Plan a multi-person project from scope to a realistic timeline
A project timeline built without checking dependencies between people is a guess, not a plan.
- Outcome
- A scoped project with explicit dependencies between people's work, a timeline that accounts for those dependencies and realistic slack, and a plan for the handoffs most likely to slip.
- Time
- 2-3 hours across sessions, plus input from other people involved
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Multi-person project timelines often get built by listing tasks and estimating how long each takes, without checking where one person's work depends on another's finishing first — which is exactly where real projects slip, at the handoffs, not within any single person's own work. This playbook scopes the project, maps the actual dependencies between people, and builds a timeline that accounts for those dependencies and where they're most likely to slip.
When not to use this
For a project one person is doing entirely alone, dependency mapping between people doesn't apply — a simpler task-and-deadline plan works fine. This is for projects where multiple people's work depends on each other.
Did this work?
The timeline accounts for real dependencies between people's work and the handoffs most likely to slip, not just a list of tasks with estimated durations stacked end to end.
Tested on claude-opus-5. Evidence status is draft; it moves to battle-tested only on recorded runs, never by hand.