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Agile planning: a step-by-step guide

Overwhelmingly, the world is going agile. Companies that adopt Agile methodologies see a range of
benefits, from higher rates of customer satisfaction, stronger employee engagement, and primarily
smoother operations.

Still, despite all the positives related to Agile planning, many businesses haven’t adopted the practice.
Whether out of hesitance for change or a desire to keep things status quo, companies who aren’t using
Agile planning risk falling behind the competition.

In this blog post, we’re going to dive into what the approach is and the steps you can take to apply it to
your own workflows.

What is agile planning?

Agile planning is a part of the Agile methodology, which is a project management style with an
incremental, iterative approach. Instead of using an in-depth plan from the start of the project—which is
typically product-related—Agile leaves room for requirement changes throughout and relies on constant
feedback from end users.

With Agile planning, a project is broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks with the ultimate
goal of having a defined image of a project’s vision. Agile planning involves looking at different aspects
of a project’s tasks and how they’ll be achieved, for example:

 Roadmaps to guide a product’s release ad schedule

 Sprints to work on one specific group of tasks at a time
 A feedback plan to allow teams to stay flexible and easily adapt to change
 User stories, or the tasks in a project, capture user requirements from the end user’s
perspective

Essentially, with Agile planning, a team would decide on a set of user stories to action at any given time,
using them as a guide to implement new features or functionalities in a tool. Looking at tasks as user
stories is a helpful way to imagine how a customer may use a feature and helps teams prioritize work
and focus on delivering value first.

Essential characteristics of Agile planning

A whopping 71% of organizations have

adopted agile planning methodologies,
and 60% of those companies increased
their profits after doing so. However,
implementing Agile methodologies is
important and can dictate the success of
this new project management format in
your company. Before implementing any
project planning method, whether it’s
Kanban boards, Gantt charts, or Scrum,
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it’s important to understand the basics. Here are four essential characteristics of Agile you should be
aware of.

An agile project plan is divided into releases and sprints

Agile planners define a release as creating a new product or substantially updating an existing product.
Each release is broken down into several iterations called sprints. Each sprint has a fixed length, typically
two weeks, and the team has a predefined list of items, or user stories, to work through in each sprint.

Task creation and planning is based on user stories

As mentioned above, a user story is a task that caters to an end-user’s needs. For example, when
working on a software product, teams may work on features based on user stories, such as:

 “As a team member, it’s helpful for me to receive a notification telling me which new tasks are
assigned to me.”
 “As a team leader, I need to receive an email when a task is stuck or behind schedule so I can
keep my project on track.”

Unlike other project management methodologies, like waterfall, in which teams would create detailed
technical specifications of exactly what they would build, with Agile planning, teams focus on
documenting what users need. Throughout the sprint, team members figure out how to address specific
user needs in the most efficient way possible.

Planning is iterative and incremental

All sprints are of equal length, and an Agile team repeats the same process over and over again, like
Scrum ceremonies, in every sprint. The result of each sprint should be working features that can be
rolled out to end-users.

An iterative process allows the team to learn what they are capable of, estimate how many user stories
they can action and finish in a given timeframe, and discover problems that impede their progress. Then,
newly discovered problems can be addressed in subsequent sprints.

Work estimation is a collective effort

A focal point of Agile planning is that development teams should participate in planning and estimation,
instead of solely management deciding on the work scope. In the sprint stage, Agile planning allows
teams to determine the complexity of user stories to carry out a plan, called a story point.

For example, a team can assign 1 point to a simple user story, 2-3 points for a moderately complex one,
and 4-5 points for a bigger story based on their understanding of the work involved. Then, user stories
that aren’t actioned or assigned points on the current sprint are put into the project backlog.

The 6 levels of Agile planning

Agile planning is a multi-level process, with each stage representing a different part of the planning
process. Often, people refer to the Agile planning process as an Agile planning onion for its different
layers, each one giving way to the next. When looking at Agile planning like an onion, we start with the
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outer layer first and slowly get closer to the core, going from less frequent on the outside to more
frequent stages as we move in.

Let’s take a closer look at each layer of the onion, what it entails, and when it’s used.

