plan and execute research projects

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Developing and executing an effective research plan

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Robert J. Weber, Daniel J. Cobaugh, Developing and executing an effective research plan, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy , Volume 65, Issue 21, 1 November 2008, Pages 2058–2065, https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp070197

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Purpose. Practical approaches to successful implementation of practice-based research are examined.

Summary. In order to successfully complete a research project, its scope must be clearly defined. The research question and the specific aims or objectives should guide the study. For practice-based research, the clinical setting is the most likely source to find important research questions. The research idea should be realistic and relevant to the interests of the investigators and the organization and its patients. Once the lead investigator has developed a research idea, a comprehensive literature review should be performed. The aims of the project should be new, relevant, concise, and feasible. The researchers must budget adequate time to carefully consider, develop, and seek input on the research question and objectives using the principles of project management. Identifying a group of individuals that can work together to ensure successful completion of the proposed research should be one of the first steps in developing the research plan. Dividing work tasks can alleviate workload for individual members of the research team. The development of a timeline to help guide the execution of the research project plan is critical. Steps that can be especially time-consuming include obtaining financial support, garnering support from key stakeholders, and getting institutional review board consent. One of the primary goals of conducting research is to share the knowledge that has been gained through presentations at national and international conferences and publications in peer-reviewed biomedical journals.

Conclusion. Practice-based research presents numerous challenges, especially for new investigators. Integration of the principles of project management into research planning can lead to more efficient study execution and higher-quality results.

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Illustration by James Round

How to plan a research project

Whether for a paper or a thesis, define your question, review the work of others – and leave yourself open to discovery.

by Brooke Harrington   + BIO

is professor of sociology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Her research has won international awards both for scholarly quality and impact on public life. She has published dozens of articles and three books, most recently the bestseller Capital without Borders (2016), now translated into five languages.

Edited by Sam Haselby

Need to know

‘When curiosity turns to serious matters, it’s called research.’ – From Aphorisms (1880-1905) by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Planning research projects is a time-honoured intellectual exercise: one that requires both creativity and sharp analytical skills. The purpose of this Guide is to make the process systematic and easy to understand. While there is a great deal of freedom and discovery involved – from the topics you choose, to the data and methods you apply – there are also some norms and constraints that obtain, no matter what your academic level or field of study. For those in high school through to doctoral students, and from art history to archaeology, research planning involves broadly similar steps, including: formulating a question, developing an argument or predictions based on previous research, then selecting the information needed to answer your question.

Some of this might sound self-evident but, as you’ll find, research requires a different way of approaching and using information than most of us are accustomed to in everyday life. That is why I include orienting yourself to knowledge-creation as an initial step in the process. This is a crucial and underappreciated phase in education, akin to making the transition from salaried employment to entrepreneurship: suddenly, you’re on your own, and that requires a new way of thinking about your work.

What follows is a distillation of what I’ve learned about this process over 27 years as a professional social scientist. It reflects the skills that my own professors imparted in the sociology doctoral programme at Harvard, as well as what I learned later on as a research supervisor for Ivy League PhD and MA students, and then as the author of award-winning scholarly books and articles. It can be adapted to the demands of both short projects (such as course term papers) and long ones, such as a thesis.

At its simplest, research planning involves the four distinct steps outlined below: orienting yourself to knowledge-creation; defining your research question; reviewing previous research on your question; and then choosing relevant data to formulate your own answers. Because the focus of this Guide is on planning a research project, as opposed to conducting a research project, this section won’t delve into the details of data-collection or analysis; those steps happen after you plan the project. In addition, the topic is vast: year-long doctoral courses are devoted to data and analysis. Instead, the fourth part of this section will outline some basic strategies you could use in planning a data-selection and analysis process appropriate to your research question.

Step 1: Orient yourself

Planning and conducting research requires you to make a transition, from thinking like a consumer of information to thinking like a producer of information. That sounds simple, but it’s actually a complex task. As a practical matter, this means putting aside the mindset of a student, which treats knowledge as something created by other people. As students, we are often passive receivers of knowledge: asked to do a specified set of readings, then graded on how well we reproduce what we’ve read.

Researchers, however, must take on an active role as knowledge producers . Doing research requires more of you than reading and absorbing what other people have written: you have to engage in a dialogue with it. That includes arguing with previous knowledge and perhaps trying to show that ideas we have accepted as given are actually wrong or incomplete. For example, rather than simply taking in the claims of an author you read, you’ll need to draw out the implications of those claims: if what the author is saying is true, what else does that suggest must be true? What predictions could you make based on the author’s claims?

In other words, rather than treating a reading as a source of truth – even if it comes from a revered source, such as Plato or Marie Curie – this orientation step asks you to treat the claims you read as provisional and subject to interrogation. That is one of the great pieces of wisdom that science and philosophy can teach us: that the biggest advances in human understanding have been made not by being correct about trivial things, but by being wrong in an interesting way . For example, Albert Einstein was wrong about quantum mechanics, but his arguments about it with his fellow physicist Niels Bohr have led to some of the biggest breakthroughs in science, even a century later.

Step 2: Define your research question

Students often give this step cursory attention, but experienced researchers know that formulating a good question is sometimes the most difficult part of the research planning process. That is because the precise language of the question frames the rest of the project. It’s therefore important to pose the question carefully, in a way that’s both possible to answer and likely to yield interesting results. Of course, you must choose a question that interests you, but that’s only the beginning of what’s likely to be an iterative process: most researchers come back to this step repeatedly, modifying their questions in light of previous research, resource limitations and other considerations.

Researchers face limits in terms of time and money. They, like everyone else, have to pose research questions that they can plausibly answer given the constraints they face. For example, it would be inadvisable to frame a project around the question ‘What are the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict?’ if you have only a week to develop an answer and no background on that topic. That’s not to limit your imagination: you can come up with any question you’d like. But it typically does require some creativity to frame a question that you can answer well – that is, by investigating thoroughly and providing new insights – within the limits you face.

In addition to being interesting to you, and feasible within your resource constraints, the third and most important characteristic of a ‘good’ research topic is whether it allows you to create new knowledge. It might turn out that your question has already been asked and answered to your satisfaction: if so, you’ll find out in the next step of this process. On the other hand, you might come up with a research question that hasn’t been addressed previously. Before you get too excited about breaking uncharted ground, consider this: a lot of potentially researchable questions haven’t been studied for good reason ; they might have answers that are trivial or of very limited interest. This could include questions such as ‘Why does the area of a circle equal π r²?’ or ‘Did winter conditions affect Napoleon’s plans to invade Russia?’ Of course, you might be able to make the argument that a seemingly trivial question is actually vitally important, but you must be prepared to back that up with convincing evidence. The exercise in the ‘Learn More’ section below will help you think through some of these issues.

Finally, scholarly research questions must in some way lead to new and distinctive insights. For example, lots of people have studied gender roles in sports teams; what can you ask that hasn’t been asked before? Reinventing the wheel is the number-one no-no in this endeavour. That’s why the next step is so important: reviewing previous research on your topic. Depending on what you find in that step, you might need to revise your research question; iterating between your question and the existing literature is a normal process. But don’t worry: it doesn’t go on forever. In fact, the iterations taper off – and your research question stabilises – as you develop a firm grasp of the current state of knowledge on your topic.

Step 3: Review previous research

In academic research, from articles to books, it’s common to find a section called a ‘literature review’. The purpose of that section is to describe the state of the art in knowledge on the research question that a project has posed. It demonstrates that researchers have thoroughly and systematically reviewed the relevant findings of previous studies on their topic, and that they have something novel to contribute.

Your own research project should include something like this, even if it’s a high-school term paper. In the research planning process, you’ll want to list at least half a dozen bullet points stating the major findings on your topic by other people. In relation to those findings, you should be able to specify where your project could provide new and necessary insights. There are two basic rhetorical positions one can take in framing the novelty-plus-importance argument required of academic research:

• Position 1 requires you to build on or extend a set of existing ideas; that means saying something like: ‘Person A has argued that X is true about gender; this implies Y, which has not yet been tested. My project will test Y, and if I find evidence to support it, that will change the way we understand gender.’
• Position 2 is to argue that there is a gap in existing knowledge, either because previous research has reached conflicting conclusions or has failed to consider something important. For example, one could say that research on middle schoolers and gender has been limited by being conducted primarily in coeducational environments, and that findings might differ dramatically if research were conducted in more schools where the student body was all-male or all-female.

Your overall goal in this step of the process is to show that your research will be part of a larger conversation: that is, how your project flows from what’s already known, and how it advances, extends or challenges that existing body of knowledge. That will be the contribution of your project, and it constitutes the motivation for your research.

Two things are worth mentioning about your search for sources of relevant previous research. First, you needn’t look only at studies on your precise topic. For example, if you want to study gender-identity formation in schools, you shouldn’t restrict yourself to studies of schools; the empirical setting (schools) is secondary to the larger social process that interests you (how people form gender identity). That process occurs in many different settings, so cast a wide net. Second, be sure to use legitimate sources – meaning publications that have been through some sort of vetting process, whether that involves peer review (as with academic journal articles you might find via Google Scholar) or editorial review (as you’d find in well-known mass media publications, such as The Economist or The Washington Post ). What you’ll want to avoid is using unvetted sources such as personal blogs or Wikipedia. Why? Because anybody can write anything in those forums, and there is no way to know – unless you’re already an expert – if the claims you find there are accurate. Often, they’re not.

Step 4: Choose your data and methods

Whatever your research question is, eventually you’ll need to consider which data source and analytical strategy are most likely to provide the answers you’re seeking. One starting point is to consider whether your question would be best addressed by qualitative data (such as interviews, observations or historical records), quantitative data (such as surveys or census records) or some combination of both. Your ideas about data sources will, in turn, suggest options for analytical methods.

You might need to collect your own data, or you might find everything you need readily available in an existing dataset someone else has created. A great place to start is with a research librarian: university libraries always have them and, at public universities, those librarians can work with the public, including people who aren’t affiliated with the university. If you don’t happen to have a public university and its library close at hand, an ordinary public library can still be a good place to start: the librarians are often well versed in accessing data sources that might be relevant to your study, such as the census, or historical archives, or the Survey of Consumer Finances.

Because your task at this point is to plan research, rather than conduct it, the purpose of this step is not to commit you irrevocably to a course of action. Instead, your goal here is to think through a feasible approach to answering your research question. You’ll need to find out, for example, whether the data you want exist; if not, do you have a realistic chance of gathering the data yourself, or would it be better to modify your research question? In terms of analysis, would your strategy require you to apply statistical methods? If so, do you have those skills? If not, do you have time to learn them, or money to hire a research assistant to run the analysis for you?

Please be aware that qualitative methods in particular are not the casual undertaking they might appear to be. Many people make the mistake of thinking that only quantitative data and methods are scientific and systematic, while qualitative methods are just a fancy way of saying: ‘I talked to some people, read some old newspapers, and drew my own conclusions.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. In the final section of this guide, you’ll find some links to resources that will provide more insight on standards and procedures governing qualitative research, but suffice it to say: there are rules about what constitutes legitimate evidence and valid analytical procedure for qualitative data, just as there are for quantitative data.

Circle back and consider revising your initial plans

As you work through these four steps in planning your project, it’s perfectly normal to circle back and revise. Research planning is rarely a linear process. It’s also common for new and unexpected avenues to suggest themselves. As the sociologist Thorstein Veblen wrote in 1908 : ‘The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.’ That’s as true of research planning as it is of a completed project. Try to enjoy the horizons that open up for you in this process, rather than becoming overwhelmed; the four steps, along with the two exercises that follow, will help you focus your plan and make it manageable.

Key points – How to plan a research project

• Planning a research project is essential no matter your academic level or field of study. There is no one ‘best’ way to design research, but there are certain guidelines that can be helpfully applied across disciplines.
• Orient yourself to knowledge-creation. Make the shift from being a consumer of information to being a producer of information.
• Define your research question. Your question frames the rest of your project, sets the scope, and determines the kinds of answers you can find.
• Review previous research on your question. Survey the existing body of relevant knowledge to ensure that your research will be part of a larger conversation.
• Choose your data and methods. For instance, will you be collecting qualitative data, via interviews, or numerical data, via surveys?
• Circle back and consider revising your initial plans. Expect your research question in particular to undergo multiple rounds of refinement as you learn more about your topic.

Good research questions tend to beget more questions. This can be frustrating for those who want to get down to business right away. Try to make room for the unexpected: this is usually how knowledge advances. Many of the most significant discoveries in human history have been made by people who were looking for something else entirely. There are ways to structure your research planning process without over-constraining yourself; the two exercises below are a start, and you can find further methods in the Links and Books section.

The following exercise provides a structured process for advancing your research project planning. After completing it, you’ll be able to do the following:

• describe clearly and concisely the question you’ve chosen to study
• summarise the state of the art in knowledge about the question, and where your project could contribute new insight
• identify the best strategy for gathering and analysing relevant data

In other words, the following provides a systematic means to establish the building blocks of your research project.

Exercise 1: Definition of research question and sources

This exercise prompts you to select and clarify your general interest area, develop a research question, and investigate sources of information. The annotated bibliography will also help you refine your research question so that you can begin the second assignment, a description of the phenomenon you wish to study.

