11 Tips On How to Make A Timeline For Your Business

A timeline is a way to organize and plan your business. It can be in the form of a table, chart, or graph, and it usually includes information such as start date, finish date, and deadlines. A timeline is often needed when you are trying to create an overview of all the important tasks that need to be completed for your project to succeed. Here are 11 tips about how you can make one:

1. Determine the important milestones of your project.

The first step to making a timeline for your business is to determine which points in time are the most significant. These points will typically be when you need to finish certain milestones or tasks, such as obtaining funding or signing contracts with suppliers. For example, if you're launching a new product in six months, your timeline may have a milestone every month in the run-up to the launch.

2. Assign each milestone date and write them in order.

After you determine which points in time are most significant for your project, assign each one a date and write them down in chronological order. The milestones should be assigned a month and a year, which can be written in a bar graph or table.

3. Complete the timeline with other tasks that need to take place between milestones.

In addition to your project's most important milestones, you should also add necessary tasks that must be completed between each milestone on your timeline. For example, if you're launching a new product, you may need to hire a staff member between the time you sign the contract with your supplier and when you launch.

4. Make sure each task has a start date, finish date, and description.

Once you have all of your milestones, tasks, and deadlines listed out on your timeline, make sure that for each one, you have a start date, finish date, and description. You can do this by assigning each of the milestones in your table so you have enough room for all the information.

5. Add color to important milestones.

To make your timeline more visually appealing, add color to certain key milestones on it. For example, you may choose to color in the months leading up to the launch of your product each a different color. This will make it easier for you to see at a glance which tasks are coming up next.

6. Add any necessary timelines for contracts or other external deadlines.

If any external deadlines are crucial for you to keep, such as a supplier contract that expires in three months or a press release that will be presented next month, add them to your timeline and make sure you allocate enough time for these deadlines.

7. Consider adding extra columns for time spent on each milestone.

Although the table should show only the key milestones and tasks for your project, you may also want to consider adding columns for time spent on each milestone. This will allow you to see the total amount of time it takes for your business to complete a project.

8. Add an extra column for contingencies.

In addition to including information about the total time it takes to complete a task, you should also include contingency time in your timeline. Contingency time is when you allow extra time in case something goes wrong. For example, if one of the tasks that's on your timeline is to create a presentation for suppliers, you may put 2 days contingency time in case something unexpected happens and it takes longer than expected.

9. Add information about deadlines or target dates to milestones.

As well as adding the date that each task will be completed, you can also show deadlines or target dates for certain milestones. For example, if one milestone is to have a prototype of your product finished by the end of August, you may want to add a note beside this milestone with today's date and the words "Target Completion Date" with the date of September 30.

10. Add color to all dates or milestones with target dates, deadlines, or contingencies.

To make it easier for you to see which tasks are due soonest, have all dates assigned to tasks that need to be completed by a certain day appear in red on your timeline. You can do this by going to the Format section of your "Home" tab and going to Conditional format. There, you can choose a color for dates where a task needs to be completed by a certain date so it's visible on the timeline. You can also do this with milestones that have deadlines or contingencies included.

11. Don't forget about important tasks that you need to complete within the timeline.

Although it's important that you get all of your milestones and tasks down on paper, don't forget about other important tasks that you need to complete for this project to be successful. For example, if your product needs time to be manufactured before it can be sold, don't forget about the small task of getting the manufacturing started.

One great tip to successfully create a timeline is to use Venngage — an online timeline maker and infographic maker that offers a wide range of timeline templates for everyone. Here are some timeline examples from their website!

If you're not sure how to create a project timeline, follow these 11 steps and get a little help from Venngage. Once you have your timeline down on paper in the most suitable format for your needs, this will help you plan out what needs to be done for your product to launch successfully. To start making your timeline, click here.