With this template, you set up technical documentation projects quickly and systematically and spot potential risks earlier. Download our template for free and lead your project to success.
General structure of the project plan
Facing a large documentation project? Then you should take the time to plan it thoroughly. Whether it’s an installation guide, administrator guide, API reference, or release notes—creating documentation is an art in itself. To help, we created this free template. It’s divided into Planning, Content development in sprints, Publication, and Post-project analysis. We deliberately work in agile sprints to incorporate feedback quickly and steer iterations in a controlled way.
Why 1-day timeboxes?
The tasks in the template are intentionally set to one day. Treat these times merely as placeholders. The real effort depends on the number, scope, and depth of the documents needed: the more artifacts, the more review cycles—and the longer the project. Replace the placeholders later with realistic estimates.
Estimate effort better: tips & tricks
Start with an output list (which documents, versions, languages?) and define your target audiences/personas. Check your available sources (specifications, user stories, code, tickets) and plan review cycles (internal/external) realistically. Consider regulatory/quality (terminology, translations), the toolchain (docs-as-code, build, style-guide maturity), and risks (release shifts, resources).
Phase 1 – Planning
In planning, you define goals, output, and responsibilities and create the foundation for smooth sprints.
Practical tip:
Use the RACI model to define accountabilities:
- Responsible (does the work)
- Accountable (owns the decision)
- Consulted (is involved)
- Informed (is kept informed)
Here’s how to proceed:
- Create a list of all activities
- Assign R/A/C/I per activity. Record the accountabilities in a table
- Resolve conflicts by communicating at most one A-role per activity
Phase 2 – Content development in 2-week sprints
Content is created iteratively here. We group Sprint 1–∞ under one umbrella and currently plan two-week sprints—a mark of agile project planning: short cycles, early feedback, visible progress.
How to execute your sprints effectively:
- Define a measurable sprint goal: e.g., “Admin Guide chapters 1–3 in review-ready quality.”
- Timebox stakeholder/SME interviews: prepare a guide; capture outcomes in a decision-ready record. Background:
- Collect external reviews in a structured way: involve pilot users or support; label issues/comments consistently
Phase 3 – Publication
Turn deliverable content into high-quality artifacts (HTML, PDF, optionally ePub) that are published flawlessly and consistently.
Practical tip:
Keep content modular (topics, includes, attributes) and automate exports via CI. We recommend AsciiDoc as the documentation language. We use it ourselves for our documentation.
Phase 4 – Post-project analysis
You anchor learning in the team and improve process, tooling, and collaboration for the next release.
Practical tip for the retrospective:
Ask yourselves: What went well? What didn’t go well? What will we change?
This lets you learn from your insights for future projects and finalize new documentation faster, at lower cost, and in higher quality.
Tip: Don’t underestimate risk management. We’ve already attached a few potential risks in the project. Use this as a basis to identify more risks and define countermeasures..)
Next steps – how to use the template
- Download the template: Download the template here and open it in Merlin Project
- Assess effort and replace placeholders: Swap 1-day durations for estimates based on your output list and the first sprint metrics.
- Lock down RACI: Assign R/A/C/I per activity, resolve conflicts, version in the repo, and link visibly.
- Confirm sprint cadence: Anchor two-week sprints in the calendar (block planning/review/retro slots). Maintain the backlog per DoR.
- Activate CI checks: Set up linter, link checker, screenshot pipeline, and format exports in CI; define failure thresholds.
- Run a pilot document: Start with a small but representative document, measure lead time, refine definitions (DoR/DoD).
- Scale up: After the pilot, expand the artifact list (installation guide → admin guide → API reference) and plan capacity based on measured cycles.
If you have any questions about this blog article or would like to discuss it, we look forward to your contribution in our forum.
