Teams throw around the term “project deliverables” like candy at a parade these days. It’s sometimes difficult to determine what your client or internal team members mean when they use this term. And it’s even more challenging to get on the same page if you don’t have a clearly defined process for determining and managing project deliverables.
Without strategic project management, 70% of organizations suffered at least one project failure in a financial year.
No wonder your project manager probably feels sick to their stomach whenever someone adds another deliverable to an already poorly planned project.
Have no fear! We’ll help you uncover how to consistently deliver value to your customers, prioritize tasks for scope management, and streamline resource distribution.
This guide breaks down how to align internal and external teams on project deliverables so you keep clients happy, teams more efficient, and profit margins in the green. We’ll also share tips on using dedicated project management software (read: ClickUp) to make it easier to identify and manage deliverables.
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What Are Project Deliverables?
Project deliverables are the individual tasks that fulfill a project’s total scope and contribute to project objectives.
Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, you can’t complete projects without contributing inputs. That’s what project deliverables are; the building blocks in your project plan.
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⭐ Featured Template
ClickUp’s Work Breakdown Template lets you visually map out your entire project structure, making it easy to identify key deliverables at a glance. You can break down high-level goals into smaller components using drag-and-drop nodes, helping you clarify exactly what needs to be delivered and who owns it. By turning each node into a task, you can seamlessly move from planning to execution without losing track of any deliverables.
Easily identify and track project deliverables with the ClickUp Work Breakdown Template
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Types of Project Deliverables
The types of deliverables are determined by function and which team is responsible for delivering it. For example:
Internal vs. external
Deliverables aren’t only for clients. They also work as a way to help your internal teams to stay on track.
👉🏼 For example, an internal deliverable may be a blog draft a content writer submits to your editing team. An external deliverable would be the final blog draft that the content writer presents to the client.
Process vs. product
Process deliverables are procedural tasks that help move the project forward (e.g., brand audit checklist). On the other hand, product deliverables fulfill the specifics of the services described in the project scope (e.g., completed branding guide).
Tangible vs. intangible
Some project elements don’t require a physical handoff. However, these resources are still essential to the project’s success. This would refer to intangible project deliverables.
👉🏼 For example, knowledge transfer in the form of a client onboarding and training program is vital to the success of a project. However, it may not include a physical document handoff.
Tangible deliverables are parts of a project that have form and substance.
👉🏼 For example, a training manual will constitute a tangible deliverable.
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Examples of Project Deliverables for Different Teams
Project deliverables will differ depending on your team. To give you a better idea, here are four team examples of project deliverables:
Marketing Teams:
Social media content calendar
Email marketing campaign
Brand messaging guidelines
Design Teams:
Website redesign mockups
Logo design
Product packaging design
Product Teams:
Product roadmap
User stories
Feature specifications
HR Teams:
Onboarding program for new hires
Employee engagement survey results and action plan
Company culture handbook
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What aren’t project deliverables?
In every bag of parade candy, there are probably at least a couple of pieces masquerading as candy (looking at you, Tootsie Rolls). Similarly, sometimes folks have difficulty distinguishing between project deliverables and other parts of the project, like:
Project milestones: These are stages of a project, but not the actual deliverables. A project deliverable can contribute to reaching project milestones. For example, a branding guide (project deliverable) might signal the completion of “brand asset development” (milestone) in a branding and marketing project
Project goals and objectives: They measure the destination or outcomes you want to arrive at through your team’s work. However, they’re not what you use to get there. A project goal might be to increase inbound leads by 20%, while SEO content may be a project deliverable that contributes to the success of that KPI
The final product: This is made up of contributing pieces (i.e., the product deliverables) but is not the same as those individual pieces. The final product may be a fully developed app, but the key deliverables contributing to that final product were the UI wireframes, design elements, and much more
These aspects are important parts of a project—they’re just not project deliverables.
