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How To Create a Lean Business Plan (2024)

Learn how to create your own lean business plan, with a step by step guide and an example, in this article.

There are two types of entrepreneurs: those who start a business with careful planning and those who jump right into it without a formal business plan. Both offer avenues to success, but starting a business with a plan helps you visualize that path—and, more importantly, stay the course.

But sometimes your business plan is too long or comprehensive for your needs or audience. That’s when your lean business plan comes into play. 

What is a lean business plan?

A lean business plan is a shortened version of your full comprehensive business plan. Lean business plans are useful for when you need to modify your plan for a specific audience. Typically the lean business plan is for internal use. For example, if you want to share your business plan as part of the onboarding process for new hires, you may use a lean business plan to avoid overwhelming them with too much information.

While a detailed business plan may have lots of information and full paragraphs, your lean business plan includes only the most important, need-to-know information. You might use more bullet points and lists in your lean business plan than in your regular business plan.

Further, your full business plan talks about the what, why, who, where , and how behind your business idea. Your lean business plan, on the other hand, zeroes in on the how behind your business.

What are the benefits of a lean business plan?

• A lean business plan enables a business to quickly adapt to new market conditions
• It distills the business’s offerings to their essence
• It highlights what sets the business apart from competitors.
• It takes less time to create
• It makes it easy for investors and business partners to grasp the company’s mission

Lean business plan template

Your lean business plan template should have the following sections:

• Executive summary (optional)

Company description

Market analysis, products and services, customer segmentation.

• Marketing plan

Logistics and operations plan

Many times, you can also omit the financials section of your lean business plan.

If you want to follow along, consider starting with this business plan template as a base and then trimming it down to fit your lean business planning needs.

How to write a lean business plan

For the purposes of this article, we’re going to take our fictional Paw Print Post business plan example and modify it to be a lean business plan. If you don’t already have a full business plan, you can follow this business plan writing guide to get started. Then you can adapt it as follows to suit your lean business planning needs.

Executive summary

The executive summary should have bullet points highlighting what’s to come in the rest of your lean business plan document. The job of the executive summary is to draw your readers in and get them interested in the information that follows. Call out exciting or surprising bits of information to pique their interest.

• List your company’s key points: name, business model, product/service, USP.
• Identify the target market and financial highlights.
• Use bullet points to organize these details in a concise manner.
• Write a draft of your executive summary, ensuring it’s compelling and brief.

In the company description, provide a clear and concise overview of your business. Explain what you sell, your business model , and your business type.

• Summarize what your company does in two sentences.
• Define your business structure and mention the founder’s background.
• Write down your short-term and long-term business objectives.
• Create a bulleted list incorporating these points.

The market analysis section highlights the research you’ve done to validate your business idea. You’ll want to outline the fact that there’s a sizable audience who is willing to spend money with a business like yours.

Your market analysis section of your lean business may also consist of a SWOT analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You may also summarize your competitive analysis , perhaps listing your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.

• Gather research data on your industry and target market.
• Perform a SWOT analysis for your business.
• Identify key competitors and note their strengths and weaknesses.
• Bullet your findings for inclusion in the lean plan.

This section of your lean business plan will outline what exactly you plan to offer for sale for your customers. 

• List all products or services your company offers.
• Describe the customer experience from start to finish.
• Keep descriptions clear and brief.

This section of your lean business plan puts your audience into groups based on shared characteristics. Customer segmentation is helpful because it allows you to define specific audiences and create targeted promotions and messaging that appeal directly to those groups.

• Define your primary customer segment.
• List the characteristics that define this segment.

Marketing strategy

The marketing plan should outline your pricing strategy , promotional channels, and sales venues.

• Detail your pricing model and justify it based on your market analysis.
• List your main marketing and promotional strategies.
• Define where and how customers can purchase your products or services.

This section will cover the day-to-day operations, including suppliers, production, and shipping.

• List your suppliers and their role in your business.
• Detail the production process step by step.
• Explain your shipping and fulfillment strategy.

For each section, ensure you focus on the essentials that matter most to your business’s strategic planning and operation. Keep it concise and actionable with bullet points for easy reading.

Lean business plan example

Here is a lean business plan example you can use to inspire your own. 

COMPANY: Paw Print Post

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Paw Print Post is a sole proprietorship that sells customized greeting cards featuring a pet’s unique paw print. Founder Jane Matthews runs the business using her extensive experience in the pet industry and formal graphic design training.

The pet industry generates $100 billion each year, globally. Paw Print Post’s high-end greeting cards fill a niche in the market serving pet owners who don’t want the mess of a traditionally captured paw print involving ink or plaster. All customers need to do is send in a digital image of their pet’s paw.

Paw Print Post’s ideal customer is a woman based in North America who considers herself a “cat mom” or “dog mom.” These greeting cards are priced as premium cards with volume discounts for larger orders.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Type of business : sole proprietorship run by owner Jane Matthews

Industry: pet industry (primary); some goods could be categorized in the greeting card industry

Business objectives:

• Immediate: Launch at the Big Important Pet Expo in Toronto
• Two-year goals: (1) Drive $150,000 in annual revenue from the sale of Paw Print Post’s signature greeting cards; (2) Expand into two new product categories

Team: Jane Matthews is the sole full-time employee

• Contractors hired as needed to support her workflow and fill gaps in her skill set.
• Standing contract for five weekly hours of virtual assistant support with Virtual Assistants Pro.

MARKET ANALYSIS

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Paw Print Post’s flagship product is a line of greeting cards customized with a pet’s unique paw print. Here’s how it works:

Customers send a digital image of their pet’s paw

Paw Print Post edits the image and adds it to the front or interior of several card options, including:

• New pet welcome
• Pet loss condolences
• Pet birthdays
• Adoption milestones
• Training course completion
• Service pet work commencement

CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION

• A woman who owns a cat or dog
• Lives in North America, 25–55 years old
• No children
• Shops online at least once a week
• University-level degree
• $50,000 average annual salary
• Values her time
• May refer to herself as a “cat mom” or “dog mom”

MARKETING STRATEGY

• Price. A single card costs $9.50, while bundles of identical cards reduce the price, with three for $20 and six for $30.
• Product. Paw Print Post’s greeting cards solve a specific problem—pet owners want custom, high-end products featuring their pet, and a paw print is a unique and affordable way to do so. Since pet owners only need to take a digital image of their pet’s paw, it’s a lower-effort way to customize cards than what exists in the market currently.
• Promotion. Leading industry trade shows, partner promotions with established products, and digital ads on both Facebook and Instagram.
• Place. Paw Print Post will have an online store at pawprintpost.ca where customers can place their orders. Paw Print Post will ship all orders to customers’ chosen addresses.

LOGISTICS AND OPERATIONS PLAN

Suppliers: Local print shops for one-off prints, given that each item needs to be made to order, and cheaper offshore options won’t work.

Production:

• Customer places order and sends their digital image
• Jane takes five minutes to process the image in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop before sending to the local printer
• Local print shops offer one- to two-day turnaround for custom orders. Each custom card will cost $2 for setup and 75¢ for each print, so the costs for each bundle offered are:
• One card: $2.75 (Price: $9.50, margin: $6.75)
• Three cards: $4.25 (Price: $20, margin: $15.75)
• Six cards: $6.50 (Price: $30, margin: $23.50)

Facilities: Jane processes images and ships orders from her home office; all contractors maintain their own facilities.

Equipment: Paw Print Post already owns the required software and hardware to process the images.

Shipping and fulfillment: Paw Print Post will fulfill orders using Shopify Shipping and may look into local fulfillment options or contractors to help scale if needed.

Inventory. Paw Print Post does not hold inventory and all orders are created as they come in.

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Lean business plan FAQ

How do you write a lean business plan.

• Start with an executive summary: Write a high-level overview of your business strategy, objectives, and how you plan to achieve them.
• Describe your business: Detail the products/services you offer, how you will price them, how you plan to market them, and how you plan to organize the business.
• Identify your target market: Describe your target customer, the size of the market, and how you plan to reach them.
• Outline your financials: Provide a financial overview of your business, including projected income and expenses, break-even analysis, and financial goals.
• Define your operating plan: Outline the day-to-day operations of the business, from staffing to inventory management to customer service.
• Provide supporting documents: Include any supporting documents, such as résumés, contracts, or legal documents.

How long is a lean business plan?

A lean business plan is typically shorter than a traditional business plan, usually no more than two pages in length. It usually consists of a brief overview of the business, the current situation, the goal, the action plan, budget and timeline, and a conclusion.

What are the 4 types of business plans?

• Startup business plan: A detailed document used to define and plan your business’s objectives, strategies, and tactics.
• Growth business plan: A plan used to identify and capitalize on opportunities for growth.
• Internal business plan: A plan used to assess the internal strengths and weaknesses of a company.
• Strategic business plan: A plan used to set long-term goals and strategies for achieving them.

How is a lean plan different from the traditional business plan?

A lean plan is a simplified version of a traditional business plan that focuses on the core elements of the business, such as the mission, strategy, and key activities. It emphasizes identifying and testing assumptions, keeping plans short and simple, and focusing on the customer. The traditional business plan is more comprehensive, with a greater focus on financials, market analysis, and operations. It also requires a longer timeline and more resources to complete.

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Lean Business Plan Template & How-To Guide

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Historically, business owners have devoted months to constructing a detailed plan to establish strategy, executive, and financial numbers for their business. Although a strategic plan is often created, these entrepreneurs often miss a big piece: gathering feedback from potential customers.

Without collecting data and insight from target customers, the detailed business plan becomes a document of assumptions and guesses rather than a proven success blueprint.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

Lean business planning allows you to more quickly and accurately develop your business plan based on actual customer feedback and interactions.

On this page:

Key benefits of lean startup business planning, can you use a lean plan to raise funding, key elements of a lean business plan.

• Lean Planning Process
• Putting The Lean Plan Into Action

Review Your Results & Revise Your Plan

Lean business plan faqs, other helpful business plan articles & templates.

The lean startup business model is supported by a one-page business plan that does not require extensive financial forecasting or long-term market research and development plans. While the traditional business plan details every aspect of your company’s operations, the lean business plan focuses on key factors that present immediate opportunities for new companies to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. This approach allows you to maintain company focus on your core mission and avoid adding unnecessary information that can weigh down your final document.

The lean startup movement has encouraged entrepreneurs to shorten their plans down from hundreds of pages to a one-page business plan or less – essentially eliminating the need for small businesses to create traditional plans at all. Rather than spending time creating lengthy reports, owners can simply list their core values, mission statement, market analysis, marketing strategies, and projected financial statements – all on one page.

Some companies even document their entire value proposition on a single sheet of paper which serves as both the foundation for further market research and development to improve its product or service offering. By having this type of information readily available to share with investors or clients, your company will appear more professional and prepared without taking up too much time creating unnecessary documentation.

Developing a lean business plan is a critical step in launching or growing your business. However, it’s important to note that if you’re seeking VC funding , bank funding, or angel investors , a traditional business plan is required. Such a plan includes additional research, strategy, and financial forecasts to give investors and lenders the information they need to determine whether they will receive an adequate ROI (return on investment) if they provide funding to you.