Jot down a few bullet points in response to these two questions, with the understanding that you’ll probably go back and modify your answers as you begin reading other studies relevant to your topic:

• What will be the general topic of your paper?
• What will be the specific topic of your paper?

b) Research question(s)

Use the following guidelines to frame a research question – or questions – that will drive your analysis. As with Part 1 above, you’ll probably find it necessary to change or refine your research question(s) as you complete future assignments.

• Your question should be phrased so that it can’t be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• Your question should have more than one plausible answer.
• Your question should draw relationships between two or more concepts; framing the question in terms of How? or What? often works better than asking Why ?

c) Annotated bibliography

Most or all of your background information should come from two sources: scholarly books and journals, or reputable mass media sources. You might be able to access journal articles electronically through your library, using search engines such as JSTOR and Google Scholar. This can save you a great deal of time compared with going to the library in person to search periodicals. General news sources, such as those accessible through LexisNexis, are acceptable, but should be cited sparingly, since they don’t carry the same level of credibility as scholarly sources. As discussed above, unvetted sources such as blogs and Wikipedia should be avoided, because the quality of the information they provide is unreliable and often misleading.

To create an annotated bibliography, provide the following information for at least 10 sources relevant to your specific topic, using the format suggested below.

Name of author(s):

Publication date:

Title of book, chapter, or article:

If a chapter or article, title of journal or book where they appear:

Brief description of this work, including main findings and methods ( c 75 words):

Summary of how this work contributes to your project ( c 75 words):

Brief description of the implications of this work ( c 25 words):

Identify any gap or controversy in knowledge this work points up, and how your project could address those problems ( c 50 words):

Exercise 2: Towards an analysis

Develop a short statement ( c 250 words) about the kind of data that would be useful to address your research question, and how you’d analyse it. Some questions to consider in writing this statement include:

• What are the central concepts or variables in your project? Offer a brief definition of each.
• Do any data sources exist on those concepts or variables, or would you need to collect data?
• Of the analytical strategies you could apply to that data, which would be the most appropriate to answer your question? Which would be the most feasible for you? Consider at least two methods, noting their advantages or disadvantages for your project.

Links & books

One of the best texts ever written about planning and executing research comes from a source that might be unexpected: a 60-year-old work on urban planning by a self-trained scholar. The classic book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) by Jane Jacobs (available complete and free of charge via this link ) is worth reading in its entirety just for the pleasure of it. But the final 20 pages – a concluding chapter titled ‘The Kind of Problem a City Is’ – are really about the process of thinking through and investigating a problem. Highly recommended as a window into the craft of research.

Jacobs’s text references an essay on advancing human knowledge by the mathematician Warren Weaver. At the time, Weaver was director of the Rockefeller Foundation, in charge of funding basic research in the natural and medical sciences. Although the essay is titled ‘A Quarter Century in the Natural Sciences’ (1960) and appears at first blush to be merely a summation of one man’s career, it turns out to be something much bigger and more interesting: a meditation on the history of human beings seeking answers to big questions about the world. Weaver goes back to the 17th century to trace the origins of systematic research thinking, with enthusiasm and vivid anecdotes that make the process come alive. The essay is worth reading in its entirety, and is available free of charge via this link .

For those seeking a more in-depth, professional-level discussion of the logic of research design, the political scientist Harvey Starr provides insight in a compact format in the article ‘Cumulation from Proper Specification: Theory, Logic, Research Design, and “Nice” Laws’ (2005). Starr reviews the ‘research triad’, consisting of the interlinked considerations of formulating a question, selecting relevant theories and applying appropriate methods. The full text of the article, published in the scholarly journal Conflict Management and Peace Science , is available, free of charge, via this link .

Finally, the book Getting What You Came For (1992) by Robert Peters is not only an outstanding guide for anyone contemplating graduate school – from the application process onward – but it also includes several excellent chapters on planning and executing research, applicable across a wide variety of subject areas. It was an invaluable resource for me 25 years ago, and it remains in print with good reason; I recommend it to all my students, particularly Chapter 16 (‘The Thesis Topic: Finding It’), Chapter 17 (‘The Thesis Proposal’) and Chapter 18 (‘The Thesis: Writing It’).

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Research Project Plan Template

What is a Research Project Plan?

A research project plan outlines the processes and activities that need to be completed to achieve the desired results of a research project. The plan should provide a timeline for the research activities and identify any potential risks. It should also specify the resources and personnel needed, as well as the budget and timeline for the project. The plan should be both comprehensive and flexible, so that it can be modified as needed throughout the project.

What's included in this Research Project Plan template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Research Project Plan template for?

The research project plan template is designed for research teams in academic, corporate, or non-profit sectors who need to plan and execute their research projects. The template provides a structure for outlining the processes and activities that must be completed in order to achieve the desired results of the research project. The template is designed to be comprehensive and flexible, allowing for modifications as needed throughout the project.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

A focus area is a specific area or topic that a research team is investigating. The focus area should be clearly defined and specific, so that the research team can develop objectives, projects, and KPIs that are relevant to the research project. Examples of focus areas could include developing new technologies, understanding customer behavior, or studying the effects of a particular policy.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are the goals that a research team hopes to achieve by completing the research project. Objectives should be specific and measurable, and should be attainable within the timeline and budget of the research project. Examples of objectives could include developing a new technology, understanding customer behaviors, or studying the effects of a particular policy.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable targets that are used to evaluate the progress of a research project. KPIs should be specific and measurable, and should be established in order to track progress towards the objectives of the research project. Examples of KPIs could include product development timelines, customer satisfaction surveys, or policy implementation reviews.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects are the activities that need to be completed in order to achieve the objectives of the research project. Projects should be specific and achievable, and should be completed within the timeline and budget of the research project. Examples of projects could include running customer surveys, conducting interviews, or collecting data.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

The Cascade Strategy Execution Platform is a comprehensive software that helps research teams plan, manage, and track their research projects. The platform provides tools for project management, tracking KPIs, and monitoring progress. It also helps teams visualize their data and collaborate on initiatives. With Cascade, teams can save time and resources, and get faster results from their strategies.

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• Knowledge Base
• Methodology

Research Design | Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

Published on 5 May 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 20 March 2023.

A research design is a strategy for answering your research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall aims and approach
• The type of research design you’ll use
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, frequently asked questions.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities – start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types. Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships, while descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends, and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analysing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study – plants, animals, organisations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region, or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalise your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study, your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalise to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question.

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviours, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews.

Observation methods

Observations allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviours, or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected – for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are reliable and valid.

Operationalisation

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalisation means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in – for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced , while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method, you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample – by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method, it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method, how will you avoid bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organising and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymise and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well organised will save time when it comes to analysing them. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings.

On their own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyse the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarise your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarise your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analysing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population. Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research.

For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

Statistical sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population. There are various sampling methods you can use to ensure that your sample is representative of the population as a whole.

Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioural avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalise the variables that you want to measure.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts, and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyse a large amount of readily available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how they are generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

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Shona McCombes

Developing and executing an effective research plan

Affiliation.

• 1 University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
• PMID: 18945867
• DOI: 10.2146/ajhp070197

Purpose: Practical approaches to successful implementation of practice-based research are examined.

Summary: In order to successfully complete a research project, its scope must be clearly defined. The research question and the specific aims or objectives should guide the study. For practice-based research, the clinical setting is the most likely source to find important research questions. The research idea should be realistic and relevant to the interests of the investigators and the organization and its patients. Once the lead investigator has developed a research idea, a comprehensive literature review should be performed. The aims of the project should be new, relevant, concise, and feasible. The researchers must budget adequate time to carefully consider, develop, and seek input on the research question and objectives using the principles of project management. Identifying a group of individuals that can work together to ensure successful completion of the proposed research should be one of the first steps in developing the research plan. Dividing work tasks can alleviate workload for individual members of the research team. The development of a timeline to help guide the execution of the research project plan is critical. Steps that can be especially time-consuming include obtaining financial support, garnering support from key stakeholders, and getting institutional review board consent. One of the primary goals of conducting research is to share the knowledge that has been gained through presentations at national and international conferences and publications in peer-reviewed biomedical journals.

Conclusion: Practice-based research presents numerous challenges, especially for new investigators. Integration of the principles of project management into research planning can lead to more efficient study execution and higher-quality results.

Publication types

• Biomedical Research / methods*
• Biomedical Research / trends*
• Pharmacists / trends
• Professional Practice / trends
• Research Design / trends*

How to Plan and Conduct a Research Project: 12 Simple Steps

Let’s have a brief and clear discussion on what we should do for achieving success in our research project.

Well! For planning and conduction we have to go through following steps.

1. Topic selection

Many of us have a clear research topic of mind but some are also there who come up with various ideas. When we are in pressure, we often get panicked and anxious, therefore we should select topic well before time by following ways.

2. Discussing with others: We should discuss with others (e.g., friends, lab mates, seniors, teachers and colleagues) about what they are mostly considering, what is sparking interest in us and whatever question arises we should freely discuss with others as their suggestions and comments will help us in refining our focus.

3. Having a look on other writings or previous people research topics:  Books and journals are major sources of ideas. We can spend some time in library and get some idea on title of other research paper of recent years, or we can go through previous people research projects. Similar studies have also been published in journals. Those articles we have to collect and plan how to make a difference.

Now-a-days many things are available online from internet. Websites like  Google ,  PubMed ,  Scopus ,  Science Direct  and others are some of the best learning sources and provides latest information of research. We can search many related topics and finalize a plan.

4. Considering our own interest:  Final and the vital point is considering our own interest like is giving us more interest. We can focus on that to find out whether that is covered in the syllabus. We should remain extra critical while choosing a topic so that we can find out which thing needs some extra studies. While choosing a topic certain points we should keep in mind like a research study can duplicate of already existing study in a completely different manner, extension of existing study, exploring the unexplored part, reviewing the knowledge in s particular field, application of theoretical idea to a real world problem.

5. Developing a research question

Once topic selection is done and it is accepted by department, we should start focusing on refining the topic and finding something like

• Issue for investigating
• What we want to prove, disapprove or discover
• Research limitations

6. Effectual planning of the research

Well!  Research proposal  is the detailed explanation of the whole project that we are going to conduct. It is like a formal need. It should include your thinking about the research problem, all discussions with your guide and all initial findings on the topic.

This step will include strategies to manage the time and how effectively we carry out all tasks. A plan should be made in such a way that it should allocate required time for each and every task. For this we have to see how much total time we have and accordingly we will divide time for each task. It is vital to remain as much realistic as we can about the timing each task will take. The more focused we will remain at the planning stage the more hours we can save while carrying out task. Better to note down about all the resources we need in each stage like how much time we should spend in  library , working hours, equipment lists, space required etc.

It is one of the common problems while conducting research and we should remain well prepared for it. For  several reasons people procrastinate  like for improper management of time, dauted by scale of the work, motivation loss, perfectionism, negative thoughts and many more. When we recognize these problems early, it will help us in minimizing it to larger extent. To avoid we should be realistic about when we should start, devote more time for planning and revising the research plan, allocation of proper time, highly focused etc.

Early identification of the signs of procrastination will give you the best chance of minimizing any negative effects. Once you suspect that you are procrastinating, it can be helpful to review what you are expecting of yourself, and check that those expectations are realistic. This is where planning is vital. After a research plan is made it is a better idea to show it to some other people of our team or our teachers/guides, who can help us in finding out some missing tasks, or some mistakes.

Conducting Research

After the planning stage is over now comes the time to conduct the research. Here also we should remain highly organized and methodical to achieve success. Let’s have a discussion on each step.

6 thoughts on “How to Plan and Conduct a Research Project: 12 Simple Steps”

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How to create a project execution plan (PEP) in 6 steps

What is a project execution plan, why is a project execution plan necessary, what goes into a project execution plan.

• steps to create a project execution plan

Facilitate project planning and client communication

Many projects set themselves up to fail through improper planning, poor communication, or competing expectations on how processes should be conducted.

A project execution plan is a valuable tool that helps avoid these problems, offering a better likelihood of project success. Through this article, we will help you understand what exactly a project execution plan is, how it functions, and how to write one so that you give yourself and your team the tools to collaborate and make sure there's a smooth process throughout the project's duration.

A project execution plan (PEP) is the governing document that outlines the overall project scope as well as quality, technical, and contractual specifications. Also included in the contents of a PEP are resource allocation and delegation, budget, project timeline, a goal-based schedule, and communication plans between project team members. These plans are often considered a living document that you should update as the project develops to provide an accurate and helpful project baseline.

This information is consolidated into a reusable, readable, and concise project execution plan template. Your template may be specific to certain projects, whether it be researched-based, engineering, software, contracting, or another subdivision of work. In essence, a PEP is your game plan — a step-by-step outline that ensures that everyone involved in the project is oriented towards a common goal to ensure a successful project execution.

With larger projects especially, a project execution strategy helps ensure that project deliverables, often coming from multiple people and sources, match the expectation of the program manager and client's project assumptions for quality assurance. With that, a PEP will also communicate a complete implementation plan for the project execution phase and dictate what the final product will look like — be it a presentation, research article, or project report.

Another similar work breakdown structure (WBS) is much more oriented toward the tasks that specific team members will take on and focuses on efficiently breaking projects into smaller deliverable pieces. Consider what fits your team's needs best and help you fill execution gaps for your integrated project team.

The strength of a PEP is that all participants in your group have the same information on schedule baselines, scope baselines, and other project specifications. Being on the same page helps the group unite under a common goal by using the PEP as the primary communication vehicle for project details and timelines. Consider using a PEP to facilitate larger projects of greater complexity, especially if you plan to or have already divided the project into smaller project deliverables to delegate to your team. In essence, a PEP is a contingency from an absence of common understanding; it is there to mitigate the variables.

