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An action plan is different from most other plans in that it has built-in deliverables. Assigning and executing deliverables is not difficult, but when deadlines matter, how a team communicates those action steps leading to the goals of the action plan makes all of the difference. Your team's timelines depend on clear visibility into tasks and action steps in order to foresee and to proactively respond to issues as they arise, keeping everyone on the same page.

Here's a quick guide to help you build your action plan now.

1. Scope out the big picture

- Write a general summary of what you want to accomplish with objectives, budget, time, assumptions, definitions, potential risks and issues that may arise and tie it to a goal. Make sure you write the pros and cons so you know where to focus downstream.

2. Break out the smaller tasks

- More specifically, assign tasks to yourself or a team member pieces of the project that will support how you will achieve your goal. In this assignment make sure to think proactively about the timeline and deadlines of the overall project in terms of allocating resources.

3. Create a list of action steps

- For each task, there should be a list of to-dos ranked in sequential order. Make sure this list can be changed, shared, re-ordered and deleted if there are redundancies.

4. Prioritize relative importance

- Some steps are more important that others. Based on days to deadline, task and action step importance, and number of steps remaining, a master list is generated automatically to guide workflow process.

5. Collaborate and translate

- Effective action plans require clear input and clarification from teammates.