Below are nine key elements of a lean business plan example:

Business overview

Describe what the business does.

Value propositions

Detail the value your business brings to the market and the industry.

Key partnerships

List the key partners, including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, vendors, or software firms, with whom your business will work.

Key activities

List the key activities your business will perform to gain a competitive advantage, grow market share, and fuel profits.

Key resources

List the resources that your business has at its disposal to create maximum value. This could include human capital (your own experience or that of your core team), intellectual property, patents, funding, etc.

Customer relationships

Describe how your customers will interact with your business. Will you have personal or automated channels of communication available? Chart out the end-to-end customer experience journey and how you intend on building customer relationships.

Customer segments and channels

Specify your target audience, what requirements of theirs you cater to, how you reach out to them, and, most importantly, the steps you are taking to generate a customer experience that will result in long-term loyalty.

Cost structure

Define your key costs and variable costs, and how they represent a competitive advantage if applicable. A lean startup business plan (versus a lean business plan for an existing company), needs to also include key startup costs you anticipate in launching your company.

Revenue streams

Describe how your business generates money. What are your revenue streams or sources, for example, selling advertising space on your app or publication, membership fees, direct sales, etc? List all your revenue sources in this section, starting with the source that delivers the largest revenue.

Download Your Free Lean Business Plan Template

Lean Business Planning Process

To create your lean business plan, follow these 4 steps:

Create the Plan

Your lean business plan will start with you, your business idea, and one sheet of paper. Yes, one sheet is all you will need.

Business Strategy

You will first begin by explaining your business strategy. This is simply a summary of what you are planning to do, who your customers are, and who your competitors are.

Identify the problem you are trying to solve along with your solution and potential alternative solutions. Then, describe your target customers. Focus on defining and describing the audience you expect to serve, who they are, where they live, etc. Lastly, explain who your competitors are. Describe what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.

Easy enough, that is all you need for your plan. With lean business planning, you simply create a business strategy that focuses on the essence and function of your business: what you’re doing and who it’s for.

Course of Action

The next piece of your lean business plan is laying out an outline of your course of action. This section will illustrate how you’re going to make your strategy happen. Here, you will focus on sales, marketing, your team members, and any potential key partners or future relationships in the business world.

Sales Strategy

It is important to first begin creating your course of action by establishing just what your sales strategy is. Will you be selling in a physical store or online? Or both? Consider whether or not your product will be sold in stores owned by other companies, and who these companies would be.

Marketing Strategy

Next up is creating your marketing strategy. Think about how you will effectively and attractively reach your potential customers. Here, consider the following:

• Target market
• Online presence
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Special promotions

Team Members

The success of your course of action will be dependent on the team members who execute it. If you need to build a team, think about who the key people are that you will need to hire. What are their qualifications and characteristics? If you already have an existing business, highlight the key members that help run your company and accomplish strategy and success.

Partners and Business Resources

Begin to think of the other businesses that you might want to work with. Most likely there are other companies that you will have to work with to make your strategy work. Brainstorm all key resources, business partners, distributors, and key suppliers that you will need to have relationships with.

After constructing your Course of Action, it’s time to create your schedule. Since lean business planning is centered around efficiency, designing an organized schedule is key.

For startups:

If you’re starting a new business, you should begin with getting to know your customers. For you to grow a viable business, you must understand your customers’ views, wants, and needs. Your goal here will be to ensure that you’ve developed a strategic, organized strategy. A startup’s schedule will often include sending out surveys, interviewing customers, and researching locations.

For established businesses:

For most businesses that have been around, your schedule should be focused on achieving the business goals you have identified. Your schedule should have specific actions with names, dates, and even times. The schedule you create should hold your business and its employees accountable for their work and progress.

The final part of scheduling is to make time to regularly review your Lean Business Plan. As your business progresses, so will your Lean Business Plan. Setting a regular review time is critical to get your business moving in the right direction and your team members on board.

Forecast and Budget

Even if you have the best business idea in the world, if the numbers aren’t there, it won’t work out. The final section of your Lean Business Plan should depict a business model that forecasts and budgets for the future.

Here, all you have to do is create basic bottom-up sales forecasts and a basic budget for expenses. Do not try to sugarcoat here, these numbers should be as practical as possible. With this, you will be able to identify just what will and won’t work for your business.

By taking on this pragmatic sense, you may begin to feel like your business will not be able to succeed unless you are flooding with customers or getting daily news coverage. You may need to alter your business model here and adjust your pricing and expenses to ensure that you can turn a profit. Also, keep in mind any funding options for large-scale marketing and PR campaigns. Keep a realistic view, but also be sure to acknowledge offers that may be available to help you out.

Putting The Lean Business Plan Into Action

After you have completed your lean business plan, it’s time to put it into action. Your main goal here should be to get a deeper understanding of your customers. Is your product solving their problem? Are they willing to pay for it? Do they want something else?

Reaching out to your customers early on will help you get a grasp on their wants and needs to make the necessary alterations to your Lean Business Plan for ultimate success. It will also provide you with some insight as to what products you may want to produce in the future.

As earlier mentioned, your lean plan should be reviewed regularly to discern just what is working and what isn’t. Compare your results with your lean plan. Are sales growing according to plan? Does the plan need to be changed?

For startups who have little to no metrics to track, review your customer interviews, surveys, or any other information that you have gathered about the industry. Here, you can begin to continually refine your plan and strategy if necessary.

If you are an established business, review your recent results with those from the past. Take note of your key metrics as well as foot traffic in stores, website visits, and any other critical units of measure for your business success.

After analyzing your results, it’s time to revise your plan. Remember that your Lean Business Plan is a process rather than a finalized document, and it is made for continuous improvements. Don’t be afraid to make any necessary changes to aid in your business’s success.

Lean business planning might just be the key to your company’s ultimate success. This simple method of business planning has helped many startups and existing businesses advance and flourish such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon. By focusing on reviewing, revising, and business management, lean planning allows you to test out different strategies to find the best one to create a successful business.

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

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With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

What is a lean business plan?

A lean business plan is a compact, single-page document typically for internal use. Lean planning is a short-term business plan strategy for making small changes and measuring the results to improve the efficiency of the business. This compares to the formal business plan which is typically very detailed, includes 10 key components , and can be up to 15-25 pages in length.

What is the purpose of a lean business plan?

The lean business plan is primarily for internal use, so it doesn’t have to be a fancy document. The purpose of this plan is for you to document the changes you’ve made to your business so that you can analyze their effectiveness in improving business operations, marketing, and/or sales over a short period.

How long is a lean business plan?

The lean business plan is typically a one-page document to describe your business strategy including your goals, targeted audience, your business model, and how your sales and marketing strategies work to support your business goals. 

How do you create a lean business plan?

Refer to our article on ‘ Lean Business Plan: How-To Guide & Template ’ for the 4 steps in creating a lean business plan or a lean startup business plan template . You can also download our free lean plan template to help you get started. 

Fundamentals of Lean Planning Explained

Noah Parsons

11 min. read

Updated April 15, 2024

Let’s face facts: Writing a traditional business plan is a hassle. 

• A traditional business plan takes too long to write.
• Most people won’t even read it from cover-to-cover.
• It’s often outdated by the time you finish writing it.
• It doesn’t lend itself to frequent and easy updating—and that’s the core of the problem.

Historically, entrepreneurs have taken months to craft detailed plans without even gathering feedback from potential customers. They’ve viewed business planning as a single hurdle to get their business up and running or a thick wad of paper to shove across a banker’s desk in order to get the funding they need.

These business plans end up as just a collection of guesses and assumptions, instead of a proven roadmap for growth. 

But planning is still critical, even if the business plan might be broken. Studies have shown that businesses that set goals and track their progress grow 30 percent faster than those who “just wing it.” Furthermore, even established businesses grow faster when they have a plan . 

So what if I told you there was a better way to do business planning? One that lets you adjust and refine your plan as you gather more information about your business and customers.

A method known as Lean Planning.

• Welcome to the Lean Planning method

Lean Planning is a 4-step process that helps you discover a business model that works and manage your company successfully.

Here’s the Lean Planning process:

• Create a one-page plan
• Test the plan
• Review your results
• Revise your plan

These 4-steps replace the traditionally lengthy business plan with a 20-minute planning process. This ensures that you are taking small steps, reviewing your results, and creating incremental improvements—all while reducing your risk of failure.

It’s also simpler and faster than writing a traditional business plan. And, possibly, the greatest benefit is that this method can benefit both startups and established businesses. 

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If you’re a startup

Lean Planning helps you quickly figure out if your idea is any good and what you need to change to build a viable business.

If you’re an established business

Lean Planning works even if you’re already up and running. It helps you continually refine and tweak your strategy while measuring your progress toward your goals. After all, planning is about making better management decisions, not about producing a thick document that sits in a drawer.

Read on to learn how to make the lean model work by creating your own one-page business plan .

• Step 1: Create a one-page plan

The Lean Planning methodology starts with a one-page plan you can create in 20 minutes .

That’s right—one page. Lean Planning is a simple methodology and your one-page plan should be simple, too. You can download a lean planning template and fill it in as you follow the steps below.

What to include in your one-page plan

• Strategy: What you’re going to do
• Tactics: How you’re going to do it
• Business model: How you’re going to make money
• Schedule: Who is doing what and when

Let’s dive into each section.

Your business strategy

Your business strategy is simply an overview of what you want to do and who your customers and competitors are. Start by identifying the problem you are solving for people and follow up by explaining your solution to this problem.

The problem you’re solving

Businesses exist to solve problems for customers. Their products and services fill a need or satiate a desire. If all you have is a solution that is in search of a problem, you’re going to have a hard time building a successful business. So, start with the other side of the equation and focus on how you can help your customers solve a problem.

Start small with just one or two sentences or a few bullet points to identify the problem you are solving. Do the same thing to describe your solution.

Your ideal customer

Now, quickly describe your target market. Who is your ideal customer? If you know how many potential customers are out there, great. If you’re in the early stages of fleshing out your business idea, don’t worry too much about detailed market research . Instead, focus on defining your ideal customer —who are they, and what are their key attributes?

Your competition

Finally, create a shortlist of your competition . How do your potential customers solve their problems today?

That’s it. A business strategy doesn’t have to be complicated with Lean Planning. It’s just a few bullets points that describe the essence of your business: what you’re doing and who you’re doing it for.

The next section of your one-page plan is a short outline of your business tactics. This is just an outline of how you will make your strategy happen. You’ll be thinking about sales, marketing, the team you might need , and any partners or outside resources you’ll need to leverage.

Your sales strategy

Start by thinking through your sales strategy. Are you selling online or building a physical store? Maybe both? Or, perhaps your product will be sold in stores owned by other companies.

Your marketing strategy

Next comes your marketing strategy. How are you going to reach your customers? How do they find out that you exist and that you solve their problem?

If you need to build a team to grow your business, who are the key people that you’ll need to hire? If you’re an existing business, who are the critical employees that run the company and execute your strategy?

Key partners and resources

Finally, think about other businesses that you might need to work with to make your strategy happen. Are their key suppliers or distributors that you’ll need to have relationships with?

Remember, this is on a single page, so each of these sections should just be three to five bullet points each.