You should discuss your PEP with project stakeholders to delineate a clear plan on their end for expectations on total project cost estimates, parameters, and other higher-level constraints. You should include the cost baseline of your PEP in your project scope. By clearing your project controls and plans in accordance with what your stakeholders want, you prevent miscommunications that can lead to needing to make sweeping, disastrous changes down the road.

There are a few different elements that go into a PEP to help ensure the best project performance:

1. Project scope

The project scope defines the broad vital elements of your PEP. Often a project scope will include information on the project's description and purpose, resources allocated, budget, constraints, assumptions, project timeline, procurement strategies, and how you will measure success.

Your team and project sponsors should have agreed-upon expectations. To understand what falls in the purview of the scope, you should concretely define what will not be included in your project. Omission of particular items in your PEP will guide your project team to work within specific parameters, preventing scope-creep and tacked-on tasks after the planning and design phase.

2. Project goals

In your PEP, establish the goals for the project, its purpose, when it is considered complete, and how you will measure success. Success in this context is often measured against KPIs included in the final deliverable. For example, you may state the need for market-based research for establishing a business. It is agreed upon between you and the project stakeholder that you will present the findings of this research in a two-thousand-word written deliverable. In this example, we have established what is needed, what the final deliverable will look like, what is considered finished, and the final intent.

3. Technical requirements

Once you have outlined the general goal, you can develop those goals further with actual, measurable specifics and add definitions. This section is the nitty-gritty of your PEP. In our previous example about the need for market-based research, we can elaborate that this research should involve tracking buying trends within a specific time frame or conducting surveys. Include a deadline and project milestones to track your progress. The format of the final deliverable, the word count, and what information will be included are examples of some technical requirements.

4. Resource allocation

You may think of resource allocation as refining and specifying the person-hours and tangible resources required of your project. Consider the resources you will need, such as staff, any special knowledge or skill someone on your team might need, time restraints, equipment on hand to carry out specific tasks, and any finances allocated towards attaining additional tools or equipment.

5. Project schedule and timelines

Project timelines can be thought of in two broad categories—deadline of the final deliverable and, as previously stated, having project milestones; each informs the other. Once tasks are delegated amongst your team in your resource allocation section, your project can function as multiple smaller projects running parallel toward the same goal. To track overall progress, consider cross-team milestones with helpful KPIs. Once smaller tasks are delegated amongst a project team, a project leader may incorporate these cross-team milestones to generate enthusiasm and camaraderie.

6 steps to create a project execution plan

Here's an outline of rough steps to begin creating your PEP.

1. Collect feedback from the team

Clear communication and expectations are essential to the execution and success of any project. Establish KPIs to track progress and consider each individual's skills and knowledge and inform a more efficient workflow. Before solidifying your PEP, consider the needs and expectations of your team. As the project progresses, collect feedback to develop and improve the process.

2. Work backward from your end goals

Often it is helpful to work backward from your end goals to delineate well-defined objectives. Working backward can give you a broader view of how each task and purpose can work in conjunction and how each element correlates with creating the final product.

3. Set major milestones

Major milestones help your team track their progress and timing throughout the project. Setting deadlines for these milestones and expected resource use for them can help you see if tasks are taking longer than anticipated so that you can adjust your PEP and plans as needed. Your team should define these milestones to create enthusiasm and camaraderie between project groups.

4. Create subtasks

When you make your milestones, delegate subtasks between two or more groups to break down the workload. Establish the work parameters of each group to avoid redundancies and better facilitate productivity.

5. Set cross-team status checks

As well as establishing strong communication between project groups and leaders, encourage and facilitate communication between the groups themselves. Creating meetings and check-ins to encourage cross-team conversations ensures that major milestones are met and that you can collaboratively approach roadblocks.

6. Assign a project manager

In some cases, it can help to assign a project manager, especially in projects with more immense scopes and multiple teams that may need extra guidance. A project manager can help facilitate communications, advise on timelines, monitor resource use, and help delegate new tasks. Not all projects will need this, especially for smaller teams working closely on smaller projects without needing one person to provide oversight.

With a project execution plan, you give yourself, your team, and your client, the means of having a single, solidified template that defines the overall goal and expectations of the final deliverable. With a specified outline, you can better facilitate the project each step of the way, having clearly outlined the goals and objectives in a readily accessible document. A project is given shape through parameters and a means of execution through well-defined, purpose-based objectives through a PEP.

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Introduction to implementation research

• Introduction
• The audience for this toolkit
• Relevance of IR for improved access and delivery of interventions
• The purpose of this Toolkit
• Research teams
• Self-assessment and reflection activities

Understanding implementation research

• The need for IR
• Outcomes of IR
• Characteristics of IR
• How IR works
• Community engagement in IR
• Ethical challenges in IR

Developing an Implementation Research Proposal

• The team and the research challenge
• Structure of an IR proposal
• Components of an IR proposal
• Research Design
• Project plan
• Impact and measuring project results
• Supplements
• Funding an IR project
• Common problems with applications

Research methods and data management

• Study design for IR projects
• Selecting research methods
• Mixed methods
• Research tools and techniques
• Data collection
• Data management
• Data analysis

IR-Planning and Conducting IR

• Project planning
• Project monitoring plan
• Developing a logic model
• Developing monitoring questions
• Data use and reporting
• Project execution
• Ethical issues
• Good practices in planning and conducting IR

IR-related communications and advocacy

• Productive Dialogue
• Knowledge Translation
• Research Evidence: Barriers and Facilitators to Uptake
• Policy Advocacy and Strategic Communications
• Data Presentation and Visualization
• Developing a Communication Strategy
• Steps in Developing a Communication Strategy
• Communication materials and Platforms

Integrating implementation research into health systems

• Start up, mapping and convening
• Productive dialogue
• Ownership, trust, responsibilities and roles
• Setting priorities, defining problems and research questions
• Capacity strengthening
• Uptake of findings
• Documentation
• Using the WHO Health Systems Framework in IR
• Principles of sustainability

Developing implementation research projects with an intersectional gender lens

• Integrating an intersectional gender lens in IR
• Proposal development with an intersectional gender lens
• Execution of an IR project with an intersectional gender lens
• Good practices in IR projects with an intersectional gender perspective

Project Execution

Execution of the research project involves both conducting and monitoring the proposed activities, as well as updating and revising the project plan according to emerging lessons and/or conditions. The activities include assembling the research team(s), applying for the logistical needs and allocation of tasks. The choice of research sites, the timeline for each research activity, and the procedures for the data collection must all be well established. The project execution phase should also include the closure and evaluation of the project, as well as reporting and disseminating the processes and findings of the research.

As already emphasised in his module, the project monitoring process should take place continuously throughout the research project. Similarly, regular and effective communication among the team members is crucial throughout the entire process. The research team should meet on a regular basis to discuss project progress and any potential issues and solutions as they emerge. The following section covers the process of starting project execution and monitoring the project.

Starting execution of a research project

Monitoring Research Activities

The monitoring process occurs in three stages, namely: i) checking and measuring progress; ii) analysing the situation; and iii) reacting to new events, opportunities and issues. These are described in detail below. Click on each of the headings to see details.

Checking and measuring progress

Ideally, monitoring focuses on the three main characteristics of any project: quality, time and cost. The team leader coordinates the project team and should always be aware of the status of the project. When checking and measuring progress, the team leader should communicate with all team members to assess whether planned activities are implemented on time and within the agreed quality standards and budget. The achievement of milestones should be measured as the information will reflect the progress of the project.

Analyzing the situation

The second stage of monitoring consists of analyzing the situation. The status of project progress compared to the original plan – as well as causes and impacts of potential/observed deviations – are identified and analyzed. Actions are identified to address the causes and the impacts.

Reacting to new events, opportunities and issues

Updating the project monitoring plan.

The monitoring plan should be seen as a dynamic document that continuously reflects the reality of what is known and understood. Each time a deviation from the original plan is identified – regardless of whether or not it requires any further action – the plan should be revised and changes documented accordingly. The revised plan should reflect the new situation and also demonstrate the potential impact of the deviation on the whole research project.

For effective execution, good communication is essential across the research team, donors and all stakeholders. Ongoing adaptation of the plan also facilitates management of the project finances. The entire project team and other key stakeholders should be involved in updating the plan, revising the work plan (including costs) and decision-making should all be meticulously documented. The revised plan should be circulated to all stakeholders including the relevant Ethics Review Committees/Boards as well as the Institutional Review Board(s), highlighting the changes and their potential impact on the project. The research team must obtain approval for project plan amendments from all relevant parties.

Evaluation and closure of a research project

The decision as to whether a final end-of-project evaluation of the research project will be conducted depends on the objectives of the project and the timeframe. Evaluation can be either formative or summative in nature:

• Formative evaluation is intended to improve performance and is mostly conducted during the design and/or execution phases of the projects.
• Summative evaluation is conducted at the end of an intervention to determine the extent to which the anticipated outcomes were produced.

TDR Implementation research toolkit (Second edition)

• Acknowledgements
• Self-assessment tool
• © Photo credit
• Download PDF version
• Download offline site

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Top 5 Research Project Plan Templates with Samples and Examples

Samradni Pradhan

Research projects are essential to any business or organization's growth and success. Whether you're planning a market research study, conducting a scientific experiment, or developing a new product, a well-designed research project plan is vital to ensure that your project stays on track and achieves its objectives. With so many types of research projects, it can take some time to figure out where to start, when developing a project plan. That's where our PPT Templates come in. Using a pre-designed research project plan template can save time, reduce errors, and ensure that your project stays on track. In this blog post, we'll introduce you to the Top 5 Research Project Plan Templates with samples and examples, to help you choose the right template for your project. 

Additionally, if you want to explore some research plan templates, you can check them out  here !

Template 1: 30-60-90-Days Plan for Proposing and Designing Business Research Project Proposal

Here’s a comprehensive solution for anyone who wants to create a winning research proposal for their business project. This PPT Template contains all information, from the first initial planning stages to the final presentation of the proposal. The template is organized into three sections, each representing a different phase of the research project: the initial 30 days, the next 60 days, and the final 90 days. Each section includes an area that outlines the key tasks and deliverables for that phase of the project initiation . This PPT Layout acts as an essential tool for anyone who wants to create a compelling and effective research proposal. With its comprehensive structure, customizable slides, and engaging visuals, this template will help you win support for your project and take your business to the next level. Go ahead and download it right away!

Download Now!

Template 2: Plan Of Action for Designing and Proposing Business Research Project Services PPT Slideshow

Introducing a comprehensive and customizable solution for businesses and organizations looking to design and propose a research project. The template is divided into four stages: project initiation, research, analytics , and presentation. You can focus on your tasks and stay on track by comprehending information for each of these four stages. The PPT Slide also includes a range of graphics, charts, and diagrams that can be used to illustrate key points in the proposal visually. These graphics are designed to be easy to understand and visually appealing, making communicating complex ideas to stakeholders and decision-makers easier. This template will help you effectively plan, research , analyze, and present your research project, ensuring its success and a positive impact on your business or organization. Go ahead and grab this template today!

Template 3: Project Management Research Phases with Planning

Introducing an essential tool for businesses and organizations, looking to manage their research projects effectively. This comprehensive PPT Set is designed to guide users through each phase of the research project, from initiation to closing, ensuring that every aspect of the project is planned and executed efficiently. The template comprises five phases: initiation, planning, execution, controlling/monitoring, and closing. The initiation phase focuses on project plan creation and stakeholders' recognition. The planning phase comprises plan creation, resource identification, and cost projection. The execution phase includes information on task completion and resource acquisition. In the controlling/monitoring phase, reliability and expense estimates are tracked. Finally, stakeholder and resource management are included in the closing stage of project completion. This ensures that your work is correctly divided and also ensures that you focus on specific stages at the right time.

Template 4: Planning Process of Research Project Dissertation Timeline

Here is an all-in-one solution for anyone planning, organizing, and presenting a research project or dissertation. This PPT Template is designed to guide users through the four key stages of a research project: preparation, proposition, research, and drafting. The first stage, preparation, involves defining the research question or problem and developing a plan to tackle it. This stage includes creating a timeline, identifying key stakeholders and resources, and setting goals and objectives for the project. The proposition stage involves developing a proposal that outlines the research question, methods, and expected outcomes. The research stage involves conducting the research according to the methods and timeline established in the preparation and proposition stages. The drafting stage involves writing and presenting the final report, thesis, or dissertation. This stage includes organizing and structuring the report, developing key arguments and insights, and presenting the research findings clearly and engagingly. This template is a must-have for anyone!

Template 5: Six Months Plan Timeline for a Marketing Research Project

Next up, we have a comprehensive template that is designed to guide users through the six key stages of a marketing research project: planning, research design, data collection, data analysis, report writing, and presentation . Each stage contains a set of customizable blocks that outline the key tasks and deliverables for that phase of the project. This allows users to plan and execute each stage of the project efficiently, ensuring that the project ensures to stay on track and meets its objectives. Overall, this template outlines a bird's eye view of the entire project. Go ahead and explore this template today!

EXPLORE THESE PROJECT RESEARCH PLAN TEMPLATES TODAY!