1. Strategy: This is a high-level approach to planning, often done at the beginning of a project
when organizations define their long-term vision and identify resources and capabilities to reach
strategic objectives

2. Portfolio: In this stage, the focus is on managing a portfolio of projects or products, including
prioritization, resource allocation, and alignment with business objective, ensuring that
resources are applied effectively

3. Product: In the product planning stages, teams define overall product strategy, decide on a
development approach, and set dates, themes, timelines, and prioritize features to meet project
goals and respond to market needs

4. Release: Release planning breaks down the product roadmap into specific releases, focusing on
which user stories to prioritize, each story’s timeline, team capacities, and the features or
functionality to be delivered in each release

5. Iteration: Iteration planning, also known as Sprint planning, defines the work to be done in a
short iteration or sprint, usually spanning 1-4 weeks and involves breaking down user stories
into tasks and estimating the effort required

6. Daily: In the final layer, teams use the daily stand-up or scrum meeting to plan daily tasks and
discuss progress and impediments, helping keep the team aligned and focused on the
immediate tasks at hand
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Agile planning process: Step-by-step

Agile project planning involves multiple steps. Each step is meant to propel your project forward while
maintaining an organized approach to managing your product and workforce. The steps can be adapted
to your team’s specific needs, and some need to be maintained on an ongoing basis, but overall,
following the steps below will help you successfully implement an Agile plan for your next product
launch.

1. Define vision

Your first step in Agile planning is to start by defining the vision for your project or product, which
includes overall goals and objectives to be achieved.

2. Set clear expectations on goals

Next, you should set clear expectations on what you want the output to be so that all team members
and stakeholders are on the same page. Even if tasks or certain plans change due to feedback cycles and
new iterations, the expectation should remain constant.

3. Define and break down the product roadmap

After setting expectations, it’s important to build a high-level product roadmap to highlight milestones
and deliverables, giving your project more of a strategic direction. Then, the roadmap should be broken
down into releases or increments, each with a defined set of features to include.

4. Create tasks based on user stories

This step should be more ongoing as project and user needs evolve over different iterations, but the
idea is to create actionable tasks based on real user stories so that team members can work on adding
new features, updating existing ones, or creating more functionality in your product.

5. Populate product backlog

Your product backlog is a collection of tasks and user stories that should be worked on over a project’s
lifecycle. It includes tasks that aren’t a part of the current sprint but may be a part of future ones and
can operate as a place to collect new tasks that arise as a result of feedback, roadblocks, or problems
that need to be solved. Tasks in the backlog should also be prioritized according to user needs or a
project’s timeline.

6. Plan iterations and estimate effort

For each release, it’s important to plan a series of iterations or sprints. In this process, you want to
define each iteration’s goals and objectives while also estimating the effort and time it may take based
on the current sprint’s tasks. This helps gauge a sprint’s complexity so you can create an interaction plan
based on current workloads, deliverables, and timelines.

7. Conduct daily stand-ups

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Daily meetings, often called stand-ups, are a helpful Agile ceremony that allows teams to discuss any
pressing issues and plan the day’s work. Daily stand-ups are short and focused and involve very short-
term planning to tackle a task currently being worked on.

8. Monitor and adapt

Finally, with Agile planning, it’s always important to monitor progress against overall goals, iteration
plans, and your product roadmap. Track any deviations from the plan so you can find immediate
solutions. At the end of each sprint, you can identify areas for improvement and implement them in
future iterations.

These eight steps involve a lot of scheduling, planning, and communicating to implement effectively. To
keep this process organized and running smoothly, many teams use a platform like Monday dev, which
is built on the monday.com Work Operating System (Work OS). Platforms like Monday dev help teams
run their projects, communicate between themselves, and track all updates in real-time.

https://monday.com/blog/rnd/agile-planning/

Why is breaking down tasks important?

Task decomposition boosts productivity, aids in risk management, allows efficient resource allocation,
and enables more accurate project planning. By facilitating better progress tracking, task chunking turns
work into a more understandable, manageable, and achievable process. It provides clarity on what
needs to be done.

What is micro-productivity (micro-tasking)?

Micro productivity, or micro-tasking, is a productivity strategy that involves breaking down a large task
or project into smaller, more manageable tasks. These smaller tasks are often quick to complete,
allowing you to make progress even when you only have short periods available.

The concept behind micro-productivity is to leverage the small pockets of time we have throughout our
day (known as "micro-moments") to achieve larger goals over time. This approach can help reduce
overwhelming feelings associated with large tasks and improve motivation by providing frequent
moments of accomplishment.

For example, instead of writing a report in one sitting, you might break it down into smaller tasks like
researching a specific topic, writing an outline, writing one section at a time, and so on. Each task can be
completed individually, allowing you to progress on the report even if you don't have time to sit down
and write the whole thing at once.

