or follow up leads on potential suppliers.

  • Solution: A centralized, flexible platform with customizable permissions

Communication around procurement is now seamless, with multiple connected workflow apps integrating information on requirements, suppliers, approvals, and financing. These have customized permissions so the right people approve each step at the right time.

It’s also easier for hospitals and labs to communicate with the Control Center. The team worked with monday.com to create web and mobile forms to collect up to date information. These can be submitted at any time and entered into the centralized system immediately.

For more on how monday.com is continuing to support the Israeli government with their COVID-19 response check out their case study .

Be your own project management example

At monday.com we provide you with the features and solutions to help you feel more confident in tackling your next project with more ease and efficiency. What do you want to manage better?

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What is a Project? - Characteristics and Examples

A project is a temporary venture to produce a new and unique deliverable . A deliverable could be a tangible product, a service or achievement of a required outcome. stakeholdermap.com

Characteristics of a project

What is a Project? 4 characteristics of a project

1. It has a start and a finish

2. it creates something new, 3. it starts with an idea, which is turned into something, 4. it isn't business as usual, projects still follow processes, project management processes, product processes, examples of projects compared to operations or business as usual, railway project example - crossrail.

What is a Project? Crossrail example of a project

Railway Operations example - Running stations, maintaining tracks

What is a Project?r railway maintenance example of what isn't a project

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What is a Project? Example of designing a car

Operations – The production line building the car

car production line example of what isn't a project

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The All-in-One Project Plan Walkthrough with Examples

Learn how to create a project plan with our guide that uses actual examples (including Agile). Discover top tips, tools, and more.

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Ask any good project manager‌, and they'll agree that a project won't succeed without a well-thought-out plan.

Could you imagine building the Burj Khalifa without a plan? How about putting someone on the moon?

Yet, according to a  PMI report , 45% of projects go over time and 38% over budget.

There seems to be confusion about what a project plan looks like and using one.

To help, we'll go over how to correctly create a project plan. We'll show you ‌examples you can use for your projects and give you tips to drive your plans to success.

What is a project plan?

A  project plan  is a document (and project artifact) that outlines a project's objectives and lays out the high-level process to get there. This includes the project goal, resources, and timeline. It's like a well-thought-out recipe for achieving a project's objectives.

The project plan is a result of  project planning  (the second phase of the PMBOK lifecycle). A project plan typically comes after (and draws information from) the  project  charter.

A good project plan includes the approach to the project ( Agile ,  waterfall , or hybrid) and other important information, which we'll go over later.

Usually, a project manager prepares a project plan, but it can also be prepared by a Scrum master, CEO, product manager, or project sponsor. The project plan then guides the project manager (or whoever is leading the project) through the project lifecycle to help them achieve success.

Project plan vs. project timeline

A project plan is a full-scale plan of attack for the project, outlining all the critical steps and elements.

A project timeline is a visual representation of the chronological sequence of tasks and milestones of the project.

‎The timeline is good for identifying dependencies, bottlenecks, or potential task conflicts. The timeline is created during the project planning phase, and it contains critical (time-related data) for the project plan.

Benefits of a well-structured project plan

A project plan has many benefits, but the most important one is that it helps you and your team execute the project.

What can you achieve with great project plans?

  • The  Boeing 787 Dreamliner  flies thousands of people across the planet as a prime example of an effective project plan.
  • The  London Olympics of 2012  owes its success to meticulous project planning.
  • The first (and later) moon landings were the result of great project plans.

A project plan helps you define the initial project scope, resources, timeline, and goals. Once the project gets underway, you can compare progress against the baseline to identify deviations, delays, or scope changes.

A good project plan combines the different pieces of project management into a single document to offer a bird's-eye view of the entire project lifecycle.

Combining important project-related data in one document is also an efficiency hack, because, according to McKinsey, searching for this information piecemeal can eat up to  20% of an employee's time .

Furthermore, the clarity provided by a project plan around the important elements of a project prevents misunderstandings and aligns stakeholder expectations.

Key elements of a project plan

Simple or complex project plans contain several key elements. Each of these usually has a high-level description (or a matrix) since they are artifacts in their own right.

‎Here are the 10 key elements you need to include in your project plan:

  • The  project objectives and scope  define what you aim to achieve and the boundaries of your project.
  • A  task plan, work plan, or  work breakdown structure  (WBS) . These artifacts are breakdowns of your project into manageable project tasks.
  • A  timeline and milestones (project schedule) . Outline when tasks should be completed, and milestones act as signposts to track progress.
  • The  resource allocation.  Shows the people, time, money, and other resources your project will require.
  • Risk assessment and mitigation strategies . A list of potential risks and plans to manage or mitigate their impact.
  • A  communication plan.  Describes how you’ll keep in touch with everyone involved, about what, and the cadence.
  • Project budget and cost estimates . The budget and cost estimates for each phase.
  • The  quality control measures.  The quality standards for project deliverables and how they’ll be tested.
  • Change management procedures  plan how changes will be evaluated, approved, and implemented while minimizing disruptions.
  • A stakeholder matrix (such as a RACI chart).  Documents ‌key stakeholders, their roles, and influence on a project.

A basic project plan example

Finding a practical and adaptable example can be challenging with all the online project plan templates. Many templates lack the real-world practicality to make them useful.

Don't fret, we've laid out some practical project plan templates to help you create your own project plan.

Project Title:  New Product Launch Marketing Campaign

Project Objectives:

  • Increase brand awareness for the new product by 30% within three months.
  • Generate a minimum of 1,000 leads through the campaign.
  • Achieve a conversion rate of 15% from leads to sales within six months.
  • Design and execute an integrated marketing campaign encompassing digital and traditional channels to create maximum impact.
  • Collaborate closely with the design team to make visually appealing and consistent campaign materials.
  • Hire influencers within the target audience to amplify the campaign's reach and credibility.

Key Milestones:

  • Week 1-2: Finalize campaign concept and design based on market research and creative inputs.
  • Week 3: Obtain necessary approvals for the campaign materials from stakeholders.
  • Week 4: Launch the campaign across selected digital platforms and traditional media.
  • Week 6: Conduct a mid-campaign performance review to assess engagement and adjust strategies if necessary.
  • Week 8: Evaluate campaign effectiveness against predefined objectives and KPIs.
  • Week 10: Prepare and present a comprehensive campaign analysis report to stakeholders.

Key Deliverables:

  • Finalized campaign concept and design based on market research and creative inputs by the end of Week 2.
  • Approved campaign materials from stakeholders by the end of Week 3.
  • Launched campaign across selected digital platforms and traditional media by the end of Week 4.
  • Mid-campaign performance review conducted by the end of Week 6 to assess engagement and adjust strategies if necessary.
  • Evaluation of campaign effectiveness against predefined objectives and KPIs by the end of Week 8.
  • Comprehensive campaign analysis report prepared and presented to stakeholders by Week 10.

A. Marketing Team (4 members):

  • Project Manager (Responsible for overall campaign coordination)
  • Content Creator (Develops engaging written and visual content)
  • Social Media Specialist (Manages online presence and engagement)
  • Data Analyst (Monitors and analyzes campaign metrics)

B. Design Team (2 members):

  • Graphic Designer (Creates campaign visuals and branding materials)
  • Video Editor (Produces promotional videos)

Budget:  $50,000 for advertising, content creation, influencer partnerships, and other campaign-related expenses.

Risk Management & Suggestion:

1. Potential delays

  • Proactively plan for design revisions and content creation challenges to avoid timeline disruptions.

2. Social media algorithm changes

  • Monitor platform updates and have alternative promotional strategies ready to adapt to algorithm changes.

Communication Plan:

A. Weekly team meetings

  • Held every Monday to review progress, address challenges, and ensure alignment among team members.

B. Bi-weekly stakeholder updates

  • Stakeholders will receive updates on campaign performance and achievements every other Friday.

What to include in an advanced project plan

Going from a basic project plan to an advanced one involves adding some elements.

‎To adapt the basic project plan to an advanced one, add the following elements:

In scope and out of scope

Include a comprehensive breakdown of deliverables and outcomes for each project phase. Use a WBS or a product backlog to organize this information systematically.

Also, define (at a high level) what is outside the boundaries of your project. This clarification helps with scope confusion and sets realistic outcome expectations.

Risk management

While the basic project plan template has a risk management section, an advanced project plan goes into more detail.

You'll need a systematic risk assessment framework for risks across all dimensions. This includes probabilities and potential impacts of the risks and contingency plans for each.

You'll also need to outline a dynamic risk response strategy (that adapts as new risks emerge or existing ones evolve).

Stakeholder analysis

Expand your  stakeholder engagement  strategy with a stakeholder matrix. Detail how and when stakeholders will be engaged, adding decision points and regular progress updates.

Performance metrics

Define and track metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each task.

Metrics could include completion percentages, milestone achievements, and qualitative assessments.

An Agile project plan example

Agile project plans aren't as comprehensive up-front as those for  traditional project management methods  because of the nature of Agile.

The focus in Agile project planning is on iterative planning for Sprints (1–4 week-long work periods).

Here’s how an Agile project plan might look:

Project Purpose:  New Product Launch Marketing Campaign

Sprint 1:  Discovery and Concept

Duration:  2 weeks

Backlog Items:

1. Market research

  • Collect data on target audience and competitors.

2. Concept brainstorm

  • Collaborate with design and marketing teams to brainstorm campaign concepts.

3. Stakeholder alignment

  • Meet with stakeholders to discuss initial campaign ideas.
  • Capture changes and convey them to the project team.

Sprint 2:  Minimum Viable Campaign (MVC)

Duration:  3 weeks

1. MVC creation

  • Develop a simplified version of the campaign with core elements.

2. Content creation

  • Create initial content pieces for the MVC.

3. Feedback loop

  • Share MVC with stakeholders for feedback and incorporate changes.

Sprint 3:  Iterative Improvements

1. Iterative enhancements

  • Improve campaign elements based on stakeholder feedback and team insights.

2. Design refinements

  • Collaborate with the design team to enhance visual components.

3. Early engagement

  • Launch MVC to a limited audience and gather engagement data.

Sprint 4:  Refinement and Scaling

1. Scaling strategies

  • Identify opportunities to expand the campaign's reach.

2. Content diversification:

  • Create additional content pieces for different platforms.

3. Data analysis

  • Analyze engagement data from the early engagement phase.

Sprint 5:  Adaptation and Optimization

1. Adapt to feedback

  • Implement changes based on engagement data and stakeholder feedback.

2. Optimization strategies

  • Refine campaign elements for maximum impact.

3. Influencer engagement

  • Collaborate with influencers for increased reach.

Sprint 6:  Finalization and Reporting

1. Final touches

  • Polish campaign elements and ensure consistency.

2. Performance analysis

  • Analyze the campaign's impact on brand awareness, leads, and conversions.

3. Stakeholder presentation

  • Present campaign results and insights to stakeholders.

Tips, tools, and techniques for creating your own project plan

Here are some practical tips, tools, and techniques to help you create accurate and useful project plans.

‎Reuse what you’ve already produced

Use existing resources like your project charter. Integrate the insights from your risk analysis to address potential pitfalls. Add details from your requirements assessment for a detailed view of what needs to be done.

Use visuals

Visuals can help the team and stakeholders digest and understand a project.

Use a risk matrix to visually depict potential risks, their likelihood, and their impact.  Gantt charts  offer an expansive view of task dependencies and timelines. A RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed) matrix defines roles and responsibilities.

Use project management software

Project management software can be a game-changer. These online platforms offer a centralized place to plan, collaborate, and track projects.

Some solutions include features like Gantt charts, timelines, and task allocation tools.

Put your project plan into action with Motion

After creating your project plan comes the next step: project execution.

To do this (and drive a successful project), it helps to visualize project plans using charts, schedules, or project boards. Motion can help you do just that with its comprehensive  project planning tools .

One is its Kanban board, which allows you to see and manage your project schedule. You can adjust tasks easily within the board, and the app will rearrange dependent work to compensate.

Even better, Motion can automate task allocation.

All you have to do is create the task, assign the dates and requirements, and Motion will allocate it to your team for you. It'll notify you immediately if it can't find the best time or foresees any delays.

This just means more time for you and your team to do the work (vs. administration).

Sign up for your  7-day free trial .

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Project plan examples: how to write an effective plan (2024).

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Key takeaways

  • A project plan is a vital document in project management that outlines the project’s scope, objectives, and schedule.
  • Effective project planning enhances resource management, mitigates risks, and improves project implementation and success.
  • Project plans can vary in format, such as Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Gantt charts, and mind maps for brainstorming.

Jan. 8, 2024: Irene Casucian reviewed the information on this page for accuracy, refined the page layout, and added elements to improve the visual flow of information. She also created a downloadable project plan template.

In this article...

What is a project plan?

A project plan outlines the project’s scope, objectives, and schedule; it details what needs to be done, when, and by whom. The plan includes significant deliverables, methods to achieve them, team roles, stakeholder feedback, and milestones. This transparency makes sure everyone involved understands their role and how it contributes to the overall goal.

A project plan is the tangible output of the second phase of project management , project planning . This phase involves identifying and arranging each task necessary to cover the project’s scope, achieve deliverables, and meet the project’s goals. A comprehensive project plan developed in this phase is instrumental in tracking dependencies, staying updated on the status, and maintaining productivity throughout the project.

What are the key elements of an effective project plan?

A well-prepared project plan requires several key elements that will outline the project’s goals and define the stakeholders ‘ individual roles. Incorporating these key elements into a project plan is essential for effective project management and a higher success rate.

How do you create a project plan?

Step 1: define the project’s overall goals and objectives.

Identifying your project’s overall objectives and goals will help you measure the project’s success and keep your team aligned with the overarching mission. In this step, you should determine the desired outcome of your project that would represent its success.

By clearly understanding what the project aims to accomplish, project managers and teams can better identify the necessary tasks and establish the project scope . 

When defining your project goals, apply the SMART standards for a solid foundation. Make your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This approach guarantees a clear, focused, and actionable framework for your project.

Step 2: Establish the project’s success criteria

To measure success effectively, align your success criteria with the project’s key deliverables and outcomes, and make sure they are based on its intended result. Confirm that these criteria are quantifiable and accurately reflect the impact and value your project aims to deliver. Such alignment is essential for accurately assessing the project’s performance and its effectiveness in achieving the intended results.

Step 3: Identify project milestones, dependencies, risks, and deliverables

To identify project milestones, break the project down into key tasks and outcomes and specify significant progress points or phase completions as milestones. Consider dependencies when establishing a realistic workflow. Additionally, identify potential risks that can impact task completion and define deliverables clearly as measurable results expected from each project phase.

Step 4: Assign roles and responsibilities to the team and stakeholders

Your project’s stakeholders include any individuals or groups related to the project. To assess if someone is a stakeholder in a project, determine how much they influence, impact, or have an interest in the project’s outcome. Consider if their involvement is direct, if the project’s results affect them, or if they can influence the project’s direction or success.

Examples of stakeholder groups include:

  • Team members.
  • Departments.
  • Project sponsors.
  • Contractors.

Once you have determined your stakeholders, you can define their roles and responsibilities. This can help you structure your project team, identify members who are directly responsible for its success, and make sure they are assigned the correct tasks to carry out the project appropriately.

When assigning roles and responsibilities, utilize a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to clarify the involvement of each stakeholder in the project. This provides clear communication and accountability and prevents overlaps or gaps in responsibilities.

Step 5: Create a schedule and set a timeline

Creating a schedule and timeline for each task can provide visibility into the execution process and keep each team member productive.

Consider how much time is required to complete each task necessary for your project milestones. You can even break down tasks into smaller subtasks to make them more manageable. However, be mindful of factors that can cause delays such as:

  • Resource limitations.
  • Task dependencies.
  • Unforeseen risks.

When creating a project schedule, visual tools like Gantt charts and Kanban boards help you map out task dependencies and timelines. A useful project management tool you can use for this step is Trello. Trello offers an intuitive platform for creating Kanban boards. It allows easy visualization and management of tasks through customizable columns and cards for streamlined project workflow.

Trello's interface has a user-friendly, organized layout with colorful tags and clear, readable text on each card.

Step 6: Establish an estimated project budget

To generate an estimated project budget, you must consider all of the necessary project resources, including personnel, labor, materials, and equipment. Establishing a project budget will help you make wise spending decisions throughout the project execution phase to avoid overspending. 

Step 7: Plan for communication and collaboration

A communication plan should show how information is shared among stakeholders. For instance, in a software development project, the communication plan might specify that the development team shares a beta version of the software with the client for feedback every two weeks. It’s a systematic approach to making sure that the client receives consistent updates about the project’s progress. Having a communication plan in place will also outline the channels of communication and frequency to all necessary parties. 

Leverage collaboration tools , such as Slack , that integrate with your project management software to receive real-time updates and interactions among team members and stakeholders. 

Slack's interface on both a computer screen and a mobile device demonstrates its robust integration and consistent design across platforms.

Step 8: Document the project plan

Compile all related planning information and documentation as you plan your project. Some of these vital documents include: 

  • Stakeholder analysis.
  • Feasibility study .
  • Business case.
  • Work breakdown structure .

Having these reports in one place will serve as a reference during the project’s execution.

Utilize a centralized digital platform, like Sharepoint , where stakeholders can store, update, and access all project documentation. This approach serves as a reliable reference and streamlines the management and tracking of the project’s progress.

Learn more about Sharepoint and other document management tools in our video overview:

Free project plan template download

Project plan examples.

Using an appropriate project plan format is essential to keeping stakeholders well-informed. Here are some of the widely-used project plan formats: 

1.  Spreadsheets

Using spreadsheets for project planning is beneficial due to its simplicity and widespread use, especially suitable for small-scale projects with straightforward tasks. Its customizable nature is excellent for simple initiatives like office events or basic marketing plans.

However, a significant drawback of using spreadsheets in project planning is the limited visualization options. While spreadsheets can manage data, they fail to offer comprehensive visual representations essential for a holistic view of project progress. Lastly, the risk of human error in data entry and formula setup in spreadsheets is high and can lead to critical miscalculations affecting the entire project plan.

Try this software

For more complex projects, Smartsheet is an ideal upgrade. It merges the simplicity of a spreadsheet with advanced project management features such as real-time collaboration, automated workflows , and app integration. More than just a basic spreadsheet tool, Smartsheet is particularly effective for large-scale projects like detailed marketing campaigns or cross-departmental efforts, offering comprehensive task tracking and resource management in a user-friendly format.

Smartsheet displays a sample project timeline broken into three sections with multiple tasks, subtasks, task owners, statuses, and start/end dates.

2. Slideshow presentations

Slideshow presentations for project plans provide a visually engaging method to simplify complex information. They effectively break down project components into understandable segments, using visuals, charts, and bullet points to highlight key information and timelines for team members and stakeholders.

However, the downside is that slide shows can oversimplify complex projects and potentially leave out critical nuances. They also require significant preparation time and may not be the best medium for detailed, data-heavy projects.

Microsoft PowerPoint is an excellent choice for creating slide show presentations as part of project plans. It’s user-friendly and offers many templates and design tools. That’s why it’s suitable for beginners and seasoned professionals. PowerPoint’s ability to integrate with other Microsoft Office tools, like Excel for data representation, enhances its utility in project planning.

This Microsoft PowerPoint template offers a structured project roadmap to help create a clear timeline visualization and milestone tracking for effective project planning.

3. Gantt charts

Gantt charts create a clear visual timeline of a project’s schedule and progress by displaying various project elements’ start and finish dates. This approach helps identify potential bottlenecks and overlaps and facilitates better resource allocation and time management. However, Gantt charts can become cumbersome for complex projects with numerous tasks and dependencies.

Gantt charts are particularly effective in construction projects, event planning, and software development, where timelines and task dependencies are critical.

TeamGantt is an effective PM tool that creates clear visual timelines for project schedules and progress tracking. By allowing users to input various project elements, including tasks, milestones, and dependencies, and then assigning start and finish dates to each, TeamGantt generates an intuitive Gantt chart.