A research project is a time-consuming task, and it requires that you to stay on track every step of the way. While each department in a business organization may have its own ideas, ensuring to have a comprehensive template works wonders. This is where the professionally designed templates work the best. Download these premium PPT Slides through our monthly, semi-annual, annual, annual + custom design subscriptions  here .

These project research plan templates can help you plan better, and with better planning comes better outcomes. These templates also help in creating a lasting impression in front of your audiences. There is nothing more you need to ask for; download these templates today!

FAQs on Research Plan

What is a research project plan.

A research project plan is a preemptive stage where you document the goals of your research project along with the objective of your project, what methods you are going to use, and the legitimate resources.

The whole idea of having a plan for a research project is to sketch down the mind map step-by-step, which you could refer to further progress with the project. A research plan also asks for a time period and budget to be set before proceeding, which is an efficient way of getting on a research project.

How do you write a research plan?

A research plan needs to be written systematically and sufficiently. Your research plan should be self-explanatory to whosoever is reading, the plan should be in the exact order you want to proceed in, and only enough should be written.

A well-written research plan should start with articulating the research question and, from there, proceed to mention the purpose, how your project is going to work, what resources you will require, grand of special permissions from organizations ( if needed), setting the deadline for each part to ending with the finance limitations for that project. 

What are the four significant parts of the research plan?

Even though a research plan varies from one project type to another, there are four significant parts that you must structure your plan around for getting optimal ease and clarity:

• Attach a background of your research question where you highlight the purpose and the gaps in the existing field to be fulfilled via this research project.
• Evaluating the research structure, methods you will use, equipment needed, working procedure, and how you will present your research project.
•  Time format: This part is where you assign a dedicated time period for finishing each goal in your research project. Here, you can set deadlines for minute tasks to end tasks.
• Counting in the resources, this is one of the most significant parts of the research plan where you point out the funding, equipment, references, permissions, or any data and artifacts needed for your research project.

What are the seven steps for creating a research plan?

Creating a research plan can get tricky, especially when you are at a very initial stage with your idea for the project. Hence, to make that process more approachable for generating a research plan:

• First, you must briefly introduce your research question.
• Thoroughly conduct research on the study area to identify the gaps and gain the needed knowledge.
• Apply for the grants and permissions you will require to conduct your research project securely.
• Finalize the resources important for your project, from funding, finding mentors, types of equipment, and so on.
• The next step is to plan out the experiments you will be conducting in the process.
• Filtering through all the collected data to come up with the most authentic ones.
• Citing the used resources in a standard format that is accepted. Examples- APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.

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Crafting a Project Execution Plan (PEP) in 6 simple steps

Improper planning, poor communication, and conflicting expectations often lead to project failures. To mitigate these issues, a project execution plan is an invaluable tool that significantly increases the chances of success. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive understanding of what a project execution plan entails, how it operates, and how to craft one effectively. By equipping yourself and your team with this collaborative tool, you can ensure a seamless and efficient project journey from start to finish.

What is a project execution plan?

A Project Execution Plan (PEP) serves as a comprehensive document that outlines the project's scope, along with quality, technical, and contractual specifications. It also includes resource allocation and delegation, budgeting, project timelines, goal-based scheduling, and communication plans among team members. These plans are considered dynamic documents that should be updated throughout the project to provide an accurate and valuable project baseline.

All this information is consolidated into a reusable, reader-friendly, and concise project execution plan template. This template can be tailored to specific projects, whether they are research-based, engineering-focused, software-related, contracting-oriented, or any other subdivision of work. Essentially, a PEP serves as a game plan — a meticulously outlined roadmap that ensures all project stakeholders are aligned toward a common goal for successful project execution.

A well-defined project execution strategy is crucial, especially for larger projects. It ensures that project deliverables, which often involve multiple contributors, align with the expectations of the program manager and the client's quality assurance assumptions. Additionally, a Project Execution Plan (PEP) serves as a comprehensive implementation guide, outlining the project execution phase and determining the final product's form, whether it be a presentation, research article, or project report.

Alternatively, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) provides a more task-oriented approach, efficiently dividing projects into manageable deliverable pieces based on the team members' responsibilities. Consider which approach best suits your team's needs and assists in bridging any execution gaps within your integrated project team.

Why is a project execution plan necessary?

A key advantage of a Project Execution Plan (PEP) is that it ensures all participants within your group are well-informed about schedule baselines, scope baselines, and other project specifications. This shared understanding helps unite the group around a common goal, with the PEP serving as the primary communication tool for project details and timelines. Consider implementing a PEP for larger, more complex projects, particularly if you have divided the project into smaller deliverables for your team. Essentially, a PEP acts as a safeguard against misunderstandings, minimizing variables.

It is crucial to engage project stakeholders in discussions regarding the PEP to establish clear expectations for total project cost estimates, parameters, and other high-level constraints. Incorporating the cost baseline of your PEP into your project scope is recommended. By aligning your project controls and plans with stakeholders' requirements, you can avoid miscommunications that may necessitate major, disruptive changes in the future.

What goes into a project execution plan?

Several key components contribute to the success and optimal performance of a PEP (Project Execution Plan).

1. Project scope

The project scope outlines the essential components of your Project Execution Plan (PEP). Typically, it encompasses details such as project description, objectives, resource allocation, budget, constraints, assumptions, project timeline, procurement strategies, and success metrics. It is crucial for your team and project sponsors to have a shared understanding and agreed-upon expectations.

To clarify the scope, it is equally important to define what is not included in the project. By explicitly stating what will be omitted in your PEP, you provide clear parameters for your project team to work within. This helps prevent scope creep and the addition of unnecessary tasks during the planning and design phases.

2. Project goals

In your Project Execution Plan (PEP), it is crucial to establish clear goals, purpose, completion criteria, and success metrics. Success is often measured against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) outlined in the final deliverable. For instance, if the goal is to conduct market-based research for business establishment, it is agreed between you and the project stakeholder that the findings of this research will be presented in a comprehensive written deliverable of approximately two thousand words. In this example, we have effectively defined the requirements, outlined the characteristics of the final deliverable, established completion criteria, and clarified the ultimate objective.

3. Technical requirements

Once you have established the overarching goal, you can further refine it by adding concrete and measurable specifics, as well as clear definitions. This section serves as the detailed essence of your PEP. Building upon our previous example of the importance of market-based research, we can expand on the idea that this research should encompass tracking purchasing trends within a specific timeframe or conducting surveys. It is crucial to include a deadline and project milestones to effectively monitor your progress. Additionally, technical requirements, such as the format of the final deliverable, word count, and the information to be included, should also be specified.

4. Resource allocation

Resource allocation involves the meticulous refinement and specification of the necessary person-hours and tangible resources for your project. Consider the various resources that will be required, including staff members, any specialized knowledge or skills that may be needed by your team, time constraints, available equipment for specific tasks, and any allocated finances for acquiring additional tools or equipment. By carefully addressing these factors, you can ensure efficient utilization of resources and successful project execution.

5. Project schedule and timelines

Project timelines can be broadly categorized into two main aspects: the deadline for the final deliverable and the inclusion of project milestones, as mentioned earlier. These two components are interconnected and mutually informative. By delegating tasks among your team and effectively allocating resources, your project can operate as multiple smaller projects that run in parallel towards a common goal. To ensure a comprehensive overview of progress, consider implementing cross-team milestones with relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). By incorporating these cross-team milestones, project leaders can foster enthusiasm and camaraderie among the team members responsible for delegated tasks.

Crafting an effective project execution plan (In 6 simple steps)

To begin crafting your Project Execution Plan (PEP), follow these six essential steps:

1. Gather feedback from the team

Clear communication and well-defined expectations are crucial for the successful execution of any project. Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress, consider each team member's skills and knowledge, and create an efficient workflow. Before finalizing your PEP, take into account the needs and expectations of your team. Throughout the project, actively collect feedback to refine and improve the process.

2. Start with the end goals in mind

A helpful approach is to work backwards from your end goals to establish well-defined objectives. By taking this perspective, you gain a broader understanding of how each task and purpose aligns to create the final product.

3. Define major milestones

Setting major milestones allows your team to track progress and timing throughout the project. Assign deadlines to these milestones and estimate the resources required for each. This ensures that you can identify any tasks that are taking longer than expected and make necessary adjustments to your PEP and plans. Engage your team in defining these milestones to foster enthusiasm and camaraderie among project groups.

4. Break down tasks into subtasks

When establishing your milestones, delegate subtasks among different groups to distribute the workload effectively. Clearly define the responsibilities of each group to avoid duplication of effort and enhance productivity.

5. Foster cross functional team collaboration

In addition to promoting strong communication between project groups and leaders, encourage cross-team collaboration. Schedule regular meetings and check-ins to facilitate discussions and ensure that major milestones are met. This collaborative approach enables a shared problem-solving mindset and helps overcome potential roadblocks.

6. Appoint a project manager

For larger projects with extensive scopes and multiple teams, consider assigning a project manager. A project manager can facilitate communication, provide guidance on timelines, monitor resource usage, and assist in task delegation. However, not all projects require a project manager, particularly smaller teams working closely on more manageable projects.

By following these steps, you can create an effective Project Execution Plan that sets your project up for success.

Executive summary

An executive summary serves as a project execution plan, providing a unified template that clarifies the ultimate goal and expectations for all parties involved - yourself, your team, and your client. By establishing a well-defined outline, you can effectively guide the project at each step, ensuring that the goals and objectives are clearly articulated in a readily accessible document. A project takes form by setting parameters and is executed through purpose-driven objectives outlined in a Project Execution Plan (PEP).

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?meta:abstract

This article is about the activity of planning projects. If you are looking to design an education research project, the exercises on this page will help you. You might also look at Research Process Models to help you think about how research projects progress, or Iterative Design to think about to structure them for maximum likelihood of success.

If you’re doing video-based observational research, here’s a good companion piece to consider. If you’re thinking about Design-based research, check out this article .

More broadly, check out all articles tagged with “ doing research ”.

Key features for research projects

There are two key features of this approach that are tightly linked to research projects in specific.

Make space for emergence

Because research projects are designed to generate new knowledge , they necessarily have an element of discovery: we cannot know the outcome ahead of time. While we can often anticipate the shape of this new knowledge, discoveries along the way will prompt the emergence of new questions, methods, or analyses. This approach to planning projects explicitly makes space for emergence as a feature of research projects. As a corollary, it’s not great for projects where emergence is not desirable, such as when using backwards design to update a course.

Allow for flexible timelines

Research projects rarely have concrete intrinsic deadlines or end points. For example, if paper publication is a goal , researchers cannot predict how long a journal will keep a paper or whether they will need to resubmit or submit elsewhere. This approach to planning projects allows for flexibility in project timelines, because flexibility is often necessary in projects that generate new knowledge. As a corollary, there are better choices for planning projects with well-defined end points. A example project with a well-defined end point is your annual undergraduate research fair: you know when it is.

While you can use this approach for projects of any scope, it really shines for projects of duration 2-5 years and project teams of 2-10 people. I imagine that you’re using it for education research in a higher ed context, but it’s also amenable to other contexts and allied fields.

A quick note on terminology

Research design and project planning are entangled activities. They’re both important, but different. This article is mostly about how they are entangled, not how to intellectually align the elements of your research project. Relatedly, I use these phrases in my work: “research design” (a thing) vs. the “research design process” (a mechanism to make a research design) vs. “ research process ” (how research is done).

There is a little ambiguity around the phrase “planning projects”.

• “Planning projects” (thing): a project whose job is to plan a bigger project (e.g. capacity building, consensus seeking, community needs analysis)
• “Planning projects” (activity): the activity of planning a specific project.

This article is about the activity of planning projects.

Phases of a research project

As you plan your project, you will go through three major phases: ideating, planning, and executing.

In the ideation phase, your major goal is to develop the idea for the project: what is the big problem you want to solve? what’s your central research question?

In the planning phase, your major goals are to develop a research design that’s aligned with your available resources and a project workplan or timeline that includes iteration and makes space for emergence.

In the execution phase, your major goal is to do the project, updating the design and timeline as new ideas and opportunities emerge. In this article on planning and ideation, I’m not going to focus on execution.

In all of these phases, you will spend a lot of time documenting what you do and why; communicating with your team, your mentors, and the broader research community; and iteratively refining and updating your ideas. While I’ve presented these phases as if they are sequential and separate, a lot of the activities overlap. You might find yourself returning to the ideation phase, especially if something very cool or very concerning has just emerged in your project execution. This is normal. However, it’s valuable to be intentional about what phase you are in and what you’re trying to do.

You might find it helpful to read generative writing and research process models before you get started; if this feels really comfortable to you and you want to look deeper, check out how iteration, generation, and reflection are baked into my research process. If you’re ready to build an iterative design, read the next article in this series .

In the first phase of project planning, you don’t even have a project yet. You are working to figure out what kind of knowledge you want to generate or what kind of problem that you want to solve. There are five major activities here:

• Notice a problem OR spark a curiosity
• Articulate: what’s the problem? what happened that made me curious?
• How do they frame this problem / question? what are some elements of solutions?
• What’s the local context for how this problem or question is situated?
• what’s the character and scope of the knowledge I want to generate in this project?
• what are my major values or vision, and how does this project help move them forward?
• Document: generative writing will help you corral, elaborate, and refine your ideas.

