A basic Excel template to sketch out a short project — fast.
Intended for small initiatives where the goal is to roughly plan based on assumptions and effort estimates, not build a full work breakdown structure.
Includes:
- Task list on the left
- Manual timeline grid to map out durations
- Grey bars to mark weekends (with optional conditional formatting, see instructions below)
- Month and year formatting must be set manually
This is not automatic. You drag, color, and adjust by hand.
It’s useful because it’s fast — and it helps you get to an educated guess for how long something will take, before tools and detail take over.
Instructions to further set up and maintain:
Select the full range: C7:AG20
Go to Home → Conditional Formatting → New Rule
Choose “Use a formula to determine which cells to format”
Use this formula:
=OR(WEEKDAY(C$7,2)>5)
Limitations