This chart visually represents the project timeline, displaying how different tasks and phases overlap and interconnect over the project duration. The color-coded bars and easy-to-read format make it simple to understand the sequencing of tasks and the project’s overall progress at a glance.

TeamGantt's project plan template helps provide a detailed view of tasks, durations, dependencies, and progress. It provides an intuitive visual tool for thorough project scheduling and management.

4.     Mind maps

Mind maps differ from other project visualization methods by showing a radial, non-linear format ideal for brainstorming and capturing the holistic view of a project. They emphasize the creative mapping of ideas and relationships. They promote the free flow of ideas and easy visualization of relationships between different aspects of a project. Mind maps can also help identify key components, dependencies, and potential challenges at the early stages of a project.

Moreover, using a mind map before presenting a Gantt chart can help ease the transition from creative brainstorming to detailed scheduling, resource allocation, and progress tracking.

Lucidchart is an excellent software solution for creating mind maps that can be converted into detailed reports. Its intuitive, drag-and-drop interface is ideal for conceptualizing project plans.

Lucidchart also stands out because it integrates with various tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft Office. This integration can facilitate the transition from a visual mind map to a comprehensive written report.

Lucidchart's mindmap template displays a main idea with branching thoughts and connections to help facilitate brainstorming, idea organization, and creative project planning.

Components of project planning

Work breakdown schedule development.

Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in project planning offers distinct advantages and some drawbacks. The primary benefit of a WBS is its ability to break down a complex project into manageable components. It is then easier to allocate resources, assign responsibilities, and track progress. This hierarchical project decomposition guarantees that every part of the project is apparent.

However, the main disadvantage lies in its potential rigidity; a WBS can become overly prescriptive, limiting flexibility and adaptability to changes or unforeseen challenges. Additionally, creating a comprehensive WBS can be time-consuming, and if not done meticulously, it may lead to gaps or overlaps in project planning.

monday.com includes a work breakdown feature to help teams organize complex projects into manageable tasks. Each task is separated into more minor subtasks assigned to the appropriate individuals. The chart also displays additional information, such as the deliverables, end dates, and schedules based on interdependencies.

monday.com's work breakdown feature has a color-coded, detailed task list with columns for task names, deadlines, priorities, and responsible team members.

Project and documentation management 

Project and documentation management in project planning has its own advantages and disadvantages. With this process, you can make sure that all project-related documents are organized, up-to-date, and easily accessible. This approach is essential for maintaining consistency and clarity throughout the project lifecycle. Yet, the downside includes the possibility of information overload, where team members might get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents.

Agile teams use Jira for planning and managing their projects. Here, you can see some of the information regarding risks and dependencies compiled within Jira. This method of organizing this information can be helpful, as the platform can act as a single source of truth to keep team members updated on the status of specific tasks. It also makes it easy for teams to communicate with external stakeholders about factors impacting the project.

Jira can display a list of project dependencies in an organized, structured format to help facilitate efficient tracking and management of interdependent tasks in a project.

Benefits of creating a project plan

Effective project planning is the cornerstone of successful project execution. It involves several key aspects contributing to a project’s smooth functioning and success. Some of these benefits include:

Remember, an effective project plan is not just a document; it’s a strategic tool that integrates various critical elements to secure the project’s success.

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What is a Project? Definition, Types & Examples

Fahad Usmani, PMP

July 18, 2022

project

On my blog, I have written various posts connected to projects and project management; however, I have not written anything specifically on projects and project management, programs and program management, or portfolios and portfolio management.

I am currently working on developing blog pieces about these subjects, the first of which will be titled “What is a Project, Its Definition, Features, and Examples.”

After reading these blog posts, I hope you won’t have any questions or concerns regarding these ideas.

Let’s start with the project.

What is a Project?

Creating deliverables is one of the primary reasons why projects are started in the first place. A project deliverable might be tangible or intangible products or results that are one of a kind and can be independently verified.

The output of the project is not referred to as being “temporary,” as the project itself is what comes to an end and not the result.

Projects create a unique product, result, or service that is not repetitive. Despite the fact that many construction projects result in the construction of buildings, bridges, and dams that are comparable to one another, each of these structures is an original product.

It is considered an operation if there is a repeating output. The production of automobiles, for instance, involves a pattern of identical steps.

Features of the Project

features of the project

A project has the following features:

  • Temporary Nature: All projects are temporary. This means that once the project’s objective is achieved, it ceases to exist.
  • Definite Timeline: A project has a definite, measurable, and achievable timeline with a definite start and end. A project cannot continue forever; it has a definite duration.
  • Produces Output: All projects produce an output. The output can be a unique product or an enhancement, a unique service, or a result.

Project Boundaries

project boundaries

Boundaries are limitations on projects, and all projects have limitations; these are called constraints. The three main constraints are known as triple constraints. These triple constraints are:

  • Scope: This is the first project boundary, and project managers cannot perform the work outside of the scope of work. The scope can be product scope or project scope .
  • Time: Projects are temporary and must finish within a specified duration. A project crossing its duration is known as a delayed project, and the client can ask for a penalty for not completing the project on time.
  • Cost: Most projects have fixed budgets, and the project manager must complete the project within it. Going over budget is not desirable and can cause project failure.

Types of Projects

You can divide the project into three categories based on the methodology you use for their management.

  • Traditional Projects: This is the most traditional approach to the management of projects. Here the scope of work is fixed, changes are not common, and these projects follow five phases of project management. Most projects, such as those involving infrastructure or construction, are examples of traditional projects.
  • Agile Projects: These are newer methods of managing projects. Most IT projects are managed through agile methodologies. You can use agile methodologies when the scope of work is not well defined, and changes are common.
  • Hybrid Projects: These are combinations of the projects mentioned above. Hybrid project management is helpful for large projects, including construction and software development elements.

Examples of Projects

A few examples of a project are:

  • Constructing a building
  • Developing a new pharmaceutical compound
  • Expanding a tour guide service
  • Merging two organizations
  • Exploring for oil in a region
  • Modifying an organization’s software system
  • Researching to develop a new manufacturing process
  • Improving a business process within the organization

The most important characteristic of a project is its temporary nature; the project ends when it achieves its objective. The project can also end when:

  • Funding is exhausted
  • The project is no longer necessary
  • Resources are no longer available
  • The project is terminated for legal cause or convenience

Project Life Cycle

Projects undergo different phases, from initiation to completion. These phases are known as the project management phases , a collection of logically related project processes. 

The phases can be iterative, overlapped, or may be sequential. Phases are time-bound with a start and end or control point. These control points are known as “phase gate,” “control gate,” or “phase review.” 

Though projects vary in size and the amount of complexity they contain, a typical project can be mapped to the following project life cycle :

  • Starting the project
  • Organizing and preparing
  • Carrying out the work
  • Closing the project

The production of a product, result, or service might involve numerous stages during the life cycle of a project. These recurring stages are known as developmental life cycles. A project cycle can be:

  • Iterative Life Cycle: Scope is planned early, but time and costs are modified as more scope details become available while the project progresses. Iterations develop the product through repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the product’s functionality.
  • Incremental Life Cycle: The deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successfully add functionality within a predetermined time frame.

Five Phases of the Project

During a project life cycle, projects go through five phases. These phases are:

  • Monitoring and Controlling

#1. Initiation Phase

This is the beginning stage of the project, which also marks the beginning of the organization’s official launch of the project. Approval of the project charter and stakeholders identification are two crucial processes during this phase.

The project charter is the most important document associated with the project and includes essential information. It may consist of a feasibility study summary , a business case , a cost-benefit analysis , essential assumptions and limitations, project milestones , relevant stakeholders, and so on.

It shows the project objective , scope, deliverables, budget, and duration and assigns a project manager. 

Identifying project stakeholders is the second process after the project charter is signed. 

If all of your project’s stakeholders are happy, then your project was a success. If you do not identify your stakeholders, you will find that completing the project presents many challenges for you.

To ensure a successful conclusion to the project, you must first determine who your project’s stakeholders are and then effectively manage those stakeholders.

#2. Planning Phase

During this stage, you will work on developing a project management plan that is both comprehensive and detailed.

The project plan is sometimes referred to as the project management plan. This document explains how you will execute the project, monitor, control it, and close it.

The planning process begins with the gathering of requirements and the definition of the scope. After that, you establish the timeline, decide when the deadline will be and assign the resources.

Then you develop other subsidiary project management plans, such as cost, resource, procurement , and risk management plans .

You may hold your first project kick-off meeting in this phase.

Rolling Wave Concept

The detailed project scope is often unavailable at the initial stage of the project. So you make detailed plans for the near-term work for which a detailed scope is available. For the rest of the work, you go for high-level planning. This phenomenon is known as “ rolling wave planning .”

#3. Execution Phase

This phase of the project life cycle takes the most time. During this phase, you put the majority of your effort and resources into developing the actual product.

During this project phase, you, as the project manager, are responsible for managing the stakeholders, processes, and communication.

Any delay in this phase will affect your timeline, and you may exceed your schedule and your budget. This will affect the team morale and thus the project’s progress.

During the entire phase of implementation, you must have a proactive attitude.

The project output is developed in this phase.

#4. Monitoring and Controlling Phase

This phase happens concurrently with the execution phase. While executing the project plan, you will continuously monitor the progress for any deviation from the baseline.

If you observe any deviation in your plan, you will immediately take corrective action to solve the problem. You will also take preventive action to stop deviations from occurring.

In this phase, you control all aspects of your projects, including scope, cost, schedule, resource, risk, procurement, communication, etc.

#5. Closing Phase

This is the project’s final phase, with only one process: close project.

The most important steps in this process are the transition of the final product, the development of the final report, the updating of the project papers, and the updating of the organizational process assets .

Closing a project is not about just closing the project. You also complete the final transition of the product or service to the client.

You will investigate whether or not all of the purchase agreements have been finalized and the invoices paid.

You will update your lessons learned document and other project documents . After updating these documents, you will store them in repositories as organizational process assets.

Finally, you will disband your project management team and release all team members so the organization can assign them to other projects. 

How to Implement a Project

A project is implemented depending on the methodology for managing the project . 

For traditional projects, you can manage them using five phases of project management:

  • Initiation: The project charter is developed in this phase, and stakeholders are identified.
  • Planning: The project manager collects project and product requirements and develops project plans and baselines.
  • Executing: In this phase, the project manager executes the plan and does the real work. Most of the time and money is spent in this phase.
  • Monitoring & Controlling: The project manager monitors and ensures the project is progressing as planned. If there is any deviation, they will take corrective and preventive actions.
  • Closing: In this phase, the final deliverable is delivered to the client, and the project is closed.

The agile project requires eleven steps:

  • Identify Product Vision: Every product must have a vision, and the product owner should develop the product vision. This vision summarizes the product features and its main benefits.
  • Develop Product Roadmap: Road map is a high-level summary of the product and what it will become in the future. Here the product owner is focused on objectives instead of features.
  • Assign Agile Team: The agile team will be assigned the project. The team will include the product owner, scrum master, and other team members.
  • Create the Product Backlog: A list of product features known as user stories. The product will meet with the user and develop the user stories.
  • Create Spring Backlog: After creating the backlog, the product owner will prioritize the user stories and create the sprint backlog to start the first spring. 
  • Release Plan: This plan will show how and when features will be delivered to the client. Release plans are defined by the dates and scheduled features.
  • Sprint Planning: The sprint duration is one to four weeks, allowing the team to develop working software and add additional features. Sprint planning takes place before the sprint starts.
  • Track Progress: The progress is tracked using a Burn-Down Chart for each sprint. All team members can access this chart and see the overall project progress.
  • Daily Standup Meetings: Agile promotes open communication. Daily standup meeting occurs for ten to fifteen minutes before starting work. Here team members can discuss any issue they are facing and the work plan.
  • Spring Review: At the end of the sprint, all team members sit together and put green marks on everything “done.”
  • Spring Retrospective: Here, the team discusses how the previous sprint was “done” and how they can do better next time. 

When a Project is Successfully Completed

In short, when all project stakeholders are satisfied or happy and accept the deliverable, the project is successfully completed.

A project is successfully ended when:

  • The project is completed on time.
  • The project is completed within budget.
  • The project fulfills all requirements.
  • The stakeholders are satisfied.

The last criteria are most important. You often fulfill all requirements, but if the stakeholders are unsatisfied, you cannot say your project is successfully completed.

Projects are started to accomplish particular objectives; after those objectives are met, the projects are closed. A project is a temporary organization and goes through five phases, from initiation to close. Each project’s results are one of a kind, just like the project itself.

Please use the comments section to ask any questions you may have regarding projects, and I will do my best to respond.

the projects examples

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.

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16 Types of Projects. Classification in Project Management

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The goal of every well-planned project is to create a product that would be satisfying to potential customers. Your success as a project manager depends on how you use available resources to complete your project on time.

Knowing the type of project (which we'll list below) helps you effectively pick the best project management tools and techniques.

For example, suppose you are handling a real estate project. In that case, you are best served using project management software for real estate than simple project management software .

In this list, you will learn about the 16 different types of projects based on the product and level of complexity.

Let’s get started.

Types of Projects Based on the Product of the Project

Here's a list of the 16 different project types:

  • Communication Projects
  • Stakeholder Management Projects
  • Task Assignation Projects
  • Construction Projects
  • IT Projects
  • Business Projects
  • Production Projects
  • Social Projects
  • Educational Projects
  • Community Projects
  • Research Projects
  • Manufacturing Projects
  • Management Projects
  • Maintenance Projects
  • Infrastructure Projects
  • Integration Projects

1. Communication Projects

Every project type requires effective communication as it serves as the backbone of every successful project. However, communication and its methods vary among different types of projects and are key to its overall success.

Members or stakeholders involved in various types of projects need to utilize various means of communication, which include verbal, non-verbal, writing, and visual.

There must be a well-detailed communication plan which documents all communication activities, methods, and intended audience. A detailed communication plan on the redevelopment of a website to support a client’s new brand is an example of a communication project.

Example of a project management communications plan

2. Stakeholder Management Projects

The variety experienced with projects can be largely attributed to the number of stakeholders involved in the project process. More often than not, the project stakeholders consist of only the project manager and the project team.

The more stakeholders involved in the project, the more complex the project will become. There is a need for better stakeholder management. The re-strategizing of an urban construction firm to meet new arising project needs is an example of a stakeholder management project.

Stakeholder Management Projects

3. Task Assignation Projects

Each type of project embarked on in project management comes with a variety of tasks and activities to be completed. Usually, these projects vary depending on the way and manner in which these tasks are assigned. It also depends on the appropriate responsibility sharing formula chosen.

Assigning project tasks is the sole responsibility of the project manager and the success of the project depends on the effective and proper distribution of such tasks.

The effective delegation of project stakeholders to perform various tasks as regards the construction of a new garden is a typical example of this project.

Project Assignment Plan

4. Construction Projects

These projects comprise engineering projects which bother around basic construction, be it civil or architectural. Construction projects involve rigorous planning and are draining both physically and mentally.

Paying keen attention to details during construction projects execution is crucial as errors are very costly and more often than not, impossible to manipulate.

Building constructions involving the construction of residential and commercial infrastructures is a typical example of a construction project.

Construction Project Timeline Template

5. IT Projects

Any project which falls under software development, web development, network configuration, database management, and IT recovery are categorized as an IT project.

In today’s world, information systems across project management are becoming seemingly common and fast searched for across critical sectors.

Most organizations have sewn into their structure specific IT goals in a bid to move with evolving times. Acquiring a modified data system is an example of an IT project.

Example of an IT project

6. Business Projects

Business projects have a commercial outlook as they involve the development of a business plan from the project initiation phase to the project closure phase. It is aimed at achieving a specific business objective pre-determined during the business planning and strategic phase.

An example of a business project is the design of a portfolio management office.

7. Production Projects

Production projects aim to deliver goods and services in a response to customers’ needs. The purpose of any production project embarked on is to create a unique product or service through innovative means.

Project Management vs Product Management

This product or service production process involves conceiving the idea and then carefully developing the idea till it reaches a marketable form.

Only when it reaches a marketable form is a service or product production project showcased to intending customers for which the product or service was uniquely designed.

The unique process of customizing your home construction is an example of a service or product production process.

New Product or Service Worksheet

8. Social Projects

Social projects are also called public service projects and they usually come at little or no cost. These projects are aimed at providing innovative solutions to societal ills and vices.

The idea behind social projects is to ensure the people at the receiving end up with a much greater standard of living. Under corporate social responsibility (CSR), many companies and organizations embark on this type of project.

Social projects include social security, social housing, and social services such as road repairs, building infrastructures, and others.

9. Educational Projects

Educational projects aim at improving the learning process for students by utilizing harnessed and gathered knowledge over time. These projects involve the real-life application of the gained knowledge to solve practical real-life challenges. Working on a biography about a notable individual is an example of an educational project.

10. Community Projects

These projects are quite similar to social projects with the sole exception that the direct beneficiaries are involved in the project process. The goal of community projects is to meet the welfare needs of community dwellers and may also include charities.

Economic community projects also exist in a bid to curtail the economic hardship faced by community members due to a variety of factors. These projects help to alleviate the overall welfare of community members by the organization of small but impacting projects. Local funding of orphanages is an example of a community project.

11. Research Projects

Research projects are specially designed to make use of innovative means and knowledge harnessed over time to improve the overall operation of an organization. This involves the extensive use of scientific means to find solutions to questions that arise as a result of extensive research work conducted.

These projects aim to improve and advance the development of knowledge. Research projects can either be scientific, social, economic, or technological. Extensive research work conducted on the prevention and treatment of chronic brain injury is an example of a research project.

Research Project Proposal Template

12. Manufacturing Projects

Manufacturing is the heartbeat of many organizations. Projects that need to undergo manufacturing of various forms need to be conducted with the highest level of concentration and oversight.

These manufacturing projects usually come with a high level of risk to the organization at large. The use of the appropriate and most efficient project management strategies helps to reduce the likely occurrence of such project risks.

Manufacturing projects can relate to the food, chemical, automobile, metal fabrication, and aerospace manufacturing industries. The processes involved in the production of candles are an example of a manufacturing project.

13. Management Projects

The use of special and specific knowledge or skill sets is essential for every successful management project. Every project requires unique management skills to meet its goals and objectives.

The process of successfully managing a project process is an entirely different project of its own and needs the best professionals on hand.

A large chunk of the project resources is utilized by management projects. The design and testing of new computer software for a much-improved business operation is a typical example of a management project.

14. Maintenance Projects

Maintenance projects are the projects involved in keeping organization facilities or structures in good and sound working conditions. The sole aim of these projects is to ensure facilities are kept in perfect operating condition even after usage for a long period.

Efficient and routine maintenance projects are essential for the success of ongoing and future projects. Maintenance plays a vital role in project management. This type of project falls under service products. The conduct of root-cause failure analysis is an example of a maintenance project.

15. Infrastructure Projects

These projects are plain structures and services put in place to enhance efficient operation. Infrastructure projects are the foundation building block on which most successful projects are built.

Major infrastructure projects include the building and development of roads, sewers, railways, and power lines. These projects are also called essential projects and focus primarily on the development of services and efficient working systems.

16. Integration Projects

Integration projects combine and coordinate all essential elements of a project process together. These processes include the coordination of tasks, resources, and key stakeholders. Integration projects can either be batch-oriented, event-oriented, or service-oriented.

They usually require the exchange of data and relevant information between two or more project management systems with the sole aim of improving the overall project quality.

Types of Projects in Project Management by Level of Complexity

You can classify projects by their level of complexity . A project can either be easy or complicated. Project managers and project teams aim to make complex projects look as simple as possible even with a large number of dependencies . What are the types of projects based on complexity?

  • Simple projects
  • Cross-functional
  • Inter-Company

1. Simple Projects

Simple projects involve only a handful of people working on the project. They comprise tasks and interdependencies that are clear and easy to execute.

A simple project uses the smallest of resources and needs little or no planning at all to implement. An example of a simple project is the coordination of the delivery of equipment to a workshop site.

2. Cross-Functional Projects

Cross-functional projects involve the entirety of processes and procedures needed to be put in place before the project is completed. They are workflow systems and are methodical in meeting up the project’s goals and objectives.