This phase can be a little sneaky: if you’re in the habit of being broadly interested, you might find that your curiosity sparks easily and you are constantly awash in possible ideas to pursue. You might be really practiced at noticing problems in your classes or your programs. If you play “yes, and” with all the papers you read and the people you meet, you could be constantly surrounded by opportunities to ideate new projects. You might accidentally fall into this phase for a new project without meaning to, and that’s ok. For you, the essential work of this phase is about refining one big idea out of your soup of opportunities. You don’t have to fit all of your interests into one project. It’s ok to save some for later.

Alternately, you might need to be deliberate about getting started in a new project. Maybe you have an external target in mind, like earning a PhD or writing a grant proposal. It can be hard to generate a new project on demand. You might struggle with feeling like you don’t have any ideas that are “big enough” to fit the size of your target, or that all of your ideas are too big for your target. This is normal. For you, the essential work of this phase is about communicating and refining your ideas so that their scope and intent is well-aligned with the needs of your external target.

As you plan your project, it starts to take shape. In this phase, you’re working to figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it. Some projects require you to be very intentional in this phase, especially if you are writing a grant or thesis proposal. Other projects can evolve more organically over time, and you might start a formal planning process after work has already occurred, or need to restart a planning process when the project experiences a major pivot.

Formalize your project

The major activities in this phase are:

• Gather your scope / resources: how long? how much money? what access? which partners? which mentors? Talk to stakeholders & partners about this, and develop your scope in conversation with them.
• Align question, scope, methods, theories to match well with each other. Some people think the product of this process is your “research design”: an intellectual product that shows how your ideas connect together.
• Build in iterations and space for emergence: what’s the major knowledge milestone for each piece? How do they build together? This activity blends between building a research design and project planning. While smaller projects might not need a lot of iteration, generally speaking it’s a wise choice to plan for iteration in many different time scales. Some people think that the product of this process is the “research design”: a roadmap for how to enact the intellectual product you defined in the alignment activity.

This activity blends between building a research design and project planning. While smaller projects might not need a lot of iteration, generally speaking it’s a wise choice to plan for iteration in many different time scales. Some people think that the product of this process is the “research design”: a roadmap for how to enact the intellectual product you defined in the alignment activity.

Make a workplan

After you gather your scope, align your project elements, and build in iteration, you need to make a project workplan or timeline, including contextual constraints as appropriate (course schedules, submission deadlines, staffing, etc)

• If there are dependencies, identify them.
• Build in some buffers, especially around a critical path.
• Identify risks and make a plan to mitigate them
• Be realistic about your capacity and check in with your stakeholders about theirs
• Don’t over specify this timeline, especially for later iterations or for work other people should do.

Building a project workplan is classically considered “project planning”, not research design.

Document your plan

Document what you plan, why, and when so that you don’t forget and so that you can notice if your plans change. Your documentation can take several forms, but it’s nice to keep it in a central place where all project members can access it. If part of your project entails writing a thesis proposal or a funding proposal, then parts of this documentation might make it into your proposal documents. However, you probably have more detail in your internal documents than fits into your formal proposal.

Do your project, iteratively. Realistically, over the lifetime of a project, you should spend most of your time in this phase.

However, you should also plan to return to the ideating and planning phases regularly once you have started executing. Plan to return to planning as you start each iteration and regularly within to let your project breathe and grow . Plan to debrief, reflect, and document regularly and as you finish each iteration. This will help you attend to how your project develops, make sure it’s aligned with your (developing) goals, and learn new process knowledge about how to do this kind of work.

Don’t mistake planning to do a thing for actually doing the thing. If you find yourself in endless cycles of planning and documentation, but don’t move forward on actually doing the project, it’s time to take a step back and ask yourself if this is really a project you want to engage with at this time.

As you engage in research, you will learn new things. The act of mindfully noticing will spark new ideas about avenues to pursue in data collection or analysis. Reading papers will suggest new theories to try or new ways to frame problems and solutions. Chatting with colleagues and coordinating with your collaborators will expand the space of possibilities for research questions and designs. New opportunities and constraints will occur in your research setting, and there will be unanticipated events that you have to react to.

All of these factors can contribute to the emergence of new ideas and directions for research. Emergence is the process of something coming into being or becoming important. In science, emergence is when a wholly new behavior or property occurs out of the collective action of interacting parts. The flowing shapes of a murmuration of starlings are an emergent phenomenon. Traffic jams are emergent. Emergence is a common feature of research projects, and it can be beautiful.

You can’t plan exactly in advance what new ideas and opportunities will emerge in the course of your research project. However, you can anticipate the character of what they might be, and build space in your research plan to foster opportunities and mitigate risks.

As you make space for emergence in your research plan,

• Use an iterative design to get data that will help you make decisions in the next iteration.
• Plan to check in regularly with stakeholders, external evaluators & research community.
• If there are go/no go decision points, identify them.
• Remember that it’s ok if your plans change.

Planning for emergence is what separates this process from classical project planning, which treats changes as risks to be minimized and mitigated.

Additional topics to consider

Research design.

How to design better research projects, and how to develop your skill as someone who generates research projects.

Research process models

How should we conceptualize the processes of doing research? Two models, one productive and one not.

Evaluation and Research

What is the difference between evaluation and research?

This article was first written on ?meta:date , and last modified on April 14, 2024.

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• 30 project plan templates to kickstart ...

30 project plan templates to kickstart your best work

Embarking on a new project can be daunting, but the right tools make all the difference. Discover a suite of versatile project planning templates, ranging from simple charts to comprehensive agile and waterfall plans, designed to streamline your project management process. Setting objectives, defining deadlines, and improving teamwork are all made simple with Asana's free project plan templates.

We all love it when a project runs smoothly. When there’s a clear plan, everyone knows what needs to get done, and they follow deadlines, projects tend to get completed on time and within budget. But all that doesn’t just happen—it takes a lot of careful planning. 

What is a project plan template?

A project plan template is a duplicatable resource that outlines all the steps in a project plan. Typically, a project plan template includes essential project information, such as the project timeline, task due dates, the goal of the entire project, and project milestones, among other things. Essentially, a project template allows you to “plug and play” and get a head start on your work.

Since project plan templates are reusable, they give you the building blocks you need to get started planning your project—so you don’t have to start every one from scratch. Depending on what type of project you’re planning, your project plan template could include high-level sections, upcoming tasks, color-coded custom tags, and more. 

How to create a project plan template

A project plan template is a blueprint of the key components your team needs to know in order to successfully achieve your project objectives. A good project plan outlines your project deliverables , project scope , and project schedule . In particular, a good plan should track seven key project elements:

Success metrics

Key stakeholders and team roles

Milestones and deliverables

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan

Not every project plan template will have all of these elements baked in. However, a good template will set you up with example tasks to help you and your team answer project needs, plan project deliverables, and get started in record time.

30 free project plan templates to standardize your project processes

Project plan templates aren’t one-size-fits-all. While a simple project plan template should cover essential project information—like timeline and milestones—the template format will vary depending on the type of project you’re planning. For example, the plan for a product launch will be pretty different from an IT project plan. 

That’s where different project plan templates come in. Whether you’re launching a small, straightforward initiative or planning a complex project, Asana’s project plan templates can help. Here are 30 free project plan templates to help you get your next project up and running in no time.

General project planning templates

1. simple project chart template: get started.

A project chart (also known as a Gantt chart template ) is a visual representation of your project plan on a bar-chart like graph. Project charts map out your project timeline, deliverable due dates, task dependencies, and milestones. 

A simple project chart template is a great jumping off point for breaking down projects into smaller, actionable steps. It helps you organize tasks, so you can see who on your team is responsible for what. Plus, since the template lets you quickly track progress in real-time, you can successfully plan and execute your project without missing any crucial steps.

2. Cross-functional project plan template: Collaborate across teams 

More often than not, projects require cross-team collaboration to be successful. When that’s the case, you need a way to easily communicate with each project team member, no matter what department they’re in. 

Our cross-functional project plan template can help. With this template, you can manage your entire project in one place—from assigning to-dos and tracking project status to communicating with other teams. Plus, Asana integrates with your other business apps, so you can attach important documents and collaborate right in the template. Say goodbye to long email threads and hard-to-find project information for good.

3. Capacity planning template: Manage team bandwidth 

Understanding the needed—and available—resources required for a project is a necessary step for every project team. But resource allocation can be tricky, and under-scoping a project can result in project creep. 

Creating a digital capacity planning template can help. Your template provides a place for you to calculate your project needs and determine the current capacity of your team—so you can compare the two and decide if you have enough resources. Custom, color-coded tags make it easy for you to quickly identify who is over- and under-capacity, so you can allocate resources accordingly.

4. Risk management plan template: Identify project risks

Project risk management , which identifies potential project risks and calculates their likelihood of happening, is a must-have for any project. Without an easy way to evaluate project risks, though, it’s a step that often falls by the wayside as project managers look to reduce steps in the project’s kick-off timeframe. Creating an easy-to-duplicate risk management plan template for your entire department or organization ensures you can elevate risks quickly—t even easier to get a handle on them.

Your template can be built at the start of your project, to determine the risk’s impact and likelihood before the project even kicks off. Then, you can use the template to monitor potential risks as the project begins, and to log new risks that come up once the project is underway. You can also assign each risk an owner, so everyone on your team knows who’s responsible for mitigating risks if they pop up.  

5. Agency collaboration template: Streamline external collaboration

Most projects involve a team of internal collaborators. In some cases, though, you might turn to a marketing or creative agency to execute your project. Whether it’s an advertising campaign, brand refresh, or research initiative, a successful partnership starts with a clear plan and tight coordination. If you’re collaborating primarily through email or weekly conference calls, keeping everyone on the same page can be a challenge.

Fortunately, our agency collaboration template makes it easy for you to manage your next project with an external agency. Use it to draft your creative brief, keep an eye on start dates, monitor work in progress, and track deliverables, so you can focus on producing great work together.

6. Waterfall project management template: Update your project process

When managing projects that require a high level of sequential structure and clarity, the traditional approach of a waterfall project management plan comes into play. Unlike more flexible methodologies, the waterfall method excels in projects where each phase needs to be completed before the next begins. 

This is where a well-crafted waterfall project management template can be invaluable. It provides a clear, step-by-step roadmap of the project process to ensure all stages from conception to completion are meticulously planned and executed. For example, a waterfall project plan could detail every stage of a software development project, from initial requirements gathering to final testing to make certain each critical step is addressed.

Project planning templates for marketing and creative teams

7. product marketing template: plan your next launch.

Product marketing managers juggle many responsibilities. They do market research to inform product strategy, craft messaging and positioning, and bring new products to life. They’re often also the de facto project manager of a product launch, coordinating across product, marketing, and creative teams to ensure that new products are ready to ship.

Instead of reinventing the wheel for every launch you’re running, use our product marketing launch template to create your plan. It includes steps like setting launch targets and defining a channel strategy, so you don’t forget any product launch essentials. And, since it’s duplicatable, you’ll never have to create a product launch checklist from scratch again.

8. Editorial calendar template: Hit publishing deadlines

Managing a content calendar is an ongoing project that requires you to stay on top of many moving parts. Every piece of content you create is like its own mini project with clearly defined steps, like assigning work to writers, producing visual assets, and coordinating reviews and copy edits.

To keep your content production on track, try our editorial calendar template . With this template, you can manage all the content you’re writing, editing, and publishing in one place—from idea to completion. Our custom tags make it easy to track everything from the post’s due date and channel to important assets. It also lets you simplify your cross-team collaboration, bringing together your social media, PR, marketing, and design teams in one place.

9. Marketing campaign management template: Map out your campaign plan

Planning and execution are key to a great marketing campaign. But managing a campaign isn’t easy, and it can feel overwhelming to keep track of every piece of work that needs to get done. What assets need to be created? Who is going to create them? And what if something falls through the cracks?

With our marketing campaign management template , you can map out your entire campaign plan and manage day-to-day execution with your team. Use it to track assets and deliverables, plan and execute your channel strategy, and more.

10. Event marketing plan template: Map out your event marketing efforts

Building buzz is an important part of planning and organizing any event. Event marketing helps spread the word and generate excitement for your speakers and agenda—which in turn drives audience attendance. 

Asana’s event marketing plan template helps you organize your marketing plan for upcoming events. From planning the event all the way through day-of execution and post-event tasks, the template makes it easy for you to map out your promotional event efforts.

11. Marketing project plan template: Turn your strategy into action

Marketing projects are complex. No matter what type of project you’re planning—from launching a specific marketing campaign to mapping out your yearly marketing plan —there are a lot of steps and team members involved in making a marketing plan successful. 

Our marketing project plan template provides a place for you to detail your marketing objectives and the steps you need to take for them to be successful. Asana’s template makes it easy for you to communicate and collaborate across teams, and jumpstarts productivity by removing the need for multiple spreadsheets or email threads. 

12. Event planning template: Coordinate your events

There’s a lot that goes into planning a successful event. You have to manage everything from the event budget down to logistical details and day-of event tasks. The ability to see the event timeline—meaning every step that has to be completed for your event to launch successfully—is a must-have. 

Our event planning template makes planning and organizing events easy. With our template, you can visualize your event plan in a timeline, see task dependencies, and schedule milestones to track event progress. Plus, our mobile app lets you view your event plan from anywhere, so you can tick off day-of event tasks on the go. 

13. Public relations project plan: Create consistency across campaigns 

There are a lot of small—but essential—steps that need to be followed to run a successful public relations campaign. And, since PR efforts tend to be cross-functional, it can be confusing determining who is responsible for what. 

