A timeline is a visual representation of marking special events in a particulate stretch of time. Businesses and organizations use timelines to ensure they achieve their goals on time, especially when it comes to project plans. Using a timeline really helps in time management. So if your company has an upcoming project, make use of our amazing Sample Project Timeline Templates. These downloadable ready-made project timelines enable you to plot your project’s progress wisely, without too much hassle. Download any of them now and see how they can optimize your project’s chances for success.
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Sample Project Timeline
What Is a Project Timeline?
A project timeline is a type of chart presentation that outlines the entire process of a project. It does so from start to finish. Its purpose is to ensure that the company completes each phase of the project on schedule. That helps the project managers to finish the project before or on the established completion date.
A project timeline can either show the entire process either on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on the project’s scope. And it also comes in different forms. Some project timelines have Gantt chart structures and some simply list the project’s phases in chronological order.
How to Create a Project Timeline
According to Workmajig, only 2.5% of companies are able to complete their projects 100% successfully. There are plenty of reasons why many projects fail, such as insufficient budget and poor project planning. But the most likely culprit is poor time management. Of course, you don’t want your company to be part of the 97.5% that aren’t able to finish projects. So make sure to create a project timeline to have a clear and less bumpy flow for your upcoming project. Get started by following these steps.
Step 1: Create a Project Scope Summary
First, you have to summarize the scope of the project. Write a detailed explanation of its various components and functions. And don’t forget to emphasize the people who will be involved in the project once it’s operational. Writing a project scope summary gives you a better overview of the project. And with that, you can structure your project timeline easily. Moreover, writing a scope summary is part of the project management process.
Step 2: Breakdown the Project into Different Stages
Based on the project scope summary, breakdown the project into different stages. It’s up to you and your co-project managers on how many stages the project will have. As long as each stage contributes well to the project’s completion, it’ll do. Just make sure that they’re realistic and achievable. For each stage, list down their specific objectives and outline their process.
Step 3: Set a Start and Completion Date for Each Stage
Set a timetable of when the project team will start and finish each stage. Make sure that the start and completion date provides the team enough time to carry out the tasks. And more importantly, make sure that it helps them meet the project’s deadline. To set an achievable timetable, study each stage and determine their scope. That should give you a clear hint of how long it takes to complete them.
Step 4: Include Important Notes
If there’s additional information about the project’s process, you can include them in the timeline. They could be contingency plans or backup plans in case problems arise during operations. Speaking of problems, they’re likely to happen in the project management process. So be ready for them.
To make your project timeline presentable, you can add some graphic design to it. You can put infographics to make it more visually informative. And also, it would help if you attach the timetable of each project stage to your calendar.
FAQs
What are the phases in project management?
Project managers are free to customize the phases of their projects. But all of them follow the same project management phases, and these phases are:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Execution
- Performance and monitoring
- Project close
How to accurately estimate a project timeline?
There are two basic steps in estimating a project timeline accurately.
- Understand the project’s requirements
- Order the project’s activities chronologically.
What does project life cycle mean?
As its name suggests, the project life cycle is a detailed rundown of a project’s life. It starts from the project being brainstormed with ideas, having its earliest concepts, and down to its completion (or shut down if it isn’t successful). The project life cycle shows a project’s general facts and how it went from point A to point B to point C and so on.
Your project’s success might depend on how well you structure its project timeline. It’s the very soul of your project. So, take your time in creating it. Don’t rush anything. Rushing a project will only do more harm than good. And downloading our project timeline examples will make your job easier.
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