{"id":21525,"date":"2018-12-04T07:10:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T07:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=21525"},"modified":"2022-06-29T16:04:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T14:04:26","slug":"5-steps-to-building-a-project-management-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/5-steps-to-building-a-project-management-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to Building a Project Management Timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In 2017, the Project Management Institute (PMI) conducted its 9th Global Management Survey to determine why some projects fail. The results revealed the number one reason to be a lack of clear goals<\/strong>.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ability to plan and focus on business results, while continually ensuring all project goals align with the company\u2019s strategic mission, is essentially what it means to be a Strategic Project Manager.2<\/sup> Instead of solely focusing on short-term results, Strategic Project Managers also have a long-term perspective.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project planning is directly associated with project success. According to a study presented at the PMI Global Congress of 2012, which researched the correlation between planning and project closure: \u201cOverall, the literature points to a strong link between planning and project success. A summary of the available studies shows unexpectedly consistent empirical results for the correlation of planning and success<\/em>.\u201d4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project management timeline serves as a visual overview of the project, and it can be presented in a number of ways. In order to create the most efficient project management timeline, it\u2019s important to remember to align team and stakeholder (these are all the members of your project team, executives, managers, sponsors, customers, and users) goals before planning, be realistic – ensure you\u2019re allotting accurate costs and time deliverables to each task or milestone, and consider referring to previous successful project plans as templates for your current project timeline.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ability to plan and focus on business results, while continually ensuring all project goals align with the company\u2019s strategic mission, is essentially what it means to be a Strategic Project Manager.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019ve never built a project management timeline before, or you\u2019re experienced in this domain, the below five steps will ensure you\u2019re creating the most effective and sufficiently-detailed project map, before beginning your journey. Every project takes careful planning and attention to the right detail to succeed.6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Create your scope statement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The scope of your project is one of the most critical parts of your plan. It determines what needs to be done to obtain or deliver the desired final result, and includes listing the project goals, activities, deadlines and costs.7<\/sup> The scope statement is usually the first step to be taken when planning a project.8<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Establish your work breakdown structure (WBS)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The WBS leads from the scope statement, and is used to break the work that needs to be done into manageable chunks. Creation of the WBS makes it easier for the Project Manager to estimate the costs, establish which tasks are dependent upon one another, assign responsibilities, and identify risk.9<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create a WBS you\u2019ll have to complete these four steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n