A public relations project plan helps streamline your PR campaign process by making it easy to track important project information and communicate across teams. This template can act as a step-by-step guide for launching and executing a PR campaign, so you can maintain consistency across campaigns, no matter the size of your organization or team. The template also serves as a single system of record to house essential campaign information, such as details about the campaign, journalist contact information, campaign resources, and more. 

14. Podcast planning template: Plan better episodes 

Looking to launch a successful podcast? Keeping your podcast plan organized is key. Building a digital podcast planning template streamlines your podcast planning process by giving you a single space to organize everything from your pre-production tasks to your post-production marketing efforts. 

Plus, you can easily duplicate the template at the start of your episode planning, ensuring that the structure of every episode is consistent. Use the template to house your podcast notes, the episode script, and more—like copy for promotional tweets. You can even collaborate with your episode guests directly in the template by using custom forms or assigning them specific tasks.  

15. Design project plan template: Streamline your creative process 

Web, graphic, and product design teams are a vital part of any business. From designing social and promotional assets to creating animations, videos, and web assets, a lot of what your customer sees—and what draws them in—comes from your design team. 

With so many responsibilities, it can be difficult to keep track of upcoming and in-progress design work. Plus, never-ending feedback chains and emails can stall progress. Our design project plan template makes it easy for you to streamline your creative project planning process. Easily collaborate, track files, and share asset updates and progress in one place.

Product, IT, and operations templates

16. product roadmap template: track your product initiatives.

There’s a lot that goes into tracking the product features, initiatives, and updates your team plans to launch within a given timeframe. With our product roadmap template , you can easily track and monitor each status of each launch, and provide greater visibility to stakeholders around what’s launching and when. 

Plus, since our product roadmap template allows you to organize your launches by different variables—such as priority or overarching theme—everyone in your organization can see how each launch corresponds to the company’s goals.

17. User research template: Organize UXR projects

User research is a critical part of the product development process. It’s during this phase that product managers and user experience researchers learn about the needs and goals of their customers, uncovering insights that unlock entirely new product opportunities.

Leading a research project is no small undertaking. From sourcing research participants and collecting data to analyzing that data and generating recommendations, there’s a lot to plan for and manage. Our user research template makes it easy to define research goals and questions with your team and keep your observations organized. This way, the fruits of your labor don’t become forgotten in a doc or Excel spreadsheet.

18. Product development plan template: Standardize the development process

Product development is the process of launching a new product, from ideation through the product launch. The entire product development process—which includes prototyping and testing—is complex and time-consuming. Add in the different teams you need for product development to be successful, and you have a recipe for a complicated process.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Creating a product development plan template streamlines your product development process, from coordinating cross-functional team communication to tracking development progress. Since it’s reusable, the template also helps standardize the workflow for future projects. 

19. Operations project plan template: Streamline business efficiency

The operations department is responsible for keeping business-critical processes running smoothly. Our operations project plan template helps you track key details by creating a single system of record for all your work. Since the template is reusable, it makes it easy to document recurring operational processes. Plus, you can assign work directly in the template, so everyone knows what they’re responsible for and can communicate where work is being done. 

20. IT project plan: Organize your IT work

Your IT team deals with a lot of important cross-team tasks, like launching software deployments, ordering equipment, and helping onboard new employees. Plus, everything they do requires a certain level of security. They need to be able to connect teams and tools in a way that’s scalable and secure. 

Asana’s IT project plan template helps your IT department manage and organize all their upcoming and completed tasks. Since you’re able to tailor project permissions to your organization, you can make sure the right people have access to information. Plus, Asana’s 200+ integrations make it easy for your team to work seamlessly with cross-functional partners.

21. Work requests template: Simplify the intake process

Work requests can quickly spiral out of control when they’re submitted through different avenues and in different formats. In order to make sure no requests are falling through the cracks, you need a central place to track and manage requests. And, to simplify the workflow for your team, you also need a project intake process to guarantee you’re getting the same information in each request.

Simply put, you need a work request template . Whether you’re receiving incoming creative briefs, work orders, or IT requests, having a single system of record for these requests is critical. Then, combine our work request template with Forms to guarantee you’re getting all of the critical details directly when requests are submitted.

22. Sales plan template: Set strong goals

Your sales and operation plan shouldn’t be a document you create at the beginning of a sales cycle and then put aside. In order for your sales teams to create and maintain a solid foundation, they need access to a finalized, structured sales plan—available where they work.

With an effective sales plan template , you have an easy, centralized way to record your sales teams’ objectives, target audience, revenue goals, strategies, and obstacles that might stand in your way. Try our sales plan template to get the structure you need to to close deals.

Project plan templates for HR teams 

23. hr project plan template: plan out hr work  .

Your HR team is responsible for many processes and projects that empower employees and shape your organization’s culture. An HR project plan templat e makes it easy for you to plan and organize HR initiatives, track their progress, and manage priorities. Whether you’re launching new company goals, updating the hiring plan, or collecting employee feedback, Asana’s HR project plan template makes it easy to map out—and execute—your HR work. 

24. New employee onboarding: Standardize the onboarding process

Onboarding can feel hectic for new hires. There are so many systems to set up, documents to sign, and tasks to complete. Plus, new hires have to learn all the nuances of their new company, like preferred communication methods and company policies. 

To ensure every new hire has the best experience—and is set up for success in their new role—it’s crucial to streamline the onboarding process. An employee onboarding template does just that by providing a single place where new hires can go to view their upcoming tasks, find reference documents, learn about their team, and more. Since onboarding templates outline everything the new hire needs to know from the beginning to the end of the onboarding process, it sets expectations from the start—smoothing out the process for you and your new employee.

25. Employee offboarding: Organize your offboarding process

Like employee onboarding, employee offboarding can be labor-intensive—and, unlike onboarding, it’s a process that’s often overlooked. An employee offboarding template can help you streamline your offboarding process. With a single place to map out your offboarding tasks—from the paperwork that needs to be completed to the work transition plan—you can easily track your offboarding process. Plus, since templates are duplicatable, you can feel confident that you’re following the same steps for every outgoing employee.

26. Conference agenda template: Plan seamless events

Planning a productive conference takes work. In addition to coordinating with speakers and vendors, you also have to keep track of event details, including when and where conference events are happening. 

A conference agenda template can help you plan effective conferences with ease. Whether you’re planning a one- or multi-day conference or a virtual event, creating a conference agenda template in Asana is a great starting point for capturing all the information you need to run the event smoothly.

Cross-functional project planning templates

27. agile project plan template: team collaboration made easy.

In today's fast-paced project environments, teams often struggle with keeping everyone on the same page, especially when it comes to adapting to changes without disrupting the project lifecycle. This is where an agile project plan template can be a game-changer. An agile project plan is not just about flexibility; it's a strategic planning tool that allows for quick adjustments while keeping the project budget and overall objectives in sight. It’s designed to evolve as project needs change, ensuring that all team members are aligned and can collaborate effectively, regardless of project phase or complexity.

Agile methodology fosters a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. It breaks down the traditional barriers of rigid planning and enables teams to respond swiftly to new information or changes in project scope. By regularly revisiting and adjusting the plan, teams can ensure their strategies are always aligned with the project's evolving needs and goals.

28. Sprint planning template: Keep your team on the same page

Part of the larger Agile project process , sprint planning helps Agile project teams prioritize work and decide who has the capacity to take on certain projects. 

Your team is busy, and if you’re not communicating directly where work happens, it’s easy for team members to get confused about who’s working on what, what the status of the work is, and when the work is due. Our sprint planning template simplifies your sprint by creating a single system of record where everyone can see what’s coming up, what’s in progress, and what’s completed—freeing up time for your team to move quickly, build fast, and ship often.

29. Implementation plan template: Achieve business goals

Planning and implementing your business goals can feel overwhelming. To be successful, you need the ability to break down each go into an achievable, actionable plan. That’s where an implementation plan template comes in.

By creating an implementation plan template, you can view every step you need to take to achieve your business goal, from planning all the way to execution. Since a template breaks down each phase of the plan into bite-sized steps, it’s easy to monitor goal progress and view upcoming milestones. You can also include custom tags that add even more context to your tasks—like the task duration and percent completed—so you know the status of every task as work gets underway.  

30. Project timeline template: Visualize milestones and bottlenecks

Have you ever found yourself facing unexpected delays and struggling to keep track of progress? Thankfully there's a solution that can turn the tide: a project timeline template. A project timeline template is more than just a list of start and end dates; it's a strategic project management tool that maps out the entire project lifecycle, offering a clear visualization of phases, key deliverables, and deadlines.

By clearly laying out the project progress, this type of template helps pinpoint exactly where bottlenecks are likely to occur or where they're already happening. And with regular updates to the project’s timeline, stakeholders can receive comprehensive status reports, fostering better communication and alignment throughout the project. In essence, a well-utilized project timeline template not only solves the problem of lost transparency in your workflow, but it also serves as a visual dashboard for smooth and efficient project execution.

Better project templates mean better project planning

Kicking off a new project can be stressful, especially if you’re the one in charge of planning and managing that project. Reusable product templates make planning easier by standardizing your project processes, facilitating cross-team collaboration, and reducing upfront work. 

No matter what kind of project you’re leading—product launches, marketing campaigns, you name it—templates give you a starting point so you don’t have to build a plan from scratch. And when you use a work management platform like Asana, your project will stay on track, too.

Related resources

How to use a feasibility study in project management

How to track utilization rate and drive team profitability

How to accomplish big things with long-term goals

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

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How to Write a Project Execution Plan (With Best Practices)

Every project needs a plan which guides the execution of the project. In project management, that plan is known as a project execution plan. This contains everything about the project, from the project’s scope to the project’s deliverable.

One of the major reasons why projects fail is due to poor planning. Many project managers do not create the necessary documents that help to ensure the successful execution of the project. The majority of project managers fail to break down large projects into smaller tasks for easy execution.

Creating a project execution plan is a valuable tool for effectively implementing your tasks or project. Understanding the project execution plan is essential for the project team to ensure they can satisfactorily meet the project’s goals and the expectations of clients.

In this article, you will learn everything you need to know to create a project execution plan including its purpose and elements.

Let’s get started.

What is a Project Execution Plan?

A project execution plan is essential for the effective implementation of a project. The creation of a project execution plan helps outline the required tasks to be completed, deliverables, and resources available in aiding the completion process.

Properly and thoroughly understanding the various elements that make up the project execution plan helps the project team meet its pre-set goals and objectives.

A project execution plan is a detailed document that shows how the project team plans to achieve set tasks. This details specific targets of the project and the means of accomplishing these set goals. A project execution plan often acts as a guide for the operation and management of the project process.

Why You Need a Project Execution Plan

A project execution plan is a document that harmonizes pre-harnessed plans and goals with the sole aim of properly implementing them in the project process. It carefully maps out how to execute and overcome various plans and setbacks encountered in the course of the project process.

• To Meet Project's Deliverables: The goal of every well-drawn-up project execution plan is to ensure the project reaches its completion stage. On the road to completion, the project makes vital stops at delivering crucial deliverables (milestones) along the way.
• Track Project’s Progress: There are various project progress indicators that aim to measure the progress made during the project execution phase. A project execution plan helps you track your project’s progress.
• Counter Setbacks: The project execution plan does not just detail the best approach to successfully implement the project’s plan and objectives alone. It also makes accommodation for eventualities that might disrupt the smooth and timely completion of the project. Measures for effectively tackling possible setbacks are in the project execution plan.
• Assign Tasks: With the project execution plan, you can assign various tasks to respective project team members. This aims to carry everyone along in the project process journey.

Elements of a Project Execution Plan

A project execution plan has various elements that allow it to create a definitive and actionable implementation and execution plan. Consider the following elements when creating a project execution plan.

1. Project Scope

Drawing out a clearly defined scope is an important element of the project execution plan. Defining the project’s scope entails pointing out and listing the aims and objectives of the project.

The project scope often aims to educate stakeholders with an overview of the project's purpose and goals. You have to consider some factors when creating a befitting project’s scope.

• Project’s statement of work
• Project’s limitations and boundaries
• Project’s timeline and milestones
• Project’s final deliverables
• Project’s criteria for success

2. Project Goals

A project execution plan includes goal statements that clearly define the project’s expected goals and objectives . This lists out the purpose of the project, expected benefits of the project, deliverables, milestones as well as the project timeline and schedule.

3. Allocation of Resources

The list of available resources and details of their allocation is in the project execution plan. This details the needs of the project team for the successful completion of the project.

Resources available for a project usually include capital, human resources, material goods, and all the essential elements needed for the success of the project. Proper allocation of resources ensures the project meets the desired standards expected by the project’s stakeholders.

4. Project Scheduling

Scheduling is instrumental to every project execution plan. It acts as an effective guide during the project tenure. Most project managers often opt to divide the entire project tasks into smaller and less complex portions. Create milestones and deadlines to map out laudable achievements along the project’s life cycle.

During the project’s life cycle, scope creeps situations often arise that necessitate changes in the project schedule. You need to prepare all project stakeholders for these eventualities.

The project manager is responsible for making significant adjustments to the goals. He or she has to ensure there is no direct impact on the project schedule by these eventualities.

Some of the best project scheduling software you can use to schedule your projects include Monday.com, ClickUp, Wrike, Smartsheet, and Teamwork.

5. Project Organizational Components

Components and details of the project organization are critical as it helps to streamline important details of the project execution plan.

