How to build a workback schedule that unlocks peak efficiency

Project timelines and schedules have taken many shapes over the years as managers find innovative ways to plot due dates, visualize dependencies, and define milestones. As a result, there’s a plethora of strategies for project planning.

Workback schedules have recently emerged as one of the more creative scheduling approaches. This approach involves planning your project plan in reverse, starting with the end goal and working backward to discover dependencies, set deadlines, and schedule deliverables. It’s an effective tactic for surfacing time constraints well before encountering them.

Workback schedule benefits

Workback project schedules inspire managers to rethink their project planning methods and prioritize due dates over start dates. In the project timeline, workback schedules plan tasks in reverse order, so teams remain focused on the end goal rather than simply the next task. If well-executed, this strategy promises the following benefits.

Improved project planning and coordination

By first setting an ultimate due date for the entire project, you can then determine how much time to invest into each step and set expectations accordingly.

Having a workback schedule helps people better understand their roles because they need to determine timelines for their own responsibilities. When they fully grasp the work a project requires of them and the resources they need to complete it, they can schedule tasks and plan deliverables in anticipation of the next steps.

Deadline management and conservative estimates

Establishing the due dates for each project deliverable early on encourages everyone to make reasonable commitments. When creating a workback schedule, you’ll allocate most resources to the beginning of your project timeline, leaving room for any challenges or delays.

For example, if your team plans to launch an international website, an experienced writer would know to send content for translation as early as possible. When planning the workback schedule, that writer would give the rest of the team a realistic estimate that allowed for potential setbacks. If none occur, that portion of the project will come through ahead of schedule.

Resource allocation and optimization

When you’ve determined how much time you have for each task, then you can determine whether you currently have the resources to begin the entire initiative. For instance, say you determine you need 14 days to complete a development project. If you don’t have enough staff to turn the build around in that time, you’ll need to hire more before you set your start date.

Risk mitigation and contingency planning

As you set task deadlines, ask team members what challenges they anticipate. You can use their input to determine how flexible your schedule must be. For example, if your marketing team can’t estimate how long it’ll take to create a marketing campaign for a new product until they see a prototype, you know to leave flexibility around the campaign stage. You’ll also prepare a contingency plan in case marketing can’t produce their original idea in time.

Workback schedule example

Consider using a workback schedule template to guide your strategy and ensure you’ve considered all critical factors. Here’s a hypothetical project scenario you can use to inspire your own timeline.

Imagine you’re making a workback plan for launching a simple web app and you need to schedule tasks for all the project deliverables along the way. If your ultimate due date is June 5, without accounting for weekends and holidays, your workback schedule might look like the following.

How to create a workback schedule in 6 steps

Creating a workback schedule is a team effort, requiring input from all relevant members to account for every project deliverable. If you’re gearing up for a new project, try this six-step process to develop a workback schedule.

1. Define project scope and milestones

Start by outlining all the milestones your project timeline needs to track. Use what you know about your team and their work to draft an outline. For every item you write down, ask yourself, “What resources do we need before we can start this task?”

Next, host a meeting with all critical individuals to gather insights about your draft. Listen to their feedback to determine how you need to scope the project. If an action item isn’t attainable, such as conducting a marketing campaign or adding support for a new feature, remove it from the plan or seek alternative solutions.

Don’t worry about setting deadlines yet — just let your staff discover any critical milestones you might have missed or that might be unattainable. If you’re running an integrated project that combines cross-functional teams, all departments can contribute simultaneously to ensure you cover everything.

2. Sequence tasks

Take what you learned from the team and flesh out your draft. Identify which tasks are prerequisites for others and in what order you need to complete deliverables. Use a Gantt chart if you need a visual representation to organize your thoughts and work out how these tasks fit together.

3. Estimate task durations

Now that your prerequisites are in order, consult the team again and ask for estimates of how long each task will take. Encourage them to give conservative estimates and ranges to account for potential setbacks.

4. Set the project deadline

Add up task durations to determine where the ultimate deadline should fall. Then, share that projection with your executive team so they can communicate their expectations. If they decide the timeline needs to be shorter, explore ways to tighten the workflow, reallocate resources, or reduce requirements.

5. Schedule tasks in reverse order

Now, articulate your schedule in a format like a table, list, or Gantt chart. Starting at the deadline, define the last action the team must perform to finish the project, such as “launch the app” or “distribute ads,” noting the task duration next to it. Then, work backward, labeling each task and deducting the estimated durations from every due date.

6. Allocate resources and assign responsibilities

With your workback schedule complete, assign each task to the relevant person and kick off the project. Use tracking tools or your Gantt chart to label and track each item as it moves through the timeline, checking in regularly with team members to ensure adequate progress. If anyone is falling behind or working ahead, adjust the project timeline accordingly.

Manage your projects with Webflow

Project schedules are essential to reaching your goals, and how well you can stick to them is a key indicator of your team’s efficiency.

One way to keep your web design projects on track is to use a scalable, professional platform like Webflow, which enables teams to design and build with a visual-first composable CMS.

Webflow lets team members work in parallel with page branching, edit mode, and site-specific access. And it’s backed up by an enterprise-grade stack and global hosting network that can easily handle traffic surges. 

To learn more, contact the sales team or check out Webflow University for helpful courses and interactive sessions.