No matter which software development strategy you use, plandisc’s planning tool enables you to get a clear overview of all your development activities. The circular calendar gathers all projects in one view, where you assign individual rings to each specific project. If you have multiple teams, each team can also have its own ring in a joint planning cycle.
Optimise your planning by synchronising the planning cycle with the calendar program you are already using. There’s a two-way, fully integrated Outlook synchronisation available, as well as a one-way calendar invite option for calendars from Google, Apple and more.
Share Your Planning Cycle with Your Stakeholders
When your annual planning cycle is represented in a circular calendar, it becomes much easier for managers and stakeholders to stay updated. Whether you set up different plandiscs for each project or create planning cycles for the separate departments, it’s easy to share the annual plans with collaborators, colleagues and associates. The plandisc is easy to integrate with MS Office and to embed on web pages and intranets. You choose which parts of your planning cycle you want to share, as well as who will have access to it.
Stakeholders will be able to give you feedback on projects in development as they unfold. Furthermore, your development team will have clear goals marked in a convenient way. If you have multiple development teams, they will be able to track and compare their progress on various projects and share their experiences in a quick and easy way.
Attach All Necessary Data to Your Project Cycle
You can attach files and documents, such as project specifications and progress reports, directly to the different activities in your circular calendar. Informative and helpful links can also be added to ensure all information is collected in one place. That makes it easier for developers to clearly understand their goals and keep track of deadlines. Your stakeholders will simultaneously be able to follow your project cycle from start to finish.
The more data you include in your planning cycle, the easier it will be for everyone to track the progress of various teams and projects. You can also export your plandisc into different formats, enabling you to use it in PowerPoint presentations or as a pdf.
Visualise Your Annual Planning Cycle
There are various templates available to use in plandisc’s planning tool, and you have full control over the customisation of your circular calendar. You choose the number of rings you need for separate projects, individual teams or different phases of a project. You can also assign different colours to each ring to create an easier overview and make it more visually appealing.
Furthermore, you have the option to display your planning cycle in a classic calendar format, which in plandisc is called a list view. While preferable to some users, this sacrifices the complete annual overview offered by the disc view. The circular format makes it easy to identify stressful periods and overlapping activities, allowing your development department to streamline their work.
Hovering your cursor over an activity gives you a short description of that specific task or phase of the project. Clicking on the activity lets you access all the information, documents and links attached to it. By using a circular calendar from Plandisc, it’ll become easier for everyone involved to understand even the most complex software projects.
Annual Planning or Single Project
A final point worth mentioning is that there are two different types of plandiscs to choose from. The classic plandisc provides you with an annual planning cycle as described above. When planning a single project you can opt for an activity disc; a simplified version with a customised number of cells used to visualise and describe processes. Check out both options and see which one fits your development department and its teams best. Perhaps a combination of both is what will take your planning to the next level.