• Important Stakeholders Information: Detailing out each project stakeholder's unique and collective role and responsibility to the project process is important. This aims to ensure the authoritative process and structure of the project team are not confused.
• Decision-Making Roles: The proper identification of the various roles each project stakeholder has to play in the project is pivotal to ensuring proper cohesion among team members. Properly detail the chain of command in the project execution plan to leave no room for disorganization.
• Methods: The organization of a project involves various methods varying from coordination to reporting and monitoring.
• Approach Toward Team Involvement: Developing the right approach towards team performance on tasks is pivotal to a successful implementation of the project execution plan. The choice is always between whether to stick with individual tasks or arrange team members into groups and assign tasks as teams.

How to Create a Project Execution Plan

In a bid to write efficient and well-detailed project execution plans, you need to make lots of considerations in the overall decision-making process to ensure timely delivery of the project.

Step 1: Starting the Execution Process with a Project Kickoff Meeting

The first step to creating a good project execution plan is to ensure all project members are on board and agree on the next course of action. After the successful completion of the project planning process, the need arises for the implementation of the set plans.

This next stage is where the need for a project execution plan comes in. Ensure the plan for the implementation of strategies that are widely understood and accepted by all project stakeholders.

The project manager needs to call a project kickoff meeting aimed at proposing and settling differences that may arise in the course of creating the project execution plan. Projects can be complex. The project team needs all the available and necessary help they can get.

A project execution plan meeting should focus on getting the project stakeholders to agree on important details like the project's timelines, deliverables, scope, and budgets. Once the important details of the project execution plan have been deliberated and agreed on, the project can then move on to the next phase of implementing the agreed plans.

The easiest, stress-free, and efficient way of implementing the project execution plan is through the use of project management software . These applications help in monitoring the project in real-time on commencement.

They also help in keeping track of everything surrounding the project execution plan and the implementation process, from the objectives and budgets down to risks and deliverables.

Step 2: Monitoring and Controlling Risk Factors

As often experienced in all projects, the appearance of various risks aiming at impeding the project process is inevitable. However, the presence of a well-detailed project execution plan helps to cushion its effects.

Every project execution plan should contain measures in place to counteract such risks as they arise. The best way to counteract and manage these risks as they surface is to:

• Seek Solutions from Experienced Stakeholders: Interview project stakeholders with prior knowledge on the complexities of this type of project and find out about their assessment of the various risks which have affected their handling of the previous organization or team's projects.
• Identify Risks: You can identify risks before they occur through the use of an efficient situational analysis framework structure aimed at predicting the likely occurrence of risk factors. Create a list of any possible risk factors that could harm the project and efficiently create measures to counteract their effect. The harder and more damaging risk factors should be acted upon first. In the eventuality that something goes wrong, the complex and more damaging risks are already out of the way and the project process is likely near the completion stage.
• Proper Project Planning: Properly analyze project planning documentation in a bid to identify the inherent risks associated with the project process.

Monitoring risks can be a time-consuming and disheartening process. Using web-based project management software and tools helps to make the seemingly time-consuming and stressful process a lighter experience.

Online project management software tools help by providing heads up on the possible risk factors that may arise during the project process. They detail the possible impact it might have on the project.

Step 3: Managing All Activities in Real-Time

Periodic and regular tracking of the project is paramount to the successful completion of the project process. It is difficult to track project deliverables and budgets without setting up proper progress trackers which helps to spot problems out in real-time.

Project tracking software helps you track your projects and prevents you from missing out on crucial deadlines.

The managing process of your project often involves the need to have regular check-ins with project team members. This helps project managers have an idea of the happenings around the project process. The two best ways of managing the activities of your project process in real-time during the project execution phase are daily check-ins and regular progress meetings.

• Daily Check-Ins: Project managers should ensure they inculcate the culture of checking in daily with members of the project team. This aims at ensuring the members of the project team are accountable. It allows project managers to regularly track the progress of the project.
• Regular Progress Meetings: Carry out regular and periodic progress meetings where discussions on the project’s timelines, progress, milestones, and potential issues arising are the main items on the agenda of the meetings.

Step 4: Check Everything Before You Deliver The Project

The final and concluding step of the project execution phase is to ensure everything concerning the project is in order and you are signing off on the right track.

Project managers are responsible for testing, accepting, and approving every aspect of the execution process before successfully delivering the deliverable to the project sponsor or client. They have to ensure the to-be handed-over project is completely free and devoid of errors and mistakes. The benefits of a well-planned project plan are visible in this final stage as there is no pressure on project managers to hasten project processes due to the worry of late deliverables and bloated budgets. Project managers will have enough time to carry out much-needed final checks on the project to ensure it is error-free.

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Anastasia belyh.

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

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How to Execute a Plan Successfully (Tools & Templates Included)

Planning is everything. Without a plan you’re working in the dark. But the plan is only the beginning. The real work begins when executing that plan. Learn how to execute a plan to deliver a successful project.

How to Execute a Plan in 8 Steps

Once you’ve put the time and effort into creating the plan, you need to execute it. That means doing the tasks in such a way that you don’t spend over your budget and miss your deadline. Follow these eight steps to ensure a successfully executed project.

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Action Plan Template

Use this free Action Plan Template for Excel to manage your projects better.

1. Identify the Goals & Objectives of Your Plan

You’ve already identified the goals and objectives of the project and created a project plan to achieve them. Now that you’re executing that plan, always keep those goals and objectives in mind and make sure the project is working towards reaching them.

2. Map Out Tasks On a Timeline

To make sure that all the tasks are completed by the deadline, you’ve organized them by priority and have mapped them on a timeline . As you execute the project, refer back to that timeline to make sure that the tasks are completed in a timely manner.

3. Assemble a Team

The plan can’t be executed without a team. They are your most valuable resource. Choose your team wisely. They should have the skills and experience necessary to complete the project and jell as a team to work collaboratively.

4. Assign Tasks to Team Members

Once you have the team, assign them tasks according to their abilities. Make sure you give them direction, but also ownership of the work. Be available to answer any questions and get feedback from them.

5. Track Your Team’s Progress

As the team works on their tasks, you’ll want to keep track of their progress and performance. If you see them falling behind it might be necessary to reallocate resources to get the project back on track.

6. Control Costs & Risks

Also, monitor how much money the project is spending. You’ll need to control those costs to keep them aligned with the budget . You should have identified risks when planning. Now you want to keep an eye out for any issues that arise and quickly resolve them.

7. Communicate with Your Team

Stay in communication with your team. They will have questions about tasks and can provide feedback from the front lines of the project. The more open communication is in both directions, the better for the health of the project.

8. Measure the Success of Your Execution

Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your project . They are also helpful as success criteria.

Tips to Execute a Plan

The planning phase is the backbone that holds up any project. Jennifer Bridges, PMP, shows you how to take your project plan and execute it right.

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What Tools Can You Use to Execute a Plan?

Project management tools are ideal to track the execution of any type of plan. Let’s see how project management tools that can help you stay on track.

Gantt Charts

The Gantt chart is a scheduling tool that has a spreadsheet on the left and a timeline on the right where you can see the entire project, including dependencies, milestones and more. You can track progress on the Gantt chart, but there will undoubtedly be changes to the project plan.

A digital Gantt chart, like the one in ProjectManager’s software, makes adjusting the scheduling easy. Just drag and drop the task to the new start date or deadline. All the other tasks are adjusted automatically.

Project Dashboards

The monitoring and controlling phase of a project occurs simultaneously with the execution of the project. Using a project dashboard provides a high-level view of the project whenever you want. Unlike light-weight competitors, ProjectManager has real-time dashboards that don’t require time-consuming set up. You can use it right away to monitor time, cost, workload and more.

Kanban Boards

Gantt charts usually have more information that a project team needs when executing its tasks. Kanban boards are a great tool for teams in that they allow them to manage their backlog and collaborate when planning sprints. The visual workflow of the kanban board is also great for managers who get an overview of the production cycle and can identify and remove bottlenecks before they cause problems.

Free Planning Templates

ProjectManager has all the tools listed above and more, but if you’re not ready to upgrade yet we also offer dozens of free project management templates for Excel and Work for all phases of a project that you can download right now. Here are a few that can help when executing your project.

Our free action plan template for Excel can be used to plan and execute projects. It breaks the project down into phases, tasks, assignees and more. You can even track time and costs.

To-Do List Template

If your project isn’t that complex or if team members want to manage their tasks, our free to-do list template for Excel is a great help. Not only does it list your tasks, including start and end dates, but you can see the percentage complete to ensure you’re staying on schedule.

RACI Matrix Template

To successfully execute a project you need to identify and assign the roles and responsibilities of the team. Our free RACI matrix template for Excel helps you do this by indicating who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

So as you can see there’s so much more than just executing the plan. So if you need a tool that can help you execute your plan successfully, then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager .

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• How to Plan, Execute and Monitor a Project Effectively

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Using a systematic methodology to approach projects is a key to successful execution. Often planning or monitoring are put into the background in the rush to move ahead with execution or reporting results. Both are a fatal mistake. If the necessary time is taken to plan out all aspects of the project, it saves much time and many resources later on in terms of a failed or less than expected project result.

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In this article, we look at all you need to know for 1) planning projects, 2) monitoring projects, and 3) executing projects successfully.

PLANNING PROJECTS

Identify project goals.

To begin planning for projects , it is necessary to identify what is it that you are trying to achieve. This identification of goals helps drive the project down a clear path. To reach this end, a project team needs to know:

1. Who are the stakeholders?

To reach that end, the first step is to correctly identify who the stakeholders are. A successful project is one where all important stakeholder needs are met. Stakeholders to a project may be anyone who is directly or indirectly affected by the project. Identifying the right set of stakeholders may need some careful research. Some possible stakeholders include the end user who receives the output, a customer who receives a finished product, the project manager, his team and a project sponsor or champion.

2. What are their needs?

With a list of stakeholders in hand, you can now work on identifying their needs. These can be clearly stated and easy to see or implicit and harder to pinpoint. The most relevant information can be gathered through interviewing the stakeholders. It is important that a seasoned professional conduct these interviews as time needs to be taken to draw out the real issues. Stakeholders may have some needs that cannot be met effectively and these need to be recorded separately to avoid misplaced effort.

3. What are the priorities?

As mentioned briefly in the previous step, not all needs identified can be met effectively. Some cannot lead to actionable outcomes, some may not make business sense, and meeting yet others may not end up creating value for the stakeholders. This makes it extremely important to prioritize all the information gathered till this point

4. How do these convert to measurable goals?

A prioritized list of goals can now be turned into easy to measure goals. One framework for this is to employ the SMART principle. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Formulating goals this way helps to measure them for completion and success.

These goals can now be put down into the project plan along with a mention of the stakeholders and their needs.

Identify Project Deliverables

Almost as important as the goal identification is the breakdown into deliverables. For each goal, it is vital to understand and identify how it translates into outcomes. It needs to be clearly stated when each deliverable is due and how it will be achieved.

These deliverable can now be added to the project plan preferable with close to accurate delivery dates as well as acceptable levels of delay.

Establish Project Schedule

Further breakdown is needed at this point. Each deliverable needs to be converted into tasks that need to be performed in order to produce required results. Here, the number of man hours per task needs to be calculated and resources need to be assigned. This includes both people and other resources. With this calculation, there may be a need to update the project timelines specified previously to present a more realistic image. If there is a drastic difference in delivery date expectations from project head or sponsor and the actuals calculated, then there may be a need to either renegotiate the deadline, increase resources or reduce the scope of the project.

Create Supporting Plans

With the basic plan in place, the team can now work on setting into place any required supporting plans. These can include

– Human Resource Plan

This plan needs to record in detail, the names of all the people and organizations involved in carrying out the project. Against each name mention their roles and responsibility. Also mention how long they will be working on the project and how resources will be hired or selected to work on the project.

– Communication Plan

A communications matrix needs to be put into place identifying who needs to be privy to project updates and how they will be provided the same. This means identifying a common format for reporting and establishing reporting frequency.

– Risk Mitigation

It is easy to overlook a risk mitigation plan but it is a vital part of effective project management. It is important to identify all possible risks to the project and have a plan in place to address these. Project risks can include unexpected budget cuts, an inefficient flow of required information, suddenly raised costs or an incorrect estimation of resources needed, incorrect understanding of stakeholder requirements or changing requirements among others.

Using a simple log, you can identify each risk and outline what will be done to prevent it and what will be done if it ends up happening. This log can be updated on a regular basis.

Project Planning Overview

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EXECUTING PROJECTS

The execution phase turns an idea on paper into a reality. A thorough and detailed plan will mean that a solid foundation has been set for successful execution .

3 Must Haves For Effective Execution

1. the right team.

A high performing team with the right mix of people working to their strengths is key to project success. Throughout the process, ensure that team motivation is high, communication is flowing freely both upwards and downwards and there is a sense of ownership within the team.

2. Strong and Timely Decision Making

Sometimes tough decisions need to be taken at delicate stages of the project’s progress. Leaders need to be on top of progress and be willing to make difficult decisions at the right time to either steer the project towards the right path or in a drastic scenario, shut it down before further loss of resources is suffered

3. Open and Clear Communication

All through the project, there needs to be an open line up and down the project team. An effective reporting system can help keep top management abreast of ground realities to help make the right decisions. Similarly, updates on high level achievements to the team can help keep morale high.

