If you're not quite ready for elaborate charts and diagrams, you might opt for scheduling a project on a simple calendar. Using a different color for each task or assigning a color for each of the three or four people on the project, you can make up an easy-to-follow schedule such as the one that follows. You might also use initials for team members.

In this example, each “Task A” is a different activity for the project. “Task B,” however, might be the same color, indicating that AJ and DJ worked on the same task at the end of the week. Task B was only one day of work for DJ, but AJ had enough to complete to take her into Friday.

A calendar can be posted in a central location so everyone can check their status and note how many days are remaining in the project. We've all seen children (and adults for that matter) mark off a calendar with how many days are left until vacation. In this case, you're marking off how many days until the project is complete. Just make sure each day's task is complete before you mark it finished.

Add milestones to your calendar or create a milestone schedule. You can highlight important events by circling the date on the calendar or pasting a gold star next to key tasks that you have completed. These will indicate that you have reached an important point or a milestone en route to completing your project.

In some cases, you might not list tasks on a daily basis, particularly if they are repetitive by nature. You can simply include the milestones that need to be reached on certain days. For example, someone might be painting six similarly sized offices over the course of two consecutive weeks. You can make a line for a continuing task as in the previous example, rather than writing “paint office” in each box. At the end of the first Friday, you might mark down “Finish painting three offices” as a milestone or marker.

A milestone version of a more detailed schedule can give stakeholders who are not actively involved with the project on a daily basis, or the sponsors, an idea of when key goals within the project have been reached. For example, the backer of the film will know when shooting wrapped and the postproduction phase begins.