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Time Stamps:

0:36 – Explain Your Process
0:50 – Review The Deliverables
2:03 – People & Other Project Work
3:03 – Confirm Everything
3:34 – Manage & Update

Presenting your project plan to a client can seem like a daunting thing, but it doesn’t have to. In this video, we show you some simple things you can do to make the project management presentation process nice and smooth for everyone.

When you’re working on a project with a client or a product owner, it’s critical to be 100% sure they understand all the details your team has discussed. Your clients may not be familiar with your processes or deliverables so a project plan presentation is your chance to enlighten them.

The more you can educate your clients early in the process, the easier time your team will have at winning them over when presenting your work. After all, a client who is invested in, and truly understands your work is not just a client—they’re a partner.

Also, it’s never just about the work—it’s about the people doing the work. Be sure to communicate that the team has reviewed the project plan and mention some of the items you discussed and how you arrived at those decisions. There’s a lot of value in showing your clients the human side of your process and your team because it’s often easy for them to think of you as just a shop who just gets the work done. They don’t know all the details, and maybe they don’t want to, but if you share some details about who’s doing what and key things they’re working on, it’ll help them to relate to it a bit more.

You’ve put a lot of work into creating this project plan, so talking through the details to make sure that everyone is comfortable with it should be pretty important to you. If this means giving your client and team some extra time to think things through on their own, that’s fine. Of course, you never want this process to take so much time that it delays any of the real project work. You can create the plan while work is underway—but don’t let it go unconfirmed for long. You want to be sure that you have an agreement because the details in your plan will dictate SO much, including your immediate next steps.

The chances that you’ll have to make adjustments to your project timeline here or there are pretty significant. It’s uncommon for every project to stick to its plan 100%. Life happens, ideas change, deadlines are missed, and plans change. That may mean that your deadline has to shift, or maybe your process won’t work for this project anymore. As long as you’re flexible and can adapt to the revolving door of changes, so can your project plan.

Be sure to give updates to your team and your clients as plans change, or stay on track, and keep your plan in an accessible place. You’ll always come out on top if you’ve communicated or resolved an issue early on, or even just paid a compliment on a job well done.

The original video is available here.