Focus on People for Successful Execution

Traditional project management suffers the danger of becoming too bureaucratic and focused on the end game, with very little effort being put into the very teams that are needed to achieve goals. Perceived softer issues such as trust within teams, morale, an ownership for the project, a sense of belonging and employee engagement are often neglected or treated as unimportant. Usually, it is so because project leaders find these issues harder to quantify and therefore, plan for. Research has shown that unmet emotional needs can lead to below expected performance, thereby affecting project execution. An engaged team can lead to optimized performance:

Engaging the Project team

An engaged team knows its goals clearly and is able to achieve them. They are also able make meaningful contributions to project outcomes and work well as a team. Through a participative environment, teams can learn and grow.

Engaging Stakeholders

An engaged set of stakeholders are confident that the project team can achieve the task at hand. They feel that their best interests are being considered and display passion for the project.

Optimizing performance

By engaging stakeholders and creating an engaged team, there is a higher likelihood of successful project execution within project guidelines.

MONITORING PROJECTS

An effective monitoring and measurement system throughout the project execution can make the difference between a successful project and a failure.

6 steps to ensure effective project monitoring

1. monitor project throughout.

Monitoring is only useful if it is built into the execution phase at the beginning. There is no point to a monitoring activity if all the work has been completed already and all the resources wasted. A system needs to be set in place for this during the planning phase and followed up on strongly.

2. Decide What to measure

It is vital to identify which indicators are to be measured. These should be noted in the planning document and communicated with all team members and stakeholders. Acceptable levels of performance should also be identified, so that it is clearly understood when a red flag needs to be raised. A frequency of reporting as well as a format needs to be decided upon and clearly communicated to all those who will be expected to issue reports.

3. Gather the right data

If the monitoring framework if clearly defined, then there may not be any need for huge amounts of data collection. Too much irrelevant data will only create confusion and add no value. Quality of data to ensure relevance needs to be the focus of any data collection efforts.

4. Select appropriate tools

Decide initially all acceptable methods of data collection. A wide variety can be used including questionnaires, surveys and focus groups.

5. Assign monitoring responsibility

Unless someone is assigned the task of monitoring specifically, it is an activity that can slip unnoticed into cracks. It is pertinent to assign a specific person for each type of reporting or monitoring activity and to build this task into their own personal deliverables. For this use project management software or task management apps .

6. Identify who to report to

Those tagged with reporting should be told clearly who they are to report to. Reports are tailored according to the management level they are being reviewed by. A senior management team may only need high level timelines, results and resource consumption data, while a middle management group or project team itself may need minute details of each task achieved or delayed.

Monitoring Tools and Techniques

Tracking quantitative metrics.

Much of project monitoring is focused on hard facts such as the money being spent, man hours being used up etc. These are key metrics and need to be tracked in a systematic and effective manner, providing a ready snapshot of where the project is at any point in time. Some of the ways in which projects can be tracked are:

1. Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are a good way of tracking key metrics. All relevant data can be listed out with values against each important metric. This includes timelines with acceptable delays, projected budgets with expected increases, projected man hours with expected increases, team members and their backups in case of any emergency

2. Project Applications

If the project being worked on is very large with complex interrelationships and many sub projects, then a spreadsheet may not be sophisticated enough to offer streamlined tracking and reporting. In such cases, a tracking application like MS Project is the right way to go. You can also use project management software .

Tracking Qualitative Metrics

Apart from quantitative metrics, an equal monitoring focus needs to be given to the qualitative side. Are stakeholders happy with the progress? Are their expectations being met? Is the project meeting the needs it set out to? Some methods to achieve this are:

1. Questionnaires or Surveys

This method is simple to create and get results on. A large number of people across various cross sections of stakeholders can be reached relatively easily and it is less of a hassle for them to respond as well. People can chose to withhold their information while still participating. The information needs to be analyzed critically once data is received.

2. Feedback Forms

Feedback forms can be distributed and completed at a time where users may have just used a product or been indirect contact with you or your team. There may have been an event or a sample testing.

3. Interviews

These require a lot more preparation and time than the other methods mentioned here. The interviewer needs to have questions prepared and should be able to probe for relevant information. Though most effective in person, these can also be conducted over the phone.

4. Focus Groups

Another way of gathering first-hand information is to put together a good cross section of stakeholders into a room together and allow them to answer some pointed questions but largely able to speak freely and ignite new ideas through each other. Often this can lead to better results. A group conversation can tend to go off track so it is important for the facilitator to steer the conversation in the right direction and also to allow all opinions to be voiced freely.

The Importance of Monitoring

The following reasons make a compelling business case for proper planned monitoring

1. Accountability

If a project has received funding from a stakeholder they will expect reports on the effective utilization of these resources. Regular monitoring will ensure that this information is present whenever it may be demanded or required.

2. Future Funding

If a project team or an organization gains a reputation for lack of transparency or discipline in utilizing resources, it may become impossible to secure resources for an upcoming project. On the other hand, a less effective team with clear reporting and transparent operation may seem like a safer option to an investor.

3. Compare Actual vs Planned Progress

Without an actual planned progression through a process to compare with, there may be a tendency to forget what the goals to be achieved were. Through regular monitoring and reporting, you can keep a track what was to be achieved and what has been allowing any relevant course corrections or explanations to stakeholders.

4. Learn from Experience

Through effective monitoring systems, successful and unsuccessful processes can be identified and separated allowing creation of best practices and benchmarks to be followed during future projects.

5. Team Engagement

When a team can see solid evidence of the difference their effort has made, they are more engaged and morale and ownership remain high. It may encourage them to take initiatives to further improve work and their own performance as well as think creatively for the benefit of the project.

An Overview on Project Management

[slideshare id=24470138&doc=projectmanagement-130721095616-phpapp01&w=710&h=400]

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Jacobs (J) to Support LAWA's Capital Improvement Program

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. J announced that it has been chosen as a lead consultant by the Los Angeles World Airports (“LAWA”) to provide on-call, task order-based and professional services.

Through a Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC), J, along with other 14 lead consultants, will support LAWA's Capital Improvement Program. Also, they will modernize Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport, which will enrich passengers’ travel experiences.

Jacobs will engage more than 30 local minority businesses on their respective task orders, which will help provide opportunities for small and disadvantaged business growth in the long run.

MATOC is the largest award of its kind in the City of Los Angeles' history.

Solid Project Execution to Drive Growth

Jacobs' ability to execute projects efficiently has played a pivotal role in driving the company's performance in recent quarters. The continuous success in securing new contracts stands as evidence of this proficiency.

The solid project execution efforts are supported by its ongoing backlog growth. At the fiscal second-quarter end, the company reported a backlog of $29.4 billion, up 2% year over year. This reflects persistent solid demand for Jacobs' consulting services. People & Places Solutions’ backlog was $17.93 billion compared with $17.56 billion in the year-ago period. The backlog at the Critical Mission Solutions segment was $8.45 billion, up from $8.14 billion a year ago.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Shares of the company have gained 3.3% in the year-to-date period compared with the Zacks Technology Services industry’s 15.1% growth. Although J’s shares have underperformed the industry, its earnings per share (EPS) estimates for fiscal 2024 suggest 10.8% year-over-year growth.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Jacobs carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Here are some better-ranked stocks in the same space:

AppLovin Corporation APP currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

APP delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 60.9%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APP’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates growth of 31.7% and 202%, respectively, from the prior-year levels.

Duolingo, Inc. DUOL currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. DUOL delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 115.2%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DUOL’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates growth of 37.8% and 397.1%, respectively, from the prior-year levels.

SPX Technologies, Inc. SPXC presently flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1. SPXC has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 13.9%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SPXC’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 14.7% and 24.4%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s reported levels.

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

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A faster pathway to value for the semiconductor industry

SemiPath delivers digital continuity across functions and enables better decisions

Semiconductor companies need accurate indicators to make financial and supply chain decisions based on real-time insights into manufacturing. Precise and timely data can be used to price chips and make allocation decisions based on profitability. Connected, real-time data enables the insights required to get to market quicker and with tighter integration between product lifecycle management and manufacturability.

Companies in the semiconductor value chain can keep pace with the fast-moving and cyclical nature of the industry and overcome functional and system silos through a framework of digital continuity. Doing so enables end-to-end visibility across functions and makes it easier to plan and execute effectively. Yet, the semiconductor industry has had a reluctance to take on expensive and disruptive technology and process transformations, however necessary. This creates a siloed environment of scattered data and systems, making it nearly impossible to run end-to-end operations smoothly.

Capgemini’s SemiPath solution enables digital continuity across key backbone systems of ERP, PLM, MES, and planning to improve decision making, business outcomes, and profitability.

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Duke Experts Assist Effort in Preparing State for Severe Heat This Summer

What policymakers and state residents need to know for this summer

With summer just around the corner, Duke University scholars have teamed up with North Carolina state agencies to provide counties with new tools for protecting residents and workers from heat-related health impacts.

Launched on Earth Day, the  Heat Action Plan Toolkit  features a heat action plan template that each of North Carolina’s 100 counties can customize to fit their unique needs and circumstances. The toolkit also includes outreach resources for communities, as well as recommended actions for health care staff and local leaders when extreme heat is in the forecast.

Over the past year, experts from the  Heat Policy Innovation Hub  at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability have collaborated on the toolkit with three state agencies—the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR), North Carolina State Climate Office and North Carolina Division of Public Health.

Duke and agency experts worked together to design the plan template and resources with strong research underpinnings. They also engaged with people on the front lines in different regions of North Carolina to glean insights that shaped toolkit development.

Download the Toolkit

“North Carolina is a leader in creating a county-level heat action plan toolkit that is grounded in evidence, informed by community engagement and customizable for diverse geographic and social contexts,” said  Ashley Ward , director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub. “Providing concrete guidance to counties on how to plan, prepare and respond to extreme heat is critical to protect our communities, particularly those most vulnerable. I hope other states will follow North Carolina’s lead.”

The adaptability of the plan template relies on modeling created by  Jordan Clark , senior policy associate at the Nicholas Institute, working closely with the State Climate Office. Clark used historical data for emergency department visits in the  North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool  (NC DETECT) to develop regional thresholds for extreme heat. Those thresholds act as triggers for counties to initiate their heat action plans and for the North Carolina Climate and Health Team to issue alerts from its new  Heat Health Alert System .

The work hasn’t stopped with the release of the toolkit. Clark and the hub’s partners are further refining the modeling with updated NC DETECT data, and they are incorporating seasonal variation into the thresholds .

The hub also played a key role in community engagement efforts. Representatives from each of the four lead organizations  convened a workshop  in July 2023 with state agency officials and local leaders from a climatologically and demographically diverse group of 10 counties. Participants helped the organizers better understand how counties would develop and deploy their plans and identified gaps in resources and knowledge.

Ahead of the toolkit’s release, Ward joined state and local experts for an introductory webinar on the  health risks posed by extreme heat . Topics covered in the webinar included the state's changing temperatures, evidence-based strategies for preventing heat-related illnesses, how communities are already preparing and how the state government can help.

“In North Carolina we're extremely fortunate to have so many strong university and state efforts devoted to addressing our greatest climate challenges, like dangerous extreme heat,” said Kathie Dello, director of the North Carolina State Climate Office. “This partnership with Duke, the State Climate Office at NC State, and state agencies like NCORR and NCDHHS demonstrates our state's strength in developing data-driven, solutions-oriented products to ensure that North Carolinians thrive in a changing climate.”

The Heat Policy Innovation Hub brings together scientists and communities to develop and deploy innovative policy solutions that reduce the impacts of extreme heat on human health and well-being. The toolkit is just one example of how the hub is partnering with federal, state and local agencies to plan and prepare for extreme heat.

In April 2023, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued policy guidance that for the first time required state emergency managers to consider climate change and equity in disaster planning. Ward and Clark wrote a supplemental report that offered  recommendations for state emergency managers  to adequately evaluate the threat of extreme heat as they update their federally mandated hazard mitigation plans.

Ahead of the 2023–2024 school year, Clark published a comprehensive strategy for high school athletic associations to  ensure the health and well-being of student-athletes  as they train and compete in high temperatures. The policy brief targets improvements in measuring heat stress, activity modification guidelines and emergency action plans that can be implemented across sports and venues.

“As we see all too often, heat-related illnesses are preventable—with the right knowledge, preparation and planning,” Ward said. “Duke’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub is eager to build purposeful partnerships with the public and private sectors to develop practical policy solutions that safeguard communities against the health impacts of extreme heat.”

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Video Opinion Series: Extreme Heat Doesn’t Belong to a Single Season

July 27, 2023

Game Plan to Protect High School Athletes From Heat

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September 11, 2023

Most Excessive Heat in Durham, Mapped

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Heat ‘Wave’ Is Far More Than That, Duke Experts Say

July 24, 2023

Duke Heat Expert: ‘2023 May Be the Coolest Summer For the Rest of Our Lives’

May 30, 2024

What is Wet Bulb Globe Temperature?

With the announcement of the new Microsoft Planner, Project Plan 1 has been renamed to Planner Plan 1, effective April 30, 2024.

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Starting April 2024, the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams 2 will be generally available and the Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Microsoft Teams will be renamed to Planner. Existing Project for the web customers will get access to the premium capabilities in the new Planner app in Teams as part of their Project for the web subscription, with no additional licenses required, while continuing to use the web experience.

Later in 2024, the web experience of the new Planner app will be generally available.

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