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Project Deliverables vs. Project Milestones vs. Project Objectives at a Glance
Item
Definition
Format
Purpose
Example
Project Deliverable
A tangible or intangible output created as part of the project
Document, design file, prototype
To move the project forward or fulfill a requirement
A completed landing page
Milestone
A specific point or event in the project timeline
Date or checkpoint
To track progress or signal completion of a phase
“Testing phase complete”
Objective
A measurable goal that guides project direction
KPI, target metric
To define what success looks like for the project
“Increase user engagement by 15%”
Final Product
The fully completed solution or outcome delivered at the end of the project
Finished product or service
To meet the end goal of the project
A functioning mobile app
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How to Identify Project Deliverables for Your Team
Now that you know what qualifies for your internal and external project deliverables, you may wonder how to identify and choose the deliverables for a given project.
First, there is no set number of project deliverables; the number of deliverables depends on project requirements, project timeline, budget, and agreed-upon terms. However, these elements should be subjected to your project hierarchy (also known as a Work Breakdown Structure or WBS) before you identify and produce project deliverables.
ClickUp’s unique Hierarchy gives you the flexibility to organize teams of any size
This will help your internal project team maintain workflow continuity across projects.
To figure out deliverables for your client project, follow these steps:
1. Start with the project objectives
Start by asking yourself what the project’s goals are and how your product contributes to meeting those goals. Objectives define the destination—deliverables are the steps that get you there.
💡 Pro Tip: You can use project management tools like ClickUp to do this. Start by setting a ClickUp Goal with clearly defined Targets (like task completion, numeric values, or milestones). Then, link specific ClickUp Tasks or subtasks that represent your deliverables to those Targets. This gives you a clear visual of how each deliverable ladders up to the project’s objectives—and you can track it all in one place.
Create trackable objectives with measurable targets using ClickUp Goals
2. Break down the scope of work
Review your project scope, statement of work (SOW), or brief. Look for nouns and actions that imply creation—e.g., “develop onboarding guide,” “design logo,” “publish 10 blog posts.”
💡 Pro Tip: Deliverables are measurable and reviewable. They can be documents, designs, code, content, events, reports—anything you can finish and share (whether tangible or intangible).
Understand where all your work stands at a glance by organizing tasks with flexible sorting, filtering, and grouping options in ClickUp’s List view
Say a client brings your team on for an Instagram marketing campaign. Through conversations with the client, you agree that the scope of work will include 10 static posts and reels to reach their campaign goals.
For your copywriters, designers, and video producers, there will be 10 static images, captions, and video clips. These project deliverable breakdowns give you and your team a clear sense of the work ahead, helping you allocate resources, stay within scope and budget, and deliver on time.
4. Align with milestones (but don’t confuse them)
Ask: “What outputs are required to reach this checkpoint?”
Milestones are signposts, deliverables are the vehicles. For example, if the milestone is “Launch campaign,” deliverables might be the email sequence, landing page, and ad creatives.
💡 Pro Tip: In ClickUp, you can mark specific tasks as Milestones to represent key moments in your project timeline—like “Design Approved” or “Development Complete.” Use them to visualize major checkpoints in Gantt view or Timeline view. Then, link deliverables as dependent tasks so you can see exactly what needs to be completed before a milestone is hit.
Visualize project timelines and key milestones using the ClickUp Gantt Chart View
5. Check stakeholder expectations
What has the client or leadership asked for specifically? Stakeholder input often reveals required deliverables—especially if they expect review cycles or approvals.
6. Confirm deliverables meet SMART criteria
Strong deliverables are:
Specific (clearly defined)
Measurable (you can track progress)
Achievable (within time and resource limits)
Relevant (contributes to goals)
Time-bound (has a deadline)
The bottom line? Think of project deliverables as the concrete things you hand off, create, or complete to move the project forward.
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Steps to Manage Project Deliverables
👀 Did You Know? Rebel’s Guide to Project Management found that 59% of project managers manage between two and five projects at a time.
So, how do you or your project manager handle project deliverables when juggling multiple client projects simultaneously? The key is to establish clear priorities and task owners from the start, and delegate the busy work to AI.
Check out this handy guide for using AI in project management👇🏽
Now, let’s look at how you can manage project deliverables better:
1. Establish the scope of work and get written agreement from all relevant stakeholders
Don’t leave your project to chance. Start every project by outlining its requirements with the client in your kickoff meeting. Determine each task’s project type, priority, usable hours, and budget.
Once you determine your project deliverables, it is paramount that internal and external project stakeholders agree to them and sign a written business agreement (also known as a project charter).