Steps to Break Down Tasks into Manageable Pieces

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In the complex world of project management, juggling various tasks and ensuring they are completed on
time is paramount. However, these tasks can often be large, multifaceted, and intimidating. That's
where the art of breaking down tasks comes into play.

Breaking down tasks, or task decomposition or chunking tasks, is a project management technique that
involves dividing a large task or project into smaller, more manageable parts.

In this post, we will explore the importance of task decomposition in project management,
demonstrating how it can improve efficiency, reduce stress, and ultimately lead to the successful
completion of your project.

Whether you're a seasoned project manager looking for new strategies or a novice seeking basic
principles, this post will equip you with valuable insights. So, let's start turning those complex tasks into
manageable pieces.

Step-By-Step Instructions for Breaking Down Tasks

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Understand the Task

The first step towards breaking down a task is to understand it fully. This involves several factors:
Type of Task: What kind of task is it? Is it a research project, a report, a design job, or something else?
Each type of task requires a different approach and skill set.

 Size of Task: How big is the task? A larger task will require more time and
resources and should be broken down into smaller tasks.
 Deadline: When does the task need to be completed? Understanding the
deadline will help you prioritize and schedule your work effectively.
 Dependencies: Do any other tasks need to be completed before this one? Some
tasks depend on others, and understanding these dependencies will help you
sequence your assignments correctly.

Task Splitting

Once you fully understand the task, it's time to break it into smaller subtasks. This process is often
referred to as task splitting.

 Identify the 'Parent Task': The parent task is the main task or project that
you're trying to complete. It's the overarching goal that you're working towards.
 Break Down the Parent Task: Start dividing the parent task into smaller, bite-
sized tasks. Each of these parts should be a self-contained unit that contributes
to completing the parent task.
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For example, if your parent's task is to write a report, some subtasks might include conducting research,
drafting each section, editing, and proofreading. Each one of these subtasks is a step towards
completing the overall parent task.

Organize Tasks

After breaking down your parent task into smaller subtasks, the next step is organizing these tasks
logically to ensure that everything gets done in the right sequence.

 Identify Dependencies: Some tasks may depend on the completion of others. For
example, in a report-writing project, you can only start writing once you've
completed your research.
 Sequential Order: Arrange your tasks in the order they need to be completed.
 Consider Task Importance: If a particular task is critical for the progress of your
project, it might need to be tackled earlier.

Estimate Time on Task

Once you've broken down and sequenced your tasks, the next step is to estimate how long each task
will take. This helps plan your schedule effectively and ensure the project stays on track.

 Past Experience: Use your experience with similar tasks to guide your
estimation.
 Task Complexity: Consider the complexity of each task. More complex tasks will
naturally take more time to complete.
 Available Resources: The amount of time a task takes can also depend on your
available resources. For example, tasks might take longer if you have fewer
people to work on them or lack the necessary tools or information.

Prioritize Tasks

After estimating the time for each task, the next step is to prioritize them. This means identifying which
tasks are most critical to the success of your project and should be tackled first.

 Identify Critical Tasks: Some tasks are more important than others. These
might be tasks that significantly impact the project, tasks that are on the
critical path (i.e., tasks that, if delayed, would delay the whole project), or tasks
with early deadlines. Identify these tasks and prioritize them.
 Consider Delegation: When prioritizing tasks, consider whether any can be
delegated. Delegating tasks can free up time to focus on the most critical tasks.
When deciding which tasks to delegate, consider your team members' skills and
capacities and the task's complexity and importance.

Plan for Breaks

Planning for breaks is a critical part of effective task management. Regular breaks can help prevent
burnout, increase productivity, and maintain high levels of focus and creativity.
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 Schedule Regular Breaks: As you plan your tasks, schedule regular breaks in
between. You can use the Pomodoro technique to schedule your breaks
successfully.

Track Progress

Keeping track of your progress is an essential part of task management. It helps you stay motivated,
provides a sense of achievement, and allows you to adjust your plan if needed.

As your complete tasks and reach milestones in your project, take a moment to celebrate these
achievements. This can provide a much-needed boost of motivation and positivity.

Review and Adjust

No matter how well you plan, things sometimes go differently than expected. That's why it's important
to review your progress and adjust your plan as needed regularly.