These projects usually require constituting cross-functional teams that comprise different functional sections of the organization such as sales, marketing, manufacturing, and finance aimed at ensuring the projects reach the set target.

Cross-functional projects involve a vast depth of expertise from various stakeholders involved as their ideas are hybrid and cut across various sectors.

3. Inter-Company Projects

Inter-company projects involve the merging of two separate and entirely distinct organizations with the sole aim of combining their resources to achieve a set-out goal.

The project is usually the sole responsibility of one of the organizations but the resources needed to pull the desired result are at the beck and call of the other organization to be merged.

Inter-company projects are organizations' teamwork and the profits of the arrangements are shared based on the pre-signed working agreement.

Best Project Management Software for Any Type of Project

Choosing a project management software can be tricky. Many project management software claim to have these essential project management software features. However, not all PM tools provide them to an acceptable standard.

Here are the best project management software tools that can be used in any of the mentioned types of projects.

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Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

Tactical Project Manager

Project phases: An overview with real examples

  • by Adrian Neumeyer

Every project can be broken down into several phases.

In this article I’ll walk you through the phases in the project management life cycle.

Continue reading to learn more about the different project phases.

Project management phases: the simple view

In the most general form, a project can be broken down into:

  • Preparation phase
  • Execution phase
  • Closing phase

The preparation phase is where the project is being set up. The project manager, together with the customer and contractor, will arrange all the formal aspects of the project.

This includes finding the right people to work on the project (establishing a project organization), creating a project plan , setting up a project budget , holding a project kick-off and other activities.

The project team must also gather the requirements and plan the steps for the next phase. Without knowing the detailed requirements ( ‘What do we need to do?’ ), the project cannot do anything.

During the execution phase , the project is concerned with all the tasks to turn the project goal into reality. This can mean building something tangible (a product, a building) but also could involve defining a new process (e.g. how a company can find clients online). As you can guess, this takes time.

That’s why the execution phase is usually the phase taking the longest. In terms of complexity this phase will also be the most challenging to manage, because there are so many activities taking place in a tight sequence.

The closing phase is the last one in the project life cycle. Usually it only takes a few weeks or months, which doesn’t make it an easy phase. The last critical tasks have to be completed to make sure the customer is satisfied. There’s no more time for making errors. Everything has to work as planned.

Otherwise the project deadline cannot be met. What’s happening in the closing phase? It’s when the final product or process of the project is prepared for handover to the customer:

  • A building is finalized and the customer makes his final inspection.
  • Employees are trained for a new process to be used in a company.
  • A product is packaged and shipped to the customer. That sort of stuff.

A closer look at the project phases

What I shared with you above was a simplified look at project stages. I wanted to give you the essence before we dive deeper into the project life cycle.

What follows next is an explanation of the way projects are structured in real life. It’s the project phases according to the PMI project phase model.

The 5 Project management phases:

  • Project Concept & Initiation
  • Project Definition and Planning
  • Project Launch or Execution
  • Project Performance & Control
  • Project Close

the projects examples

Phase 1: Project Concept & Initiation

“Manufacturing cost has gone up 7% over the last 2 years. This is killing our profitability! We need to do something about it.”, the CEO of a company says during a board meeting.

“I propose to start a project. We need our top experts to look into this issue and find ways to cut our spending.”

Every project starts with a goal. Or a problem that has to be solved, like in this example.

What happens next? The CEO will delegate the job to one of his managers (let’s say the head of manufacturing), who in turn will look for a suitable project manager. Once a PM has been found, this person will coordinate the next steps. These are, defining the rough scope of the project, setting targets, building a team and documenting the first things in a project charter.

What happens during the project concept and initiation phase are only the first ‘baby steps’ of a project. It is when an organization comes to an agreement that something should be done, and the first actions will be taken. There is not much formalism in the sense that you have to create a lot of project management documentation.

Phase 2: Project Planning

This is the first phase where you really have to go into detail. During the project planning phase, you have to plan every aspect of the project, down to a weekly (or even daily) level.

As you can probably guess, the planning phase is critical:

95% of your project’s success depends on how well you plan things

What you have to do in this phase:

  • Define roles and responsibilities  – What kind of skills or people do you need in the project? And what do you expect from each of those members?
  • Create a scope statement  – The scope statement is a document which clearly states what the project is expected to deliver. It also defines the boundaries, i.e. what is not expected from the project.
  • Create a project plan (Gantt chart)  – Create a project Gantt chart to visualize the flow of the project. This will give everyone on the team clarity on what has to be done by when. Need a good template? Get my project plan template for Excel .
  • Define key milestones  – Milestones are goals which have to be accomplished during the project. A milestone could be specification completed or product prototype completed .
  • Set up a communication plan  – A simple table which shows how the team and stakeholders will communicate throught the project. Communication can happen in the form of meetings or by email.
  • Perform a risk analysis  – It is always better to be prepared for issues than to be surprised. Do a risk analysis to identify the most critical risks and have a “plan B” ready in your pocket.

I cover all the above points in my article on how to create a project plan .

Phase 3: Project Launch or Execution

This is where the rubber meets the road. All tasks defined in the previous phase are now being executed. One after another, or sometimes in parallel. The project team – supported by the project stakeholders – now produces tangible results: A detailed concept outlining the changes driven by the project, or product that will later be sold to the customer.

It’s a very hectic phase which requires good management. Issues pop up, tasks get delayed, people fall sick. All this can (and will) happen, and it’s the project manager’s job to fix those issues and steer the project into the right direction.

The execution phase is also where most of the project budget is spent. Team members will clock a lot of hours, which represent a cost. But the project may also have to purchase goods and services in order to reach the project goal.

Phase 4: Project Performance & Control

This is not really a dedicated phase, but more an ongoing duty of the project management. The project leader has to monitor the progress and quality of the project with respect to several factors:

  • Are the project targets being met?  – Projects are launched with a specific purpose in mind. As project manager, you should constantly monitor whether the project is on track to meet those targets.
  • Are we still within budget?  – Tracking effort and cost is one of the necessary (but most disliked) tasks of a PM. Set aside a few hours for it every month, and get my project budget template to make your life easy.
  • Are we deviating from scope?  – Every now and then, a project will face unforeseen changes. The customer may say: ‘I’ve changed my mind. I want the building to be painted blue, not orange.’   Such change request have to be evaluated by the project team. Maybe the changes require extra budget or require special skills to be implemented.

Phase 5: Project Close

Project close is the last phase in the project lifecycle. These are the final weeks or months during which the project’s end product is finalized and handed over to the customer.

What steps are taken largely depends on the type of project. If we’re talking about an IT project, the closing phase may involve final checks and tests, installing the system at the customer site and training people. In a construction project the customer will inspect the building (or whatever was built) and sign an approval sheet.

The project manager usually will prepare a final report with the actual cost values . Some organizations also do post mortems  (also called lessons learned ) to evaluate what went well and what didn’t go well in the project, mainly to learn for upcoming projects.

Read also my article Think it’s Over? Not Yet! Four Tips for a Smooth Project Closing .

Don’t let the project phases restrict you

The project phase model is a generic template for structuring projects. It’s good because it optimizes your project for minimum risk: First you do the planning, and then you execute. No messing up of things where you execute first and then discover your results don’t meet the project’s targets.

While a sequential approach is generally the right way, you shouldn’t feel restricted by it. Sometimes it makes sense to start with a certain execution task while you finalize the planning. Starting early with a job reduces the likelihood of a delay. And if you are absolutely sure there’s nothing gonna happen which could make the task a waste of resources, then start early.

Example:  You’re leading a manufacturing project for a new truck. The truck is going to be shipped to a customer in Europe 10 months from now.  Due to the booming economy, shipping resources are very scarce. So you decide to reserve a spot on the cargo vessel already now, even though the project is still in the early planning stage (during your risk assessment you’ve recognized the limited shipping resources as a potential risk). Shipping costs $30k, and you need to get the expediture pre-approved by the CEO, because the project budget hasn’t been officially approved yet.

Do you have any questions?

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Adrian Neumeyer

Hi! I'm Adrian, former Senior IT Project Manager and founder of Tactical Project Manager. I created the site to help you become an excellent project leader and manage intense projects with success!

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UpLink helps communities across the world face the threats of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Image:  Unsplash/Noah Buscher

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the projects examples

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.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:.

  • Digital crowdsourcing platform UpLink was created to address the world’s most pressing problems.
  • The initiative seeks sustainable solutions to tackle issues such as climate change and social injustice.
  • Projects are also aimed at tackling the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The importance of sustainable solutions came to the fore in 2020 as communities across the world faced the threats of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital crowdsourcing platform UpLink was created to address such challenges and help speed up the delivery of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Unveiled at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2020, the platform - launched with founding partners Deloitte and Salesforce - connects the next generation of change-makers and social entrepreneurs to networks of contacts with the resources, expertise and experience to help bring about change.

Since its launch, UpLink has surfaced the best entrepreneurial solutions through competitions such as its Ocean Solutions Sprint , Trillion Trees Challenge , COVID-19 Social Justice Challenge and COVID Challenges . Here are some of the most innovative.

Have you read?

3 innovations leading the fight to save our forests, these 15 innovations are helping us fight covid-19 and its aftermath, 4 ideas that could make our response to covid-19 more equal.

Ocean Solutions Sprint

Cubex Global

Oman-based Cubex Global aims to cut global shipping emissions by enabling businesses to easily buy and sell unused container space on existing cargo routes. The company claims that its blockchain-based marketplace could help reduce emissions from shipping vessels by up to 20% and recover about $25 billion in lost freight revenue each year.

Waste management service RecyGlo works with businesses in Myanmar and Malaysia to recycle and process material in a safe and non-hazardous manner, helping to avoid mismanaged plastic being dumped in the region’s rivers and ending up in the ocean. The Yangon-based company manages 500 tonnes of waste and saves 1,470 tonnes of CO2 each month .

Scottish biotech start-up Oceanium uses sustainably-farmed seaweed to create food and nutrition products and compostable biopackaging. It believes that a sustainable seaweed farming industry can help mitigate the effects of climate change and create jobs.

COVID Challenge

Intelehealth

Developed at Johns Hopkins University, Intelehealth is a telemedicine platform that connects patients and frontline health workers with remote doctors to deliver primary care services at a distance in countries such as India.

UpLink is a digital platform to crowdsource innovations in an effort to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

It is an open platform designed to engage anyone who wants to offer a contribution for the global public good. The core objective is to link up the best innovators to networks of decision-makers, who can implement the change needed for the next decade. As a global platform, UpLink serves to aggregate and guide ideas and impactful activities, and make connections to scale-up impact.

Hosted by the World Economic Forum, UpLink is being designed and developed in collaboration with Salesforce, Deloitte and LinkedIn.

Emergency services app Flare provides next-generation 911 for those who do not have access to help in case of an emergency. In Kenya, its ‘Uber for ambulances’ platform has reduced response times by 87% and helped save 2,500 lives since its 2017 launch.

Carbon Health

Tech-enabled primary care provider Carbon Health aims to improve access to world-class healthcare. In the US, it established pop-up COVID clinics in 30 cities, with doctors available on video call, and has so far tested more than 500,000 people .

Desolenator

Desolenator’s solar-powered water purification systems help remote communities produce clean drinking water, without the need for filters, chemicals or external energy sources. This helps them build water resilience in the face of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic .

Trillion Trees Challenge

Borneo Nature Foundation

For over a decade, Borneo Nature Foundation has developed planting methods to reforest degraded deep peatland, which is an important carbon store, key to local economies and home to populations of orangutans. It has planted more than 30,000 seedlings , and established community seedling nurseries in villages near Borneo’s remaining tropical rainforests.

Reforestum and Ecosphere+

Spain-based CO2 offsetting service Reforestum teamed up with UK climate solutions company Ecosphere+ to enable individuals and businesses to finance forest conservation and restoration by offsetting their carbon footprint.

Inga Foundation

Slash-and-burn farming is the only source of income for millions of farmers but it’s devastating the world’s rainforests. This is something that the UK-based Inga Foundation wants to counter through its Inga Alley farming method, which helps farmers build long-term food security on one plot of land.

Social Justice Challenge

Global platform citiesRise seeks to transform mental health policy and practice for young people across the world through its Mental Health and Friendly Cities framework – something that is only likely to become even more relevant in the COVID-19 era.

Philippines-based telerehabilitation platform TheraWee aims to improve access to rehabilitation services for children with difficulties by connecting their parents with individuals, groups and communities that can offer them support.

Noora Health

US start-up Noora Health provides families with medical skills training to help look after their loved ones, both in health facilities and at home. Its Care Companion Program has already reached more than 1 million relatives in India and Bangladesh .

Family Mask’s #PPEforAll

Global Citizen Capital and its company Family Mask’s #PPEforAll initiative was set up to boost access to affordable personal protective equipment (PPE) as the pandemic hit. By July 2020, more than 1 million masks had been distributed to elderly people across the world.

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Home / Project Management / Project Plan Example – Sample Real-Life Project Plan

project plan example

Project Plan Example – Sample Real-Life Project Plan

Are you planning to create a project plan? What does a good project plan look like? How could I create one? Where should I start to create a plan for your project? For a successful project, a great project plan is essential.

In this article, we will go through the key steps to write a project plan successfully. Project plans vary in sizes, elements, format, and components. So, there is no single way of creating a project plan. As a matter of fact, a good project plan contains the project goals it is meant to address. You may find many project plan templates that vary from extremely complex to extremely simple across the internet. But how do you choose the right one?

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Well, before we start let’s give you a link where you can download a FREE project management plan example along with four other Free Project Management Templates .

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Finding the right project plan

If you select any project plan template, you may find yourself spending precious time filling in lots of details. Your project may not have these details or in most cases, it won’t need them. At the same time, if you select a more simplified project plan template, you may find yourself stuck with a very limited version of the plan that does not include important details.

So what should you do? We tend to use a more practical approach, instead of just handing you a ready-made project plan example template. We will show you  the right project plan example for your project. Accordingly, our offering will include steps you should take to create a suitable plan for your project regardless of its size and components.

How Should You Start Creating a Project Plan?

So let’s start with the obvious questions, where should you start and how should you start. Now many project managers deal with project planning as a solo act. Thus, they usually tend to neglect team collaboration and depend on their own intellectual skills to perform the activities all by themselves. While this may seem an easy approach to creating a solid project plan example, it is an approach full of flaws. As a start, consider the fact that teamwork and collaboration bring more value than individual efforts no matter how brilliant the individual is . Additionally, the combined backgrounds and experiences of your project team will cover many project considerations.

1. Breakdown the work

The next step is to sit with your team to define the project work at a high level and then break it down into detailed work packages . Meanwhile, the team should also work on defining the tasks to carry out in order to complete the defined work packages. These tasks should carefully detail every activity the project team will execute. This way, the team leaves no chance of missing any aspect of the project and it also helps the team plan and assign proper resources. As a result, this step is considered one of the most important steps in project planning. Also, it helps in drawing the line for what should the project team consider as a part of the project scope of work and what is considered out of scope.

Project plan example

2. Define quality standards

Quality

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3. Assign Resources to Tasks

Resources

4. Define the Relationship of Activities

The next step is to understand the relationship between different tasks and activities. This step is the heart of project planning since it defines opportunities for project schedule compression. In addition to the mentioned, it gives the project team the opportunity to identify schedule risks and potential conflicts over resources. Defining the relationship of activities is also known as activity sequencing. So how do you do it? It mainly works by defining what are the mandatory relations between different activities. Also, you should define the logical relations between different activities. The project team can identify mandatory relations by reviewing any relationship defined by contractual agreement or obligation. On the other hand, the team can identify logical relations through what works best.

Activity relations (SS, FS, FF, etc.)

Now let’s go through each type of relation the project team can identify and how it works. There are four types of relationships between different activities:

  • The first type of activities’ relationship is Start to Start (SS) . This type of relationship is used when one activity cannot start unless the other activity starts.
  • The second type of activities’ relationship is Finish to Start (FS) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not start unless the other activity finishes.
  • The third type of activities’ relationship is Finish to Finish (FF) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not finish unless the other activity finishes.
  • The fourth type of activities’ relationship is Start to Finish (SF) . The project team uses this type of relationship when one activity can not finish unless the other activity starts.

Project plan example

5. Estimate Resources and Duration of Each Task

The next step in formulating a project plan example is to set an estimate resource and duration for each task of the project. Each resource should define the duration and any resources (tools, equipment, etc) needed to complete the task. This way we can set duration estimation for each activity in a realistic way and at the same time confirm the required resources for each activity. By completing this step, formulating a project plan is almost near completion.

On the other hand, the project team can use multiple techniques to set activity resources and duration estimation. These techniques may include parametric estimation which uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables. Also, the team can use more simplified estimation techniques like Analogous estimation, Bottom-up estimating, or three-point estimation techniques. The team can use the later technique by calculating the average or the weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates.

6. Estimate Each Task Cost

This step is similar to estimating resources and duration for each task of the project. Based on task resources, required talents, and duration, the team should decide the cost needed to complete the task. As another step for creating a project plan example, this step provides a realistic cost estimate for each activity. Same as estimating resources and duration, the project team can use multiple techniques to set task cost estimation. These techniques include parametric estimation where the team uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables to identify cost. Also, the team can use more simplified techniques like Analogous estimation, Bottom-up estimating, and three-point estimation techniques. Just like estimating resources and duration, the team can use the latter technique by calculating the average or the weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates.

project plan example

7. Generate Project Plan

After completing each task resource and duration estimation, in addition to completing cost estimates for each task, now you can generate the final version of the project plan example . You should review the different aspects of the project plan to inspect any potential conflict between them. There may be estimated costs for an activity which don’t match the resource estimate. In such a case, you need to review your project plan example and find a way to clear that variance. We highly recommend that you review the project plan example we provided as an attachment for your reference. The final reviewed project plan example is sent for approval and final authorization for execution.

Click to download the sample project plan example

8. Finalize and Approve by Sponsor

First, the project team carefully reviews the final project plan example and rectifies any variances between different elements. Then, the project manager hands over the final version of the project plan to the project sponsor for review, recommendations, and final approval. The project sponsor revises the project plan’s final version and investigates it to ensure it is realistic enough. Also, the sponsor reviews the plans constraints, assumptions, and project risks. As a result, the project plan might be returned to the project team for revision if the project sponsor sees it as unrealistic. On the other hand, if the project sponsor finds the plan realistic, integrated and conflict-free, he/she will approve it directly. Thus, the project team can have an approved version of the project plan example when the project sponsor authorizes the team to start executing project work.

Project Plan Example of a Project

Now let’s go through a sample project plan example that we have attached above for you as a reference to use for your future project plan. This project plan example offers major sections of the project plan that we described in this article. In addition, for more project plan examples, check out Master of Project Academy’s exclusive “ Sandbox ,” membership which includes example project management plans that accompany case studies and a template for developing project plans. Now, we will briefly step through  sections of the project plan example to enrich your understanding of the sections. The main section of the sample project plan example:

Sample project plan example – Section 1: Executive Summary of Project Charter

The first section of the sample project plan example covers the Executive Summary of the Project Charter including project constraints and assumptions.

project plan example

Sample project plan example – Section 2: Scope management

This section includes what you have detailed in the first step in this article “Breakdown the work “. This includes three subsections:

  • Work breakdown structure: Includes defined work package and sub-work packages and their associated breakdown sub levels
  • Deployment plan: Let’s say that the project involves deploying an application to state health partners. This section would discuss the approach for rolling out the application to the end-users, including conducting environmental assessments, developing memorandums of understanding, hardware/software installation, and data conversion.
  • Change management plan: Let’s say that a development server for your project is administered by another organization that is responsible for installing machine upgrades and there are scheduled outages that will impact your project schedule. Changes to the project will need to be made to deal with the potential impact of the scheduled outage.