This document provides a central source of truth if there are any disputes along the way and unifies you and your client toward a common goal. The project charter will outline expectations and authorizations, and delegate responsibilities to internal and external stakeholders.
Collaborate with colleagues and clients on your project documents with ClickUp Docs
You can use a document management solution like ClickUp Docs to draft, edit, and keep your project charter updated. Docs allow simultaneous live editing, so your team and clients can collaborate in real time, leave comments, and ensure everyone stays aligned as the project evolves.
You can also link the Doc directly to your ClickUp Tasks (deliverables) or embed it in a project folder so it’s always easy to find and reference—no more digging through email chains or outdated files.
🤝 Friendly Reminder: Signing an agreement doesn’t mean your projects can’t evolve; it simply allows you to revisit the project scope of work statement and protect your team from being overworked and underpaid.
💡 Pro Tip: Does drafting a project charter from scratch feel like too much work? Use free project charter templates to get it done faster!
2. Determine team bandwidth and distribute work accordingly
Distribute the workload according to your team’s skills and individual bandwidth. Monitor what teams and individuals are working on, the demands of each project deliverable, and team priorities to spread out assignments evenly.
It’s easier said than done when you’re drowning in multiple projects, but with the ClickUp Workload management view, it’s as easy as opening your dashboard.
Use ClickUp’s Workload View to see who is ahead or behind and easily drag-and-drop tasks to reallocate resources
It makes your life easier by tracking workload in your team’s specific production metrics instead of generic productivity measurements. Some teams may prefer to measure workload in sprint points, while others may measure workload in task volume or time estimates. Using a centralized project management tool is foundational to efficient team management, regardless of how your organization measures team workload.
🧠 Fun Fact: 93% of employees at STANLEY Security said switching to ClickUp helped them better organize and prioritize their work. Additionally, 72% of employees reported reduced work overload and stress.
3. Automate the busywork to increase focus on critical activities
It’s easy for project quality to suffer when you’re bogged down with client admin work and team communications. The good news is that automation can take that busywork off your plate.
Use pre-built automation recipes in ClickUp or customize them based on your needs, so your team can focus where it matters most
In ClickUp, teams can use tags to automatically notify others when internal or external deliverables are ready and keep the project objectives moving forward. Automation tags also leave a clear audit trail with direct links to deliverables, reducing the need for constant back-and-forth asking for project updates.
📮 ClickUp Insight: Only 10% of our survey respondents regularly use automation tools and actively seek new opportunities to automate.
This highlights a major untapped lever for productivity — most teams are still relying on manual work that could be streamlined or eliminated.
ClickUp’s AI Agents make it easy to build automated workflows, even if you’ve never used automation before. With plug-and-play templates and natural language-based commands, automating tasks becomes accessible to everyone in the team!
💫 Real Results: QubicaAMF cut reporting time by 40% using ClickUp’s dynamic dashboards and automated charts—transforming hours of manual work into real-time insights.
Companies that use ClickUp tell us they have more space to focus on high-level tasks thanks to our tool. In fact, STANLEY Security found that 86% of employees spent more time focusing on high-level critical activities with the help of ClickUp Automations, and 80% saw improved teamwork.
STANLEY Security surveyed its internal employees to understand the impact of ClickUp
The impact of automation isn’t limited to employee anecdotes either. A report from McKinsey discovered two-thirds of companies see multiple benefits with automated workflows including—but not limited to—improving product quality, reducing costs, and increasing customer satisfaction.
4. Mitigate project issues before they impact project deliverables
An efficient project manager anticipates and mitigates issues before they impact project deliverables. But this proactive approach is nearly impossible if you don’t have the right tools.
ClickUp solves this by providing a comprehensive view of real-time project status with a single click. A project manager can use customized ClickUp Dashboards to keep a close eye on project progress across multiple metrics to mitigate delays before their team misses milestones on the project schedule or exceeds the budget.
Instantly pull progress based on milestones, tasks, time, activity, and more using ClickUp Dashboards
When you can see if a project is trending in the wrong direction at a glance, ClickUp makes it easy to step in with a mediation plan for the project scope before it gets beyond your control. In fact, you can even check the status of projects based on budget remaining, hours remaining, status, and much more.
How?