Set aside time each week (or each day, depending on the project) to review your progress. Look at your
completed tasks, which are still pending, and whether you're on track to meet your deadlines.
If you're falling behind, try to identify why. Are there tasks that are taking longer than expected? Are
there unexpected problems that have come up?

Based on your review, you might need to adjust your plan. This could mean re-prioritizing tasks, pushing
back deadlines, or asking for additional resources. Feel free to change your plan if it's not working.

https://activecollab.com/blog/project-management/break-down-tasks

Website Development Timeline

When you think of building a website, your thoughts rotate around two main issues – price and time.
These two values depend largely on the size and scope of the project. To outline the tasks for particular
development phases or the entire website development process, monitor workflow timeline, and plan
team activities, you can use various intuitive project management software. They include a great variety
of tools, such as Kanban, Gantt charts, calendars, user story maps, time tracking, reports, and so much
more. It is the best way to track your project implementation and make sure you keep up with the
deadlines.
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We’ve prepared a detailed description of the whole website development process, estimated time for
each step, and added a checklist to double check you don’t miss anything.
Website Development Life Cycle

From creating a plan to launch, your team needs to perform many tasks in order to design and develop
the website that will be able to attract customers. To ensure success, some companies tend to request
assistance from IT staffing companies to augment the in-house team with a dedicated team of
developers. Others try to create a website by their own efforts. Regardless of the choice, the whole
development life cycle will take time and resources, so let’s take a closer look at how to develop a
website and what has to be done.

Step 1. Gathering Information: Purpose, Main Goals, and Target Audience

The stage of discovering and researching determines how the subsequent actions will look like. It is
applicable to any development process, also including web application development, software
development, and other types of development. The most important task at this point is to get a clear
understanding of your future website purposes, the main goals you wish to get, and the target audience
you want to attract to your site. By gathering all the needed information, it is easier to develop the best
strategy for further project management. As a result, you are able to define the scope of the project and
outline vital details, such as features of your website, tasks to assign, timeline and scope of work,
budget, etc.

News portal differs from an entertainment platform, and online resources especially designed for
teenagers look different from the sites developed for mature audiences. Diverse types of websites
provide visitors with different functionality, which means that various technologies may be used
according to purposes. A well-described and detailed plan based on this pre-development data can
protect you from spending extra resources on solving the unexpected issues, such as design changing or
addition of the functionality that wasn’t initially planned.

Estimated time: from 1 to 2 weeks

Step 2. Planning: Sitemap and Wireframe Creation
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At this stage of the website development cycle, the developer creates the data that allows a customer to
judge how the entire website will look like.

Based on the information that was gathered together in the previous phase, the sitemap is designed.
Here is the sitemap of the XB Software website:

The sitemap describes the connections between the main areas of your platform. Such representation
could help understand how usable the final product will be. It can show you the “relationships” between
the different pages, so you can judge how easy it will be for the end-user to find the required
information or service if he starts from the homepage. The main reason behind the sitemap creation is
to build a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate website.

The sitemap allows you to understand how the inner structure looks like but doesn’t describe the user
interface. Sometimes, before you start to code or even work on a design, there’s a necessity to get
approval from a customer that everything looks fine so you can begin the next phase of development. In
this case, a wireframe or mock-up is created.

A wireframe is a visual representation of the user interface that you’re going to design. But it doesn’t
contain any design elements, such as colors, logos, etc. It only describes the elements that will be added
to the page and their location. It’s artless and cheap in production sketches. You can use any mockup for
this purpose, such as Figma or any other similar option.
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The other important thing is to select the technology stack – programming language, frameworks, CMS
that you’re going to use.

Estimated time: from 2 to 6 weeks

Step 3. Design: Page Layouts, Review, and Approval Cycle

During the design phase, your site takes the shape. All the visual content, such as images, photos, and
videos, is created at this stage. Once again, all the info that was gathered through the first phase is
crucial. The customer and target audience must be kept in mind while you work on a design to make the
user interface and user experience intuitive and easy to use.

Developing the website layout is the result of a designer’s work. It can be a graphic sketch or an actual
graphic design. The primary function of the layout is to represent the information structure, visualize the
content, and demonstrate the basic functionality. Layouts contain colors, logos, images and can give a
general understanding of the future product. In such cases, companies often go for the assistance of
UI/UX designers from outsourcing companies that offer UI/UX development services to get the best
result faster.