Now it’s time to build a schedule. Lean Planning is all about getting things done, so you need a timeline to follow.

Your next step is to get out from behind your desk and go talk to your potential customers (I’ll go into more detail on this in a moment). Your goal will be to verify that you’ve defined a solid strategy . To that end, a startup’s schedule should include things like conducting customer interviews, sending out surveys, researching physical locations, interviewing potential suppliers, and so on.

Your schedule will probably be focused on specific business milestones that are related to executing your strategy and implementing your tactics.

It’s critical to have accountability here. Your schedule should have dates and people responsible for completing each task.

Finally, make sure to include a time to regularly review your plan. You’ll want to review and revise this plan frequently, so having a regular review point is critical. I recommend a monthly review cycle, but reviewing more frequently is fine, too.

Business model

Even if you have a problem that’s worth solving, a solid solution to the problem, and a target market that needs your solution, you don’t have a business unless the numbers work out. You need a business model that works. The last component of your one-page plan is a basic forecast and budget to ensure that a great idea can actually lead to a great business.

Yes, forecasting and budgeting do mean looking into the future, and no one knows the future (at least I don’t!). But, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds.

Putting together some basic, bottom-up sales forecasts and a basic budget for expenses will quickly tell you if you have a business model that works—one that can create a viable business that will pay the bills.

At this stage, it’s important not to paint an incredibly rosy picture of your financial prospects. Instead, the sales forecasts should be as realistic as possible. Assume that not nearly as many people as you think will show up in your store. Assume that your website won’t get mainstream press coverage.

With this “realistic” forecast, do you still have a viable business? Can you turn a profit ? If you can only be successful with incredibly high volumes of customers, you may need to take a second look at your pricing, expenses, and other aspects of your business model. Or, make sure that you get the kind of funding that’s needed for large marketing and PR campaigns.

You can get started on your one-page plan right away by downloading our free template . You should be able to complete an initial draft in under an hour—that’s much faster than writing a traditional business plan.

• Step 2: Test the plan

Now that you have your one-page plan in hand, you’re ready to start putting the plan into action to see if your ideas will work.

Depending on your business stage, you’ll do this in different ways. If you’re a startup with an unproven idea or an existing business that’s considering a new strategic direction—your next step is to validate them.

Your one-page plan is just a set of assumptions about a business. Ask yourself:

• Do the target customers actually have the problem that you think they have?
• Does the solution you’re proposing actually solve their problem?
• Do your target customers want to pay for your solution? How much?

Reducing risk is your goal in the early stages of starting a business

Starting a business is full of risks . There are just so many unknowns, and it’s incredibly risky to just build your business based on a set of assumptions about your target market, their problems, and how they’ll react to your solution.

Your plan is a really just a set of educated guesses that need to be answered and then revised on a continuous basis until most unknowns are removed. That’s how you reduce risk.

So, you need to take the very simple, but very challenging step of actually talking to your potential customers .

Look at your first version of your plan as a set of assumptions that need to be proven true or false and then go back and revise your assumptions as you go. Refining your plan so that it’s a collection of facts instead of guesses can be the difference between a successful business and a failure.

If your business is up and running, focus on implementation

For more mature businesses that already know a lot about their target customers, the goal of the plan is to help guide implementation. In this situation, use a one-page plan to get everyone on the same page, set goals, and manage the business.

• Step 3: Review your results

Both Silicon Valley startups and Main Street small businesses need to know how they are doing. Which means  Are they growing according to plan? Why or why not? If not, what changes need to be made? Should the plan change?

For new startups

If you’re just getting started and don’t have many (or any) metrics to track yet, you should be reviewing the results of your customer interviews and any other information that you’ve gathered that would change your strategy. Perhaps you’ll be refining your solution or even tweaking the definition of the problem you are solving. Perhaps you’ll refine your marketing and sales strategy.

For established businesses

Beyond tracking key financial metrics such as cash , sales, expenses, accounts receivable, and accounts payable, businesses must track the other key metrics that are critical to their success. These other key metrics might be website visits, foot traffic in the store, tables turned in a restaurant or any other core number that drives business success.

Reviewing your results regularly is key to better management and success. These metrics should be reviewed at least monthly in a regular plan review meeting with key business partners and employees. This is when you refine your plan and your pitch if necessary and track your ongoing action plan.

• Step 4: Revise your plan

Lean Planning is a process, not just a document. It’s is all about continuous improvement. You’re quickly defining a strategy, experimenting to see if that strategy works, reviewing the results, and revising the plan before you start again.

Lean Planning is never finished. It’s simply a process for running your business better, more efficiently, and setting you and your team up for success.

What if you need a more detailed business plan?

There may be a time when you need a more detailed business plan. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some people might want to read it, you may need to submit a full plan for funding and you might even want to document your strategy in more detail. 

Your detailed business plan will be born from your one-page plan. The ideas will transfer from bulleted lists to sentences and paragraphs. You’ll add more detail to your sales and marketing strategy, your pricing strategy, and perhaps your manufacturing plans and distribution strategy.

For a step-by-step guide to creating a detailed business plan, check out our guide .

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

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Lean Business Planning: The Modern approach to Business Plan Writing

Free Lean Canvas Template

Ayush Jalan

• December 12, 2023

10 Min Read

Planning is essential for any business to attain success and sustain itself in the market. Traditionally, the goal was to formulate a lean business plan that lasts and works in the long run. However, this conventional way of creating a business plan isn’t flexible and doesn’t provide much room for improvement over time.

In an ever-changing business environment, you need a plan that can adapt to your changing needs and not hold you back with its rigidity. This is true especially when immediate actions are needed.

To facilitate the convenience to make modifications, a new method of planning has surfaced. This is called a lean business plan. This simple yet effective method of planning a business reduces the hassle of dealing with complicated documents—all while increasing efficiency and productivity.

What is Lean Business Planning?

A lean business plan is essentially a one-page business plan for companies to kickstart their businesses. Contrary to traditional business plans which are often bulky and complex documents, a lean business plan is a simple, reader-friendly, and easy-to-make document.

It is a streamlined core plan that acts as a basis for a more elaborate one.

If you want to skip the trouble of creating a plan from scratch, a lean business plan template can help you save a couple of hours. If done right, a lean business plan can guide you to reach your goals, keep track of your progress, and manage cash flow .

Why Choose Lean Business Planning?

A lean business plan is similar to creating a map with steps laid out to run your business. It is favorable compared to a traditional plan because:

• It’s faster: It contains summaries rather than detailed processes in each section of the plan. Consequently, making it a simple process that you can complete within minutes—saves you time.
• It lets you stay up-to-date: It’s flexible and hence easier to update. As your business starts to expand, your goals and strategies need to be modified accordingly.
• It’s concise: Conventional business plans are often too detailed for their own good—making it hard to interpret them and draw out actionable results. A lean business plan is simpler, shorter, and smarter.

Steps to Create a Lean Business Plan

Now that we have the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ out of the way, let’s take a look at the ‘how’. Here are the 5 key steps to creating the perfect lean business plan for your company:

• Lay the foundation for your business plan
• Put your ideas to test
• Review your results
• Revise your plan
• Set to launch

For your reference, we’ve created a simple one-page business plan for a barbershop business:

We have used a lean canvas to fit your plan on one page.

Step 1: Lay the foundation for your business plan

The first step is perhaps the most important one. It includes jotting down everything that your business is and does. Here, you summarize who you are, what you do, and how you do it. The plan can also include your target customer base, your goals, your team, and how you schedule tasks.

The foundational aspects of your business plan include:

• Strategy: Define the actions you will take to achieve your long-term and short-term goals
• Tactics: Describe how you use the resources available to implement your actions
• Execution: Specify how you will implement them
• Business model: Explain how you will generate sales and profits

1. Strategy

A strategy is the brain of your business. It encompasses the core identity of your business and the steps you take to run it. Here, you write your plans of action in simple and precise statements. This includes:

• Business identity: Here, you need to describe who you are and how you want your customers to identify you. This can include your business philosophy, company history, and mission and vision statement .
• Problem: Specify the problem that your customers are facing. Try to be as specific as possible with the claims you make. It is vital to understand that a business’s success depends on its reliability to solve its customers’ problems.
• Solution: Mention the solution to the problems you are tackling with your product. It’s important to note that your ultimate offering to the customer is not the product itself, but the benefit that it gives.
• Market: Your brand identity determines which market you operate in and who your target audience is. To get a clear idea of who your ideal customer is, you must understand their values and priorities. To do so, it is advisable to create a solid customer profile first before you think about allocating resources to marketing.
• Competition: It is necessary to keep a close eye on your competitors. In this step, you list down your top competitors, their USPs, their market share, and most importantly, how you are different than them.

Tactics are the key to implementing your strategies. They’re primarily all your plans and marketing techniques to steer your business toward growth.

• Sales channels: Simply making a great product isn’t enough. You need to make sure that it’s actually reaching your customers. For this, you need robust sales channels. This can include walk-in stores, online retail outlets, and even both. You may also list down whether you want to work with distributors or go solo.
• Marketing activities: Marketing is non-negotiable for any business. After all, what is seen is sold. This is where you will list down your marketing strategies to draw customers in and inform them about your product and persuade them to buy.
• Partners and resources: If you have business partners that manage or finance the business, mention them in this step. You can also add any key resources that you use for running the business.
• Team: Mention the key team members in this step and their respective roles. If you don’t have a team yet, you can write down the primary roles crucial for your business and later recruit relevant talents.

3. Execution

Strategies and tactics are wasted efforts without well-defined execution. Everything you have learned in the previous sections will not convert into growth unless you have a systematic assigning of tasks and deadlines.

• Schedule: It is essential to keep a timeline of all the events taking place in your business, along with a roadmap of all future activities. Review your schedule regularly to keep track of what’s working and what’s not. Making changes ensures that you don’t deviate from your goals.
• Assumptions: Assumptions are needed so you have some ground to make decisions. Without them, your team will have a hard time figuring out new strategies. Listing the assumptions you’ve made about your business ensures that everyone is on the same page.
• Milestones: Milestones are the achievements you aim to make with your business plan. They act as indicators that a plan is working. On paper, they might look like just to-do lists with deadlines, but they help track your progress and tackle standstills.
• Metric: There are several metrics through which businesses measure their success. Some of the fundamental metrics are sales, costs, expenses, and more. You can tailor this to your company and write how you want to judge your business’s performance.

4. Business model

A business model is a description of how your business will make money. The clearer this description is, the better. A sloppy business model is a recipe for wasted resources, and time, and can lead to liquidation .

• Forecast sales: Forecasting your sales means making educated guesses about your sales performance. It need not be 100% accurate. Here, you write how your business will create sales in the future. As hard as it may sound to play the guessing game, forecasting is important to compare expected sales to actual sales.
• Budget expenses: Estimating your future expenses and costs is essential to good management. Budgeting and regularly reviewing it helps you understand where you need to cut costs or increase investments to reach your milestones.
• Cash flow: Cash flow refers to the net inflow and outflow of cash in your business. Keeping track of it helps you foresee when you might run into a cash deficit or a cash surplus. You want to stay away from extremes. This assists you to manage your sales and expenses accordingly to maintain a good ratio.

