What Is a Project Description and How Should You Write it?

Project description is a blueprint that contains important information, a brief roadmap to different aspects of project implementation. It helps the top management and funding partners make important decisions about the project. Given its importance, writing a project description calls for professional expertise. A PMP certification is a good qualification for taking up this assignment.

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What Is Project Description?

Project Description contains important basic information and an outline and structure that guides project implementation. A project is planned with a set of goals to be achieved. It is a short-term activity that mobilizes people and resources to achieve the goals defined in the project. A project description is a relatively detailed account of what the project is about and its implementation.

Because the project description is written in an organized manner with absolute clarity, it helps decision-makers draw insights for their decisions without going into the details of the project. The art and science of writing project descriptions are taught in the PMP course. A project management professional certification can be completed in an online or hybrid mode at PMI-affiliated institutes across the globe.

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What Should Be Included in the Project Description? 

A project description is a written document with some multimedia inputs and is prepared with extensive experience in project management. It serves as a quick overview of the project to other project management professionals who may not be involved at the micro-level.

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Keeping this in mind, a perfect project description example may contain project information in concise text and points under different heads. Here is an example of what it may consist of:

• Project Goals.
• Project Objectives.
• Admin Activities.
• Project Implementation.
• Teams and Workforce.
• Start and Finish Time.
• Cost and Funding.

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Writing Effective Project Description

Project description is helpful as it provides broader outlines for project implementation. A project management document deals with basic management issues such as the goals, timeline, measurement, and relevance. When writing a project description, there are simple rules to be followed, and all of them can be learned in a short-term PMP certification online course.

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Here are some of the points to keep in mind:

• The content should be clear and should be understood without any difficulty.
• The project description should be concise, and the content should be related to the project and its context.
• Beating around the bush distracts and confuses the reader, which must be avoided. 
• The description should be complete, meaning it should include all the important aspects of the project. 
• Only up-to-date facts should find their way to the project description.

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Structure of Project Description

The project description structure should prioritize information related to the project and should have an air of professionalism. 

Here is a project description example for the structure of the document:

• Project Title: It should be brief and capture the central idea.
• Project Summary: It should identify the problem it is aiming to solve. It should shed some light on the project implementation.
• Need and Purpose: Explain the goals, objectives, and scope of the project. Discuss the need and how it is going to fulfill it. 
• Business Importance: It should identify the need of the project and discuss how the project will benefit the company.
• Costs and Benefits: The project involves costs and brings benefits. The project description should provide a clear picture of how the costs compare with benefits.
• Implementation Methodology: The project description should include technical and operational methodologies.
• Project Stages and Timeline: It defines different stages of the project implementation and timelines for each stage. 
• Team Requirements: It should show the workforce required for the project and how they will work.
• Expected Results: The project description should define the results for each implementation stage. It should also identify the results that the project should bring at the conclusion. 

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How to Write a Project Description?

Like any good writing, a project description needs to be planned along with the important information and messages that need to be delivered. Good writing is always the result of extensive research, and writing the project description will involve clear and informed messaging through well-organized and well-presented text and multimedia inputs.

Here is a step-by-step process to achieve this through project description:

• Summarize: Explain the goals, outcomes, importance, and benefits of the project. Write 3-5 sentences for the summary. Use fewer words and avoid expressions that are not essential.
• Define: Describe the business opportunity that exists. Showcase the problems that need to be solved and explain how your project aims to achieve this goal.
• Justify: Demonstrate why your company must take up this project and how it might affect your organization.
• Evaluate: Explain what determines the project's success and how you measure it. You should give a cost-benefit analysis.
• Approach: There are various ways to achieve the goals. The project description should explain which approach the project is planning to use and why.
• Timeline: A project must be completed in time to meet the goals it aims to achieve. Delays can lead to cost overruns so, there should be a timeline for each project stage, from start to finish. 
• Compile: It is important not to miss out on the set of problems your project will face. Explain how your project plans to overcome the hurdles.
• Conclude: Define how you will measure the project's success to be considered complete.

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After the document is ready with all these heads filled with relevant content, you should review the document for factual and linguistic errors. The layout and design of the document should also receive some consideration. It should reflect project description meaning in its completeness.

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Do You Need Training for Project Description Writing? 

Project management professionals are going to be in demand in large numbers. It is because they bring a set of domain expertise to the job. Writing project description in an increasingly fast-paced project management environment calls for specialized training you will get once you do a PMP course. You can complete a Project management professional certification from one PMI-affiliated institute.          

Also Read: Project Follow-Up

Summing Up 

Project description is an important document that needs to be written with extreme care. While preparing the document, emphasis should be given to the quality of information and how the information is organized, structured, and presented. Project management professionals interested in this role can complete PMP certification online. A PMP certification can equip professionals with great project description writing skills.