Sample project plan example – Section 3: Schedule management

This section is about whether you stay on track with the planned schedule. It includes the output of sections 4 and 5 of this article. Let’s give an example of a schedule management approach: Establish a baseline within the first two weeks of the project and monitor progress against the baseline on a weekly basis. The project manager will be responsible for ensuring the project schedule is updated with the latest information and never more than three business days out of date. For variances on executive milestones greater than 10%, the project may choose to use guidance specified by CPIC. See the CDC UP Project Schedule document for more guidance on project scheduling and for Project Schedule templates.

The subsections of this section are:

  • Milestones: includes milestones and their Estimated Completion Timeframes
  • Project schedule: the following diagram provides a sample project schedule
  •   Dependencies: describes the output of section 4 of this article “Activity relations (SS, FS, FF, etc.)”

Project plan example

Sample project plan example – Section 4: Cost/budget management

This section of the sample project plan example describes the project’s cost management plan or provides a reference to where it is stored. This section should contain step 6, “Estimate each task’s costs outputs”.

Sample project plan example – Section 5: Quality management

This section of the sample project plan example describes the project’s quality management covered in step number two in this article.

Example: An information system that controls the level of consistency for screen layouts would normally contain a full review for all available screens. Thus making sure that these screens match the originally agreed set of quality standards. In many cases, quality measures may include a condition of no defects (bugs) for certain requirements the company deems critical. While in other cases, quality measures may require consistent screen layouts and/or correctly calculated variables. Generally, the project managers can ensure quality through performing inspections and audits as well as using formal testing. Then, the project management team should document those defects in a tracking system to ensure fixing defects, retest them and eventually close them. In some projects, the project manager may use an artifact like a traceability matrix as a tool for determining whether critical requirements are met or not.

Sample project plan example – Section 6: Resource management

This section contains the description of the resource part discussed in step 5 in this article.

RACI

Sample project plan example – Section 7: Communication management

It contains communication planning for a different types of communication between different stakeholders and the project team. sample for communication matrix below:

Sample project plan example – Section 8: Risk management

This section contains all risks identified in any element of the project , it mainly contains the Risk Log. The project managers normally maintain a risk log away from the project management plan in a separate document. The project manager may merge different logs into a single document that contains all different logs.

Sample project plan example – Section 9: Issue management

This section contains all issues surfaced or detected in any project element, it mainly contains the issue log. The issue log is normally maintained by project managers in a separate document away from the project management plan. The project team may also merge the risk log with the issue log in addition to other logs like assumptions and constraints log into a single document.

Sample project plan example – Section 10: Procurement management

Example: Normally this section would include information related to physical and human resources that can be procured. Thus ensuring that the procurement of hardware including computers, development servers, and test servers are planned and managed properly. Also, it describes how to leverage project team staff members from an external vendor. Additionally, it can go into more explicit details to include project staff acquisition strategies.

Sample project plan example – Section 11: Compliance-related planning

In this section, you need to insert a list of compliance-related processes that the project team must adhere to in order to meet company compliance policies. Moreover, it may include a description of governance bodies that oversee the project work or review the product deliverable. It also states occasions of governance-related reviews and audits describing the audit standards and their acceptance criteria. Additionally, it may also include a description of who has the right to perform audits and how they will be performed.

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  • How to write an effective project objec ...

How to write an effective project objective, with examples

Julia Martins contributor headshot

You finished your project, now what?

If you don’t have a system in place to know what your project objectives are, you don’t have an easy way to know: Did your project succeed? Did you hit your goals? Or did you miss your target?

What are project objectives?

Project objectives are what you plan to achieve by the end of your project. This might include deliverables and assets, or more intangible objectives like increasing productivity or motivation. Your project objectives should be attainable, time-bound, specific goals you can measure at the end of your project.

Project objectives are a critical element of  project management —without them, you don’t have a succinct way to communicate your goals before and during the project, nor do you have a measurable way to evaluate your success after the project ends.

If you’re just getting started with project objectives, here’s how they differ from other project management elements:

Project objectives vs. project goals

Though some teams may use these interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between project goals vs. objectives . In general, project goals are higher-level than project objectives. Your project goals should outline what happens once your project is successful, and how your project aligns with overall business objectives.

Project objectives, on the other hand, are more detailed and specific than project goals. Though many project objectives may impact business objectives, your project objectives are more focused on your actual, specific deliverables at the end of the project.

Example of a project objective:  Add five new ways for customers to find the feedback form in-product within the next two months.

Example of a project goal:  Make it easier for the engineering team to receive and respond to customer feedback.

Project objectives vs. business objectives

Project objectives are just that—objectives and performance indicators for individual projects. Your project objectives should apply to the project they’re about, and they should be specific enough to guide your team in evaluating project success.

Business objectives are bigger than a single project. Unlike project objectives, your business objectives will fuel your business trajectory and velocity. Your business objectives should be long-term guidelines for your entire company or department. They will guide your company goals for a quarter or year, and they should be written in whatever goal-setting methodology your team uses, like  objectives and key results (OKRs) .

Example of a project objective:  Increase our company Net Promoter Score (NPS) to 62 by the end of the quarter.

Example of a business objective:  Become the premier service provider in our category.

Project objectives vs. project plan

Your project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your team needs to accomplish in order to successfully achieve your project goals and objectives. However, your project plan should include several additional key elements, like your project stakeholders, deliverables, timeline, and more.

Plan to create your project objectives before working on your project plan, since your objectives will likely drive other elements of your project plan, like deliverables and success metrics. But once your project objectives are written, you’ll likely share them with stakeholders by way of the project plan.

Example of a project objective:  Increase click through rate (CTR) engagement on email by 10% by the end of Q3.

Example of a project plan:  See an example plan in our  guide to project planning .

Project objectives vs. project milestones

At first glance, “objectives” and “milestones” sound like the same thing—they’re both targets within a project. But project milestones, in general, should be smaller in scope than project objectives.

A  project milestone  is a checkpoint that marks a specific achievement in your project timeline. Milestones themselves don’t represent work—rather, they record the accomplishment of a group of tasks or deliverables. While project milestones are important, your project objectives encompass your whole project.

Example of a project objective:  Obtain 20,000 RSVPs to our virtual event before the closing date for signups (June 23rd).

Example of a project milestone:  June 8th, 2021: Web page promotion upcoming virtual event goes live.

Project objectives vs. project deliverables

Project deliverables  are the assets you want to have at the end of your project—in a marketing campaign, for example, a deliverable could be a new ad or a web page. In general, your project objectives will define what your deliverables are—but your objectives should also be broader than your deliverables.

In addition to capturing deliverables, your project objectives will also define the benefits and outcomes to come from those deliverables, especially as they relate to the grander scheme of your project goals and business objectives.

Example of a project objective:  Reduce monthly customer churn to >1% before the end of the year.

Example of a deliverable:  Launch winback campaign for all lapsed customers.

The benefits of project objectives

A clear project objective helps you know where you’re going with your project. Without a project objective, you don’t have an easy way to know if your project succeeded or failed—nor can you plan improvements for the next project you work on.

When team members don’t have a clear sense of how their work fits into the larger project and company goals, they’re less motivated and less engaged. According to the  Asana Goals Report , only 26% of knowledge workers have a clear understanding of how their individual work contributes toward company goals. Granted, your project objectives aren’t company goals—but they’re the middle step that connects individual work to your project work to your company goals.

So when you have clearly-defined project objectives, your team members can consistently evaluate their work and refocus on the objectives if they’ve gotten misaligned. Think of your objectives as a compass to help your team continue moving in the right direction.

5 tips to write great project objectives

The secret to writing great project objectives is to create objectives that are clearly written and helpful. You can do this by using the SMART methodology , which stands for:

For a full walkthrough of this methodology, read our article to learn how to write better SMART goals .

1. Set your project objectives at the beginning of your project

In order for your objectives to guide the results of the project, you need to set them at the beginning and use them to guide your project. As we mentioned earlier, your project objectives are a key element of your  project plan , which you should also create at the beginning of your project.

2. Involve your project team in the goal-setting process

The more buy-in you get, the more successful your project objectives will be. Your stakeholders need to have a clear understanding of the objectives of the project, so they can approach the rest of your project plan and the work that happens during the project most effectively.

3. Create brief, but clear, project objective statements

If this is your first time writing a project objective, you may be tempted to outline every detail—but try to keep your project objective short if you can. Think of it as a statement to guide the results of your project—your project objective statement should be about one to two sentences long. The additional information, like your project budget or stakeholders, will be captured in your project plan.

4. Make sure your objectives are things you can control

This is where the SMART acronym comes in to play to help you create clearly-defined, realistic, and controllable project objectives. There are five elements to this framework:

Specific.  Make sure your project objective statement clearly covers the project your team is currently working on. Avoid writing overly broad project objectives that don’t directly connect to the result of the project.

Measurable.  At the end of your project, you need a way to clearly look back and determine if your project was a success. Make sure your project objectives are clearly measurable things—like percentage change or a specific number of assets.

Achievable.  Are your project objectives something you can reasonably hope to achieve within your project? this is connected to your project scope —if your project scope is unrealistic, your project objectives likely will be, too. Without Achievable project goals, your project may suffer from  scope creep , delays, or overwork.

Realistic.  When you’re creating your project objectives, you should have a general sense of your  project resources . Make sure your objectives are something you can achieve within the time frame and with the resources you have available for this project.

Time-bound.  Your project objectives should take into account how long your project timeline is. Make sure you factor in the time you have available to work on your project.

5. Check in on your project objectives during the project’s lifecycle

Employees who understand how their individual work adds value to their organization are  2X as motivated . In order to keep your team aligned and motivated, make sure to check in and update them on your project objectives frequently. In your  project status reports , include a section that connects back to your project objectives. Share whether your current project is on track, at risk, or off track. That way, your project team can recalibrate if necessary and move forward in a way that best contributes to your project objectives.

Examples of good and bad project objectives

It’s not easy to write a project objective, and it’ll take time for you to get in the groove of writing these for your projects. That’s ok! Check out these three examples of good and bad objectives to help you write your own:

Example 1: Business project objective

Bad: Launch new home page.

This project objective is missing many important characteristics. Though this objective is measurable, achievable, and realistic, it’s not specific or time-bound. When should the home page be live? What should the redesign focus on?

Good: Create net-new home page assets and copy, focusing on four customer stories and use cases. Launch refreshed, customer-centric home page by the end of Q2.

This project objective is solid. It’s specific ( create net-new home page assets and copy ), measurable ( launch refreshed, customer-centric home page ), achievable and realistic ( focusing on four customer stories and use cases ), and time bound ( by the end of Q2 ).

Example 2: Nonprofit project objective

Bad: Increase sustainability in our production process by 5%

Though this project objective is more specific than the previous bad example, it’s still lacking several important characteristics. This objective is measurable ( by 5% ), but it’s not specific or time-bound, since we don’t specify what “sustainability” means or by when the production process should improve. As a result, we don’t really know if it’s achievable or realistic.

Good: Reduce operational waste by 5% and increase use of recycled products by 20% in the next 12 weeks.

This project objective builds upon the previous one, because we now have a specific objective. This project objective also includes a way to measure the goal ( by 5%... by 20% ). The objective is a little ambitious, but the fact that it’s time-bound ( in the next 12 weeks ) makes it both achievable and realistic.

Example 3: Personal project objective

Bad: Improve performance reviews

Believe it or not, most personal project objectives aren’t specific or measurable. That’s because we have a hard time turning success metrics inwards, onto ourselves. But in order to know if we improved and achieved our personal goals, we need to create a clearer project objective.

Good: Get at least a 4/5 on both the March and September performance reviews in 2021.

Here, we have a project objective that checks all of the right boxes: it’s specific ( get at least a 4/5 ), measurable ( 4/5 ), achievable and realistic ( 4/5 gives us room for any unanticipated difficulties ), and time-bound ( in 2021 ).

Objectively speaking, project objectives are a good idea

Setting a project objective can help your team gain clarity, align on work, and get more work done. But remember: project objectives are just one part of your overall project plan. To learn more about how you can increase clarity and alignment during the project planning stage, read our guide to  writing project plans .

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How to Write a Project Management Plan [4 Examples]

By Midori Nediger , Dec 11, 2023

Project Management Plan Blog Header

Have you ever been part of a project that didn’t go as planned?

It doesn’t feel good.

Wasted time, wasted resources. It’s pretty frustrating for everyone involved.

That’s why it’s so important to create a comprehensive project management plan   before your project gets off the ground.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to create and design a successful project management plan.

We’ll also showcase easy-to-customize project plan templates you can create today with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. Let’s get started!

  Click to jump ahead:

What is a project management plan?

What are the 5 stages of a project management plan, what are the 7 components of a project management plan, 5 things you need to know before creating a project management plan, how do you write a project plan, the takeaway: project plan best practices.

A project management plan is a formal document that defines how a project is going to be carried out by outlining the scope, goals, budget, timeline and deliverables of a project. Its crucial role lies in ensuring the project stays on course.

You write a project plan  during the project planning stage of the  project life cycle , and it must be approved by stakeholders before a project can move on the execution stage.

If some of these terms are new to you, you can get up to speed with this post on project management terms . 

This means your project plan must be engaging, organized, and thorough enough to gain the support of your stakeholders.

the projects examples

Further Reading : New to project management? Read our blog post on the 4 stages of the project life cycle .

The importance of a project management plan

A well-developed project management plan sets the foundation for a successful project by providing a roadmap that guides the project team toward successful project completion. A good project management plan can ensure that:

  • Project objectives and goals are clearly defined and understood
  • Project scope is effectively managed
  • Resources are allocated efficiently to maximize productivity and minimize waste
  • Risks are identified, assessed and mitigated
  • Project tasks and activities are well-organized and executed in a timely manner.
  • Communication among team members , stakeholders and project sponsors is effective and transparent
  • Changes to the project are properly evaluated, approved and implemented
  • Lessons learned and best practices are documented for future reference and improvement
  • Stakeholders are engaged and satisfied with the project outcomes
  • The project is delivered within the specified timeline, budget and quality standards

The Project Management Institute (PMI) outlines five key stages of the project management plan, which are commonly known as the project management process groups. These stages provide a framework for managing projects effectively. The five stages are as follows:

Initiation: This is the first stage of the project management plan. It involves identifying and defining the project’s purpose, objectives and scope.

Planning: In the planning stage, detailed plans are developed to guide the execution and control of the project. This includes defining project deliverables, developing a project schedule, estimating resources and costs, identifying risks and creating a comprehensive project management plan.

Execution: The execution stage involves putting the project plan into action. Project tasks are performed, resources are allocated and project team members work towards achieving project objectives.

Monitoring and Control: During this stage, project progress is regularly monitored and actual performance is compared against planned performance. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are tracked, and necessary adjustments are made to keep the project on track. This stage involves assessing risks, addressing issues and changes and ensuring that project objectives are being met.

Closure: The closure stage marks the end of the project. It involves finalizing all project activities, completing any remaining deliverables, obtaining client or stakeholder approval,and formally closing out the project. Lessons learned are documented and a project review is conducted to identify areas for improvement in future projects.

It’s important to note that these stages are iterative, and project management is often an ongoing process. Throughout the project lifecycle, project managers may need to revisit and adjust plans based on changing circumstances and new information.

Before you start assembling your own plan, you should be familiar with the main components of a typical project plan .

A project management plan should include the following sections:

  • Executive Summary: A short description of the contents of the report
  • Project Scope & Deliverables: An outline of the boundaries of the project, and a description of how the project will be broken down into measurable deliverables
  • Project Schedule: A high-level view of project tasks and milestones ( Gantt charts are handy for this)
  • Project Resources: The budget, personnel, and other resources required to meet project goals
  • Risk and Issue Management Plan: A list of factors that could derail the project and a plan for how issues will be identified, addressed, and controlled
  • Communication Management Plan: A plan for how team and stakeholder communication will be handled over the course of the project
  • Cost and Quality Management Plan: This section encompasses the project’s budget, cost estimation,and cost control mechanisms. It also includes quality assurance and control measures as well as any testing or verification activities to be performed.

Basically, a project plan should tell stakeholders what needs to get done, how it will get done, and when it will get done.

That said, one size doesn’t fit all. Every project management plan must be tailored to the specific industry and circumstances of the project. You can use a project management app for smoother project planning.

For example, this marketing plan looks client facing. It is tailored to sell the client on the agency:

the projects examples

Whereas this commercial development plan focuses on specific objectives and a detailed timeline:

Light Commercial Development Project Management Plan Template

With those basics out of the way, let’s get into some tips for creating a project management plan that’s as engaging as it is professional.

Further Reading : If you’re looking to create a proposal, read our in-depth business proposal guide. Then try our job proposal templates or business proposal templates .

Before diving into creating a project management plan, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the project objectives and the expectations of stakeholders involved.

Without a firm grasp of these fundamental elements, your project may face significant challenges or fail to deliver the desired outcomes.

Here are key points to consider when creating a project management plan:

  • Project Objectives: Clearly understand the project objectives and what you want to achieve. Identify the desired outcomes, deliverables and the purpose of the project.
  • Scope of the Project: Determine the boundaries and extent of the project. Define what is included and excluded to ensure clarity and prevent scope creep .
  • Stakeholders: Identify all stakeholders who will be impacted by or have an interest in the project. Understand their needs, expectations and level of involvement.
  • Resources: Assess the resources required to execute the project successfully. This includes human resources, budget, equipment and materials. Determine their availability and allocation.
  • Risks and Constraints: Identify potential risks, uncertainties and constraints that may affect the project. Understand the challenges, limitations and potential obstacles that need to be addressed.

Now that you have these key areas identified, let’s get started with creating your project plan!

To write a successful project plan, follow these 5 steps below to create an effective project plan that serves as a valuable tool for project management:

1. Highlight the key elements of your project plan in an executive summary  

An executive summary is a brief description of the key contents of a project plan .

I t’s usually the first thing stakeholders will read, and it should act like a Cliff’s-notes version of the whole plan.

It might touch on a project’s value proposition, goals, deliverables, and important milestones, but it has to be concise (it is a summary, after all). First, make sure you develop a proof of concept .

In this example, an executive summary can be broken into columns to contrast the existing problem with the project solution:

the projects examples

The two-column format with clear headers helps break up the information, making it extremely easy to read at a glance.

Here’s another example of a project management plan executive summary. This one visually highlights key takeaways with big fonts and helpful icons:

the projects examples

In this case, the highlighted facts and figures are particularly easy to scan (which is sure to make your stakeholders happy).

But your executive summary won’t always be so simple.

For larger projects, your executive summary will be longer and more detailed.

This project management plan template has a text-heavy executive summary, though the bold headers and different background colors keep it from looking overwhelming:

Green Stripes Project Management Plan Template

It’s also a good idea to divide it up into sections, with a dedicated header for each section:

the projects examples

Regardless of how you organize your executive summary, it should give your stakeholders a preview of what’s to come in the rest of the project management plan.

2. Plot your project schedule visually with a Gantt chart

A carefully planned project schedule is key to the success of any project. Without one, your project will likely crumble into a mess of missed deadlines, poor team management, and scope creep.

Luckily, project planning tools like Gantt charts and project timelines make creating your project schedule easy. You can visually plot each project task, add major milestones, then look for any dependencies or conflicts that you haven’t accounted for.

For example, this Gantt chart template outlines high-level project activities over the course of an entire quarter, with tasks color-coded by team:

the projects examples

A high-level roadmap like the one above is probably sufficient for your project management plan. Every team will be able to refer back to this timeline throughout the project to make sure they’re on track.

But before project kickoff, you’ll need to dig in and break down project responsibilities by individual team member, like in this Gantt chart example:

the projects examples

In the later execution and monitoring phases of the project, you’ll thank yourself for creating a detailed visual roadmap that you can track and adjust as things change.

You can also use a project management tool to keep your team organized.

Further Reading:   Our post featuring  Gantt chart examples  and more tips on how to use them for project management.

3. Clarify the structure of your project team with a team org chart

One of the hardest aspects of project planning is assembling a team and aligning them to the project vision.

And aligning your team is all about communication–communicating the project goals, communicating stakeholder requests, communicating the rationale behind big decisions…the list goes on.

This is where good project documentation is crucial! You need to create documents that your team and your stakeholders can access when they have questions or need guidance.

