Google PM Certificate Course 3: Project Planning Breakdown

Course 3 (Project Planning) is where PM gets concrete. You'll learn to build Gantt charts, create work breakdown structures, estimate timelines and budgets, and develop comprehensive project plans. This is the most technical course and a crucial foundation for your PM practice.

What Is Course 3?

Project Planning takes the project definition from Course 2 and transforms it into a detailed action plan. You learn how to break work into tasks, sequence them, estimate duration and resources, allocate budget, and identify critical path. By the end of Course 3, you can create a complete project plan that guides execution.

Duration and Workload

Estimated time: 45-55 hours (4.5-5.5 weeks at 10 hours per week)

Course 3 is longer and denser than Courses 1-2. You're learning tools (Gantt charts, scheduling software), frameworks (work breakdown structures, critical path), and creating substantial planning documents. Expect to spend more time on this course than earlier ones.

Major Topics in Course 3

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Concept: Breaking a project into smaller, manageable pieces. Hierarchical decomposition of work.

Why it matters: A website redesign is too vague to schedule. WBS breaks it into: Design, Front-end Development, Back-end Development, Content Migration, Testing, Deployment. Each breaks further (e.g., Front-end = Create Homepage, Create Product Pages, Create Checkout, Build Navigation).

Key skill: Creating WBS forces you to think through all work required. Creates accountability for complete scope coverage.

Estimation (Duration and Resources)

What you learn: How long will each task take? What resources (people, equipment, budget) does each require?

Techniques:

• Expert judgment: Ask someone who's done similar work
• Parametric estimation: Use historical data/ratios
• Analogous estimation: Similar past project was X hours; this should be Y hours
• Three-point estimation: Optimistic, most likely, pessimistic estimates

Reality: Estimation is hard. Learners often underestimate. Course teaches you to add buffer for uncertainty and to validate estimates with team members who'll do the work.

Gantt Charts

What you learn: Creating visual timelines. Gantt charts show tasks on horizontal bars, with time on the x-axis. Dependencies are shown (Task B starts after Task A completes).

Tools: Excel, Google Sheets, dedicated software (Asana, Monday.com). Course teaches basic Gantt creation in spreadsheets.

Reading Gantt charts: Can anyone look at your Gantt and understand project timeline, task sequencing, dependencies, and critical path?

Why it matters: Gantt charts communicate complex timelines simply. Executives see at a glance when major milestones occur. Team sees task sequencing and when they need to start work.

Critical Path and Critical Path Method (CPM)

Concept: The longest sequence of dependent tasks in a project. Delays on the critical path delay the whole project. Tasks not on critical path have some flexibility (slack).

Importance: If your project is behind schedule, focusing on critical path tasks first gets you back on track fastest. Non-critical path delays don't affect project end date (until slack runs out).

Example: Website redesign's critical path might be: Design → Front-end Dev → Testing → Deploy. Back-end dev happens in parallel; if it's delayed slightly, project still launches on time. But if Front-end Dev is delayed, the whole project delays.

Resource Planning and Allocation

What you learn: Who will do the work? Do you have enough people? Are resources over/under-allocated? How do you schedule people across projects?

Concepts:

• Resource availability: Is Jane available full-time or does she split time across projects?
• Resource leveling: Smoothing out peaks and valleys in resource demand
• Capacity planning: Can you deliver on schedule with available resources?

Budget Planning and Cost Estimation

What you learn: What will the project cost? How do you develop a budget? What are cost drivers?

Cost components:

• Labor: Salary costs for team members
• Materials: Software, hardware, supplies
• Services: Contractors, vendors, consulting
• Contingency: Buffer for unexpected costs

Budgeting discipline: Allocating budget prevents over-spending. Tracking against budget during execution ensures you stay on track.

Dependencies and Constraints

Types of dependencies:

• Finish-to-Start: Task B can't start until Task A finishes
• Start-to-Start: Task B starts when Task A starts
• Finish-to-Finish: Tasks finish together
• Start-to-Finish: Rare but sometimes necessary

Constraints: What limits what you can do? Budget ceiling, key resource availability, technology constraints.

