Work Plan

Work Plan Template

Define the milestones of a project and create a detailed plan to achieve your goals.

About the Work Plan Template

What is a work plan?

A work plan is essentially a roadmap for a project. It articulates the steps you must take to achieve the desired goal, sets demonstrable objectives, and establishes measurable deliverables. An effective work plan guides you throughout the project lifecycle, allowing you to realize an outcome by collaborating with your team.

Lean Six Sigma is an approach to streamlining business processes that originated in the manufacturing industry. It aims to reduce waste, improve quality, and increase efficiency and product value. The work plan is a tool that can help you plan projects according to the Lean Six Sigma methodology.

4 components of a work plan

To make a proper work plan, you’ll need each of the following components:

1. Goals

The goals are the ultimate aim of your project: what you want your team to accomplish. This can be something very specific or a broader aim.

2. Strategy

Your strategy is the big picture approach for your project plan that you will implement to achieve your goals. This includes laying out what your resources are, what your constraints are, and how to take advantage of your strengths. 

3. Tactics

Tactics are the smaller decisions, techniques, and action steps that you will employ to achieve your broader strategy. This includes: defining tasks, identifying which people you want on specific tasks, giving instructions on how to complete them, and more.

4. Deliverables

Deliverables are the specific, time-bound results you want to achieve from specific tasks, as defined by your overall strategy. These are how you know you’re on track for achieving your goals. 

How to use the Work Plan Template 

Now that you know all the separate components of a work plan, here’s how you put them all together. Use this Work Plan Template to get started and do the following steps:

1. Meet with stakeholders

Perhaps the most important part of a work plan is ensuring that you have inputs from all the right people and that you’re not missing information. Bring in all the team members, stakeholders and project sponsors, and use the meeting to brainstorm, figure out your timeline, and identify constraints. 

2. Identify goals, strategy, tactics, and deliverables

After you’ve hashed out the process with your project stakeholders, it’s time to identify the goals, strategies, tactics, and deliverables of your plan. This is the meat of the work plan, so the bulk of your time should be put into this. 

3. Create a work map

A work map is an actionable outline drawn from your plan, complete with due dates and an overall timeline for the achievement of your project goals. 

Of course, it’s normal for things to change throughout the course of a project (especially for large projects). Your work plan cannot be all-encompassing – nor should it be. List as many of your goals, strategies, objectives, and tactics as you can and add dates for specific tasks, but don’t worry if you need to make adjustments later. Project management software can be useful in helping you keep track of dates, tasks, and assignments. 

When do you use a work plan?

You can use a work plan at the beginning of a project for strategic planning purposes, to scope the project and continue to update the plan as the project progresses with actual data. Set a cadence of regular meetings so you can go over the plan, ensure you’re staying on track, and adjust as necessary. Work plans are especially helpful if you’re juggling many complex projects, managing multiple stakeholders, or working in tandem with cross-functional partners.

FAQ about work plans

What are the components of a work plan?

The components of a work plan are: goals, strategy, tactics, and deliverables.

How do you write a work plan?

Write a work plan by identifying each of the above components for your project, then creating specific tasks to accord with them, assigning them out to individuals with due dates, and then identifying clear deliverables for each worker.

Work Plan Template

Get started with this template right now.

Related Templates
RAID Log Thumbnail
Preview

RAID Log Template

Works best for:

Agile Methodology, Project Management, Agile Workflows

Use the RAID Log template to better understand potential risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies relating to an upcoming project. With this information, you can make effective contingency plans and prepare your resources accordingly. You’ll know what could go wrong throughout the project and how to fix the problem.

RAID Log Template
PI Planning Thumbnail
Preview

PI Planning Template

Works best for:

Agile Methodology, Strategic Planning, Software Development

PI planning stands for “program increment planning.” Part of a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), PI Planning helps teams strategize toward a shared vision. In a typical PI planning session, teams get together to review a program backlog, align cross-functionally, and decide on the next steps. Many teams carry out a PI planning event every 8 to 12 weeks, but you can customize your planning schedule to fit your needs. Use PI planning to break down features, identify risks, find dependencies, and decide which stories you’re going to develop.

PI Planning Template
Block diagram-thumb-web
Preview

Block Diagram Template

Works best for:

Mapping, Software Development, Diagrams

Use this template to illustrate technical systems. Blocks represent important objects in the system, and arrows demonstrate how the objects relate to each other. Perfect for engineers, workflow managers, or anyone trying to build a better process.

Block Diagram Template
Infographic Thumbnail
Preview

Infographic Template

Works best for:

Marketing, Desk Research, Documentation

As we bet you’ve experienced, data can get pretty dense and dry. But you need it to be compelling, memorable, and understandable. The solution? Infographics. These are tools that let you present information in a visually striking way and turn quantitative or qualitative data into stories that engage and resonate. Whoever you’ll be presenting to — customers, donors, or your own internal teams — our template will let you design an infographic that combines text and visuals to break down even the most complicated data.

Infographic Template
Technology Product Canvas Thumbnail
Preview

Technology Product Canvas Template

Works best for:

Product Management, Roadmaps, Meetings

Originally created by Prem Sundaram, the Technology Product Canvas allows product and engineering teams to achieve alignment about their shared roadmap. The canvas combines agile methodologies with UX principles to help validate product solutions. Each team states and visualizes both product and technology goals, then discusses each stage of the roadmap explicitly. This exercise ensures the teams are in sync and everyone leaves with clear expectations and direction. By going through the process of creating a Technology Product Canvas, you can start managing alignment between the teams -- in under an hour.

Technology Product Canvas Template
Empathy Map Thumbnail
Preview

Empathy Map Template

Works best for:

Market Research, User Experience, Mapping

Attracting new users, compelling them to try your product, and turning them into loyal customers—it all starts with understanding them. An empathy map is a tool that leads to that understanding, by giving you space to articulate everything you know about your customers, including their needs, expectations, and decision-making drivers. That way you’ll be able to challenge your assumptions and identify the gaps in your knowledge. Our template lets you easily create an empathy map divided into four key squares—what your customers Say, Think, Do, and Feel.

Empathy Map Template