One easy thing to document visually is the structure of your team, with an organizational chart like this one:

the projects examples

In an organizational chart you should include some basic information like team hierarchy and team member contact information. That way your stakeholders have all of the information they need at their fingertips.

But in addition to that, you can indicate the high-level responsibilities of each team member and the channels of communication within the team (so your team knows exactly what they’re accountable for).

Here’s another simple organizational structure template that you can use as a starting point:

the projects examples

Create an organizational chart with our organizational chart maker .

4. Organize project risk factors in a risk breakdown structure

A big part of project planning is identifying the factors that are likely to derail your project, and coming up with plans and process to deal with those factors. This is generally referred to as risk management .

The first step in coming up with a risk management plan is to list all of the factors at play, which is where a risk breakdown structure comes in handy. A risk breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of project risks, organized by category.

This risk breakdown structure template, for example, shows project risk broken down into technical risk, management risk, and external risk:

the projects examples

Once you’ve constructed your risk breakdown structure, you’ll be ready to do a deep dive into each risk (to assess and plan for any triggers and outcomes).

Streamline your workflow with business process management software .

5. Plan ahead: create project status reports to communicate progress to stakeholders

As I mentioned earlier, communication is fundamental in any project.

But even so, something that’s often overlooked by project managers is a communication management plan–a plan for how the project team is going to communicate with project stakeholders . Too often, project communication defaults to ad-hoc emails or last-minute meetings.

You can avoid this by planning ahead. Start with a project kickoff meeting and include a project status report template as part of your communication plan.

Here’s an example of a simple project status report that you might send to stakeholders on a weekly basis:

the projects examples

This type of report is invaluable for communicating updates on project progress. It shows what you’ve accomplished in a clear, consistent format, which can help flag issues before they arise, build trust with your stakeholders , and makes it easy to reflect on project performance once you’ve reached your goals.

You might also want to include a broader status report for bigger updates on a monthly or quarterly basis, like this one:

the projects examples

The above template allows you to inform stakeholders of more major updates like new budget requirements, revised completion dates, and project performance ratings.

You can even include visualization of up-to-date project milestones, like this example below:

the projects examples

Want more tips on creating visuals to enhance your communications? Read our visual communication guide for businesses . 

4 Project management plan examples

A project management plan is probably the most important deliverable your stakeholders will receive from you (besides the project itself).

It holds all of the information that stakeholders will use to determine whether your project moves forward or gets kicked to the curb.

That’s why it’s a good idea to start with a project management plan template. Using a template can help you organize your information logically and ensure it’s engaging enough to hold your stakeholders’ attention.

Construction bid proposal template

Your construction bid proposal is probably competing against several other bidders. So, it’s important to get it right.

Start with a meticulous project overview, like in the second page of this template:

the projects examples

Though you may think this project will be similar to others you’ve done in the past, it’s important to nail the details.

This will also help you understand the scope of work so you can estimate costs properly and arrive at a quote that’s neither too high or low. Ontario Construction News has great advice on this process.

Simple project management plan template

This simple project management plan template that clearly lays out all of the information your stakeholders will need:

the projects examples

Simple project management communication plan template

A key part of project management is making sure everyone’s in the loop. A project communication plan ensures everyone knows how, where, who and when the team will communicate during the course of the project. Also construction scheduling is a critical aspect of the project management plan as it helps to ensure that all necessary tasks are completed within the allocated time frame and budget.

The key is to figure out what kind of communications is valuable to stakeholders and what is simply overwhelming and won’t lead to better decisions.

This template clearly outlines all of these factors to help manage expectations and eliminate confusion about what will get communicated and when:

Simple Project Management Communication Plan Template

Commercial development project plan template

The below project management plan template is simple and minimal, but still uses a unique layout and simple visuals to create an easy-to-read, scannable project overview.

This template is perfect for building or construction management , or any technical projects:

Nordic Commercial Development Project Plan Template

When picking a project plan template, look for one that’s flexible enough to accommodate any changes your stakeholders might request before they’ll approve the project. You never know what might change in the early planning stages of the project! You can also use project management tools to help you with your planning!

  • Use headers, columns, and highlights to make your executive summary easy to read
  • Plot your project schedule with a Gantt chart (with tasks color-coded by department or team member)
  • Use visuals like organizational charts and risk breakdown structures to communicate across your team and with stakeholders
  • Pick a flexible template that you can update to align with stakeholder requests

What is a Project? Definition and Examples

  • Project Management

what is a project - Definition of a Project - Project Examples

There are many definitions of the term “project”. Most of those definitions are only from a certain perspective and they define projects accordingly. However, there are also some features, and components that almost all definitions of projects have in common, and we believe that these features and components are the core characteristics of what a Project actually means. In this article, we shall focus on these core characteristics and try to answer the question “what is a project?”. Further, we shall look at the various popular definitions of a Project, examples of a Project, and finally, we shall also look into What does not constitute a project.

What is a Project

 In simple words, the term project refers to the time-bound goal-focused creation of results amid several constraints within or across organizations.

Projects are driven by factors outside (e.g. regulation) or inside the organization (e.g. strategy implementation). These factors that affect a Project are called Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) .

Dictionary Definitions & Other Definitions

How Dictionaries and Wikipedia Define “Project”

Dictionary.com defines a project broadly as a planned undertaking (large or small), involving money, personnel, and equipment. Check it here

The Business Dictionary focuses on the commercial and procedural aspects, defining a project as a “planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period” amid costs and other constraints ( Check it here ).

Similarly, there are many other sources. However, it should be noted that almost all these sources that define projects emphasize three aspects:

  • A project is an undertaking,
  • Some level of planning is involved (higher or lower)
  • Every project has constraints related to cost, time, and resources.

It is reasonable to think that these three aspects form the core foundation of what a Project actually is.

PMI Definition of a Project 

Here we will refer to the definition developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI), which is the premier body related to the knowledge and practices of Project Management. You can find a publicly available short definition of projects in the context of project management on the PMI website. However, the following points are stemming from PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®, 6th edition, p. 4 – 9) which is PMI’s publication on common project management good practices.

The PMBOK defines a project and its characteristics as below:

  • a project is a “ temporary endeavor ”,
  • aiming to create a unique result (which may usually refer to products and services but can also include driving organizational change),
  • enabling the creation of quantifiable benefits (also referred to as “business value”), and
  • it is initiated by leaders of the organization.

There are a few things that need to be understood very clearly from those few keywords highlighted in the PMI Definition of a Project

Temporary  – implies not just a beginning and end, but also a defined scope and resources.

Unique  – implies that a project is not a routine operation. A project has a set of operations that are designed to achieve a specific goal/s.

The PMI identified 4 key drivers that drive or require the initiation of projects by the management, namely:

  • regulatory, legal, and social requirements
  • stakeholder needs,
  • creation or enhancement of products, processes or services,
  • business or technological strategies.

Examples of Project:

  • Construction of a bridge
  • Development of software for a new business process.
  • Installation of machinery in a factory
  • Relief efforts after a natural disaster

What doesn’t constitute a project?

Activities that are not temporary and not unique. Best example: Any Operations activities.

Constructing a factory i s a project

Producing 100 items every day in that factory is Not a project . It is operations. Operations are activities that are routinely carried out to support the business.

Now that you have understood what a Project is, check about the differences between Project and Operations , also look at what Project Management is.

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4 Types of Project Resources and why they are so important

Table of contents, #1: human resources, #2: material resources, #3: financial resources, #4: time resources, what’s the best way to manage your project resources.

Every project requires resources to contribute to its implementation and ultimately its success. The successful management of a project translates into efficient steering of the various project resources . These must be determined as early as possible, ideally before the project is even launched.

You have to make sure that you use the resources that are essential to the smooth running of the project and make sure that you optimize its management. Find out more about the types of project resources in this article.

Also known as " work resources ", these are the most important because they are the ones who do the work. They contribute to carrying out the tasks necessary for the smooth running and completion of the project.

In addition, human resources are coupled with cognitive resources because they are the ones who hold the knowledge and know-how:

  • technical skills,
  • business expertise, etc.

They can be recruited internally or externally and can work on the entire duration of the project or on an ad hoc basis.

💡 Example of human resources :

  • individual professionals,
  • project managers,
  • projet teams,
  • legal entities.

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Material resources include raw materials and machines, tools, equipment, software, premises , etc. They include both resources that the company already possesses and those that it purchases or leases to carry out the project.

They can be goods that are temporarily made available for the project, which can be used again later, but also consumables that can be used in a given quantity and that have a unit cost.

💡 For example , the goods consumed or the raw materials processed will not be available for new use. The investment in these resources must be determined in terms of budget, time, and desired quality.

The financial resources correspond to the project budget, which will be defined prior to the launch by the project sponsor .

They are used to finance:

  • the human and material resources of the project, generally covering the remuneration of the actors of the project,
  • the purchase of material resources or their rental,
  • other costs, such as travel expenses for example.

💡 Example of financial resources :

  • finance funds,
  • project budget s,
  • project grants.
  • How to Do Retro Planning in Project Management: Guide & Template
  • Benefits of effective project time management
  • What is Stakeholder Mapping? Definition, Guide, Tools & Matrix

Time resources are the periods of time available and used for the completion of each task . The duration of a task will depend on the planned and available human resources.

☝ These resources are not inexhaustible: they have limits, hence the importance of knowing how to manage them to achieve your objectives.

💡 Example of time resources :

  • project plan,
  • project schedule,
  • time invested.

Resource management is essential to any project and must be taken into account in your project charter even before it starts.  Planning, availability, and assignment management, as well as resource optimization are among the key factors for the success of a project.

Now, to make sure the management of your resources is optimized, we advise you to:

  • set a precise project roadmap before launching your project;
  • use a project management tool , such as monday.com , to keep an eye on your resources and the equitable distribution of the workload throughout your project. This is an intuitive platform that will help you manage your teams and projects with the help of dashboards, time tracking, and total customization. Project management was never easier.

You are now prepared to anticipate problems that may arise and act more quickly and efficiently to solve them!

How do you manage your project resources ? Feel free to share your tips and advice, forever better management !

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What is Project in Project Management? Types, Importance and Examples

Home Blog Project Management What is Project in Project Management? Types, Importance and Examples

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In the dynamic business environment of current times, existing business organizations aggressively seek to upgrade or change their practices, and startups begin with the best practices of the processes. Both need the route of the Project to accomplish their objective.

So, what is a project in this dynamic business environment? Projects are, in short, vehicles of change. They are the instruments that deconstruct the need of a business and set goals to fill the gaps within its organization. Going for  Project Management  t rainings  will help you learn further how project management works.

What is Project?  

The basic definition of a project is: “an organizational initiative to achieve certain outcomes within a timeframe and a budget.” Moreover, a project is conceived when business needs are recognized in the processes being used within an organization. These needs are the  “gaps”   that require to be filled in an effort to set the organization on a growth path. These gaps are of strategic importance and could range from customer complaints, declining revenues, or new, upcoming business opportunities. They are treated as goals and targets to be achieved within a fixed period of time. It is expected that the defined goals would work as a catalyst to bring about changes to fine-tune and sharpen the working of a business set-up.  

Things that Define a Project  

Here are the most important points that define a project:   

It is the ultimate deliverable or the destination to be reached. It is done when a need for change is recognized. This is the first step towards setting a goal; recognizing the true shape of things. It could be obsolete machinery (manufacturing), a system problem (admin or software issues), paucity of resources ( financial or human), reduced standing in the market, faulty products, and any number of other issues that require immediate attention for rectification and revival measures.

Once the problems are given cognizance, then what ought to become clearer. It is the ought-to-be status that forms the goals. It helps in deciding priorities as various future accomplishments are weighed in terms of importance. The order of importance is decided upon according to the value system that an organization subscribes to. This helps in focusing dedicated efforts toward achieving goals.

2. Objectives

After an organizational introspection leads to setting goals, it is the next step of defining objectives. Often objectives are confused with goals because of their close proximity in meaning. But it is objectives that help in giving clarity to goals. Objectives within a project are to comprehend activities and their direction, resolve conflicting activities and ensure that personnel is accountable for their work.

In the end, to understand the objective, we have to understand that it might be a company’s goal to be one of the Fortune 500 companies. To achieve this, it has to have objectives that would gradually guide it toward fulfilling its goal. Thus objectives are the yardstick that helps assess and measure progress toward a goal. As successes accumulate, the sense of achievement thrusts the organizational members towards the set goal.

This is a very critical component of a Project. The scope is drawn once the expectations of the client and stakeholders are on the table. The continual reference to the scope of work ensures that there is no going off course. It keeps a firm control over what is to be done and what cannot be/should not be executed. Without this outline, a Project can serve in the unwanted direction and end up not delivering the desired outcome. The scope is communicated to all the personnel concerned so that they are on the same page about the goals and objectives of the exercise.

Having understood what a Project is, it is important that its planning is done by an organizational member who has done formal  training for PMP . Without it, he might find himself deficient in handling, executing, or delivering its outlined goals and objectives.

Nature of Projects

A project can only be managed well if the nature of the project is clearly understood by the project manager. A project has commonly been defined as a unique, temporary, multidisciplinary effort by an organization toward creating an output within a framework of checks and balances. When talking about the nature of a project, the three qualities that stand out are uniqueness, temporary nature, and its aim to create output/deliverables.

Every project is unique. No project can be executed on the lines of previous projects. Even the algorithm in which the project is carried out would be new and exclusive to the demands of the project. It cannot be likened to normal everyday operations either. The latter has to be done on a daily basis to keep the organizational cycle moving. But a project would be goal-specific. Its very nature/ characteristics would set it apart from everyday operations. It is a combination of activities that are formulated with a view to fulfill specific goals and objectives, staying within the scope of things.

2. Temporary

The temporary nature of the project is such because it is bound within two boundaries; a beginning and an end. The beginning is all about a project taking off and going through various stages to reach the end. The end spells the required deliverables or outcomes that have been specified by the client or preordained by the responsible organizational members. It is not always necessary that the project has to end the way it has been envisaged. It can also be aborted mid-way due to different reasons. So, the temporary nature of a project is about the engagement period and has nothing to do with the resultant product or service.

3. Creating Output

Every time a project comes into being, it is for the specific purpose of achieving or delivering a desired outcome. This outcome could be of a tangible or intangible nature. A product is tangible, and a service is intangible. To deliver outcomes, companies have to create outputs. These are often taken to be activities that are designed with an eye on the ultimate deliverable. But the output is the immediate result that happens as soon as the project is completed.

It might include training employees on the new ERP system, meaning that the first level of scope has been delivered. Successful delivery of outputs would add up to successful delivery of outcomes. This is uncertain as the planning and execution of projects differ, and the quality of resources and tools assigned also vary.

4. Big Project

A Big Project/small project will also contribute to deciding the nature of the project. Under its unique and temporary character, we have to refer to its size. Project sizing is a part of  project management  that estimates the measure of resources and practices to be applied in executing a project.  The expected time span and the number of multidisciplinary departments working on it are also some of its keys deciding factors.

This helps in working out the scope of project management activities that would fulfill the expected targets. A Big project will have many deliverables with umpteen activities and tasks working towards the ultimate goal. Project management tools employed would also be different from the ones to be employed in a relatively smaller project.

5. Small Project

These are projects that have shorter timelines, are relatively less costly, and have fewer resources deployed for their execution. In short, every determinant of a project size is slightly shrunk. Its impact on a company’s balance sheet can also be slight, but a large project could disbalance its bottom line. Small projects, more often than not, do not have dedicated resources. They would be a part of more than one project and would be shunted from one to the other depending on the urgency or requirement.  

Other characteristics of a small project would be a single objective and an easy solution that can be achieved without complicated efforts; it has a narrowly defined scope of work; it is to be implemented in only one business unit and is headed by a single person. In contrast, a project with a broad scope of work and multiple objectives involving multiple skill areas would not fall under the head of a small project. It has to be handled with the skillset and intensive efforts required for a big project.

A small project would be more likely to be dealing with small changes within an organization. It could be about developing a training course, implementing a software system, upgrading the existing system, developing a website, evaluating existing operational practices, or preparing a proposal. Whatever the size of the project, one has to remember that processes have to be managed, and people have to be guided.

To do this skillfully, it is advisable that an aspiring project manager undertakes the  best PRINCE2 course . Going for this course will help a project manager know when and how to apply which knowledge area to a project. A project has to be evaluated by a trained project manager for its fitment needs.

Types of Projects

The nature of a project, its features, characteristics, and size decide the course of action for its fulfillment. It is the customer, contractor, and project management team that has to work in tandem with each other to see the project to its desired conclusion. The customer specifications and the consequent management strategy differ for every project and its type. There are four types of projects demanding different approaches. These are:

1. Traditional Projects

These are projects that follow a templated lifecycle. The course of the project is predicted, and so is its outcome. It is about creating products/goods, and services. With multiple and dynamic manufacturing practices available, competition is stiff and stringent planning for production is required. Some things have to be taken into account before chalking a production plan.

These would be material requirements planning, supply chain management, production scheduling, Production lead time, capacity planning , and inventory control. Keeping a finger on all the segments of manufacturing means increased complexity in Operations. So manufacturing projects would have to be more precisely planned to the last detail, ensuring that all the tiniest details have been addressed and accounted for.

2. Agile Projects

Knowledge of general management and specialization in domain management is especially needed when we need to plan an iterative project. Here objectives can only be accomplished dependent on a series of operations that are themselves affected by resource constraints. There are glaring conflicts between stated objectives about scope, costs, timelines, and quality and the limitations clamped on human, material, and financial resources. Therefore, dealing with an agile project, certain guidelines have to be strictly followed.

The first would be absolute clarity in specifications about project objectives and plans that include delineation of scope, budgeting, scheduling, determining budget demands, and forming project teams. Maximum resource utilization has to be ensured by keeping the supply chains working smoothly without delays so that there is strict adherence to prescribed schedules and plans. An operations strategy should be in place to control and coordinate planning, design, estimating, contracting, and completing small iterations. Lastly, a very efficient communication channel is needed to resolve issues among the project participants.

3. Agency Projects

Managing a project is all about multitasking. Several elements have to be simultaneously handled, all the while anticipating different outcomes to be achieved within the pre-decided timeframe and budget restrictions. There are some very common issues that a manager is bound to encounter, namely of scope definition, budget, communication, and conflict within the team. A cloudy outline of objectives can give rise to a host of problems, including those related to resource and stakeholder management. Oftentimes, this is the major cause of project failure. Along with the clarity of goals comes the setting of milestones and the calibration of results.

This can be done by SMART ( specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timebound) and CLEAR ( collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable, refinable) means. A project has to be parcelled into small packets and assigned to the members of the project team with their own objectives and goals. Another issue that has to be addressed mid-way is Scope creep. A project begins with a particular vision but can change course and move in a direction not envisaged. This can only be managed by firm navigation, increase of budget, and duration.

4. Remote Projects

The management of these projects vastly differs from the other three types of projects in the way they are planned, performed, or managed. The goals and objectives in remote projects are not the same as in the other developmental projects, which have customer requirements as outputs and outcomes. Here, it would be a team or group of professionals located in different places but working on one project. The time zones and cities might differ, and the responsibilities too would be different, but the outcome targeted would be unified. Oftentimes, a remote project might have positive deliverables, or it might not have anything to do with bottom lines, and yet that project would be commissioned. An important example of a project which is in remote mode is a research project.

The sponsor is not affected by the result. Here the objectives and goals would be about deconstructing or reinforcing a theory/a find. Other developmental projects could be dependent on the research projects. So planning, controlling, or scheduling might be a problem as research is all about milestones that might not be fulfilled as per the expectations. The most appropriate example of this is the pharmaceutical industry, where constant research must be carried on. It requires a very flexible budget and timeframe to reach a medical solution or treatment to the regulatory body.

For projects to be desirably closed, the personnel handling these should be certified professionals. Intricacies of  project management  can only be foreseen and addressed if the organizational members/ project manager is well qualified.

Top Cities where KnowledgeHut Conduct Project Management Certification Training Course Online

What are the Characteristics of a Project?

1. projects progress through a lifecycle to accomplish goals.

