How to plan a client project
A thirteen-week website project: four workstreams, thirteen activities, two client reviews, three milestones and a company holiday. The four views below show the same plan and stay in step.
Gantt chart: when the client decides
Activities are grouped by workstream, with their names on the left. The client has a group too: client projects rarely slip on the agency's work alone.
An approval is a short activity, not just a date. Concept review gives the client two days, Design system and pages waits for it, and Concept approved sits beside it. Acceptance review works the same way before Client sign-off and Launch and handover. Give Concept review two more days and all the work after it, and the milestones that follow, move two work days later.
Kanban board: who is the work waiting on
The same activities by workstream and status.
Waiting on client is the column to watch: Content inventory is there, and Copywriting needs that content. The agency's own work moves through Planned, In progress and Done, so the board separates what you can push forward from what you can only chase.
Client tasks: what the client owes
A list filtered to the Client workstream, with reference keys, dates and what each task waits for.
Keys such as CP-5 let both sides name the same activity in emails and minutes. The filter only hides the agency's work: Acceptance review still waits for Testing and fixes.
Flowchart: what really decides the date
Lanes show the workstreams; arrows show dependencies across them.
Kickoff is a diamond because two chains start there; both run, so it is not a yes-or-no choice. The agency chain, through both client reviews, has no gap between its steps and sets the go-live date. The client chain of content, copy and migration joins it at testing after a gap of more than three weeks before Migration, so the copy could finish three weeks late without delaying testing. Dragging the copy keeps that gap and moves what follows; see Moving dependency chains.
Make it yours
- Choose Open in Tidigar under any view to get your own copy. It is free, needs no account and stays on your device.
- Rename the workstreams and activities to match your agency and client.
- Drag Kickoff to your real start date; all the work after it follows, keeping its work days.
- Share → Send a copy gives the client an independent snapshot that your later changes do not reach. To keep one plan or an updating view shared with them, use Tidigar Business (paid); see Sharing a plan.
Put client work in the client's calendar
Save your copy in Tidigar Business (paid) and select the saved Client tasks view. Choose Share → Screens…, make a screen of that view, then choose Calendar subscription → Copy calendar link. The client subscribes to that address in their calendar app without a Tidigar account; see Screen links and calendar feeds.
The view's filter selects the client activities for publication; the feed also includes the published milestones. Content inventory and Concept review each appear across their planned work days. Descriptions and scheduling dependencies are left out. Preview the saved view before sharing: a calendar feed is an updating publication that anyone with its address can read, rather than a private member invitation.
The frames above remain demonstrations of a local copy. Only changes to your stored Business plan update its feed. Calendar updates can take hours or longer; confirm a moved review directly with the client. Deleting the screen stops future access after cache expiry, but cannot erase events already downloaded.
Frequently asked questions
Why show the client as a workstream? Their content and reviews are on the plan's dependency chains. Leaving them out hides the most common reason for delays.
Why is an approval an activity rather than a milestone? Activities can wait only for a milestone with a fixed date. A short review gives the client time to decide, lets the next work wait for it and keeps the approval milestone right after it.
How many approvals should a client project have? As few as the client can live with: usually the concept and the finished site before launch.