During the planning stages of the initiative, it is a good idea to plan the timescales of the project.
To plan effectively:
- create a Gantt chart
- list the items and their completion times
- estimate when each element will be finished
Please see the Gantt chart template within the initiatives folder on SharePoint.
You should always account for:
- commitments in other projects
- upcoming planned leave
- time spent in meetings per week
- the hours you work per week
- time spent learning about the project
- time required to get access to tools and data
- any other commitments
If you add more tasks to the project, make sure to update the Gantt chart and inform the customer of the new deadlines. Your planned deadlines are usually just estimates and can be extended if underestimated.