The project management lifecycle is a step-by-step structure of best practices for shepherding a project from start to finish. It gives a project an organized technique to plan, execute, and complete a project. There are four phases:

a. Initiation:  This is the beginning phase of the project. It helps determine the project's goals, scope, and resources, giving a project and team clear guidance.

b. Planning: This phase determines how to achieve the goals set in the initiation phase. This step helps create budgets, timeframes, and milestones, as well as gather resources and documentation. This step also entails estimating and forecasting risk, implementing change management methods, and developing communication protocols.

c. Implementation:  This generally entails monitoring and evaluating progress, maintaining quality, reducing risk, managing the budget, and using data to guide your decisions.

d. Closure:  At the last stage of the project management lifecycle, you'll wrap up project activities, hand over the finished product or service to its new owners and analyze what went well and what didn't. It will also be an opportunity to recognize your efforts.

2. Projects are Unique

Every project is distinct. Every project is a unique, original, and one-of-a-kind, never-before-tried venture. A project is temporary since its scope and resources are predetermined, and its start and conclusion dates are fixed in time. A project is distinctive in that it consists of a particular set of procedures intended to achieve a single goal rather than being a routine series of operations.

3. Projects Require Cross-departmental Collaboration

Projects necessitate the collaboration of multiple teams from various departments. This is known as cross-functional collaboration, and it may be very beneficial to your company. Fusing ideas from multiple groups and departments enables you to develop, contribute new viewpoints, and work toward common objectives.

4. The project is a Single entity

A single project may involve various people with various roles, tasks, and specialties, yet it remains a single entity. This is because these components work together to achieve the project's objectives.

What is the 3M’s of Project?

Certain imperatives need to be observed in executing a project. There are 3M’s - methodology, mindset, and metrics. These determine the direction and the route of the project:

It is how the project needs to be addressed. It needs to be measured for what is required. Here a method has to be crafted so that every phase of the project is measured for its success or progress toward the ultimate goal. The methodology is a set of predetermined principles and processes that would be followed when executing a project. This guide helps in prioritizing the work portioned out within the project.

The project team has the option to apply Agile, Kanban, Scrum, Waterfall, or even hybrid methodologies. Then there is the critical path method, Lean project management, Six Sigma, Critical Chain Project management, and more. It all depends upon the scope, goals, and objectives of a project. It is the character of a particular project that will decide which approach is best suited.

2. Manage to Measure

Here, it is the attitudes and influences of the project management team that guides it toward the best approach. The tactics and the control that is required to be practiced for managing the resources marked out for a project. It involves several elements that constitute a mindset prepared to measure performance objectively, namely:

  • Critical Thinking:  It is the ability of the project personnel to be able to view a project multidimensionally and find solutions for its completion. This will reveal the hidden risks and issues that might assume unmanageable proportions during the project.
  • Initiative:  when the project personnel is self-motivated and does not to be told what to do; that denotes his ability to take the initiative without being commanded. Success is more likely.
  • Collaboration:  Having a team spirit while working on a project is hugely important for its success. There should be no personal or professional conflicts within the team, for that would mean sure failure. So success has to be obvious to be measured.

3. Make it Easy

There are metrics to determine the success or failure of any project. Comprehending the project in its entirety is what leads to its positive completion. The pre-set milestones lead to well-informed decisions about the next steps. Then there are metrics related to costs to evaluate performance, productivity, Return on investment, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and schedule variance. Keeping a set of metrics alongside the project would make execution and assessment much easier and less time-consuming.

Transform your management approach with agile trainings . Embrace adaptability, teamwork, and creativity for unparalleled achievement.

Project Life Cycle

The sequence of steps and phases used to complete a project is known as its life cycle. It outlines the high-level project delivery process and the actions you must take to bring about change. It's the way projects go; it's how a team is led through each stage of a project, from the initial brief to the final delivery.  There are five phases:

1. Project Initiation Phase

The first stage of a project's life cycle involves starting the project with your team and the client and obtaining their commitment. You systematically compile all relevant information to determine the project's scope, cost, and resources. The purpose of the beginning phase is to take a project's (sometimes vague) brief and determine what the project must do and accomplish to succeed.

Steps during the initiation stage: 

  • Make a project chart with vision, objectives, and goals. 
  • Identify the service that needs to be provided. 
  • Identify the primary problem and its solution.
  • Identify the cost and benefits of the solution.
  • Identify the stakeholders.
  • Tools used in this phase:
  • Project Proposal: It defines the project and outlines the goal and requirements.
  • RACI Chart: It plots the roles and responsibilities of the team.

2. Project Planning stage

In planning, you outline every task that must be completed and develop the project's overall road map. It would be best if you decided how, you and your team will accomplish the project's objectives at this stage of the project's life cycle. It's worthwhile to assess those objectives using 3P's: Possible, Passionate, and Pervasive.

Steps during the Planning stage:

Make a project plan by identifying the constraints and creating a timeline.

Create a financial plan.

Create a resource plan and make your team. 

Identify the risks and dependencies and make a mitigation plan. 

Tools used in this phase: 

  • Gantt Chart: A horizontal bar chart that shows members which tasks must be accomplished in what sequence and how long each job is expected to take. 
  • Risk Register:  A diagram that shows project-related risks, their likelihood, their possible impact, their level of risk, and any mitigation strategies. 

3. Project Execution stage

This is the stage of the project life cycle in which you finally get to put your fantastic project plan into action. Upon bringing your resources on board, you brief them, establish the ground rules, and make introductions. Following that, everyone pitches in to complete the tasks outlined in the plan. 

Steps during the Execution stage: 

  • Team leadership 
  • Task creation 
  • Task briefing 
  • Client management 
  • Communication 

Change Requests: These are the documents used to suggest alterations to a project's objectives or scope. 

4. Project Monitoring and Controlling Phase

This is one of the most challenging phases of the project management process . It entails performance reporting as well as project monitoring and control. This entails monitoring the project's progress and, if necessary, taking action to correct any deviations from the original plan. 

Steps during the project monitoring and controlling phase: 

  • Cost and time management 
  • Quality management 
  • Manages the changes. 
  • Burndown Chart: This graph shows the time left and divides the chores into smaller, more manageable chunks. 

5. Project Closure Phase

It's helpful to arrange a post-project review meeting to review the project's strengths and shortcomings, the team's performance, what went wrong or didn't go so well, and how to improve moving forward. This can be one of the most enjoyable project stages since it allows you to recognize and honor valuable team members while celebrating triumphs. 

Steps during the project closure phase: 

  • Performance analysis 
  • Team analysis 
  • Post-implementation review 
  • Impact Report: This report, provided to your stakeholders, compiles a series of metrics demonstrating how your initiative made an impact. 
  • Project Closeout Report: A project closeout report summarizes the results of your project. 

The project life cycle gives project managers a roadmap for navigating their work. At each project stage, it specifies where to begin and where to move next. Whatever happens, the project life cycle gives a dependable structure to return to and refocus on.

How Do You Plan a Project?

A project will be a non-starter if it is not planned well. There are parameters and guidelines that should be followed when planning a project. These would be:  

  • Create and analyze a business case thoroughly.
  • Meet stakeholders for approval of the created business case.
  • Define the scope of the project.
  • Set up project goals and objectives.  
  • Determine project deliverables.  
  • Project schedules and milestones should be created.
  • Tasks should be assigned, or resources planned according to members’ strengths.
  • Risk assessment.

How to Implement a Project?

Putting a project into action involves several steps, including some planning that must be done beforehand. The following list of activities will help you carry out a project successfully:

  • Assess the project plan:  It is advantageous to construct a strategy that satisfies the requirements of management, clients, and important stakeholders within the first stage of the project cycle. Before beginning a project, evaluate the plan and ensure everyone on the team knows the project deliverables. 
  • Planning: Project managers should regularly discuss the team's development during this phase with them. To ensure the team has all they need to finish the project effectively, compare the project's timeframe to the anticipated schedule and monitor the available resources. Communication is essential at this phase of the process to keep the team informed about the project's priorities.
  • Execution of Plan:  Many projects face change, and how well a project manager executes such changes can influence the project's conclusion. Ask the team questions and keep in touch to find out where they need extra assistance. If a project deviates from the plan, be prepared to devote more personnel or resources.
  • Analyze Project Data:  It's crucial to consistently examine and analyze data during a project's implementation phase to gauge progress against original estimates. You can gather information on staffing, resources, and budget using specialized project management software to monitor and control the changes.
  • Final Reports and Closing:  Provide reports to the project team, clients, and stakeholders detailing how the project fared concerning the anticipated budget and timeframe during the final implementation phase. Companies can use this stage to evaluate the project's accomplishments and pinpoint any areas that require improvement going forward, which can help the project management cycle in the long run.

When is a Project Considered Successful?

After completing the project, it's important to deliver the project successfully. Six factors indicate that the project was successful.

1. Delivery on time:  A project will be successful if it is finished on schedule or earlier than anticipated. This indicates that the team members did an excellent job and dedicated all their time and effort to the project. 

2. Delivery on Budget:  Frequent unforeseen difficulties could necessitate more project funding. To handle these difficulties, the manager must seek additional resources. Yet, when a project stays within the budget established at the start of the project, it signifies that the project did not encounter many obstacles that would cause it to exceed the scope of the budget. The initiative will be considered a success. 

3. All objectives achieved: When a project is completed, it usually has a goal and objectives. These objectives were supposed to be accomplished by the project's conclusion. A project is successful when its goals are fully met, and its purpose is realized since it has solved the problems it was intended to solve. 

4. Customer Satisfaction: In any business, the consumer is always king. Thus, if clients are pleased with the work the employees have completed, the project is successful. Because of the trust and happiness gained from the project, they established good relationships and reliable contracts. 

5. Good Feedback: Clients' positive feedback to the project manager and team suggests the project succeeds. 

6. Good Profit: The project can make money and pay back its invested money. If both of these goals are met, and there are indications that the initiative has raised company profitability, the endeavor is unquestionably deemed a success. The project will also be regarded as successful if it gives the stakeholders clear advantages.

Examples of Successful Projects

Some of the successful samples of the project are described as follows:   

  • Amazon:  It has been most successful in increasing its visibility to its customers, tracking tasks, and enabling different groups of resources to handle projects independently  
  • Siemens Healthineers:  It had to manage 100+ projects of varying dimensions and targets. They wanted to have a platform that could create a system for managing each project independently.  
  • Triumph Group:  The company began an overhauling of processes within the company. The aim was to centralize processes and systems. This led to better governance, improved reporting, and increased visibility.   
  • American Airlines:  Merged with U.S. Airways, creating overlapped systems and processes, particularly technological. Introducing resource management helped them streamline their operations.

A project with its characteristics, features, and nature is an opportunity to take a business to the next level of achievement. The changes which are brought about or a product that has been introduced are expected to improve the balance sheet. So, that is the ultimate goal of a project - to improve the entire scenario.  KnowledgeHut’s online trainings for Project Management  ensures a project management trainee gets comprehensive information about the project and its various components.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Project management is a business strategy that curates processes and brings them together to deliver advantages to organizations. It streamlines and formulates guidelines and techniques to enhance the success rate of a product in the market. A major plus of project management is that it increases the chances of getting desired outcomes. So, a project management exercise would help plan a project in a way that all its goals, objectives, budget, and timelines are achieved.

While operations are continual and permanent, projects are distinct and temporary. Additionally, whereas projects typically have a set budget, operations must turn a profit in order to remain functional. 

The cause behind a project's existence, the significance of the work completed, the aspiration or ideal it pursues, or the course it adopts and upholds are all explained by the project's purpose.

A project process is a set of interrelated activities that are performed to achieve a specific business goal. The different project phases in the process include planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling the project to ensure that it meets the desired outcome.  

The features of a project typically include: 

  • Unique goal. 
  • A predefine start and end date. 
  • Proper resources. 
  • Involves and plans risk and uncertainty. 
  • Collaboration and coordination. 
  • Involves stakeholder expectations and requirements. 
  • May have interdependent tasks and activities. 

Profile

Kevin D.Davis

Kevin D. Davis is a seasoned and results-driven Program/Project Management Professional with a Master's Certificate in Advanced Project Management. With expertise in leading multi-million dollar projects, strategic planning, and sales operations, Kevin excels in maximizing solutions and building business cases. He possesses a deep understanding of methodologies such as PMBOK, Lean Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve business/technology alignment. With over 100 instructional training sessions and extensive experience as a PMP Exam Prep Instructor at KnowledgeHut, Kevin has a proven track record in project management training and consulting. His expertise has helped in driving successful project outcomes and fostering organizational growth.

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the projects examples

THE PROJECT APPROACH

Managed by the Educators Institute at Duke School

Sample Projects

Reading about—and seeing—project work in the classroom provides an excellent way to learn about or enhance one’s use of the Project Approach, a kind of project-based teaching and learning. The projects compiled here are sorted by grade level, with many making use of local surroundings and resources, integrating technology in purposeful ways, raising awareness about “green” issues, and achieving other goals aligned with best practices in 21st-century education. We invite you to explore the links below—but we also emphasize that the best projects evolve from student interests and needs and cannot be recycled in another classroom.

As you browse through examples, we encourage you to look at projects outside of your grade level. The content, activities, and skills addressed will vary, but the core goals (to engage students in active and meaningful learning pursuits) remain similar in all projects, regardless of the students’ age. In addition, you might also pick up strategies and tools used by teachers outside of your grade level. One high school teacher, for instance, heard about an innovative technology platform from a project-based second-grade teacher. The platform, known as iEarn Collaboration Centre, sets up opportunities for students to connect worldwide—a phenomenon that could enhance project work at any grade level.

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Explore Sample Projects 

Have a question? Please  contact  [email protected] .

11 Next.js Example Projects to Build in 2024

Nefe Emadamerho-Atori

With over 4.5 million weekly downloads, Next.js has quickly become one of the most dominant frontend frameworks today. While many developers know its benefits, they sometimes face difficulty deciding what to build with it.

If you plan to build a project with Next.js but need help figuring out where to start, this article is for you. We will explore a range of example projects you can build with Next.js, from personal blogs to e-commerce platforms. These projects will help you understand the versatility and capabilities of Next.js.

Whether you are new to Next.js or looking to expand your knowledge, these real-world examples will provide valuable insights and inspiration for future projects.

What is Next.js?

Next.js  is a lightweight open-source React framework for creating fast-loading and SEO-friendly websites and applications. It was created by Vercel and released in 2016.

Next.js powers over 1.3 million websites , including those of brands like Loom, Target, TikTok, and The Washington Post. Next.js builds upon the foundation of React and adds features like route handlers, Server-Side Rendering (SSR), Static-Site Generation (SSG), and file-based routing that elevate the developer experience.

Benefits of Next.js?

  • Active community : As a popular frontend framework, Next.js has a vibrant community of developers that regularly contribute third-party tools, learning resources, and templates to its ever-growing ecosystem.
  • Provides built-in optimization features : Next.js further improves performance optimization by providing built-in optimization for images , fonts , and third-party scripts. This improves page speed and results in a better developer experience.
  • Code Splitting: Next.js helps in splitting our code into smaller parts. This means that browsers only download the code they need, leading to faster loading website pages.
  • SEO-friendly : Next.js SSR support allows search engines to crawl and index website content effectively. This makes it a great choice for websites that need high SEO rankings .

Build a Next.js Site with SEO Super Powers

Explore this practical guide to learn how to build an SEO-friendly website with Next.js and Prismic.

  • Great developer experience : Next.js provides several built-in features like routing , different rendering methods, SSR, and code splitting, which improve productivity and shorten development time.

11 Next.js project ideas to build in 2024

Here are 11 Next.js project ideas, along with features to add to them and the suggested tech stacks to build with.

1. Next.js blog part 1: Building from scratch with Next.js and Prismic

A personal blog is a great Next.js beginner project that is fun and challenging enough to get started with. You can use it to build your audience or document your career journey and learnings.

Nowadays, it is common to see many developers and software engineers have blogs. Some blogs worth reading include  Kent C. Dodds’ ,  Lee Robinson’s , and  Josh Comeau’s . You can also explore this  directory of great developer blogs  to get inspiration when creating yours.

While a blog is a great starter project, you can take things a notch higher to increase the reader’s experience by adding commenting functionality, a table of contents, and a search experience to the blog. The following three projects we’ll explore will cover these features.

Access more of this project’s details via the following links:

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the blog/[uid]/page.tsx file that shows how to programmatically generate SEO metadata for each article
  • Project tutorial: This step-by-step guide  covers how to build an SEO-friendly blog with Next.js, Prismic, and Tailwind CSS.
  • Table of contents
  • Scroll-based progress indicator
  • Search functionality
  • Social share buttons
  • Prismic for managing the blog’s content
  • next-share for social share buttons

Skills you’ll gain by building this project include:

  • Next.js dynamic routing
  • Next.js Image component
  • Prismic headless CMS
  • The next-share library Estimated development time : 5 to 7 hours

2. Next.js blog part 2: Add comments functionality with Supabase and Slack

An image of the Next.js commenting functionality.

You can take the blog project to the next level by enabling readers to leave comments on articles. This can improve their reading experience as they can ask questions, make contributions, or even point out any errors.

  • GitHub repo
  • Project tutorial: This step-by-step guide  shows how to add comment functionality to a blog with Next.js, Supabase, and Slack.
  • Ability for readers to add, edit, and delete comments
  • Ability for blog owners to approve or reject comments
  • Ability to know how old a comment is
  • Supabase database
  • Block Kit : Slack’s UI framework
  • Next.js route handlers
  • Next.js form submission
  • The JavaScript date object
  • Supabase database storage
  • How to moderate comments through Slack. Estimated development time : 5 to 7 hours

3. Next.js blog part 3: Add a scrollable table of content with the IntersectionObserver API

A blog is great, but one with a Table of Contents (ToC) is even better. Besides blogs, you can also find ToCs in documentation pages and learning management platforms.

ToCs make it easier for web visitors to know what’s on a page at first glance and navigate to the content they need. It also helps them see what section of a page they are at.

  • Project tutorial: This article breaks down how to add a table of contents to a blog with Next.js, Prismic, and the IntersectionObserver API
  • Ability for a user to navigate the blog through the ToC
  • Indicator that shows what section the user is currently on
  • Smooth scrolling
  • IntersectionObserver API
  • Prismic CMS
  • How to create a dynamic Table of Contents
  • How to set up smooth scrolling with the IntersectionObserver API Estimated development time : 3 to 4 hours

4. Next.js blog part 4 : Add a search bar with Algolia

An image of Algolia search on the Next.js blog.

Adding search capabilities to your Next.js blog can significantly enhance the user experience. Instead of manually scrolling through multiple pages and blog categories, visitors can easily use the search bar to find the article they need.

Algolia is a popular choice for integrating search experiences into websites. Its instant-search feature is a powerful search-as-you-type tool that provides lightning-fast search results in real-time. Adding it to your blog will improve the user experience and increase engagement.

  • Project tutorial: This step-by-step guide  covers how to add search functionality to a Next.js blog with  Algolia’s Instant Search
  • A view of search suggestions as users type
  • Algolia Instant Search for the search functionality
  • react-instantsearch
  • How Algolia works
  • Algolia Instant Search, its benefits, and the react-instantsearch library Estimated development time : 3 to 4 hours

5. Next.js AI chatbot with Vercel’s AI SDK, Supabase and Open AI’s LLM

An image of Vercel AI chatbot Next.js project.

AI chatbots are in high demand; there seems to be a chatbot for every use case, including interacting with PDFs, generating images, and writing articles.

You can jump on this AI trend and use Next.js and Vercel's AI SDK to create your own chatbot. The SDK allows you to choose your preferred LLM model, whether GPT-4, Bloom, Claude, Llama, Bard, etc.

Besides the SDK, Vercel also provides an AI chatbot template you can use to speed up the development process. Study the template for inspiration and learn how to build a chatbot from scratch.