Step 2: Put your ideas to test

After having your strategies made, milestones set, schedules in place, and a tactical plan to get your business up and running, it is time to test their utility. This helps reduce risks, gain insight, and avoid inefficient use of resources.

In this step, you verify the integrity of your business methodologies via extensive research. One of the best ways to do so is by surveying your target customers directly. Record their responses and compare them with your assumptions.

• Is the problem you are solving synonymous with the problem your target customers are facing?
• Does the solution you provide align with their expectations?
• Is there a solution you can provide that your customers don’t yet know they want?
• Are the sales channels you decided apt for your potential customers?
• Are your marketing techniques persuasive enough?

Asking all the above questions will give you a detailed view of what should be revised and what needs to stick.

Step 3: Review your results

The next step is to examine your results. After having put your ideas to test, you must have received some significant outcomes of your decisions. This is your data. You will use this data to figure out what went wrong with the last plan and come to conclusions.

You can review your results by using the same measuring metrics that we talked about earlier. It is important to choose reliable metrics that suit well with your business model. Opting for metrics incompatible with your business can give inaccurate results—making it harder to evaluate your performance.

Step 4: Revise your plan

One of the best things about a lean business plan is that it’s not set in stone. In other words, it’s a flexible plan and is open to continuous refinements as you go along with your business activities. Considering everything you have learned so far, this step is where you revise your lean business plan.

It includes making changes to your assumptions, sales channels, marketing techniques, schedules, budgets, and even your target customers as your business continues to evolve over time. The more mistakes you detect and revisions you make, the more reliable your lean business plan becomes.

Step 5: Set your business to launch

Now that you have a complete lean business plan in hand, one that is tested and refined, all you need to do is set your business in motion. Keep in mind to come back, revise, and keep updating your business plan as and when required. Usually, for most businesses, a lean business plan is all you need to get started.

However, sometimes a more detailed business plan is more suitable for large-scale businesses. This could include specific steps and instructions for your team to undertake complex operations and perhaps even comments for your investors. In case that’s your requirement, this business plan checklist might help you stay on track.

Creating a business plan is often a difficult and tedious task, but it doesn’t have to be. With the above-mentioned steps and guidelines, you can create a lean business plan that’s right for your company. This compact, tailored, streamlined, targeted, and easy-to-revise document is sure to get your business up and running in no time.

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About the Author

Ayush is a writer with an academic background in business and marketing. Being a tech-enthusiast, he likes to keep a sharp eye on the latest tech gadgets and innovations. When he's not working, you can find him writing poetry, gaming, playing the ukulele, catching up with friends, and indulging in creative philosophies.

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Lean business plan

Discover the lean business plan template, perfect for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Simplify planning with key sections on strategy, market analysis, and financials.

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Streamline your business strategy: The essential lean business plan template

Dive into strategic planning with our lean business plan template, designed specifically for entrepreneurs, startups, and small business owners looking for a streamlined approach to business planning. This template strips away the complexities, helping you focus on the core elements necessary to articulate your business vision, strategy, and action plan efficiently.

What's inside this lean business plan template?

• Company name & mission : Begin with the basics, establishing your business identity and mission to guide all your strategic decisions.
• Our offer : Clearly articulate what your business offers, highlighting your unique value proposition to stand out in the market.
• Problem statement : Define the problem you're solving, ensuring your business targets real needs for a solid market fit.
• Solution : Summarize your solution in one sentence, showcasing how you uniquely address the problem.
• Target market : Identify and describe your primary audience segments, tailoring your approach to meet their specific needs.
• Key competitors : Offer insights into your competition, helping you position your business effectively in the marketplace.
• Sales and marketing strategy : Outline how you'll reach and convert your target audience, detailing sales channels and marketing tactics.
• Financial projections : Present a snapshot of your financial outlook, including key expenses, revenue streams, and growth trends.
• Management team and partners : Highlight the people behind the business and their roles, underscoring your team's expertise and capabilities.
• Action plan : Set clear milestones and deadlines, assigning responsibilities to ensure progress towards your business goals.

Key benefits of using this lean business plan template

• Focused strategy : Concentrate on what truly matters to get your business off the ground or to the next level with a clear, concise plan.
• Efficient planning : Save time and resources with this streamlined business plan tempalate that covers the essentials without the fluff.
• Clear direction : Eliminate ambiguity in your business strategy, making it easier for your team and partners to align with your vision.
• Competitive insight : Understand your market and competition better, enabling you to position your business more strategically.
• Financial clarity : Gain insights into your financial health and projections, aiding in better decision-making and investor communications.
• Action-oriented : Move from planning to doing with a structured action plan that keeps your team focused and accountable.

Get started

Elevate your business strategy without the complexity. Our lean business plan template is your first step towards a more focused, effective, and successful business journey. Start shaping your strategy today, driving your business forward with clarity and purpose.

And, for a more comprehensive approach to business planning try our business plan template.

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Lean Business Plan

Managing a business requires the utmost participation of particular stakeholders especially that of the business owner and the management team. Properly planning business processes, tactic and strategy incorporation, marketing and sales activities, and other corporate undertakings is integral for the growth and development of the organization. A lean business plan is one of the documents that you can use for operational management and planning.

• 45+ Implementation Plan Examples
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Unlike a  remodeling business plan  and other kinds of business plans that are commonly presented to investors and external entities, you have to take note that a lean business plan is commonly used for internally managing the business.

Lean Business Plan Example

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Size: A4, US

A curation of lean business plan template examples in PDF is available for you to download and browse through from this post. Maximize the usage of these references when creating your lean business plan so you can ensure that your output is well-formatted, comprehensive, and business-appropriate. You may also see  business plan profit and loss template examples .

Lean Business Planning Guide Example

Lean Business Planning Example

Lean Business Planning Format and Instructions Example

Size: 244 KB

What Does a Lean Business Plan Contain?

When making a workout plan , a lean business plan, or other types of planning documents and tools, it is essential for you to think of the completion of all the information related to the plan that you have in mind. Coming up with a comprehensive document can make it easier for you to execute all your call to actions in a timely manner while maintaining the quality of your work processes. Here are some of the most basic and common information that you can observe once you browse through a lean business plan:

1. Make sure that you will be specific when listing down the date when the lean business plan has been made, the date when the lean business plan has last been updated, and the name of the point person who is responsible for safekeeping the specified document. You may also see  legal strategic plan .

2. Present and define the strategies and tactics that you would like to execute. You need to ensure that there is an organized listing of your strategies so you can also identify the areas of the business where they will be used. Properly presenting your strategies can also help you become more aware of the timeliness of their implementation. You may also like  job plan examples .

3. A guide for action plan execution is important to be included in a lean business plan. No matter how good your strategies and tactics are, they will be useless if you cannot execute them accordingly and in a timely manner. Your execution discussion must have the specification of the channels, touch points and platforms that you will use in varying circumstances depending on the entities that you will be transacting with. You may also see  weekly plan examples .

4. Know how you will manage the team. Come up with a structure for communication flow, decision-making, and other concerns that will allow you to maximize the participation and presence of all your team members. This can also help you identify the strengths, abilities, and other deliverable that you need so you can implement your strategies accordingly. You may also like  simple business plan examples .

5. Aside from the items listed above, it is also important for you to come up with a list of concrete specifics. This area of your lean business plan must present the milestones that you would like to achieve in different time frames, the responsibilities that you will designate to your workforce as well as the performance measures that you will look into when evaluating the output of different activities and programs. You may also see  daily plan examples .

6. Set assumptions and expectations appropriately. You have to be realistic with your presentation so that you can make sure that you are at the same page with your business stakeholders with regards the things that you want to achieve. You may also see transition plan examples .

7. Your lean business plan can also have financial statements and forecasts as well as other budget-related specifications like corporate spending, resource allocation, and projects of the business cash flow. Depending on the scope of your lean business plan, you can add more information that can support the discussion that you would like to present and give focus on.

Lean Canvas Format for Business Planning Example

Size: 135 KB

Lean Canvas Guide for Business and Project Planning

What Is a Lean Business Plan?

Is it your first time to encounter the term “lean business plan”? Unlike a school operational plan , which most, if not all, of us are already aware of, a lean business plan is a term that is not always used or talked about. If you have no idea on how to develop this document, the first thing that you need to do is to ensure that you will be knowledgeable of what it is all about and how its usage can be beneficial to the business operations. A few descriptions that can help you become more aware and knowledgeable of what a lean business plan is include the following:

1. A lean business plan is a useful business document that follows the plan-do-check-adjust procedure. This means that businesses use a lean business plan to follow a step-by-step guide that can direct the business toward the effective usage of its resources and outstanding implementations of its action plans. Using a lean business plan is essential as it can thoroughly present the deliverable that are necessary to be present so that business actions can yield the most favorable results for the organization and its stakeholders. You may also check out  advertising plan examples .

2. A lean business plan promotes a process of improvement that is sustainable, continuous, and attainable. Hence, a lean business plan consists of measurable and time-bound steps that the business can refer to for particular activities and programs. You might be interested in  event plan examples .

3. A lean business plan is an in-depth discussion of the plans of the business for the future and the attainability of each action plans based on the current capabilities, abilities, and capacity of the business. Through this document, business stakeholders can have an idea on how to develop particular processes so that they can bridge the gap and supply the missing links between the existing state of the business and its desired condition. You may also see  annual plan examples .

Lean Canvas Business Plan Model Example

Business Planning Using a Lean Canvas

Size: 151 KB

Benefits of Developing a Lean Business Plan

In a nutshell, a lean business plan focuses on creating and testing a lean plan followed by reviewing its results so that proper revisions can be made before the plan’s actual execution. This may sound too simple but precision and critical thinking should always be incorporated within the entirety of the lean business planning so you can make sure that you will come up with reasonable, attainable, relevant, and functional action plans. Listed below are some of the benefits of having a lean business plan at hand. You may also like  company plan examples .

1. Using a lean business plan, just as how the presence of  outreach strategy plan  helps organizations, can make it easier for the business to set a direction that can lead it toward the achievement of its goals. Since it is faster to develop when compared to a lengthy business plan, it is only fitting that a lot of start-ups tend to create this document whenever it needs to plan its operational and management processes.

2. Implementing a lean business plan can save you a lot of time as it is shorter and simpler when compared to a traditional business plan. The lack of length does not mean that a lean business plan will be less effective as it can actually help you and your team to become more focused on necessary items that can be helpful in developing and improving the condition of the business. You may also see  financial plan examples .

3. Having a lean business plan allows businesses to track their progress in particular areas of management and operation. This document can also be used as a reference when identifying the growth or improvement of specific business functions. With this, it will be easier to set the expectations of the stakeholders toward the condition of the business within a particular time frame. You may also check out  quality plan examples .

4. Developing a lean business plan can promote accountability or ownership. Since a lean business plan showcases plans of action, work designation can be determined accordingly. Usually, the call to actions within a lean business plan are aligned with the availability of the workforce and the ability of key persons to execute particular work processes and procedures. Hence, this document can also help your business maximize the deliverable of the workforce as well as its other resources. You may also like  assessment plan examples .

