How to Plan a Project in 70 Days: A Step-by-Step Timeline
A 70-day or 10-week timeframe is ideal for a small to medium-sized project. It's long enough to produce something substantial but short enough to keep the team focused and motivated. This guide provides a step-by-step timeline to take your project from concept to completion.
The Foundation: The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Before you start, the single most important step is to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This involves breaking your main project goal into smaller, manageable deliverables. For instance, if your project is "Launch a New Website," your WBS might include Design, Content Creation, Development, and Testing.
This structured approach is crucial for any major undertaking, a topic we explore further in our article, From Idea to Launch: A 70-Day Guide for Entrepreneurs.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The 10-Week Project Timeline
Here is a generic timeline that can be adapted for most projects. The key is to separate planning, execution, and review into distinct phases.
Weeks | Phase | Key Activities & Deliverables |
---|---|---|
1-2 | Initiation & Planning | Define scope, goals, and stakeholders. Create WBS. Develop schedule and budget. Assign resources. |
3-8 | Execution & Monitoring | Execute tasks as per the plan. Hold weekly status meetings. Track progress against milestones. Manage risks and changes. |
9 | Testing & Refinement | User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Bug fixing. Final quality assurance checks. |
10 | Deployment & Closing | Go-live/launch. Handover to client/operations. Conduct a post-mortem review and document lessons learned. |
Highlight: The most common point of failure is "scope creep"—letting new features or requests expand the project beyond its original plan. A disciplined change management process during the Execution phase (Weeks 3-8) is essential. Every new request must be evaluated for its impact on the timeline and budget.
For more on structuring your weekly tasks, see our weekly breakdown guide.
Sources:
- Project Management Institute. *A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)*.
- Brooks, Frederick P. *The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering*. Addison-Wesley, 1995.