Add time estimates and check your team has room for the work, so deadlines are realistic before you commit them to the client.

What
Estimate each task, check the schedule on the Gantt chart, and balance work across your team in the Workload planner.
Why
Estimates feed your budget and capacity planning. Catching overloads now prevents missed deadlines later.
Who
Project managers and resource managers.

This is step 3 of 7 in the Project Manager onboarding path. About 20 minutes.

Estimate and schedule

1. Add estimates to tasks

  1. Open each task and add an estimated time, such as 4 hours.
  2. Ask the assignee to check estimates for work they know best.
  3. Look at the total estimate for each task list. It should fit the hours in your budget, which you set in step 4.

2. Check the schedule on the Timeline

  1. Open the project's Timeline to see tasks and milestones on a timeline.
  2. Drag tasks to adjust dates, and check that dependencies run in the right order.
  3. Make sure milestones land on the dates you agreed with the client.

3. Balance the workload

The Workload planner shows each person's assigned work against their available hours.

  1. Open the Workload planner and find the people on your project.
  2. Look for anyone over capacity in the weeks the project runs.
  3. Reassign tasks, move dates or add unavailable time, such as holidays, until the workload is realistic.

4. Plan work that is not confirmed yet (optional)

If the project is still being agreed, use tentative work to reserve your team's time without committing it. See Tentative Work Overview.

Done when

  • Every task has an estimate.
  • Milestones fall on the dates agreed with the client.
  • Nobody on the project is over capacity.

Next step: Step 4: Set a project budget.

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