When you develop a project plan for an effort that will take months (if not years) to complete, it's easy to get lost in the details. A high-level overview is useful for your ability to create and update the plan and to communicate it to others.

I'm not referring to a Gantt chart from MS Project or other project management software. Those are helpful but are often difficult to get the actual picture you need to convey information. I'm talking about a chart with the following information:

• Display the upcoming months across the top (with each month taking up a single column).
• Display segments as the first column down the far left (this could include segments such as "Requirements Gathering," "Design," "Testing," etc.). The idea here is to break down the plan into sections that align with various phases of the plan or groups within the project team.
• Within the intersection of the month and the segment, include information about the tasks that will take place.

Here are a few ways to use this depiction of the project plan:

1. Point out and discuss dependencies

When you're creating the plan and need to talk with team members about their tasks and deadlines, a high-level overview can help you facilitate that discussion. You can point out that if they want to complete the project by "X" date, they'll need to complete their testing of the software by "A" date to ensure there's enough time to make changes and retest before go-live.

2. Review the plan without going into too much detail

Frankly, you're the only person who really cares about the details of the project plan. I made the mistake once of showing team members the entire project plan. They completely ignored the details and only wanted to know what was coming up next.

You want the team focused on completing tasks, not on trying to understand your project plan. Show them the overview when you need to discuss upcoming work and deadlines. Address task specifics with those responsible for certain tasks (and only show them their tasks from the plan unless they want or need additional information).

3. Discussing the project with executives

You're probably providing periodic updates to management regarding the status of the project. They rarely want to know the details, so the high-level overview is perfect for status updates and discussions. You may want to summarize the overview even more for those conversations.

Leading a project involves a significant amount of communication. By creating and using a high-level view of your project plan, you'll have an easier time discussing plan timelines and objectives with team members and executives.