Lean Business Plan for a Start-Up Company

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Business Plan for Lean Tech Academy Example

Size: 28 MB

Lean Business Systems Visual Guide for a Business Plan

Size: 486 KB

Useful Tips to Refer to When Creating a Lean Business Plan

If you want to add value to the planning processes of your business and minimize or even eliminate any kinds of waste, it is recommended for you to use a lean business plan. You have to be particular with the requirements and guidelines of making this document so you can easily come up with a comprehensive lean business plan of your own. Here are some of the tips that you can find useful when you decide to start developing your company’s lean business plan draft:

1. Make sure that you will follow simple steps when running your business. A lean business plan is developed so that you can highlight activities that are directly aligned with the achievement of your corporate goals. With this in mind, you still have to consider the threats and risks that you need to prepare for. Hence, you also need to create resilient and adaptive action plans that will allow you to easily shift your efforts and time allocation to another function whenever necessary while still targeting the achievement of a particular goal that you have set. You may also see  business plan outline examples .

2. Focus on what is essential and necessary. Know what your business and your stakeholders need so you can ensure that you are considering decisions and activities that are beneficial to your organization. You may also see  make a business plans .

3. Ensure that the document will remain brief and simple. Use bullet points when necessary especially if you want to present an outlined discussion about the essential key points of the lean business plan. It will also be a lot of help if you can come up with visual aides like tables, graphs, and lists. You may also see  startup business plans .

4. Your lean business plan must be maintained. Consider reviewing and updating the document on a monthly basis so you can identify the revisions that are already necessary to be done especially if the strategies, tactics, and action plans listed in the document are not relevant and aligned with the current needs and demands of the business. Doing this can help the document retain its relevance.

5. Just like when making a  security operational plan , do not shy away from using templates and other references. Being well-guided through the usage of these examples can only add up to your efficiency. More so, having references can give you more options in terms of identifying the proper format for the document that you want to create and the appropriate content that you must gather and put together.

Always keep in mind that a lean business plan is specific and is shorter than a traditional business plan. Even if the range of actions are lesser as processes are stripped to their bare minimum, do not forget that a lean business plan can actually develop and become wider in scope as your business processes progress and more demands are needed to be supplied either from the operations or the stakeholders of the business. Download the lean business plan template examples that we have provided you with in this post and begin the creation of your own lean business plan. You may also see  importance of business plan .

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Lean Business Plan Template

Used 4,995 times

Use this Lean Business Plan Template to enlist your business with the applicable agency in your jurisdiction. All of the areas are fully customizable and can be tailored to your detailed necessities.

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Created by:

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​ [Sender.Company] ​

​ [Sender.Company] was founded in (XXXX) year, with the aim of doing (Aim) . Although we began in [Sender.City] , we now plan to expand our reach to (Number) of countries.

After witnessing the problem of (name of problem) in (number of cities) amount of cities, we realized that there was a dire need for a solution. And through collective effort, we were able to create a strategic plan to launch [Sender.Company] .

​ [Sender.Company] aims to promote [Product.Name] through (name of marketing strategy) . As of (Year), [Sender.Company] is the only player in the market to promote [Product.Name] to fully address (name of problem) .

Our competitors may come close, but due to our USP, which is (describe USP) , our prediction is that we will remain a few steps ahead of the curve — and therefore our competitors — at all times.

Our current product selection includes:

Name of product

Revenue Channels

​ [Sender.Company] aims to be present on multiple social marketplaces to promote our products. Along with this, we will have an offline presence. Overall, our revenue channels include, but are not limited to:

Name of revenue channel

Pricing and cost structure

Cost of Product A – $0.00 ​

Cost of Product B – $0.00 ​

Cost of Product C – $0.00 ​

Business owners/business partners

Tupac James

Head of Production

Target market and Ideal customer

Our primary target market is: (Explain primary target market)

Our secondary target market is: (Explain secondary target market)

Our ideal customers would be females between the ages of 30-40, residing in (city, state, region or country), with a spending power of (amount) amount of dollars. These women would ideally like to shop for [Product.Name] for (primary reason to buy the product) , and we cater to that demand with our USP.

Competition and competitive advantage

Name of Competitor 1

(Describe what they do, their experience, their USP, and what competitor edge they have against you)

Name of Competitor 2

Name of Competitor 3

Competitive Advantage of [Sender.Company] ​

​ [Sender.Company] excels in (X, Y, and Z) , due to our years of experience in the industry and the USP we have. We plan to bank on (name of competitive advantage) to set a niche for ourselves and to reach our target milestones.

Describe milestone 1

Describe milestone 2

Describe milestone 3

Marketing plan

Our marketing strategy is divided between short-term and long-term. For the short-term strategy, we plan to use content marketing to educate the audience about our product/services. For our long-term marketing strategy, we plan to use content marketing, as well as offline channels such as billboards, kiosks, and pop-ups, to promote our product and to build relationships with our customers in real-time.

Financial projections

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​

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Top 5 Lean Business Plan Templates with Samples and Examples

Sapna Singh

“Big things happen when you do the little things right,” – Don Gabor, professional speaker, coach, and author. In business, there is no better example of a company getting the small things right than Japanese automobile major Toyota. The company’s outstanding success has motivated many corporations to pursue excellence and adopt a lean business strategy. Dropbox, Zappos, General Electric, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, and other companies streamlined their operations with their focus on immediate prospects and customers to provide direction to their businesses.

The lean business model seeks to eliminate waste in corporate processes. It is accomplished through a Lean Business Plan that emphasizes a course of action, incremental milestones, constant tracking, and regular course corrections. Research shows businesses that work towards predefined objectives, and take pains to monitor success grow 30% faster.

Explore our one-page lean business plan and business canvas templates  to help you turn your businesses into bellwethers like any other well-known firm!

Lean Business Plan: The better way to do business planning.

A lean business plan is a simplified core business plan. It focuses on variables that provide chances for new businesses to gain a competitive advantage. It allows them to keep their company’s focus on core objectives and add only relevant data for better understanding.

Take a look at the best ways to start a lean culture transformation in your company using our unique PowerPoint Templates. Click here  to read more.

This blog is an excellent resource for going over the specifics of a lean business plan. SlideTeam's Top 5 Lean Business Plan Templates can help you put your ideas down on paper and figure out how to turn these into a sustainable business. It will assist you in optimizing each procedure for the best possible results. These templates also aid in providing better understanding the environment in which your company operates and engage all stakeholders. The 100% customizable nature of the templates provides you with the flexibility to edit your presentations. The content-ready slides give you the much-needed structure.

Use SlideTeam’s top-notch PowerPoint Templates to optimize the core elements of your business.

Template 1: lean business plan one-pager for e-commerce company.

Use this PPT Template to create a one-page "pitch" for your e-commerce business. This slide includes a business overview, main activities, key resources, cost structure, and revenue streams to help you verify your business idea, examine your financial status, and establish a realistic action plan. Use this presentation template to explain your company’s purpose and goals, analyze your industry and competitors, and determine resources needed to actualize your vision. Get it now!

Download this template

Template 2: One-Page Lean Canvas Business Plan of Coffee Shop

Use this PowerPoint Template to create a business plan for your coffee shop. This template addresses business-related topics, such as product or service definition, USP, key activities, sales channels, problems the product or service solves, market size, etc. It is the perfect tool to document components required to launch a firm, such as clients, value positions, market distribution, and capital. Use this slide to plan everything that will help you maximize your profits and satisfy your customers' needs. Download now!

Template 3: One-Pager Lean Business Plan for Gear Company Presentation

Are you preparing a business strategy for your bike shop? Use this PPT Template to present a thorough, understandable, and convincing business overview to secure funding. The key roles and responsibilities, competitive analysis, sales channels, problem, and its solution, target market, revenue, and milestones are covered. This guarantees accurate prediction of how your company will perform, provide you with a clear development path, and enable you to modify your financial projections. Save it now!

Template 4: One-Pager Lean Canvas Business Plan Model for Automobile Company

Here’s another comprehensive business overview proposal for the automobile company. Use this PowerPoint Template to highlight key partners and a network of suppliers and partners to optimize business models, decrease risk, or acquire resources. This template covers key activities, revenue streams, cost structure, major roles and responsibilities, competitive analysis, and sales channels. Business owners and managers can use this as a tool for planning. Use this presentation template to present your automotive products and value proposition to customers. Download now!

Template 5: One-Pager Online Transportation Services Lean Startup Business Plan

Use this PowerPoint Template to manage and organize your online transportation services. This slide contains business overview, USP, key activities, problem, solution, key partners, resources, customer relationships, etc., to manage risks, convince investors, and product experimentation. This presentation template validates your company plan by collecting quantifiable data, such as revenue and user engagement. Get it now!

Streamlined core business plan

A lean business plan is a condensed and more focused form of a typical business plan that supports management in running a business. Use SlideTeam’s PPT Templates to create a business plan based on responses and interactions to create a profitable business.

PS Visit our Lean Transformation  blog to learn the fundamentals of a strong innovation plan with streamlined procedures and high-quality output.

FAQs ON LEAN BUSINESS PLAN

What are the elements of a lean business model.

The five main elements of a lean business model are:

• Value specification from the customer’s point of view
• The introduction of the value stream comprising the steps a company takes to deliver a particular product or service to a consumer.
• Flow (the process by which tasks in a business are carried out).
• Perfection (Encourage the company to seek constant improvement and reduce waste).
• Pull (Increase existing interest in the product or information about it).

What are the advantages of a lean business plan?

A lean business plan has these advantages:

• Helps focus attention on factors that will drive the growth and strategy of your company.
• It defines strategy in a way anyone without business expertise can read and understand.
• It is a visual depiction of your business concept.
• It allows you to update your plan.
• It requires minimal preparation time.

How do you write a lean business model?

• Define your company.
• Select your issue and response.
• Define your competition and target market.
• Decide how you'll promote your company.
• Review your finances
• Establish success benchmarks
• Identify resources required
• Ask for opinions

Related posts:

• 10 Mistakes That Cost Marketing Managers Their Customer Base (And Top PowerPoint Templates That Can Help Fix Them)
• 15 Best Competitive Intelligence Templates To Drive Sound Strategic Decisions
• Top 20 Competitive Analysis Templates To Turn Corporate Challenges Into Opportunities
• Top 11 Competitive Matrix Templates To Uncover Opportunities And Threats; Make Your Position Strong

Liked this blog? Please recommend us

Top 15 Lean Transformation Templates for Achieving Operational Excellence

Top 13 Lean Culture Templates to Foster Operational Excellence

Reconcile and Allure with these One Page Lean Business Plan and Business Canvas Templates

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Lean Business Plan Example: Start Up Fast and Lean

There are different ways to develop a lean startup template. We discuss the most relevant components of a model business plan here.

Lean Business Plan Template

Quick Guide For Your Entrepreneurial Journey

Business Plan Template: What You Get

• Nine components of a model business plan 
• Suitable for founders, freelancers & small business owners
• Useful links to leverage business resources

A Lean Startup Format Fits:

• if you want to explain or start your business quickly
• if your business is relatively simple
• if you plan to regularly change and refine your business plan

Your Benefits:

• Free of cost: Download the business plan template for free!
• Time-saving: Save time and open your business faster!
• Correct data: Avoid unnecessary mistakes!