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the api/chat/route.ts file that shows how to set up a route handler for Vercel’s AI SDK
  • Chat history
  • Image and document upload and analysis
  • User account and authentication
  • Vercel’s AI SDK
  • Supabase auth
  • Open AI’s LLM
  • Supabase database for storing user data and chat history
  • Next.js route redirects
  • Open AI’s API
  • Database storage
  • Authentication Estimated development time : 2 to 4 hours

6. Next.js ecommerce app with Stripe and Prisma

An image of the Next.js e-commerce app project.

An ecommerce app is an ideal project to showcase Next.js's capabilities. You can build features like product listing, search functionality, shopping cart, checkout, and a payment integration.

Building an ecommerce store will enable you to understand how Next.js handles server-side rendering for dynamic content and how it can improve the performance of an ecommerce app.

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the files in the src/actions folder to learn how to set up Server Actions for fetching the list of ordered items and searching for products
  • Project tutorial: This video shows how to build an ecommerce app. I chose this video because it is a detailed tutorial of over 5 hours that goes into great detail on how to use various technologies, including Stripe, Prisma, and NextAuth.js. It also covers how to optimize page metadata and deploy the app to Vercel
  • NextAuth.js
  • Account creation
  • Shopping cart
  • Payment integration
  • Product wishlisting
  • Checkout page
  • Product catalogue filtering
  • Next.js app router
  • Server Actions
  • Server Components
  • Page metadata optimization
  • Vercel deployment
  • Server actions in server components Estimated development time : 7 to 9 hours

7. Next.js marketing website with Prismic, Tailwind and Typescript

Businesses rely heavily on marketing websites and landing pages to boost their search engine traffic and drive conversions. Many SaaS businesses like  Evernote  and  Paddle  use Next.js and a headless CMS like  Prismic to build their websites .

Marketing websites often highlight a product and features pages, pricing pages, benefits, and testimonials sections. They also include lead generation forms to capture user information.

Creating a marketing website with Next.js will help you understand how to build a static website with Next.js.

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the src/slices folder to learn how to create Slices with the Prismic client package
  • Project tutorial: This YouTube tutorial  shows how to build one from scratch with Next.js and Prismic. It covers core Prismic concepts like  Slices  (page sections) and also shows how to use  Prismic’s Page Builder  and  Slice Machine
  • Image optimization
  • Navigation menu
  • Headless CMS integration
  • Prismic slices
  • Prismic Page Builder
  • Prismic Slice Machine Estimated development time : 3 to 4 hours

8. Next.js 3D animated portfolio website using Three.js, GSAP, and Prismic

A portfolio website lets you showcase your work and attract potential clients and/or employers. Your portfolio could include sections for your projects, skills, experiences, testimonials, and contact information.

You can leave a stronger impression on web visitors by making your portfolio more creative by adding custom animations, transitions, hover effects, and 3D elements. An example of a creative portfolio is Bruno Simon’s website . It went viral when it was released and helped him build his audience. The portfolio also helped position himself as an expert in all things Three.js.

While you won’t be developing something as advanced and complex as Bruno’s, Prismic provides  a 5 hour YouTube tutorial  on how to build a creative portfolio. Learn more about the portfolio project via the following links:

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the slices/Hero/Shapes.jsx file to learn how to create 3D shapes with Three.js and React Three Fiber
  • Project tutorial: Watch the YouTube video on how to build a creative portfolio website with Next.js, GSAP, Three.js, and React Three Fiber
  • Creative transitions
  • 3D effects and shapes
  • React Three Fiber
  • How to create 3D effects with Three.js and React Three Fiber
  • How to make animations with GSAP
  • Vercel deployment Estimated development time : 3 to 4 hours

9. A Next.js chat app with Socket.io, Express.js, and Supabase

An image of the Next.js chat app project.

You’ve probably encountered a real-time chat app on your favourite social media app or workspace software.

You can build one yourself with Next.js and Socket.IO , a WebSocket solution. Socket.IO is a JavaScript library that enables bi-directional and real-time communication between web clients and servers. It provides a simple yet powerful API for building real-time applications.

  • Explore this GitHub repo  to learn how to build a chat app with Next.js and socket.IO . Specifically, study the files in the frontend/src/store folder to learn how to handle state management with Zustand
  • Real-time communication
  • Real-time communication with Socket.io
  • State management with Zustand
  • Database storage with Supabase
  • Working with Next.js route handlers Estimated development time : 4 to 6 hours

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10. Next.js Admin Dashboard with NextAuth.js and ApexCharts.js

An image of an admin dashboard.

Admin dashboards are applications that give administrators a platform to monitor and manage various aspects of a business or product. They often include charts and tables that help administrators understand and analyze complex information.

If you’re a software engineer working on a product, this project can help you determine if Next.js would be a solid solution for the UI and logic needed for your application.

  • Explore this GitHub repo to learn how to build an admin dashboard with Next.js, ApexCharts.js, and Tailwind CSS. Also, check out the app/layout.tsx file to learn how to style a dashboard layout and create a collapsible sidebar
  • User authentication
  • Protected routes
  • Navigation menus
  • ApexCharts.js
  • Authentication with NextAuth.js
  • Creating charts with ApexCharts.js
  • Styling UI elements with Tailwind
  • Creating reusable React components Estimated development time : 7 to 9 hours

11. Next.js LMS platform with Prisma, Clerk, Stripe, Supabase and Mux’s video player

An image of the Next.js LMS project.

A Learning Management System (LMS) is one of the more complex projects covered in this article. There are various features you can add to a LMS, including:

  • Student authentication
  • Student dashboard that shows all their courses
  • Progress tracker for student courses
  • File upload functionality
  • Data storage
  • Video streaming for live classes
  • Admin dashboard for teachers to track the number of students they have, grade assignments, and upload new courses
  • Payment processing
  • And so much more

Building a LMS would take a considerable amount of time and effort. However, it would be worth it because the process will teach you how to work with multiple technologies for managing authentication, database storage, payments, file upload, etc.

  • GitHub repo . Specifically, explore the actions folder to learn how to set up actions for fetching a user’s courses and checking their progress
  • Project tutorial: This 10+ hours YouTube video covers how to build an LMS from scratch with Next.js, Prisma, MySQL, and Stripe
  • User account creation and authentication
  • Student and admin dashboards
  • Note-taking functionality
  • Progress calculator for courses
  • Video streaming
  • Password recovery
  • Mux’s video player
  • Interacting with GraphQL APIs
  • Authentication with Clerk
  • Stripe payment integration
  • Storing and updating user data with Supabase
  • Adding video streaming to websites with the Mux video player API Estimated development time : 12 to 14 hours

From blogs to chatbots and landing pages, we’ve explored 11 types of projects that developers can create with Next.js. While there are several Next.js projects worth building, I chose these because of their real-world use cases and applications . They will also be great additions to your portfolio.

The learning process will also expand your tech stack by teaching you how to work with technologies like Supabase, NextAuth.js, Prismic, GSAP, and Prisma.

Speaking of portfolios, if you don’t have one, then your first project can be  the 3D animated portfolio website  we covered. You can start building by creating a free Prismic account and running the commands below in your terminal to install Prismic’s Next.js portfolio starter .

Also, explore the docs on integrating Prismic into a Next.js app and watch the portfolio-building YouTube video on the next steps to take. Happy hacking!

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10 Innovations that Will Change Construction As We Know It

construction innovations shape the future of the industry

Construction innovations are progressing rapidly, and the industry now has a tremendous amount of resources to advance construction technology. Construction tech funding held steady at $5.38 billion in 2022 .  

These investments in innovations pay off significantly; research shows that firms that are rated as “digitally savvy” outperform companies by as much as 48% on revenue and 15% on net margin. And this is true across many fields, including AEC.   

Research also show that when asked to self-assess, 25% of businesses overate their ability to use data effectively and a whopping 80% of construction businesses are classified as beginner or emerging levels of data capabilities.  

There’s never been a more exciting time to be a part of the construction industry. As it continues to change at an accelerated pace, innovations will bring about even more developments and advancements. Here are 10 innovations we believe will shape the future of the industry as we know it today. 

1. AI and Machine Learning

Optimized workflows are essential to well-running projects and teams in the AEC industry. However, due to the complexity of construction, workflows have the tendency to be disconnected and manual in nature. The three most significant areas within optimized construction workflows are communication, data, and transparency. AI is making it easier to succeed across all three of these areas, resulting in greater productivity and profits. The fact that Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) proclaimed AI has the potential to increase industry profits by 71% by 2035 doesn’t hurt either. 

Machine learning is helping construction pros optimize their workflows and aid decision-making. Predictive analytics is quickly establishing its foothold in the construction industry’s core stack of technology tools. By leveraging current and historical data as well as machine learning, companies can make predictions about future outcomes. These predictions can then be used to make more informed decisions and strategize next moves. Research has also shown that data leaders in construction are 7x more likely to be using AI and machine learning.  

Predictive analytics and machine learning are especially valuable in today’s world of complex construction projects and operations. Companies need a precise way to mitigate risks, take advantage of opportunities, and prepare for challenges. This information also gives workers the freedom to focus on higher-value activities that are more likely to move the needle.  

BAM Ireland is an excellent example of this benefit. The multinational construction company leveraged Construction IQ, powered by Autodesk AI , as its predictive analytics tool for all projects. Doing so led to a 20% improvement in on-site quality and safety and a 25% increase in time spent on high-risk issues. 

Some construction AI innovations are even more subtle. For instance, another tool, AutoSpecs , allows you to find and track submittal items that may not have been added to the specification. The suggested submittals tool compares your current project specifications with historical project data and recommends potentially missing items to enhance accuracy and mitigate risks associated with overlooked details.

Watch to learn more:

What is AI’s Proper Place in Construction?

2. Resource and Workforce Management Software

Managing resources and a workforce are massive expenses for construction companies. Effective workforce management can help companies keep operations running smoothly, optimize resource allocation, and avoid unexpected expenses as well as delays. 

Today, more companies are turning to software platforms to bring more efficiency and actionable analytics to their workforce, whether they be remote, on-site, large, or small. 

Construction innovations in workforce management solutions include predictive tracking, forecasting, and mobile-first interfaces. These solutions remove many of the manual processes that come with resource planning. 

Bridgit Bench is a workforce planning solution built for contractors to track pursuits, project changes, and forecast workforce needs. Project teams can push awarded and opportunity projects from Autodesk Construction Cloud to Bridgit Bench, keeping projects up to date as changes are made. 

One tool, Riskcast provides a way for crews to easily capture labor, equipment, and production plus more, without multiple systems and complex spreadsheets. Teams can sync real-time data into Autodesk Cost Management Performance Tracking to see actuals vs. planned.  

Solutions like these allow companies to access metrics and forecasting analytics to better allocate resources to the right projects at the right time. Workforce management solutions are especially important in our current economy, where volatile markets require firms to be as precise and efficient in their operations as possible. 

3. The Next Wave of 3D Printing

3D printing has long been cited as one of the top modern construction innovations. However, its future is even brighter these days as the technology moves from a novelty to an emerging industry standard. 

With the right implementation strategy—and some creative thinking—3D printing can help speed up projects, make materials more accessible, and enable you to create beautiful designs.  

As Stephan Mansour, a 3D Printing & Emerging Technology Advisor at MaRiTama Ltd points out , “Everything can be 3D-printed; it’s just a matter of how far you want to go, how scalable it is, and how much money you’re going to put in.” 

In terms of use cases, you can 3D print design elements like facades to make them more intricate and detailed. 3D printing can also be used to print parts, fixtures, and furniture for your building. This is particularly useful when you’re dealing with supply shortages or when you’re working in a remote area. Rather than waiting weeks or months for the materials you need, you can print them within a few hours or days. 

We can expect to see 3D printing technologies continue to mature and grow in the future. As companies look for ways to improve quality control, address skilled labor shortages, and explore advanced designs, 3D printing will be here to help them make it a success. 

4. AR, VR, and the Metaverse

Extended Reality (XR) serves as the encompassing term for a spectrum of captivating and interactive technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). These transformative experiences are accessible through various devices, ranging from mobile devices to VR headsets. The allure of XR lies in its ability to seamlessly immerse individuals in the digital realm in real-time. 

This technology plays a pivotal role in revolutionizing Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) workflows as highlighted by the announcement of Autodesk Workshop XR, an immersive design review workspace. The evolution of XR is swiftly paving the way for more impactful and efficient work processes. With innovations like Workshop XR, AEC teams are discovering new avenues for issue tracking, error prevention, and enhanced spatial understanding, ultimately improving workflows and integration. 

The increasing adoption of XR signifies a paradigm shift in how we approach work, collaboration, and project success. This dynamic environment enables teams to scrutinize and problem-solve within their 3D models in a 1:1 scale, fostering a level of interaction that transcends traditional computer screens. 

Businesses—particularly those reliant on cross-departmental collaboration—stand to gain enormous benefits from extended reality solutions. Autodesk Workshop XR, with a connection to Autodesk Construction Cloud through Autodesk Docs, facilitates real-time collaboration within Revit or Navisworks models, making XR a driving force in the AEC industry’s technological wave. 

5. Sensor Data

Tracking the various components of your business—including manpower, jobsites, and equipment—is essential. Proper monitoring aids project planning, promotes smoother operations, and ensures compliance with safety and worker regulations.  

Here’s the good news: thanks to construction sensors and IoT technology, keeping an eye on the many moving parts of your projects is easier than ever. There are various solutions in the market that can enable you to monitor site conditions, track materials through the supply chain, improve worker safety, and empower better facility management. 

Forward-thinking firms are also using sensors to forecast and prepare for future events. “With the use of sensor data and Forge as a software foundation, we are able to predict future product failures,” explains Chris Schoneveld, BIM Manager at Alkondor Hengelo .  

“So for a maintenance task, we could analyse the use curve of a building and protect our products against future failures. And doing multiple tasks on a single maintenance job benefits our company’s eco footprint due to a minimization of traffic movement.” 

6. Digital Twins

Digital twins is certainly a buzzworthy term, but what benefit does it have for the construction industry? As it sounds, a digital twin is a digital replica of a physical entity, including its potential and current assets, systems, data, processes, workflows, people, and devices. In the context of construction, building out a digital twin from the very start is significant to better understand a physical structure for future operations. 

Having a duplicate source of a physical structure allows workers to assess, manipulate, and optimize the building. As they analyze the digital twin, they can uncover potential means of creating efficiencies, developing safety protocols, reducing risks, and improving quality. Digital twins also enhance BIM by serving as a digital thread, connected directly to a physical structure. 

Since almost 80% of a building’s lifetime value is realized during operations , the data and insights provided by a digital twin helps owners better maintain their facilities, streamline operations, and improve capital planning.  

You can also use digital twins to determine if a built asset is meeting certain KPIs and metrics. “If you have certain sustainable goals, you’ll be able to see if you’re achieving them. If you have equipment and want to measure mean time between failure, having a digital twin helps you do that,” explains Bob Bray, Senior Director & General Manager for Autodesk Tandem . 

It can also help owners strategize for the future. As Bob points out, “A digital twin gives you the knowledge to inform, predict, and look at future decisions based on how that asset is performing in the real world.”  

Lastly, the advantages of digital twins are especially relevant during times of social distancing, remote work, and travel restrictions. Essential information about a property is readily accessible with a digital twin, avoiding the need to travel or even leave a home office. 

Check out Episode 59 of the Digital Builder podcast to learn more about Digital Twins.   

7. Truly Connected Construction

Simplicity in construction? It might not be a buzzword, but we’d argue that simplicity is the lifeblood of the most powerful of innovations. When data, workflows, and technology connect, they’re all the more powerful. Apple is a key example of this fact. The same information flows seamlessly between the company’s iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. These harmonious connections keep things simple and effective. 

We see the same concepts play out in connected construction. Construction companies often have to deal with information silos and paper-dependent processes. These challenges are exacerbated by the massive volumes of data and resources that make up the industry. For stakeholders to work efficiently on projects, they need a solid foundation, a single source of truth. 

This foundation can be built and maintained with connected construction. Connected construction equates to integrated and connected data, workflows, and technology. It brings information, processes, and people together in one common data environment . It powers effective decision-making, whether they occur during daily operations or as part of a long-term strategic plan. For companies that genuinely want to empower their people to make the most informed decisions possible, connected construction is the answer.  

8. Advanced Takeoff and Estimating Tools

The days of relying solely on spreadsheets to put together quantity takeoffs, estimates, and bids, are over. Or at least, they should be. The rise of advanced tools in preconstruction are helping construction pros implement robust bidding and estimating processes so they can focus more on winning more business and reducing risk.  

Modern takeoff, estimating, and bidding solutions work in the cloud, enabling you to view and manage bids and estimates from anywhere. These tools also help connect data and teams on one platform, leading to better collaboration and accuracy. And thanks to automation and 3D visualization, you’re able to work faster, produce competitive bids, and ultimately win more work.   

Autodesk Takeoff helps contractors easily perform 2D and 3D quantification and ProEst’s estimating solution helps translate project scope into material, labor and equipment costs to generate accurate project estimates. From there, contractors can use BuildingConnected’s bid management solution to choose the right builder for every project from the largest crowd-sourced construction network, reducing risk and protecting the bottom line. 

9. BIM Beyond Design

BIM, or building information technology modeling, is widely used in the design world but is often seen as complex and technical outside of it. However, BIM doesn’t have to be complicated. By sharing models between the design department and the field, BIM can be a simple and effective communication tool.  

There are many advantages to facilitating BIM access in the field. When models are distributed as PDF documents, valuable BIM data can be lost. By using BIM in the field, teams can improve communication, increase data visibility, and reduce rework costs.  

According to John Lim Ji Xiong, Chief Digital Officer, Gamuda Bhd, “In 2024, I think construction industry trends will morph from BIM and 3D modeling to more data-driven topics such as building dashboards, AI, and managing project data. BIM has become something that is mature in the industry and is a requirement in a lot of tenders. However, in the drive to modernize and improve, construction companies will be looking to drive efficiency and transparency through data in order to build better projects.” 

Expanding the use of BIM beyond design streamlines communication, provides a richer view of construction documents, promotes safety and reduces rework. By keeping design and field teams aligned through BIM, collaboration improves, and work gets done faster.  

Furthermore, new AI innovations open even more opportunities for BIM. “This year, we’ll see greater momentum and interest from the industry as firms leverage AI-driven technologies to automate tedious tasks, more deeply analyze information, and augment decision-making,” says Jim Lynch, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Autodesk. “Particularly, the integration of BIM with AI poses new and exciting opportunities. BIM’s rich data, paired with machine learning, can enable firms to improve efficiency and make smarter decisions beyond just the design phase of a building.” 

It’s time to rethink the role of BIM in construction. BIM is not just a design tool every team can use to deliver high-quality work and improve collaboration throughout the construction lifecycle.  

10. Robotics

The continued adoption of robotics in construction is another significant development that will shape the industry’s future. However, construction companies face barriers in implementing these technologies including cost of entry and a lack of skills with these specific technologies within teams  

On an episode of the Digital Builder podcast, Brooke Gemmell, Emerging Technology Partner at Skanska said, “We’re starting to see so many more robotic applications. I think one thing that may be a misconception is just how readily available they are on projects. Most of the tools out there are only being piloted on a select few projects because we’re still learning how can we really use these and what’s the biggest impact for these tools.” 

To overcome these hurdles, companies can start with more mature technologies like drones and offsite prefabrication. They also can invest in training programs and partnerships with technology providers to improve their workforce. Brooke believes there is already a strong appetite from the workforce to do so, “I’ve been on a lot of project sites where we’ve had robotic solutions deployed, and first off, people are really excited about it. They want to learn more and they want to engage.” 

Collaboration and communication with technology providers is crucial. By sharing specific needs and challenges, construction companies can shape the development of tailored AI and robotics solutions. It is also beneficial to learn from industry leaders who have effectively incorporated these technologies.  

By embracing AI and robotics, construction companies can unlock productivity, efficiency, and safety benefits. These technologies will greatly improve workflow, optimize resource management, and enable faster project delivery.  

“Robots are helping people go home earlier, less tired, and with less strain. We’re also taking people out of dangerous situations and using robots in those places,” added Brooke.  

The Real Impact of Robotics on Construction Sites

Moving Innovation in Construction Forward

The construction industry is truly evolving right in front of our eyes. We’re confident these 10 construction innovations will prove to be especially valuable in the industry today and in the future. 

