What is a project plan? In simple terms, a project plan is a management ‘tool’ designed to get you from the start of a project to its completion as quickly and efficiently as possible. If prepared with enough detail a project plan will identify each task and when it should commence, highlight which tasks are dependent on others and alert you to potential trouble spots. Project planning is particularly important for complicated projects involving many people with diverse talents. Many projects cannot commence until a project plan has been established.