After the job’s done, the customer can review the layout and send you their feedback. If the client is not
sure about some aspects of your design, you should change the layout and send it back. This cycle is
repeated until the customer is completely satisfied.

Estimated time: from 4 to 12 weeks

Step 4. Content Writing and Assembly

Content writing and compiling usually overlaps with other stages of website creation, and its role can’t
be underestimated. Now, it is necessary to put in writing the very essence you’d like to communicate to
the target audience and add call-to-action. Content writing also involves the creation of catching
headlines, proofreading, writing new blocks of text, etc., which takes time and effort. As a rule, the client
undertakes to provide website content ready to migrate to the site. It is better when all content is
provided before or during coding.

Estimated time: from 5 to 15 weeks

Step 5. Coding

You can finally start creating the site itself. Graphic elements that have been designed during the
previous stages are used at this stage to develop an actual website. Usually, the home page is created
first, and then all sub-pages are added, according to the hierarchy that was previously compiled in the
sitemap. The chosen frameworks and CMS are implemented to make sure that the server can handle the
installation and set-up smoothly.

All static web page elements that were designed during the mock-up and layout creation should be
implemented and tested. Then, special features and interactivity are added. A deep understanding of
every website development technology that you’re going to use is crucial at this phase.
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When you use CMS for site creation, you can also install CMS plugins at this step if there’s a need. The
other important step is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is the optimization of website elements
(e.g., title, description, keyword) that can help your site achieve higher rankings in the search engines.
And, once again, valid code is pretty important for SEO.

Estimated time: from 6 to 15 weeks

Step 6. Testing, Review, and Launch

Testing software or a website is probably the most routine part of a process. Every single link has to be
tested to make sure that there are no broken ones among them. Check every form, every script, run a
spell-checking software to find possible typos. Use code validators to check if your code follows the
current web standards. Valid code is necessary, for example, if cross-browser compatibility is crucial for
you.

After you check and re-check your site, it’s time to upload it to a server. An FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
software is used for that purpose. After the deployment of the required files, you should run yet another
final test to be sure that all your files have been installed correctly.

Estimated time: from 2 to 4 weeks

Step 7. Maintenance: Opinion Monitoring and Regular Updating

What’s important to remember is that a website is more of a service than a product. It’s not enough to
just “deliver” it to a user. Make sure that everything works fine, and everybody is satisfied and always be
prepared to make changes in another case.

The feedback system added to the site will allow you to detect possible problems the end-users face.
The highest priority task, in this case, is to fix the problem as fast as you can. If you don’t, you may find
one day that your users prefer to use another website rather than put up with the inconvenience.

The other important thing is keeping your site up to date. If you use a CMS, regular updates will prevent
you from bugs and decrease security risks. To be sure that there will be less of them, you can opt to
the custom software development services provided by outsourcing companies. In this case, you will be
sure that a website or software is developed by experts, while your team can deal with other projects.

Estimated time: ongoing

Website Development Checklist

To make sure you don’t miss anything and do work on time, grab this checklist:
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Reference:
https://xbsoftware.com/blog/website-development-process-full-guide/
#:~:text=Let's%20choose%20the%20average%20value,Launch%2C%20as
%20well%20as%20Maintenance.

Learning Objectives:

After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, LEARNER MUST be

able to:
1. Learn to establish schedule controls.
2. Apply how to create project schedule.

Overview:
Schedule controls are established

Schedule control is the process of reviewing and adjusting your schedule to ensure that it aligns with
your baseline and your project objectives. Schedule control involves comparing your actual progress and
performance with your planned progress and performance, and identifying any variances or deviations.
If you find any variances that are significant or unacceptable, you need to take corrective or preventive
actions to bring your schedule back on track.
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The importance of project schedules

Before we dive into the how-tos of scheduling, I want to stress the influential role that scheduling plays
in the success of your web design projects.

Scheduling is all about keeping your workflow as organized as possible. At its core, it allows you to
define your project’s final deadline and determine the individual milestones that must be met in order
to hit that deadline. Identifying these key dates from the start will help keep you and your team
accountable for the delivery of all project components. As you progress through these milestones,
you’re able to track, evaluate, and reforecast the timeline and budget associated with your project.

Schedules aren’t only valuable for internal usage either — they also play an important role in client
management. These planning documents help you establish clear expectations with your clients about
the anticipated milestones and workflow of their project. Plus, getting client buy-in on your schedule
means you can more easily anticipate overrun costs or scope creep.

