In an ERP deployment project or a redesign of an industrial site, one often ends up with a deliverables list as long as one’s arm, scattered teams, and a steering committee that wants to understand the plan in three minutes. The macro planning addresses this specific need: to provide a synthetic view of the major phases, without drowning stakeholders in the details of daily subtasks.
Manage by actual capacity before breaking it down into phases
Most guides on macro planning start from a classic reflex: list the tasks, estimate durations, then allocate resources. In practice, this sequence poses a concrete problem. An ambitious schedule is built, only to discover that the technical team is already engaged on another project, or that a critical skill (cloud architect, certified welder, site manager) is only available part-time.
An approach gaining traction is to build the macro planning based on available capacity rather than the task list. Specifically, one starts by mapping the actual skills of the organization and their occupancy rates. Projects are then prioritized according to the value they create and the team’s capacity to absorb the deliverables. Virage Group identifies this capacity and skills management as a structuring trend in project portfolio management.
To delve deeper into macro planning methods, one can rely on this prioritization logic by value, which changes how we sequence the major steps of a project.
This change in perspective has a direct effect: instead of recalibrating the schedule every two weeks because a bottleneck appears, we anticipate resource constraints right from the scoping phase. The macro planning then becomes a decision-making tool, not just a decorative calendar for the executive committee.
Macro planning and granularity: where to place the cursor between global vision and micro planning
A macro planning that goes too deep into detail loses its primary function. A macro planning that is too vague is also of no use. The question of the right level of granularity systematically arises when implementing this tool.
What goes into a macro planning
It includes the major phases of the project, validation milestones, delivery dates of major deliverables, and the end date. Each block represents a step that can last several weeks. The macro planning does not display individual tasks, team meetings, or intermediate micro-deliverables.
- The key milestones: validation of the specifications, delivery of a prototype, user acceptance testing, production launch
- The dependencies between phases: a development phase does not start until the functional scoping is complete
- The external calendar constraints: regulatory dates, deployment windows imposed by the client, system freeze periods
- The quarterly review points, to adjust the plan according to the evolving context
What falls under micro planning
The daily breakdown of tasks, individual assignment of developers or technicians, tracking hours: all of this falls under micro planning. Mixing the two levels in the same document produces an unreadable Gantt chart that no one updates.
A good macro planning fits on one page. If it exceeds two pages, we have probably slipped into disguised micro planning. Feedback varies on this point depending on the complexity of the project, but the one-page rule remains a good safeguard to keep the document useful.
Building a macro planning without a Gantt chart
The Gantt chart is the historical tool of macro planning. We draw horizontal bars on a timeline, materialize dependencies, and that’s it. In practice, many teams find the Gantt rigid and costly to maintain, especially in contexts where priorities frequently shift.
Two alternatives deserve attention.
The roadmap by objectives
Rather than sequencing tasks, we organize the macro planning around quarterly objectives. Each objective groups a set of deliverables. This approach, close to agile methods, works well for projects where the scope evolves regularly. It maintains a medium-term vision without freezing the details of activities.
The phase table with transition criteria
A simple table is sometimes sufficient. In columns: the phase, its estimated duration, the expected deliverables, the criteria for moving to the next phase. This format has the advantage of being understandable by any stakeholder, including those who are not familiar with project management tools.
- Scoping phase: deliverable = validated scoping note, transition criterion = sponsor’s agreement
- Execution phase: deliverable = tested functional version, criterion = coverage of priority use cases
- Deployment phase: deliverable = system in production, criterion = absence of blocking anomalies during the verification period
This format works particularly well for communicating with business management that neither has the time nor the desire to read a forty-line Gantt chart.
Quarterly review of the macro planning: integrating HR and regulatory constraints
A macro planning that is fixed at the beginning of a project and never reviewed is a dead macro planning. Human resource planning is now treated as a continuous process, with regular review points based on changes in context. This logic directly applies to macro planning.
Every quarter, we confront the initial plan with the reality on the ground:
Are critical skills still available? A departure, a long-term leave, or a reassignment to a priority project can delay an entire phase. It’s better to identify this during a quarterly review than to discover it the day before a milestone.
Have regulatory constraints evolved? In certain sectors (energy, finance, health), a new legal obligation may require adding a compliance phase to the initial plan. Integrating these constraints into the macro planning avoids emergency catch-ups.
Is the budget consumed consistent with actual progress? If half the budget has been spent to achieve a third of the plan, the macro planning must be adjusted, not ignored.
This discipline of review transforms the macro planning from a static document into a true management tool. We do not plan once and for all: we plan, we execute, we confront, we adjust. It is this loop that gives the macro planning its operational value over the duration of a project.