How Granular Is Too Granular in Your Project Plan?

Every project manager eventually hits this question: how detailed should your project plan actually be? I review a number of project plans and task lists on a daily basis and see one big struggle. It typically looks like one of these two problems

• The PM includes every micro task on the project plan and it gets cluttered for clients and higher level stakeholders to even come close to digesting

• The PM only includes high level milestones, and visibility into tracking internal tasks or other PM account management tasks is lost, leaving people in the dark about the day to day that gets the larger tasks done.

So, do you include every small admin task, or just the high-level client-facing work that keeps things moving? Because somewhere between “schedule feedback meeting” and “launch final deliverable” lives a gray area most PM’s wrestle with.

And that gray area? It’s where half of project manager’s sanity goes to die. Let’s break down where the line really is, what belongs in your plan, what doesn’t, and how to organize both without creating chaos.

The difference between project tasks and PM tasks

Not every task you touch belongs in your project plan.

Some are project tasks, meaning they push the actual work forward. Others are PM or internal team tasks, meaning they make sure the work gets pushed forward.

The distinction sounds small, but it’s massive.

Project tasks:

• Design wireframes

• Write copy for homepage

• Test feature in staging

• Prepare launch deck

Account Management or PM tasks:

• Schedule kickoff call

• Send request for access

• Follow up with client for feedback

• Chase down that one person who still hasn’t filled in their part of the doc

If you start putting all of those PM tasks into your main plan, you’ll drown in your own detail. It starts to look less like a project plan and more like your personal task tracker.

Where do those “extra” tasks go?

This is where project managers start to divide into two groups.

Group One: The One-Plan Purists
These PMs keep everything in one tool but use filters, tags, or views to control who sees what. Their clients get a clean, milestone-level view, while their internal team sees the gritty version.

• Pros: One source of truth.

• Cons: Easy to accidentally overshare something that wasn’t meant to be client-facing.

Group Two: The Split-View Strategists
They maintain a client-facing plan that’s clean and focused on deliverables, and a separate internal plan that includes the day-to-day PM or internal team task work.

• Pros: You can manage your internal chaos without exposing it.

• Cons: Double maintenance if you’re not careful.

The “Feedback Window” dilemma

One area I see a lot of debate about that can clutter plans is around tasks for feedback windows. Do you create a task for feedback window itself? Or just a milestone for when feedback is due?

There’s no universal answer, but here’s how to think about it.

✅ Create a feedback task if:

• You need visibility across multiple reviewers or “Review gates” For example, there is always a two-week period for feedback from XYZ team or group, and you need to account for this as a dependency in your timeline.

🚫 Use a milestone if:

• Feedback is straightforward and doesn’t change dependencies

• The client or stakeholders already have a fixed review process

A little structure goes a long way here.

What “too granular” really looks like

Here’s a quick test. If you find yourself creating tasks like:

• Send e-mail to confirm meeting time

• Submit internal form for approval

You’re probably overplanning.

But if your plan just says things like:

• Review complete

• Launch prep

Without explaining who’s doing what or when, you’re underplanning.

The sweet spot sits somewhere between clarity and chaos.

Tools and templates that make this easier

If your plan starts looking like a digital brain dump, it’s time to organize your system, not just your tasks.

Here are a few ways to make that happen:

1. Use a layered template structure.

• Deliverables (client-facing)

• Internal (team-facing)

You can toggle views depending on who you’re presenting to. If you are looking for how to start, you can check out my Project Plan templates where I have a setup like this→ [link]

2. Create a “PM-Only Task Tracker.”
This is your personal mission control. A separate place to keep all your admin work that doesn’t belong in the main project plan.

If you use Notion, you can build this with linked databases that pull in only tasks assigned to you. Or grab my pre-built Notion task tracker here

Five questions to ask before adding anything to your plan

Before you add a task, run it through this filter:

1. Does this impact a deliverable or dependency?

2. Will someone else need visibility on this?

3. Is it something a client needs to track?

4. Will it help future reporting or timelines?

5. Am I only tracking this for myself?

If you answer “no” to most of these, move it off your plan and into your PM task list instead.

Bringing it all together

The truth is, “too granular” is subjective. What matters most is consistency. Everyone on your team should understand how to read the plan, where to find details, and what’s tracked elsewhere.

If your plan helps people move forward, it’s working.
If it confuses them, slows things down, or turns into a wall of admin tasks, it’s time to zoom out.