Get Your Business Up and Running

Realize your dream of being an independent & self-directed small business owner utilizing our easy-to-use applications. From foundation to growth— ZANDURA is your all-in-one desk to get your business up & running. 

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Explore free business plan templates and samples for various industries. Step by step we support you with the preparation of a complete business plan.

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Start » strategy, how to build a manufacturing business plan.

A manufacturing business plan can help get your new venture off the ground and running smoothly.

A manufacturing business plan outlines the goals, strategies, and operations of a manufacturing company. Use this article as a road map for your business and to help recruit investors as your operation grows.

Manufacturing business plans vary slightly compared to business plans for other types of companies. Here's what goes into a manufacturing business plan and how to create one for your venture.

Why do companies need manufacturing business plans?

Manufacturing business plans are used for the same purpose as other companies' plans. These documents help set clear goals and objectives for internal stakeholders. They provide a framework for making decisions around financing, budgeting, hiring, and procurement. Additionally, investors and lenders often require a business plan to assess the venture's potential.

Business plans are meant to be flexible, living documents that are revisited periodically as the business grows. Writing a manufacturing business plan is a good exercise in understanding what equipment will be needed, evaluating the size of the market your business is based in, and assessing your competition. These things will change over time, so make sure you adjust your plan as your company matures.

[Read more: How to Use AI Tools to Write a Business Plan ]

What goes into a manufacturing business plan?

Manufacturing plans can be very detailed, but at a minimum should include the following sections:

• An executive summary.
• A company description.
• A production plan.
• An industry analysis.
• The target market.
• Compliance.
• A financial plan.

Some manufacturing plans also include sections for marketing, management, and operations. An operations plan can include the details of how you will source materials, your design process, how you will manage production, and ways to coordinate logistics with potential buyers. Marketing sections detail how you will position your product and reach potential buyers, while management identifies the key roles for which you will hire.

[Read more: 6 Product Design Software Programs for Beginners ]

While there's a lot of overlap with a normal business plan, manufacturing companies have unique processes and constraints they need to consider and address in their plan.

Why are manufacturing business plans unique?

The production plan section should provide a detailed outline of the manufacturing process, equipment, facilities, and supply chain. It should also include operational details that are crucial to the success of the manufacturing business: quality control, inventory management, and supply chain logistics, which should be covered extensively.

Manufacturing business plans also play an outsized role in recruiting funding. Manufacturers often require significant capital investments in equipment, machinery, and facilities. The financial projections included in the plan must accurately reflect these costs to ensure adequate funding for getting off the ground.

Finally, meeting global environmental, safety, and quality regulations is no easy feat. Identifying these requirements early positions the manufacturer to be compliant, as well as to assess which supply chain partners are also able to meet these rules. A manufacturing business plan should detail supply chain management, compliance demands, and steps to streamline both of these key elements.

How to write a manufacturing business plan

The easiest way to get started is to use a template. A few outlines are available online, like this one from Katana or this one from MoreBusiness.com . Start by defining your business and answering questions such as:

• What product will the business manufacture?
• Who is the target market of ideal customers?
• What makes this product unique?
• What business structure will be used?

From there, you can work through section by section to conduct market research, develop your operations plan, prototype your product, and identify supply chain partners. Include financial projections such as your startup costs, operational costs, revenue projections, and the break-even point.

"It's important to be optimistic when starting a new business, but you also need to be realistic. This is especially true when it comes to financial projections. Don't overestimate the amount of revenue you will generate or underestimate the costs of goods sold," wrote Katana .

Breaking your plan down into smaller sections can make it easier to identify areas where you need outside help too. Don't be shy about asking others in the industry for advice.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

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How to deliver a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with template

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Explore when you should and shouldn’t issue a PIP, what you should include and how to deliver a PIP in a positive way, with a performance improvement plan template for download.

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) has been seen as a last resort for handling the delicate situation of bringing an underperforming employee back from the brink of dismissal.

Rather than a document that signals an impending negative outcome, a PIP can be used to better monitor current progress and set out realistic goals for future performance.

Now more than ever, workplaces cultivate an atmosphere of improvement and not failure. PIPs can be an invaluable part of your process to empower employees to succeed and a better way for you to manage your team.

In this article, we look at when you should and shouldn’t issue a PIP, what you should include in a PIP, and how to deliver a PIP in a positive way.

You can also find a PIP template for you to download and use.

Here’s what we’ll cover

What is a performance improvement plan (pip), when should you issue a pip, appropriate circumstances for issuing a pip, inappropriate circumstances for issuing a pip, what is the best way to deliver a pip to an employee or direct report, what should a performance improvement plan include, what goals should you include in a performance improvement plan, how to complete a performance improvement plan, a performance improvement plan template.

• When a performance improvement plan isn’t the right course of action

What is the timeframe for a performance improvement plan?

How often does a performance improvement plan work out well, what is the performance improvement plan success rate.

A Performance Improvement Plan is a structured plan that outlines specific employee performance characteristics and issues and provides a detailed roadmap for improvement over time. It includes goals, timelines, and criteria for measuring progress.

Until now, PIPs have been perceived as a precursor to termination rather than a genuine opportunity for improvement.

This is mostly down to it being a document that meets the requirements of 5 CFR Part 432 .

The PIP is offered as notification to an employee that their performance is not at the required standard and provides a formal period to improve before they can be demoted or dismissed.

Instead of being a useful intervention, PIPs have only been taken as a last resort to try to dramatically raise performance from an employee before commencing dismissal.

PIPs can be used far more constructively.

If implemented correctly, a PIP can help employees improve their performance to meet job expectations – or to motivate them to want to progress in the company.

It can also be used to constructively document deficiencies and provide a record of attempts to help the employee improve.

According to a McKinsey survey, 60% of respondents from companies with effective performance management systems reported that their companies outperformed peers over the past three years.

This highlights the positive impact of well-implemented PIPs on both employee performance and overall business outcomes.

If you’re considering implementing PIPs with your team, read on to find out when and how to issue.

Every employee should have their goals and expected performance outlined at their first appraisal (and after they have completed their probation period if applicable).

Alongside this, a plan of your employee’s journey with the company.

This helps your employee and their manager to have a measurable document to refer back to.

As soon as there is a decrease in performance, a manager should be offering feedback and having conversations with their direct report to understand why this is happening.

Extending help to the employee and offering any support or training where necessary.

If their performance is still not improving, this is the time for you to create a document that outlines what needs to improve and how to achieve that and to implement a PIP.

Introduce the PIP soon enough so that your employee has the best opportunity to succeed. Don’t leave it too late in the process where any chance for recovery is setting your employee up for failure.

Potential for improvement: A PIP should always be issued when you have the belief that the employee can improve with structured guidance and support.

Personal issues affecting performance: When personal issues are impacting performance, a PIP can be used to provide structured support.

Recent decline in performance: When your employee who has previously performed well starts showing a decline in performance due to temporary issues, this can be a pivotal point at which to implement a PIP. By doing this, you can monitor whether improvements are being made to reach previous performance levels over an agreed period of time.

Consistent poor performance: When your employee’s performance consistently falls below acceptable standards despite receiving previous informal feedback, a PIP can help to provide clear, more formal guidance on any further intervention needed.

Policy compliance: Last but not least, depending on the wider setup of the company, PIPs might be needed in order to comply with organizational policies or labor agreements that require the use of PIPs for handling performance issues, such as 5 CFR Part 432 .

The US Office of Personnel Management has more useful advice about performance management .

There are many circumstances where a PIP can be beneficial, but there are also a few instances to note where it would be inappropriate:

Low likelihood of improvement: If your employee has consistently been a mediocre/low performer despite detailed feedback or multiple efforts on both sides to correct performance. Or, when there is clear evidence that performance issues are unlikely to be corrected, such as long-term skill deficiencies or misalignment with job requirements, a PIP is unlikely to help.

Termination paper trail: When the primary intention is to create a documented path for eventual termination rather than genuine improvement—with no previous evidence of having an informal or formal PIP in place—serving a PIP may leave you open to potential legal action from your employee. Unless you can prove you have implemented it to make positive changes to the working relationship, your employee may use it to claim that the expectations laid out in the plan —e.g. deadlines or number/nature of tasks – are deliberately unrealistic. This could then be referenced as unfair or constructive dismissal.

Severe behavioral issues: In cases of severe behavioral problems, such as theft or violence that necessitate immediate termination, there is no need to issue a PIP.

As educator and author Stephen R. Covey once said, you should “treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers”.

Here are 5 steps for you to put a constructive PIP into place and keep your team motivated to perform:

1. The preparation stage

Have an initial conversation

Schedule a meeting to discuss the reasons for implementing the PIP, and any relevant performance issues, with your employee. Ensure this conversation is private and free from interruptions.

Remember, PIPs can be demoralizing and damaging if they are not approached in the right way and many employees see a PIP as one step from dismissal, especially if they have not been accustomed to using them from the start of their role.

So, it’s really important for managers to explain the reasons why the PIP is being put in place and reiterate the positive outcomes of following such a plan.

Given that the very nature of a successful PIP is collaborative, perhaps the most critical element in creating a PIP is to involve your employee in the decision-making process, and make sure they feed into, and agree upon, any steps to help them improve and/or stay on track.

Draft the PIP document

Include SMART goals in the PIP (read on for a full breakdown of these goals). Ensure they are realistic and attainable within the specified time frame.

A PIP can last for 30, 60, or 90 days, or as mutually agreed to allow your employee to improve sufficiently.

Once you’ve drafted the plan, it’s a good idea to run it past your HR team to ensure it’s free from any bias as an employer, i.e., that it cannot be construed as an excuse to constructively remove your employee as discussed above.

If the PIP involves any HR-specific provisions, such as onboarding or L&D training recorded in your HR management software, they can also help you kickstart the process for immediate benefit.

2. During the meeting

Build enthusiasm (not fear)

Again, frame the PIP as a positive tool designed to help your employee improve and succeed.

Emphasize that the goal is to support their professional development rather than penalize them.

Communicate clearly

Explain any specific performance issues, the expectations for improvement, and the timeline for achieving these improvements.

Use clear and direct language to avoid any misunderstandings.

Allow questions

Remember, your staff may be nervous, or may simply have reflected on what was agreed on in your initial conversation, so it’s important to give them the opportunity to ask new questions or for additional clarification on the plan.

This is your chance to show compassion and foster commitment when it comes to following the PIP.

3. After the meeting

Hold regular check-ins

Book in time to monitor progress, provide feedback, and make any necessary adjustments to the PIP.

These meetings should be documented to track your employee’s progress.

Provide support and resources

Ensure your employees have access to all the resources and support mentioned in the PIP.

This might include additional training sessions, mentorship, or other tools necessary for their success.

4. Documentation

Keep detailed records

As with any process within the organization, it’s important to keep a note of all meetings, progress reports, or any other communication related to the PIP.

This is especially important if the PIP does not result in the intended outcomes.

Consider using management software to help collate and store information in a central repository for future reference.

5. Close the plan

In most cases, your staff will start to improve during the course of their PIP.

