Templates - Budgets
While different projects have different budgets, and most places use an Excel spreadsheet (ugh!) or a dedicated finance platform (if you’re lucky), I have always found it incredibly useful to template how I work out my budgets.
How do I template? I base the breakdown on the specific phases from my timing plan:
Phase 1 (£10k)
Phase 2 (£10k)
Phase 3 (£10k)
Phase 4 (£30k)
Here are 4 reasons why this works:
Time-saving: Instead of constantly figuring out how to split a budget, the framework is already done. I just finesse the numbers based on the brief.
Justification: I can always justify the financial breakdown to stakeholders.
Easier rescoping: Adjusting scope becomes much simpler to explain when there is a clear methodology behind the workings.
Pivot protection: It makes justifying spent budget easy if the project pivots or goes on hold. [1]
This last point is exactly why I always add a "% Complete" column to my timings.
*For example, if you know you are 30% complete on Phase 1 and the client cancels, you can instantly and accurately justify charging for 30% of that phase's budget.