Now that we’ve covered why schedules should become a critical part of your team’s project
management workflow, let’s dive into some tips for creating your own project schedule.

Want to spruce up your mockups? Check out our list of funny lorem ipsum generators.

How to create a project schedule

Regardless of how excited you are to jump right in, you should always start your new projects by
creating a comprehensive schedule. Not sure where to start? I’ve outlined a seven-step framework for
creating your project schedules below:

1. Identify individual deliverables — Begin by writing down your final deliverable (i.e. a website or
app) then work your way down and create a list of all sub-deliverables that need to be built to
complete the final deliverable. For example, if your final deliverable is a website, your sub-
deliverables could include wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, copy, mobile designs, and more.
Listing out your individual project components will help you get a better sense of the scope of
your project.
2. Define the sequence of activities — For all the deliverables you listed, identify their immediate
predecessors and successors. Using the same example as above, we know that before we can
start development, we need approved high-fidelity prototypes and before we can prototype, we
need approved wireframes. This sequential organization will help you define the flow of the
project and give you an idea of when you need to loop in certain members of your team.
3. Determine the resources required — Now that you have listed out the flow of your project, it’s
time to forecast the amount of resources you need to accomplish the project. This includes the
time needed to complete each deliverable of the project, as well as the individual contributors
or teams you’ll need to complete specific elements of the project.
4. Identify external factors that could influence your project — While you are outlining your
resources, you should try to identify any external factors that could influence the flow of your
project. These factors will range from client to client but could include other projects you or
your team members are working on, or upcoming vacations.
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5. Establish key milestones and final deadlines — After compiling your deliverables and resources,
it’s time to start scheduling the activities of your project. Using the sequence of activities and
the timeframes previously defined, you should try to identify key milestones for your project.
These milestones should range from the dates you intend to complete specific deliverables, to
the periods when you check in with your client and your own team to solicit feedback.
6. Create your schedule — Once you’ve mapped out all of the above, you should have enough
information and details to create your schedule(s). In the following section, I’ll go over how you
can use this information to create your work breakdown schedule and your Gantt chart.
7. Monitor and reforecast — Creating your schedule is just the first step of project planning. You
should be consistently monitoring the progress of your project and assessing that progress
against what you have in your schedule. Doing this will allow you to stay on top of your
workflow and reforecast your deadlines if needed.

3 web design project schedule formats

There are a few different templates you can use when scheduling your web design projects. Below, I’ve
included three schedule formats and explained when it’s best to use each.

1. Work breakdown schedule

A work breakdown schedule (WBS) is an outcome-oriented planning tool that can be used to visually
organize the scope of a project into manageable chunks. That means rather than focusing on the actions
needed to be taken, this scheduling tool focuses on the end deliverables. The layout of a WBS is very
similar to your standard wireframe, but rather than the pages and folders of a website, you will map out
the project by its individual components.
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A typical WBS starts at the top-level deliverable (a finalized website in our example above) and is broken
down into individual sub-deliverables. Sub-deliverables should be organized into what are called “work
groups,” which can be defined categorically by discipline (if you work solo) or department (if you work in
a team environment). As you can see above, one of the project’s work groups is “design assets,” and
sub-deliverables include product page layout, collections page layout, and homepage layout.

The structure of a WBS relies on something called the 100% rule. Under this rule, the final deliverable
represents 100% of your work and costs. For each subsequent sub-deliverable, you should apply a
percentage value associated with the total amount of work and the budget. The value of all sub-
deliverables within a work group should add up to the total percentage of that work group, while all
work groups combined should add up to 100% together.
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The WBS is largely used for internal purposes and is great for strategically defining and organizing your
project from a high-level. It provides a detailed overview that can help you identify risks in your
workflow before they happen. For example, if a sub-deliverable is running behind schedule, you just
need to look at your WBS to identify what other components of the project will be impacted by that
delay. Since the WBS allows you to categorically estimate the cost and effort associated with all facets of
your project, it should only be used internally (unless you want your client to be privy to your margins).

The insight you get from mapping out your entire project with a WBS will put you in a better position to
accurately build out your project timeline in a Gantt chart.

2. Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is one of the most popular scheduling documents for managing projects in the creative
industry. If you’ve never used one before, a Gantt chart is a simple two-dimensional schedule that
outlines the anticipated timeline of your client’s project. They are most suitable for jobs spanning a few
months.

