If you follow ‘Getting Things Done’ as a productivity methodology then anything that you need to do that requires two or more steps/actions is a project. Therefore, you will be sitting with anywhere between 50 and 100 project on the go at any one point. Therefore, understanding how to plan a basic project is pretty essential to actually being productive and ‘getting things done’. Suppose that, like me & Carl Pullein, you have decided that this definition of a project is not tight enough and you have despaired at the prospect of creating dozens of new projects every single week for simple and basic things that really do not require it. You therefore have fewer projects on the go. Because of this, understanding how to plan a basic project is again pretty key to actually making progress and completing the project.
The humble checklist is the powerhouse behind effective planning and effective planning is the powerhouse behind actually getting things done. Every project is different but having a process in your tool kit for when new projects come your way is what is going to prevent you from staring at a blank page with no idea what to do or how to even start this new project.
For now, let’s say that that there are two types of project that you might encounter, however you define them. Some projects are quick and simple, others are a bit more involved. I want to say that the process for planning out a project, should be pretty much the same, though it will look different in how it actually plays out.
1. Housekeeping
The first thing that you need to do get set up to start on the project. For me, this involves creating a project notebook in UpNote and then 3 notes in the notebook. A Project Master Note, a project planning note and an actions note. This could involve creating a project or folder in your task manager, or a new page in a projects database in Notion or whatever. For me, I like to start it in my notes app, and only there, as until I have given it some basic thinking time, I do not know what I am dealing with and I do not know what I will need. If it is a short and simple project, I may just need one note to map out a short list of tasks to complete the project.
2. Defining the Project
Most of us will know already if this is a big project or a small one. But, to understand the project, we need to think it through a little more. My project master note follows a template. I do not follow each step for every project but I will outline what the template has space for.
First, I need to give the project a name. Because it is a project, it has a defined and specific outcome that we are hoping for and as far as possible, this will be represented in the title. To give you an example I wouldn’t title a project ‘Finance Report’. The title for the project would be something like ‘Produce and submit finance report’. It’s a bit clearer on what you are hoping to actually do. Then I will make a brief note of which areas of focus and/or which goals I have that this project will sit within and will serve. I don’t always do this, but if I am unclear here it may be that I do not really understand why I am doing this project and ultimately, it may not be important.
Last I have space to write down if there is a deadline and any other factual information about the project such as anyone I need to work with, any previous work or information that may be relevant etc etc.
The next key thing I will do here is write down a rough aim and purpose for the project. It is not worth spending ages here, just writing down what comes to your mind.
3. Brainstorming
Next I will go to my project plan note and allow my creativity to flow. I do not have a template or structure here. My aim is to focus on the project and the hoped for outcome and effectively spend a chunk of time doing a mind sweep on it. Any thoughts, ideas, memories, actions, plans, anything at all that comes to mind gets noted down. Also, write down any thing that you are unsure of, don’t understand, don’t know and obstacles you may face. The aim here is not to filter what you write down. That comes later. The idea here is to get anything and everything that might be relevant to the project, out of your head and written down. If you are working with others on the project, you may want to do this exercise together, or individually and then together.
4. Process your thoughts
This is where we apply the filter and start to organise our thoughts. Scan through your brainstorm and group everything together as best you can. Actions, ideas, information to find, things to research, people to speak with, questions, obstacles. Get it organised. If anything you have written is obviously irrelevant or is addressed in other thoughts you have, then you can remove it or note this.
If you follow Tiago Forte’s PARA system, then your notes get organised by where they are most useful and most actionable. So at this point, you would have the information you need to gather any other notes from previous projects, work or resources you have gathered and bring them into your project notebook. I use UpNote and my notes can exist in more than one project, so I can add them to the project notebook without moving them out of where they are.
5. Create a project plan
This is where you take your organised thoughts and turn them into a plan. To do this you may opt to use the actions note in your notebook, or you may create a new project/folder in your task manager. You might need a folder for documents in your file manager as well. Whatever you create, my advice is to name it the same everywhere. Ultimately though, what you are looking for here is a list of concrete actions that you can take that will move the project forwards and a rough order for doing them in. This could involve research, reading, speaking with other people, drafting documents, working with data, gathering data. Depending on the complexity of the project you may wish to note which tasks MUST happen before others can start. If you are working with others then you may wish to assign tasks to people and set individual task deadlines.
It is worth noting that with some projects, your initial plan may not take you all the way to the end of the project as the complexity means that it is a multi-phase project and upon completion of a phase you will then be in a position to repeat this process and plan the next phase.
This is the basic process I follow for every single project I undertake. For smaller ones, the brainstorming may just be spending 5-10 minutes listing out the necessary steps to complete the project and processing that would just be copying them to my task manager. If I know it is going to be smaller, I probably would only create 1 project note in ‘mini-projects’ notebook I have.
Having a simple process like this to follow for planning your projects means that no matter what the project is, you can get started on it quickly. This is what prevents procrastination. So, there you go. How to plan a basic project…..and how to beat procrastination all in one!