Grace Ellis

Construction trends, tips, and news – delivered straight to your inbox, you might like..., demystifying autodesk technology: unlocking efficiency for factory planning and factory design, digital builder ep 77: what is ai’s proper place in construction, using digital technology for project success in denmark’s construction sector.

The Daily Digest

The Daily Digest

The most impressive examples of wooden architecture in the world

Posted: December 2, 2023 | Last updated: December 2, 2023

<p>Wood as a construction material has always been used, and throughout the planet, there are excellent examples of architectural works that use this material. However, it is currently beginning to re-emerge with new and impressive projects.</p>

Wood, a rising construction material

Wood as a construction material has always been used, and throughout the planet, there are excellent examples of architectural works that use this material. However, it is currently beginning to re-emerge with new and impressive projects.

<p>Wood as a structural element is increasingly technically advanced, allowing its use to implement large constructions. We are not only talking about small homes but about more significant buildings, such as museums or even skyscrapers.</p>

Structural and aesthetic elements

Wood as a structural element is increasingly technically advanced, allowing its use to implement large constructions. We are not only talking about small homes but about more significant buildings, such as museums or even skyscrapers.

<p>Today there are several high-level architects who use wood in many of their architectural projects. Names like Kengo Kuma, AnnaLisa Meyboom, Thomas Herzog, Vicente Guallart, Kivi Sotamaa, Gilles Retsin or Casey Rehm, are just some of them. But what about the most notable projects in this sense? Let's get to know some of them…</p>

Numerous architects, many other projects

Today there are several high-level architects who use wood in many of their architectural projects. Names like Kengo Kuma, AnnaLisa Meyboom, Thomas Herzog, Vicente Guallart, Kivi Sotamaa, Gilles Retsin or Casey Rehm, are just some of them. But what about the most notable projects in this sense? Let's get to know some of them…

<p>In the American city of Milwaukee there is a 25-story, 86 meter or 282 foot high residential building and the structure is made entirely of solid wood. Here you can see the building during its construction in 2021.</p>

In the American city of Milwaukee there is a 25-story, 86 meter or 282 foot high residential building and the structure is made entirely of solid wood. Here you can see the building during its construction in 2021.

<p>This building houses luxury homes, a commercial area and a high-rise swimming pool. The building is built and finished (in the picture you can see it in 2022), it is the tallest building made of wood, beating out the Mjøstårnet tower in Norway.</p> <p>Photo: By SidewalkMD - Own work, Wikimedia Commons</p>

The tallest building ever made out of wood

This building houses luxury homes, a commercial area and a high-rise swimming pool. The building is built and finished (in the picture you can see it in 2022), it is the tallest building made of wood, beating out the Mjøstårnet tower in Norway.

Photo: By SidewalkMD - Own work, Wikimedia Commons

<p>Mjøstårnet was inaugurated in 2019 in the city of Brumunddal and has a height almost the same as that of the Ascent, with 85.4 meters or 280 feet, although, in this case, with 18 floors in which there is a hotel, apartments, offices and an indoor pool. It was designed by the Norwegian studio Voll Arkitekter for AB Invest, and Moelven Limtre installed its wooden structure.</p>

Mjøstårnet was inaugurated in 2019 in the city of Brumunddal and has a height almost the same as that of the Ascent, with 85.4 meters or 280 feet, although, in this case, with 18 floors in which there is a hotel, apartments, offices and an indoor pool. It was designed by the Norwegian studio Voll Arkitekter for AB Invest, and Moelven Limtre installed its wooden structure.

<p>This is another sizeable residential tower standing at 100 meters or 320 feet tall. It was planned in the Swiss city of Winterthur and designed by the firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen, creators of the Malmö Live Concert Hall in Sweden, which is pictured here. It is another excellent example of a colossal work made of wood.  However, the group's next creation is a  tower called Rocket & Tigerli, will have 32 floors and a structure with a solid wood supporting system.</p>

Rocket & Tigerli and Malmo Live Concert Hall

This is another sizeable residential tower standing at 100 meters or 320 feet tall. It was planned in the Swiss city of Winterthur and designed by the firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen, creators of the Malmö Live Concert Hall in Sweden, which is pictured here. It is another excellent example of a colossal work made of wood.  However, the group's next creation is a  tower called Rocket & Tigerli, will have 32 floors and a structure with a solid wood supporting system.

<p>The Aspen Art Museum, in the state of Colorado (United States), created in 1979, is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 2014, and stands out in its construction for its woven wood screen and by the roof frame, also made of wood.</p>

Aspen Art Museum

The Aspen Art Museum, in the state of Colorado (United States), created in 1979, is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 2014, and stands out in its construction for its woven wood screen and by the roof frame, also made of wood.

<p>This huge pergola-shaped structure is made of laminated wood and concrete located in Seville (Spain). It is 150 meters/492 feet long, 70 meters/229 feet wide and a height of about 26 meters or 85 feet. This structure houses a traditional market, a square for shows and the Antiquarium Archaeological Museum, in addition to offering a great viewpoint of the city at the top.</p>

Metropol Parasol or Las Setas

This huge pergola-shaped structure is made of laminated wood and concrete located in Seville (Spain). It is 150 meters/492 feet long, 70 meters/229 feet wide and a height of about 26 meters or 85 feet. This structure houses a traditional market, a square for shows and the Antiquarium Archaeological Museum, in addition to offering a great viewpoint of the city at the top.

<p>Located in the French city of Metz, this museum of modern and contemporary art is a branch of the Pompidou Center in Paris designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill. In it, the structure of its roof, composed of 16 kilometers of glued laminated wood, resembling the grille of a Chinese hat, stands out especially.</p>

Pompidou Center in Metz

Located in the French city of Metz, this museum of modern and contemporary art is a branch of the Pompidou Center in Paris designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill. In it, the structure of its roof, composed of 16 kilometers of glued laminated wood, resembling the grille of a Chinese hat, stands out especially.

<p>Designed by New York architect David Rockwell, inspired by the narrative spirit of the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk, this curious theater has a wooden structure made through a frame system that was built in record time: only six days.</p>

Vancouver TED Theater

Designed by New York architect David Rockwell, inspired by the narrative spirit of the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk, this curious theater has a wooden structure made through a frame system that was built in record time: only six days.

<p>This is probably the most curious building of all those on this list. Built of wood from the inside out, it is a replica of Noah's Ark designed by Troyer Group, a megastructure 137 meters or 550 feet long, 23m or 75 feet wide by 14 meters or 45 feet tall. It is located in Kentucky (United States) and which houses a museum about creation according to Christianity.</p>

Creation Museum 'Noah's Ark'

This is probably the most curious building of all those on this list. Built of wood from the inside out, it is a replica of Noah's Ark designed by Troyer Group, a megastructure 137 meters or 550 feet long, 23m or 75 feet wide by 14 meters or 45 feet tall. It is located in Kentucky (United States) and which houses a museum about creation according to Christianity.

<p>The Japanese architect Kengo Kuma is a true expert in wooden constructions and, as an example, there is the work carried out for the Sunny Hills store in the city of Tokyo, a small building made in the shape of a bamboo basket in which the traditional method of Japanese wooden architecture is used.</p>

Sunny Hills

The Japanese architect Kengo Kuma is a true expert in wooden constructions and, as an example, there is the work carried out for the Sunny Hills store in the city of Tokyo, a small building made in the shape of a bamboo basket in which the traditional method of Japanese wooden architecture is used.

<p>Another good example of Kengo Kuma's work is the Tokyo National Stadium, where the Japanese architect uses a covering with cedar boards for its exterior, with an interior where wood is also the protagonist with a roof made up of laminated wood trusses and metal connectors.</p>

Tokyo National Stadium

Another good example of Kengo Kuma's work is the Tokyo National Stadium, where the Japanese architect uses a covering with cedar boards for its exterior, with an interior where wood is also the protagonist with a roof made up of laminated wood trusses and metal connectors.

<p>The Matteo Thun & Partners studio conceived these two towers for the Austrian town of Katschberg and which act as a symbolic gateway between the two provinces of Salzburg and Carinthia. It is the expansion of a hotel that already existed with structures made of prefabricated wooden walls and slabs which are made up of a light wooden framework.</p>

Edelweiss Residence

The Matteo Thun & Partners studio conceived these two towers for the Austrian town of Katschberg and which act as a symbolic gateway between the two provinces of Salzburg and Carinthia. It is the expansion of a hotel that already existed with structures made of prefabricated wooden walls and slabs which are made up of a light wooden framework.

<p>This curious hotel, located in an idyllic location surrounded by nature at the northern entrance to the Torres del Paine National Park (Chile), was designed by architect Cazú Zegers. It has a curved, sinuous shape that blends with the landscape and is entirely covered by a plank of washed beech wood.</p>

Hotel Tierra Patagonia

This curious hotel, located in an idyllic location surrounded by nature at the northern entrance to the Torres del Paine National Park (Chile), was designed by architect Cazú Zegers. It has a curved, sinuous shape that blends with the landscape and is entirely covered by a plank of washed beech wood.

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Status.net

4 Examples: Meeting Recap Email Template (with Tips)

By Status.net Editorial Team on February 14, 2024 — 7 minutes to read

A meeting recap email is what you send to all participants after a meeting has occurred. It serves as a record of what was discussed, the decisions made, and the actions that need to be taken. This way, everyone is on the same page and aware of their responsibilities going forward.

In your recap, you should include:

  • Key discussion points: Summarize the main topics covered.
  • Decisions made: Clearly state any agreements or conclusions reached.
  • Action items: Identify tasks to be completed, who is responsible for them, and the deadlines.
  • Next steps: Outline the plan moving forward, including any follow-up meetings.
  • Additional notes: Provide any other relevant information that might be helpful, like links to documents or a reminder of important deadlines.

Key Elements of a Meeting Recap Email

When crafting a meeting recap email, one must focus on the main components that ensure all participants are on the same page post-meeting. This includes a clear subject line, a cordial opening greeting, and a concise summary of what was discussed. Follow it up with specific action items and deadlines, provide a list of attendees, suggest a date and time for the next meeting, and finalize with polite closing remarks.

1. Subject Line

Your subject line should be clear and indicative of the email content: “Meeting Recap – [Meeting Topic] – [Date]”. This lets recipients immediately know the purpose of the email.

2. Opening Greeting

Start with a simple greeting, like “Hi team,” or “Dear [Team Name],”. This sets a warm tone for the email and acknowledges your colleagues.

3. Summary of Discussion Points

Include bullet points to break down the discussion topics. For instance:

  • Discussed marketing strategies for Q2
  • Reviewed quarterly budget adjustments
  • Brainstormed ideas for the new product line launch

4. Action Items and Deadlines

List each action item followed by the responsible person and the deadline. Example:

  • Mark: Draft new marketing plan by March 5
  • Rita: Update the budget report by February 15

5. List of Attendees

Mention everyone who attended the meeting. This helps in clarifying who needs to be aware of the meeting outcomes and responsible for action items.

  • Attendees: Mark, Rita, John, Sarah, Alex

6. Date and Time for Next Meeting

Propose a date and time for the next meeting, making it easier to coordinate schedules in advance.

  • Next meeting: March 1, 2 PM EST

7. Closing Remarks

End the recap with polite closing remarks such as “Thank you for your contributions and hard work,” or “Looking forward to our continued progress.”

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Meeting Recap Email

1. start with a clear subject line.

Your subject line should be concise and reflect the content of your email. It could be something like “Recap of Marketing Team Meeting – Feb 9, 2024”.

2. Address the Recipients Appropriately

Use “Dear [Team Name],” or “Hello Everyone,” to start your email in a way that includes all participants.

3. Summarize Key Points

List the main topics discussed in bullet points. For example:

  • Q1 Project Initiatives
  • Budget Allocation Updates
  • New Marketing Strategies Implementation

4. Detail Decisions and Agreements

In a new paragraph, outline what decisions were made and any agreements that were reached. Like so:

  • Decided to increase the Q1 advertising budget by 15%.
  • Agreed upon collaborating with XYZ Influencers for the upcoming campaign.

5. Action Items

Clearly state the next steps and who is responsible for each task. Utilize a simple list, such as:

  • John to finalize the new campaign by Feb 16.
  • Lisa to contact XYZ Influencers by Feb 12.

6. Include Deadlines and Specific Details

It’s important to mention relevant deadlines and provide specific details where necessary. For instance, “The final campaign draft is due by February 16, 2024.”

7. Attach Relevant Documents or Minutes

Mention any attachments with a brief descriptor, like “Attached are the minutes from our meeting and the Q1 Project Plan.”

8. Close with a Friendly Note

You can end your email with an offer to clarify any points and a thank-you note. For example: “If you have any questions about these points, feel free to reach out. Thank you for your active participation and valuable contributions.”

9. Proofread Your Email

Before sending, take a moment to review the email for clarity, spelling, and grammar errors. This helps ensure that your message is well-received and understood.

Meeting Recap Email Examples

After a meeting, sending a recap email can help ensure everyone is on the same page. Below are specific examples of meeting recap emails that cater to different scenarios.

Meeting Recap Email Example for a Team Meeting

Subject: Recap of Our February 9 Team Meeting

Thanks for your great input and discussion during today’s meeting. Here’s a quick recap of the key points and actions to take:

  • Project X Update : We’re ahead of schedule, and Sarah will circulate the updated timeline by Feb 11.
  • Q1 Goals Review : Reviewed our Q1 targets. Please send any adjustments to Tom by Feb 12.

Next Steps :

  • Complete individual assignments discussed
  • Prepare for the March 1 team check-in

Let’s keep the momentum going!

Best, […]

Meeting Recap Email Example for a Client Meeting

Subject: Summary of Our Discussion – February 9 Meeting

Dear [Client’s Name],

I appreciate you taking the time to meet today. Here’s a brief overview of what we covered and the agreed-upon next steps:

  • Service Upgrade Options : We discussed different service plans and you’ll consider the proposed options by next week.
  • Pricing Structure : Provided a detailed breakdown of costs for additional services.
  • You will confirm your choice of the service plan by Feb 16.
  • I will forward a revised contract reflecting our discussion within two business days.

Looking forward to moving forward together.

Warm regards, […]

Meeting Recap Email Example for a Project Debrief

Subject: Insights From Our Project Debrief – Let’s Celebrate Success and Learn

Hi Everyone,

I’m impressed with the collaboration in today’s project debrief. To ensure we capture the valuable insights, here’s a concise summary:

  • Successes : We met our deliverable deadlines and stayed under budget. Special thanks to the design team for their innovation.
  • Lessons Learned : Identified the need for more frequent stakeholder updates. Going forward, we’ll have bi-weekly briefings.

Follow-Up :

  • Document and share the learned best practices with all departments by Feb 15.
  • Update the project timeline template to include the new briefing schedule by Feb 18.

Thanks for your dedication to continuous improvement.

Cheers, […]

Example of a Meeting Summary Email Template

Subject: Meeting Recap – [Meeting Title] [Date]

Dear [Name],

Thank you for attending [Meeting Title]. We discussed [key discussion points]. The following action items were agreed upon:

  • [Action item 1] assigned to [Name], due by [Deadline]
  • [Action item 2] assigned to [Name], due by [Deadline]

Please mark your calendars for our next meeting on [Date/Time]. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Best regards, [Your Name]

Best Practices for Meeting Recap Emails

Keep it short and direct.

Your meeting recap should be concise. Stick to the main points discussed, decisions made, and action items set. This way, you stay respectful of your recipients’ time. For example, instead of writing a detailed transcript of the meeting, highlight the critical outcomes.

Be Specific with Details

Include specific details such as the date of the next meeting or deadlines for action items. This information helps your team track responsibilities and deadlines. If a task was assigned, mention who is responsible and the expected completion date.

Use Bullet Points for Clarity

Organizing information with bullet points improves readability. List out action items, key decisions, and any follow-up questions like this:

  • Action Item: Complete project proposal (Assigned to Jamie, due by March 3rd)
  • Decision Made: Quarterly budget increased by 10%
  • Follow-Up Needed: Alex to share the revised client contract by next Tuesday

Send It Promptly

Timeliness means sending the recap email within 24 hours of the meeting. This ensures that the discussion is fresh in everyone’s mind and that any tasks or decisions are acted upon quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some helpful tips for crafting an effective meeting recap email.

To craft an effective meeting recap email, start by summarizing the key decisions and action items. Make sure you include the date for the next meeting or any deadlines. For clarity, use bullet points to list items, and consider highlighting or underlining action items to draw attention to them.

How can I appropriately conclude a meeting summary email?

Conclude your meeting summary email by thanking participants for their time and contributions. Offer a line for recipients to contact you for clarifications or further questions about the meeting’s content. This ensures a clear line of communication.

What is the best way to write a meeting recap for a remote conference or Zoom meeting?

When recapping a remote or Zoom meeting, include a link to the recording if available. You should also note who was in virtual attendance and provide a straightforward summary of the discussion. Visual aids used during the meeting such as slides can also be attached for reference.

How can I ensure that my meeting recap email is clear and concise for all recipients?

Ensure clarity and conciseness by writing in simple language and short sentences. Stick to summarizing the main points rather than relaying everything verbatim. Use bullet points to list action items, and make sure everyone knows what their responsibilities are.

What are some strategies for sending detailed minutes of a meeting to a client or a superior?

For detailed minutes, organize content logically, such as chronologically or by agenda item. Include decisions made, actions to take, and who is responsible for each action. You may also want to personalize the email when sending minutes to a client or superior, ensuring it aligns with their preferences for receiving such information.

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Examples logo

Marketing Internship Report

news reports 5

This report encapsulates my comprehensive learning and practical experience acquired during my marketing internship at XYZ Corporation, spanning from June to August 2023. It serves as a reflective document, detailing my contributions, the skills I honed, the challenges I faced, and the knowledge I gained about the marketing industry’s dynamics.

Introduction

XYZ Corporation is a leading player in the consumer goods industry, renowned for its innovative marketing strategies and a wide range of products that cater to a diverse clientele. My internship focused on the digital marketing department, where I was immersed in various projects aimed at enhancing the company’s digital footprint.

  • To gain hands-on experience in digital marketing strategies and tools.
  • To understand the process of developing and implementing marketing campaigns.
  • To enhance my analytical skills by working with marketing data and metrics.

Projects Undertaken

  • Social Media Campaign: Spearheaded a social media campaign for the launch of a new product, which included content creation, scheduling posts, and analyzing engagement metrics. This project taught me the intricacies of social media algorithms and the importance of engaging content.
  • Email Marketing: Assisted in designing and dispatching weekly newsletters to the company’s subscriber base. I learned how to segment audiences, personalize content, and the significance of A/B testing in improving open rates and conversions.
  • Market Research: Conducted market research to identify emerging trends in consumer behavior. This involved analyzing competitor strategies, surveying customers, and presenting findings to the marketing team. The project enhanced my research skills and ability to derive actionable insights from data.

Skills Developed

  • Analytical Skills: Improved my ability to analyze data and metrics to assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
  • Creative Thinking: Enhanced my creative thinking abilities by developing engaging marketing content and brainstorming innovative campaign ideas.
  • Communication: Honed my written and verbal communication skills through regular presentations and reports to the marketing team.

Challenges Faced

One of the main challenges was adapting quickly to the fast-paced marketing environment and learning to use new digital marketing tools efficiently. Overcoming this required proactive learning and seeking guidance from mentors, which significantly accelerated my learning curve.

The internship at XYZ Corporation was an invaluable experience that not only allowed me to apply my academic knowledge in a real-world setting but also equipped me with essential marketing skills and insights. It has solidified my interest in pursuing a career in digital marketing and has prepared me to contribute effectively to future marketing roles.

Acknowledgments

I extend my sincere gratitude to my mentors at XYZ Corporation, who provided me with guidance, support, and the opportunity to be part of meaningful projects. Their expertise and feedback have been instrumental in my professional growth.

  • Digital Marketing Insights, XYZ Corporation internal reports, 2023.
  • Consumer Behavior Trends, Market Research conducted during the internship, 2023.

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