Unlike the WBS, Gantt charts are generally used for client-facing situations as they only showcase
project deliverables and timeframes for completion, with no mention of cost information. The structure
of a Gantt chart is relatively simple: deliverables are organized across the left-most column of the chart,
while the top row is used to illustrate the timeframe of the project across those deliverables. The
timeframe is organized by deliverable, using the sequential order we defined above. This will help you
organize the flow of the project and give you an idea of when you need to loop in certain members of
your team.
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Here’s a quick breakdown of the components that should always be included in your Gantt chart:

 Individual deliverables, their progress, and their corresponding deadlines

 Owners/contributors of those deliverables
 Timeframes for individual deliverables
 Key milestones like deadlines, approval dates, and feedback period
 Progress note and updates section

Once you and your team feel comfortable with the schedule, you should send it over to your client for
final approval before starting any work. They will review it and let you know if any problems exist. Once
they’ve signed off on the schedule, keep their approval email in your records to safeguard you from any
clients demanding additional work not included in the schedule.

While Gantt charts can be your go-to schedule for client-facing emails, they also play an important role
internally for tracking the progress of sub-deliverables and anticipating cost overruns. To make your
Gantt chart more useful for cost-tracking, add an additional column beside your sub-deliverables to
show the total amount of billable hours used thus far by you or your individual contributors. From there
you can simply compare the total billable hours column against the forecasted schedule and budget to
identify any risk of cost overrun.

3. Simple update schedule

Clients are busy people and they don’t want to spend their time digging through an email chain to find
the schedule that you attached twelve emails ago — and, as their consultant, you shouldn’t force them
to. That’s why it’s your job to proactively update them regarding the progress of their project on a
regular basis.

When giving these updates, whether to show headway or reflect scheduling changes, you might feel
required to provide them with a new version of the Gantt chart you created at the project’s onset. While
updating the Gantt chart is vital for your internal records, it isn’t necessary to share that document for
simple scheduling updates or check-ins.

Instead of sending them your revised Gantt chart every time it is updated (which can lead to version
control issues), it’s good practice to simply include a barebones version of your schedule within the
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email itself. That way your client can easily review your schedule updates and reply to your message,
regardless of where they are or what device they are using.

Here’s an example of a simple email you could send your client when you’ve updated your project
schedule:

Hey CLIENT,
Just wanted to touch base with regards to our project. Given the progress we’ve seen over the last
couple of weeks, I’ve included an updated schedule for you to review and approve.

PROJECT NAME SCHEDULE

Line Item Delivery deadline

Wireframe v1 EOD, May 14

Client review/feedback May 15

AGENCY revises WF, sends v2 EOD May 16

Client review/approval May 17

AGENCY to create copy EOD May 18

AGENCY designs v1 EOD May 22 (2 days)

Client review/feedback May 23

AGENCY revises design, sends v2 EOD May 24

Client review/feedback May 29

AGENCY finalizes design, sends v3 EOD May 30

Client review/approval May 31

AGENCY code v1, send preview

June (2 days)
link

Client review/feedback June 5

AGENCY revises, sends v2 (FINAL) June 6

Let me know if the revised timeline looks good to you. Otherwise, do not hesitate to contact me if you
have any questions regarding the updates above.
Thanks,
YOUR NAME
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Reference:
https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/105134854-a-web-designer-s-guide-
to-project-schedules

Task Sheet 1.2-6

Title: Schedule controls are established

Performance Objective: Create your own project schedule using any one of the
schedule formats.

Tools/PPE: p e n a n d p a p e r
Equipment : C o m p u t e r U n i t
 Page 22 of 26

Steps/Procedure: (Refer to INFORMATION SHEET 1.2-6)

1. Identify individual deliverables.

2. Define the sequence of activities.
3. Determine the resources required.
4. Identify external factors that could influence your project.
5. Establish key milestones and final deadlines.
6. Create your schedule.
7. Monitor and reforecast.

Assessment Method: Performance Demonstration.

Learning Objectives:

After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, LEARNER MUST be

able to:
1. Learn to monitor the project flow.
2. Identify methods and types of monitoring projects.

Overview:

Project flow is monitored

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A web design workflow is a collection of processes that cover every step involved in creating a website.
It doesn't simply take into account the actual design process; it encapsulates everything from the
preparation stages right through to post-launch.
What is Project Monitoring?