Key Tools and Frameworks

WBS Templates

Course provides templates for common project types. Use them as starting points. Customize based on your specific project.

Spreadsheet Gantt Charts

You'll create basic Gantt charts in Excel or Google Sheets. Not fancy software—just tables, conditional formatting, and formulas. The skill transfers to any Gantt tool.

Budget Spreadsheets

Template for allocating budget across categories and timeline. You'll see budget by phase or month, allowing tracking against plan during execution.

Assessment in Course 3

Graded Quizzes

Content: WBS creation, estimation techniques, Gantt chart reading, critical path, budget components

Example question: "In your project Gantt chart, Task A is on the critical path. Task B is not, with 5 days of slack. If Task B slips 7 days, what happens? A) Project deadline extends. B) No impact on project deadline. C) Need to accelerate critical path. D) Both A and C."

Right answer: A (or D depending on how you read it). The slack concept is key here.

Peer-Graded Assignment

Typical task: Develop a project plan including WBS, Gantt chart, budget estimate, resource allocation, and risk identification (preview of Course 4).

What gets graded: WBS completeness and logical structure, Gantt accuracy (tasks sequenced correctly, critical path identified), budget realism, resource allocation clarity.

Typical length: 5-8 pages with charts

First time creating Gantt: If you've never created a Gantt, allow extra time. Once you understand the structure, it becomes straightforward.

Common Challenges in Course 3

Creating Comprehensive WBS

Challenge: Breaking work into sufficient detail without over-decomposing. How granular should WBS be?

Guideline: Break until tasks are 40-80 hours of effort (roughly 1-2 weeks for a full-time team member). More detail is fine if helpful; less detail risks under-planning.

Gantt Chart Complexity

Challenge: Creating Gantt in spreadsheets requires understanding conditional formatting, formulas, and dependencies. If you're not spreadsheet-proficient, this is hard.

How to overcome: Course provides templates. Use them. Don't build from scratch initially. Once you understand how a template works, you can modify it. YouTube tutorials on Excel/Google Sheets Gantt charts help tremendously.

Estimation Accuracy

Challenge: How do you estimate realistically? Learners often underestimate.

Guidelines: Ask people who'll do the work (they're better at estimating their own effort). Build in buffer for unknowns. Use three-point estimation (optimistic/most likely/pessimistic). Compare to historical similar projects.

Budget Assumptions

Challenge: Where do salary costs come from? How do you estimate vendor costs? Budget planning requires assumptions you might not have.

Approach: Make your assumptions explicit. Document them. You're demonstrating PM thinking, not creating accurate real-world budgets. State "assuming developer cost of $75/hour" and build from there.

How Course 3 Connects to Course 4

Course 3 creates the plan. Course 4 executes against the plan, monitoring whether you're on schedule and within budget. You can't execute well without a solid plan. Course 3 is prerequisite.

Time Management for Course 3

Week 1: WBS concepts and creation

Week 2: Estimation and resource planning

Week 3: Gantt charts and critical path

Week 4: Budget planning and constraints

Week 5: Complete assignment, refine plan, take quizzes

Course 3 benefits from spreading time across multiple weeks—concepts are dense and need to settle.

Real-World Practice

After Course 3, you can create a real project plan for an actual initiative. Even if it's not used professionally, creating a plan for something real teaches more than the assignment alone. Apply the tools to something you know.

Related reading: Google PM Certificate Course 2: Project Initiation Explained and How to Study for the Google PM Certificate.

Next Steps

Course 3 is technically the most challenging course, but it's where PM becomes real. You're creating actual planning documents and tools. Invest time here. Master WBS creation, Gantt charts, and budget planning. These are skills you'll use in every PM role. By the end of Course 3, you can create a comprehensive project plan from scratch—a significant accomplishment and a core PM competency.