However, if an employee’s performance does not improve by the end date agreed in the plan, you may need to consider closing the PIP and determining the next steps.

These could include reassigning or seconding them to another role or function within the organization, demotion, or ultimately, if there is no avenue left to pursue, termination.

In your PIP, you should include the following:

Clear identification of issues

Outline the specific performance opportunities you’d like to explore, challenges you’re looking to overcome, or where your employee is falling short.

These could include factors such as their attendance, ability to meet deadlines, or level of customer service.

To get the best out of the process, this is where you need to provide concrete examples, avoid ambiguity and ensure your employee understands the issues.

SMART goals

When setting goals for your PIP, it’s a good idea to follow the SMART framework (see below): Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals.

These goals should be clear and directly related to the performance issues identified.

Defined timeline including dates for check-ins

Establish a clear timeline for achieving the goals, including start and end dates, with intermediate milestones if necessary.

The timeframe should be reasonable and allow the employee adequate time to improve.

In addition, don’t leave it until after the PIP has been completed to add in dates as it will require more effort to find suitable times to meet.

Instead, add firm dates into plan at the start.

Resources and support

Specify the resources, training, and support that will be provided to help achieve the goals.

This could include additional training sessions, access to tools, or mentoring.

Consequences of outcomes

You should clearly state the consequences if the performance does not improve (e.g. reassignment, demotion, or potential dismissal).

Documentation

Keep detailed records of all aspects of the PIP process, including initial conversations with the employee and HR, the PIP document itself, progress check-ins, and any adjustments made to the plan.

This is crucial for transparency and accountability.

SMART was introduced in 1981 and has been an effective goal-setting method applied across all a range of fields including project management, personal development, and employee performance management.

SMART is a structure for creating goals that cover five key criteria – Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related.

Let’s take a closer look:

Identify clear areas where performance can or must improve, such as meeting particular deadlines, improving accuracy, or achieving specific sales targets.

This ensures the employee knows exactly what needs to change.

Set goals that allow both your employee and their supervisor to track progress.

For instance, specify that the employee must achieve a 95% accuracy rate in reports or complete tasks within a certain time frame.

Outline who will do what and when. Goals should be directly related to the employee’s job responsibilities and areas of deficiency identified in their performance review.

This ensures the PIP is focused and fair.

Ensure the goals are realistic and attainable given the employee’s current capabilities and resources available.

This encourages improvement without setting them up for failure.

Time-related

Establish a clear timeline for achieving the goals, including start and end dates, with intermediate milestones.

This provides structure, and just enough sense of urgency to motivate your employee to carry out their goals on time.

Once the objectives of a PIP have been completed, it’s time for you to review the outcomes , close the plan, and consider whether a new plan needs to be put in place.

Step 1 – Review and document progress

As the PIP comes to an end, review your employee’s performance against the established goals.

Document the outcomes in detail, including all aspects of the areas of improvement and any goals that were met.

This ensures transparency and provides a clear record of the employee’s efforts and successes.

Again, don’t forget to highlight all positive progress made to motivate your employee.

Step 2 – Conduct a final meeting

Schedule a final meeting with your employee to discuss the PIP outcomes.

Ensure the meeting is private and free from interruptions, fostering a supportive environment.

Use this time to provide constructive feedback on their progress, celebrate successes, and discuss next steps.

Encourage them to share their perspective and reflect on their journey.

Step 3 – Address the results

If goals were met:

Acknowledge your employee’s efforts and improvements. Highlight the positive outcomes and how these will impact their role moving forward. Reinforce that meeting the goals is a significant achievement and integrate them into regular performance reviews with new development goals to continue their growth.

If goals were not fully met:

Focus on the progress made and discuss the areas that still need improvement. Clearly communicate the next steps, which may include extending the PIP, offering additional support, or adjusting the goals to better align with the employee’s strengths. Ensure all actions are documented and consistent with organizational policies.

Step 4 – Provide next steps and support

Regardless of the outcome, you’ll need to outline next steps for your employee.

If the PIP was successful, discuss future goals and ongoing support to maintain and build on the performance improvements.

If further actions are required, provide a clear plan and support to help the employee continue to improve.

This might include additional training, mentoring, or other resources to ensure they feel supported and valued.

Step 5 – Document everything

If there is one takeaway from this article— it’s to document everything that happens throughout the PIP process, including the final outcomes and any follow-up actions.

Not only does it protect your organization and provide a clear record of the support you’ve provided to the employee, but it can help you quickly and confidently address any concern they may have, as well as inform any future decisions related to their performance.

If you’re ready to draft your PIP, here is a useful template to get you started.

Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) template

When a performance improvement plan isn’t the right course of action

While it’s natural to try to fix all performance issues with a PIP, it’s not always the best approach.

As a reminder, here are six instances where a PIP would not be appropriate.

1. Cases of misconduct

PIPs are not suitable for addressing cases of misconduct, such as theft, harassment, or violence.

Misconduct requires immediate disciplinary action rather than any performance improvement process.

Why? Because misconduct involves behaviors that violate company policies and ethical standards, which cannot be corrected through performance coaching.

2. Lack of improvement potential

When there is clear evidence that the employee lacks the fundamental skills or ability to perform the job despite training and support, a PIP will not be effective.

Why? Because if the employee has consistently failed to meet performance standards even after receiving support and training, other actions such as reassignment or termination may be necessary.

3. Immediate threat to safety or operations

If your employee’s performance poses an immediate threat to their own safety, the safety of others, or critical operations, immediate action is required.

Why? Ensuring workplace safety and maintaining critical operations are top priorities that require swift and decisive action, which PIPs are not designed to provide.

4. During probationary periods

The very nature of a probation period means the company is trialing, or testing out the new employee’s fit, skill set and performance.

Therefore, those who are still within their probationary period are not likely to be suitable candidates for a PIP and you should wait until this period finishes before you consider starting the PIP process with them.

Why? Probationary periods are intended for evaluating whether an employee is suitable for a permanent role, and so performance issues during this time may indicate a poor fit.

5. Repeated failures to improve (following PIPs)

If your employee has previously undergone one or more PIPs without significant improvement, continuing with another PIP may not be productive.

Why? Persistent failure to meet performance standards despite multiple interventions indicates that alternative measures, such as reassignment or termination, may be more appropriate.

6. Role misalignment

When your employee’s skills and abilities do not match the job requirements—for example, if they have been placed in the wrong role—no amount of training or support can bridge this gap.

Why? A PIP is not effective if the root cause of performance issues is a fundamental misalignment between the employee’s capabilities and the job’s demands.

The timeframe for a PIP can vary from company to company, or even from team to team.

As a rough guide, a PIP should last anywhere between 30 and 90 days, with regular check-ins during that time to monitor progress and make any necessary adjustments to the plan, as well as intermittent check-ins in the months following a PIP.

Meanwhile, guidance from the University of Oregon HR department states that PIPs should…

“start on the day the PIP is delivered to the employee and end 60 days later (or longer depending on whether an extension is granted). The post-PIP period includes the 12 months after the completion of the evaluation period. During these 12 months, the employee and supervisor are expected to meet at the 6-month point and the 12-month point to review the PIP and ensure the employee is continuing to sustain satisfactory performance. If satisfactory performance has continued, the PIP is officially closed 12 months after the completion of the evaluation phase.”

The success of a PIPs can vary greatly depending on a variety of factors such as why and how the PIP was implemented by the employer, how well it is received by the employee, and fundamentally, how well the two parties work together to achieve the intended outcomes.

The more genuine the intention for improvement, the more successful the PIP will tend to be.

And of course, as we’ve discussed, regular check-ins and support from management are vital factors contributing to their success​.

Although more research is needed to ascertain the specific success rate of performance improvement plans in the workplace, there is evidence to suggest positive adoption.

According to one study, currently almost three-quarters of respondents ( 74% ) report that performance management systems are successful when managers go out of their way to provide effective coaching and feedback​, setting the scene for the successful implementation of PIPs.

In a bid to improve performance management in the workplace – and elevate employee perception of PIPs – managers need to show their teams they’re giving them the best chance to succeed.

Businesses can use a performance management software like Sage HR to develop workforce talent, streamline PIP process and build a robust performance management structure.

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How To Craft An Effective Project Plan With 9+ Examples?

Posted by Sambit Milan Dash | Aug 21, 2024 | Project Management Software , Project Plan Examples , Project Planning Tool , Software Project Planning | 0 |

As a manager, have you been facing issues with your project planning? Often, due to poor project planning processes, managers face obstacles, which results in being unable to meet deadlines and their objectives on time. To resolve this issue, you need to formulate a project plan.

The project plan is an essential roadmap, outlining a project’s scope, objectives, and schedule in detail. By learning from successful project plan examples, you can ensure team alignment and understanding by clarifying tasks, deadlines, and responsible parties. This transparent approach aids in managing dependencies, tracking progress, and maintaining productivity.

A well-crafted project plan delineates objectives, tasks, timelines, resources, and milestones, facilitating on-time and within-budget completion. Therefore, an effective idea is needed for project success, providing direction and cohesion.

In this guide, we’ll discuss creating comprehensive project plans that emphasize team alignment and clarity. Practical insights and detailed project plan examples will highlight key components and best practices, promoting efficiency, accountability, and project success.

Let us learn about the key elements of an effective project plan.

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Elements of an effective project plan:.

Before I tell you about some examples of a project plan, let’s understand the elements of an effective project plan. Here, we will discuss its key components that would help you articulate projects and their objectives to manage designated responsibilities. Integrating these elements is vital for proficient project administration and enhancing the likelihood of success.

The vital elements of an effective project plan are:

• Executive Summary: Provide a brief summary getting insights into the project’s objectives, the breadth of its scope, and its significance in the broader context.
• Project Goals: Set clear and measurable objectives aligned with overarching business goals, ensuring alignment and focus on contributing factors to achieve specific outcomes that contribute to broader organizational success.
• Vital Responsibilities: Assigning roles and responsibilities to team members and stakeholders, ensuring clear accountability throughout the project.
• Critical Tasks And Outcomes: Specific tasks and actions in the project that would define the outcome its outcome.
• Resource Allocation: Detailing about the availability of resources such as people working on projects, tools and facility requirements, etc.
• Risk Evaluation And Mitigation: Identifying potential threats that may hinder your projects. And accordingly devising strategies to address and prevent them effectively.
• Project Schedule & Milestones: With perfect project planning, you can keep track of the project timeline and its key stages to monitor the project’s success within the deadline.
• Financial Estimates And Budget: It would also help you with cost projections, allocation of funds, and plans for financial management in your ongoing projects.
• Communication Strategies: Another element of project planning is communication. Proper communication among team members and stakeholders ensures effective collaboration and information sharing- essential for any project’s success.

Now that we have learned about the vital elements of an effective project plan, let us comprehend how to create a project plan along with project plan examples.

How To Craft A Project Plan

These are some pointers to help you draft the ideal project plan.

Clarify The Main Aims And Objectives Of The Project:

Clearly defined project goals are crucial for measuring success and maintaining team focus. Employing the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—provides a structured framework to outline objectives.