As a project manager, our responsibility is to ensure the project is completed on time, Cost, and
meeting the required quality, for this to happen frequent reviews, Audits, meetings are held to
monitor the project's progress. In professional terms Project Monitoring is a systematic recording of
all the activities and tasks in the project to the stakeholders, implementers and beneficiaries.

This process records the project's hurdles and gaps and provides complete control to improve its
efficiency. It includes steps to figure out the hurdles or gaps and resolve them to increase the
efficiency of the project. It is also known as project monitoring and control. As soon as a project
starts, so does the project monitoring.
Importance of Project Monitoring

Project monitoring plays a vital role in achieving desired results from a plan. Therefore, the project
head must pay close attention to all the steps in project monitoring and make modifications if
required. Usually, a project involves many tasks that stretch for a long period; only after completion
of the first task can we move on to the next. So, Project monitoring ensures that tasks are done
correctly and that any doubts or hurdles can be resolved in time.

The benefits of project monitoring are:

 Page 24 of 26

1. Ensure that the allotted budget is spent correctly and can be altered if needed.
2. To make sure that the selected task and deadlines are met.
3. The workforce can be allocated as per requirement to avoid risk factors
4. They offer feedback on effectiveness of policies and program to identify areas of improvement
5. To encourage accountability regarding the task assigned by the members of the team.
6. To shift the workforce to a particular task if it requires so.
7. To boost communication between the team members to increase quality and reduce time.
Purpose of Project Monitoring in Project Management

Every project has several steps such as project initiation and requirement gathering, project
designing, execution, testing, project launching and finally support launching and project closing.
As project manager we watch keenly over all the steps in the project monitoring and modify them if
necessary and make sure that each phase is properly completed before moving on to the next phase.

This can improve the project’s effectiveness and guarantee an improved performance of the plan by
eliminating the gaps and hurdles in each phase which ensures the project is completed on time,
budget and within defined scope. Project management time tracking along with scope and cost plays
a vital role in achieving the outcome of the project.
Types of Project Monitoring

Here are different types of project monitoring:

Types of Project Monitoring

1. Process monitoring 5. Result monitoring

2. Beneficiary monitoring 6. Context Monitoring

3. Compliance monitoring 7. Organizational Monitoring

4. Financial monitoring

1. Process monitoring

It is also known as activity monitoring. On the other hand, process monitoring mainly aims to track
the resources and inputs while understanding how outputs and results are delivered.

2. Beneficiary monitoring

The beneficiaries monitoring is to ensure that the plan meets the customers need by factors such as
accountability, validation, empowerment and environment learning’s related to the project. This can
help in the areas of improvement according to their project.

3. Compliance monitoring
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Compliance monitoring is used to check if the project complies with the regular audits and meet all
regulatory and legislative requirements, create a robust compliance reporting protocol and follow-
ups, grants, local laws, ethical standards, and contract according to the project.

4. Financial monitoring

Financial monitoring is used to track the financial efficiency of the project to ensure the appropriate
fund transfer from end to end. In addition, it helps in analyzing the unwanted expenditure of the
allocated budget.

5. Result monitoring

Result monitoring helps to assess the effectiveness and impact of the project outcome. It is on the
right track to achieve the expected result based on the feedback from the stakeholders. This also
helps to identify the issue and adjust resources or strategy according to the objective. It also helps
collect data regarding the project's overall impact and effects.

6. Context Monitoring

I call the same as Situation monitoring, since it helps us identify and measure risks, assumptions, or
any unexpected situations that may arise within the political, financial, and policy context.

7. Organizational Monitoring

This topic is self-explanatory, tracking institutional development, communication, collaboration,

sustainability and capacity building within an organization.
Project Monitoring Process

To accomplish a successful and proficient outcome, we must ensure that project Monitoring is
continuous from the start to the end phase. This process is usually taken care of by the Supervisor.
The project monitoring information should be shared with the Team leaders, Team co-workers and
stockholders so that they can also have a clear view about the on-going project and help them in
making a two- way flow project monitoring for a well-organized product. Let us understand the
project monitoring process.

 Initiation: In this phase, the outline of the project and the steps and process it may involve is
made.
 Planning: In this phase, the scope and details of the process that must be performed in the
execution are made.
 Executing: It involves completing all the activities defined in the planning part.
 Closing: This phase includes the completion of the project plan and informing the stakeholders
 Control and Monitoring: This phase involves ensuring that the project is on the right track and
that all the tasks are completed in the defined manner.

Reference:
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https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/project-management/project-
monitoring#project-monitoring-process