3.1
Work Planning
A workplan is the brief turned into an order of work that actually fits. Most of the marks come from using the durations and limits the question gave you, rather than the ones that would make your plan tidy.
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What you need to know
- Explain what each workplan component is for in a real project.
- Use the durations, deadlines and limits in the brief exactly as stated.
- Tell tasks that can run at the same time from tasks that cannot.
- Explain how a plan helps a team manage its people and equipment.
Start here
What a workplan is actually for
A workplan records what has to be done, when, and what is needed to do it. On your own it tells you what to start next. On a team it stops two people doing the same job and lets a manager see a delay coming while there is still time to react.
It is not a document you write once and file. When something changes — an approval slips, a location falls through — the plan gets updated, because every task after it moves.
Which tasks appear depends entirely on the product. Pre-production covers reading the brief, research, planning and permissions. Production covers filming, recording, photographing or making graphics. Post-production covers editing, assembling, testing and finishing. A poster does not need a film shoot, so do not put one in.
Learn the list
The six components
| Component | What it means | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Task and activity | A piece of work, and the smaller steps inside it. | Record the narration: set up the mic, do the takes, check the audio. |
| Workflow | The order things happen in and how they connect. | Usable narration has to exist before the editor can sync it to the animation. |
| Timescales | Dates and durations — when work starts and ends. | Two weeks for editing; finished by Friday of week 6. |
| Milestone | A significant checkpoint. | The client approves the rough cut. |
| Contingency | Time set aside for problems. | One spare week for corrections or a re-record. |
| Resources | The people, hardware and software needed. | An editor, a machine that can handle it, headphones, editing software. |
Milestone or duration?
If it takes time, it is a task with a duration. If it is a moment you either reached or did not, it is a milestone. “Client reviews the cut” takes time. “Client approves the cut” is the milestone at the end of it.
How it works
Two reasons tasks cannot overlap
The first is a dependency: one task needs another to be finished first. You cannot edit footage that has not been filmed. You cannot film a storyboard that has not been drawn. These are fixed by the work itself.
The second catches people out. Even when two tasks have nothing to do with each other, they can still be stuck in sequence because they need the same thing — the only sound studio, the only camera, the one person who can do both jobs. A plan that double-books a resource is not a plan.
When work genuinely can run in parallel, say so and use it. Someone designing a logo while someone else writes narration is real time saved, as long as the brief allows it and both people exist.
Use the constraint you were given
If the brief says one section must finish before the next starts, keep that order — even when overlapping would make everything fit neatly. Making the plan work by ignoring the brief scores nothing.
Worked example
Ten weeks, three audio guides, one team
A heritage centre needs three audio guides at the start of week 10. Planning takes one week. One team needs two weeks to record and edit each guide, and can only work on one at a time. Allow a week to test all three, and a week of contingency.
Check the arithmetic before you commit: 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 9 weeks of work before handover at the start of week 10. That fits, with nothing spare.
If you are shading a chart, shade exactly the weeks a task occupies. A two-week task gets two boxes. Counting the start and the end as separate weeks is how a two-week task quietly becomes three and the plan stops adding up.
| When | Task | Why it sits here |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Plan the scripts and organise recording. | Nothing can be recorded until the content is agreed. |
| Weeks 2–3 | Record and edit guide A. | Two weeks with the audio team, as stated. |
| Weeks 4–5 | Record and edit guide B. | Starts after A, because the team cannot do two at once. |
| Weeks 6–7 | Record and edit guide C. | The third two-week slot. |
| Week 8 | Test all three guides. | Only possible once all three exist. |
| Week 9 | Contingency for corrections. | Protects the handover date if testing finds something. |
| Start of week 10 | Approved files handed over. | A milestone — not another week of work. |
In the exam
Explaining what the plan is worth
Worked answer
3 marks
Explain one benefit to the production team of having a workplan for the three audio guides.
Tempting, but this does not score
A workplan helps the team stay organised and makes sure they get everything finished on time.
Both halves restate what a plan is for. Nothing here names something the team does differently, or what goes wrong without one.
Worth writing
The workplan shows that the same audio team records and edits every guide, one after another, so the manager can see at the planning stage that guide C cannot start until week 6. If someone had assumed all three could run in parallel, the team would only find out in week 2 when two recording sessions needed the same studio — and by then a week is already lost.
Where the marks come from
- Names something specific the plan reveals: the shared team creating a sequence.
- Says who benefits and when — the manager, at the planning stage.
- Explains the consequence of not having it, using the detail from this project.
In the exam
Read, schedule, then check
- Pull out every named task, duration, deadline, dependency and resource limit before you write anything.
- Put the tasks in the order the dependencies force, then add overlap only where it is genuinely allowed.
- Keep testing and contingency as separate things if the brief names both — they are not the same.
- Check the plan actually reaches the deadline, and that nothing shares a resource with itself.
- For a benefit question, connect the feature to this project: named responsibilities stop two editors cutting the same scene twice.
Fill in the document you were given
Some papers give you a workplan grid to complete. Put the tasks and timing on the grid. A paragraph next to an empty grid does not communicate a schedule, however good the paragraph is.
Key takeaways
- Pre-production plans it, production makes it, post-production finishes it.
- A duration is how long something takes. A deadline is the latest it can finish.
- A milestone is a checkpoint, not a block of work.
- Contingency is spare time set aside for things going wrong.
- Two tasks cannot overlap if they need the same person, room or kit.
Glossary
- Workplan
- A schedule of tasks, timing and resources used to run a production.
- Dependency
- When one task cannot start until another is finished.
- Duration
- How long a task takes.
- Deadline
- The latest point by which something must be finished.
- Milestone
- A significant checkpoint in a project.
- Contingency
- Time or provision held back in case something goes wrong.
- Resource
- A person, piece of equipment or piece of software the work needs.
Test yourself
6 questions
Which phase does editing recorded footage belong to?
Post-production.
Two filming tasks have nothing to do with each other. Why might they still have to be sequential?
They may need the same camera operator, camera or studio. A shared resource cannot be in two places at once.
Is client approval a duration or a milestone?
A milestone. The review leading up to it takes time and has a duration; the approval itself is the checkpoint.
A three-week task starts at the beginning of week 4. Which week does it finish in?
Week 6 — it occupies weeks 4, 5 and 6.
Why are testing and contingency not the same thing?
Testing is planned work to find problems. Contingency is spare time in case you find one.
What is the first thing to do with a workplan question?
Pull out every duration, deadline, dependency and resource limit from the brief before scheduling anything.
Common questions
Can tasks overlap?
Yes, when dependencies and resources allow it. Do not assume parallel work is always possible — check who and what each task needs.
Does a workplan have to be a Gantt chart?
No. A table or timeline communicates a plan perfectly well. In an exam, use whatever structure you were given and make the timing unambiguous.
How much contingency should I add?
Whatever the brief says. If it does not say, a small explicit allowance you can justify beats padding every task.