The Difference between Planning and Scheduling

The difference between planning and scheduling is that planning addresses what will be done and how it will happen, while scheduling addresses when.

Project planning answers the questions: What is going to be done? How? How much? Where? By whom? When? (in general terms, the project’s start and end). Scheduling deals with when on a detailed level.

So scheduling can be considered a sub part of planning, because most good plans include a timeline, when each step of the plan will be achieved. But planning also includes many things outside of scheduling (such as deciding who to work with, tools that will be used, etc).