Simply ask ClickUp Brain, ClickUp’s native, context-aware AI assistant, to pull this data from your tasks, docs, and chat threads housed in ClickUp!
Get instant status reports for tasks, documents, and your team members with ClickUp Brain
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7 Project Deliverable Templates to Get You Started
Want to manage all of your project’s tasks faster? We’ve got your project scope covered.
Use one (or many!) of our seven key project deliverables templates to see ClickUp in action. Already on another platform?
That’s OK!
We’ve made it easy to import your projects and tasks into ClickUp, so see which template or templates best fits your need, and be ready to never look back!
Get a high-level overview of your project’s budget while managing tasks and statuses in this easy-to-use Budgeted Project Management Template by ClickUp
Need a high-level view of your tasks by project type, status, assignee, completion rate, or by remaining budget? You’re going to love the easy-to-use ClickUp Budgeted Project Management Template.
Get started with some preset tasks and subtasks to see how your project budget could be managed by creating dedicated tasks in ClickUp.
Keep the team moving forward using the trusted GTD method with the Getting Things Done Template by ClickUp
What project deliverables do you have in waiting, ready to do, scheduled, or delegated? The ClickUp Getting Things Done (GTD) Template, which is based on David Allen’s GTD system, allows you to organize all your projects and tasks by recording and breaking them into actionable work items.
This template makes it simpler to:
Use pre-built Custom Fields to organize tasks
Prioritizing tasks by the due date, effort, budget, time, and more
Provide access to collaborative documents for your entire team
Use the ClickUp Impact Effort Matrix for smart prioritization and collaboration
Collaborate across teams and ensure alignment before starting a project by considering the task’s value and risk in this ClickUp list template. The ClickUp Impact Effort Matrix Template works as a visual list to show the level of “jurisdiction” to move on with the activity before you can complete a project.
The ClickUp List View allows teams to collaborate by creating Custom Fields and prioritization settings to simplify your workflow, no matter whether you’re handling external or internal deliverables.
Document and authorize the entire project from initiation to closure with ClickUp’s Project Charter Template
ClickUp’s Project Charter Template is your simple solution to documenting everything you need for your project from start to finish. In this ClickUp Doc, you can easily manage project scope with the ability to:
Assign comments in the doc to internal stakeholders
Work simultaneously on the shared doc
Provide private or public link access to external stakeholders
The ClickUp PMO Team Template simplifies your project management, program management, and portfolio management needs by breaking down barriers and enabling swift project execution
Looking for a simple introduction to managing projects within a task management platform? Use ClickUp’s PMO Team Template to see your tasks in phases along with due dates, priority levels, assigned teams and contributors, and project budget.
With this template, you can move quickly through your project management process with:
Quick views into subtasks
Multiple task assignees
Full view of project phases (customizable to your needs)
Simple drag-and-drop features to adjust and plan tasks
Manage individula and team workloads better through increased visibility using the Employee Workload Template by ClickUp
If you want to speed up the process of tracking employee workloads, ClickUp’s Employee Workload Template is the perfect starting point. This template will help you add team members, assign projects, add time estimates, use task volume, or track by sprint points to know who is working on what.
Now, you’ll have a bird’s-eye view of your individual contributors’ task activity so you know how much work is actually assigned out.
Break down the scope of a project into small deliverables, and easily track deliverables for each stage, and phase of the team involved in ClickUp’s Work Breakdown Whiteboard Template
One of the best initial steps to building out a larger project in ClickUp is to break down the overall scope into smaller project deliverables using a work breakdown structure.
Get the big picture with this ClickUp Whiteboard template to ensure everything can move along swiftly. Using this ClickUp Work Breakdown Template helps you track external or internal deliverables for each stage and phase of the team involved.
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Effectively Manage Project Deliverables with ClickUp
ClickUp is the everything app for work that brings your tasks, docs, chat, and more together in one project management software with over 1,000 integrations so you can effectively handle deliverables in project management.
The ability for every team to collaborate in one system creates unparalleled transparency across the organization for more efficient project execution. Let your team quickly identify capacity, plan overall projects more accurately, and ultimately drive project deliverables rather than just tracking them.
You don’t need to live in fear of progress reports for your clients. Experience what it feels like to manage project deliverables instead of them managing you.
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