This method ensures a clear, actionable plan that drives project success and enhances team alignment. Adopting the SMART approach is essential for any project to achieve its desired outcomes efficiently and effectively.

Set-Up The Success Criteria Of The Project:

You must align success criteria with the project’s deliverables and objectives to measure project success effectively. Ensure that these criteria are quantifiable and reflect the intended outcomes, enabling accurate evaluation of the project’s performance and effectiveness in achieving desired results.

Recognize Key Points In The Project Timeline, Interdependencies, Potential Risks And What Needs To Be Achieved:

To identify project milestones, divide tasks and outcomes, and highlight significant progress points. Consider dependencies for a feasible workflow and identify potential risks by studying project plan examples.

Defining deliverables as measurable results for each project phase ensures clarity and accountability, aiding in successful software project planning and execution.

Allocate Roles And Responsibilities To Both The Team Members And Stakeholders:

Your project’s stakeholders include anyone linked to it. To decipher if someone is a stakeholder, see how much they affect or care about the project’s outcome. It could be because they’re directly involved, the project affects them, or their input can influence it.

Examples of stakeholder groups are:

• Team Members
• Departments
• Contractors.

Once you know your stakeholders, you can define what they do. It helps structure your project team, ensuring everyone has the right tasks.

You can use a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to show each stakeholder’s involvement. It makes communication and accountability clear, avoiding overlaps or gaps in responsibilities. You can do this by taking cues from project plan examples.

Develop A Timetable And Establish Deadlines:

Creating a schedule and timeline for tasks improves visibility and boosts team productivity. Estimate task durations for reaching project milestones, considering factors like limited resources and task dependencies. Visual tools like Gantt charts and Kanban boards help map out task dependencies and timelines, aiding in identifying potential bottlenecks.

For this purpose, EmpMonitor serves as a valuable project planning tool, offering customizable columns and cards to streamline project workflow. Its user-friendly interface enables easy visualization and management of tasks, contributing to efficient project management, scheduling, and execution.

Let us learn about this tool and how it can benefit managers, and then learn about a few project plan examples.

EmpMonitor- The Best Employee And Project Management Software

EmpMonitor is a recognized solution for employee monitoring, deftly navigating the delicate balance between safeguarding privacy and driving productivity. Leveraging cutting-edge intelligence and technology, EmpMonitor elevates business efficiency, refining productivity tracking and facilitating seamless project management. Prioritizing efficiency as the cornerstone of its approach. Using EmpMonitor, you can easily keep track of your ongoing project and monitor employees, who are working on it.

With its suite of top-tier project management features; it would meticulously help you organize and manage your tasks and projects , paving the way for heightened productivity and smoother operations. This comprehensive tool is a beacon for businesses seeking to optimize their workflow and achieve unparalleled performance and success.

Here’s what EmpMonitor offers:

Time-Tracking:

EmpMonitor simplifies time-tracking tasks through automated software, which meticulously records employee activities. Doing so streamlines the process, enhances productivity, and enables effective time management within the organization. This automated system eliminates the requirement of manual input, ensuring precise and reliable data on employee activities.

Workforce Productivity & Engagement:

The software goes beyond mere tracking by actively enhancing employee engagement and productivity. It provides valuable insights into employee efficiency and engagement levels through comprehensive reports. These insights enable managers to identify areas for improvement, implement targeted strategies, and foster a more productive work environment.

Project Management:

Its project management capabilities offer a comprehensive solution for streamlining project planning, task assignments, and real-time collaboration. Ensuring clarity in project objectives, facilitating effective communication, and enabling efficient task allocation, EmpMonitor empowers teams to meet deadlines and effectively manage multiple projects .

Attendance Monitoring:

EmpMonitor ensures accurate recording of employee attendance and leaves through its cloud-based analytics software. With features- like shift scheduling, check-in/out times tracking, and automated timesheets, it simplifies attendance management and provides real-time visibility into workforce availability.

Empowerment for Managers:

The software equips managers with customizable project management tools, enabling them to tailor workflows to suit the specific needs of their teams. In addition to centralizing all data, it provides easy access to relevant information to empower managers to make informed decisions. With this project management software, managers can handle tough projects with ease.

Now that we have learned about this software- let us return to our blog.

Develop A Projected Budget For The Project:

When estimating a project budget, it’s crucial to consider all essential resources required, such as personnel, labor costs, materials, and necessary equipment. By carefully considering these factors, you can develop a comprehensive budget that covers all aspects of the project’s execution.

This budget serves as a financial roadmap, guiding spending decisions throughout the project lifecycle to prevent overspending and ensure efficient resource allocation. Additionally, a clear budget allows for better financial planning and control, ultimately contributing to project success. Learning from effective project plan examples can help you to do this.

Arrange For Effective Communication And Teamwork:

A communication plan outlines how information gets exchanged among stakeholders. For example, a software development project might detail how often the development team shares a beta software version with the client for feedback. This systematic approach ensures consistent updates for the client and specifies communication channels and frequency for all involved parties.

Record The Project Plan:

Gather all relevant planning documents while organizing your project. Key documents include stakeholder analysis, feasibility study, business case, and work breakdown structure. Maintaining these reports in one place offers a point of reference throughout the project’s execution. With these eight tips, you can create an effective project plan and achieve the best results within the stipulated deadlines.

Now, let’s explore a few examples of project plans.

Project Plan Examples:

A well-crafted project plan is essential for a successful project. But what does a good project plan look like, and how do you create one? Where should you start?

This article will help you create a successful project plan by providing the steps required. Project plans can vary widely in size, format, and components. When it comes to drafting a project plan, there is no particular method. A well-defined project plan articulates the project’s objectives and the strategies to accomplish them effectively. You’ll find a range of project planning templates online, from very simple to highly detailed.

Following are the examples of how to craft an effective project management plan:

1. For Project Charter Executive Summary:

The Executive Summary of a Project Charter provides a brief overview of the project’s key elements. It summarizes the project’s purpose, objectives, scope, and stakeholders.

This section of project plan examples offers a snapshot of the project, highlighting its goals, expected outcomes, and strategic importance. It ensures that everyone involved gets a clear understanding of the project’s direction and anticipated benefits right from the start.

2. Project Plan Example For Scope Management:

This section covers what is detailed in the first step, “Breakdown the Work.” It includes three subsections: Work Breakdown Structure: It includes a detailed outline of the work and sub-work packages and their associated breakdown levels.

Deployment Plan:

This paragraph will cover the rollout strategy if the project calls for distributing an application to state health partners. It includes conducting environmental assessments, creating memorandums of understanding, installing hardware and software, and converting data.

Change Management Plan:

Suppose a development server managed by another organization requires upgrades and has scheduled outages. In that case, this subsection will address how to adjust the project to accommodate these outages and mitigate their impact on the project schedule.

3. Project Planning for Schedule Management:

This section of project plan examples focuses on ensuring the project stays on schedule. It includes the results from sections 4 and 5 of this article. One way to manage a schedule would be to set a baseline during the first two weeks and track each week’s progress against it.

The project manager will ensure that the schedule is updated with the most recent data and is never older than three working days. For any executive milestone variances of more than 10%, the project may follow CPIC guidance.

4. Management Of Cost & Budget:

This section of the sample project plan outlines the project’s cost management plan or indicates where it can be found. It provides a comprehensive approach to managing the project’s budget and expenses. It describes the methods used to estimate costs for each task, ensuring accurate budgeting and financial planning.

This part of the project plan examples ensures that all financial aspects are thoroughly considered and managed throughout the project lifecycle, providing a clear reference for cost-related decisions and adjustments.

5. Management of Quality:

This section of the sample project plan outlines the project’s quality management approach, as covered in step two of this article. All screens in an information system must meet the agreed quality standards. Quality measures include having no critical defects, consistent screen layouts, and accurate calculations. Project managers can ensure quality by performing inspections, audits, and formal testing.

The project management team should document defects in a tracking system to ensure they are fixed, retested, and closed. The project manager might use a traceability matrix to verify that critical requirements are met.

6. Resource Management:

This section describes the resource management approach discussed in step 5 of this article. It outlines how resources, including personnel, equipment, and materials, will be allocated and managed throughout the project.

This section ensures that the right resources are available at the right time to meet project objectives and includes strategies for resource planning, scheduling, and optimization to ensure the efficient use of all resources involved in the project.

7. Communication Management:

Communication channels and methods are outlined in this section, along with a comprehensive communication plan. It specifies how information should be shared, how often communications will occur, what formats will be utilized, and what is expected of team members to maintain effective communication. This part of project plan examples ensures that all stakeholders are informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle.

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8. Project Plan Example For Risk Management:

This section lists all risks identified in any part of the project, primarily focusing on the Risk Log. Typically, project managers keep the risk log separate from the project management plan in a different document. However, the project manager may combine various logs into a single document that includes all the various logs.

9. Management Of Issues:

This section of project plan examples lists all issues identified in any part of the project, primarily focusing on the issue log. Project managers usually maintain the issue log separately from the project management plan in another document. The project team may also combine the issue log with other logs, such as the risk, assumptions, and constraints log, into a single document.

10. Procurement Management:

This section typically includes information about physical and human resources that can be procured. It ensures proper planning and management for acquiring hardware such as computers, development servers, and test servers. It also explains how to utilize project team members from external vendors and may detail strategies for acquiring project staff.

11. Compliance Planning:

This section of sample project plans includes a list of processes related to compliance that the team working on the project needs to adhere to to comply with business regulations. Additionally, describe the governance bodies that oversee the project or review the product deliverables. This section should also specify the timing of governance-related reviews and audits, with the audit standards and acceptance criteria. Furthermore, it should detail who is authorized to perform audits and how they will be conducted.

Conclusion:

Crafting an effective project plan is pivotal for any manager aiming to achieve project success. By integrating the vital elements discussed—such as clear objectives, defined roles, detailed schedules, resource allocation, risk management, and communication strategies—you can ensure a streamlined and efficient project execution.

This structured approach ensures that all aspects of the project are considered and managed effectively, from risk and issue management to communication and compliance. Utilizing a project planning software like EmpMonitor can help tackle the challenges in project management and enhance productivity.

By following the guidelines and the project plan examples provided in this article, you can create a comprehensive project plan that promotes efficiency, accountability, and successful project outcomes. A well-crafted project plan aligns team efforts and increases the likelihood of completing the project on time and within budget.

Project Plan FAQs

What is a project plan.

A project plan outlines tasks, timing, and resources to meet goals within scope, often visualized as a Gantt chart. It details deliverables, team roles, milestones, and stakeholder feedback timelines.

What To Include In A Project Plan Example?

All project plans share key components: detailed tasks, visual schedule with timelines and progress, key milestones, dependencies between tasks, and resource assignments indicating responsible individuals or teams.

What Is The Need To Write A Project Plan?

A good project plan builds consensus, avoids scheduling conflicts, monitors goals and scope, and holds the team accountable. It ensures clear understanding, organizes tasks and keeps objectives and expectations in focus.

About The Author

Sambit Milan Dash

Sambit is a content writer who is full of passion for writing and is always ready to weave words into captivating narratives. Armed with an inherent aspiration for storytelling and an ability for crafting engaging articles, he brings a unique and fun perspective to the world of writing.

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