Free Project Management Templates
There’s a reason Scrum project management has become the most popular framework in the world of Agile management. It helps organizations deliver high-quality products quickly and efficiently.
Understanding the basics of Scrum will help you tackle your projects with confidence and increase customer satisfaction.
Agile methodologies have proven themselves to be faster and more efficient than “old school methods” for software development. Instead of spending tons of time detailing and working on a long-term development project that may not pan out in the end, the Agile concept, works in short, rapid bursts allowing teams to turn on a dime.
It might be helpful to think of positive risk as a visit to a new restaurant. Perhaps a friend drags you to a place you are unfamiliar with. There might be some intriguing items on the menu that sound good, but you are reluctant to try them when you know a burger will hit the spot.
If you decide to order something new, you may be disappointed (and potentially disgusted!), but there’s also the possibility you will find a new favorite food.
Your path to delivering a successful project runs directly through a list of functional requirements. Get this part right, and you are well on your way.
This guide provides a closer look at the two types of project functional requirements and outlines the steps a project manager should take to gather, document, and manage them effectively.
Increasing your agility as a project manager will pay off with an increased reputation for success. You must be quick-footed and responsive to succeed in today’s fast-paced business environment where changes in technology, customer preferences, and market conditions are constantly shifting.
To help you achieve that nimble footing, we’ve put together a list of six tips to maximize performance. These suggestions will help you stand out as a project manager who can quickly respond to changes while maintaining your focus to deliver high-quality results.
So, you’ve been tasked with writing a project vision statement – and you’re dreading it. There’s a good chance you’re thinking, “Where do I start? I’m a technical person. I’m not creative and I can’t write inspirational things.”
Don’t worry. We’ll help you tap into your creativity—and that of your colleagues – to write a clear and inspiring project vision statement. You don’t have to go it alone. In fact, it’s a good idea to bring in others to help in the process.
A project management plan (also referred to as a project plan) is an outline, which defines and describes how a project will be managed from start to finish. Another way to think of it is as a formal blueprint for executing the project. It defines each element and how it will be “constructed.”
In this article we take a close look at what a project management plan is, what it includes, and how to write a project plan.
As a project manager, you may be asked to write a business case at some point. It is a detailed document with analysis, projections, and recommendations for a proposed project. A business case is used to seek approval from upper management or another decision-making body.
Preparing a business case can be daunting, especially if it’s your first experience. However, this article will help you get started. In addition to a step-by-step guide, we have a free business case template you can download.
Project management templates are a powerful tool for project managers. They reduce the amount of work required to write a project plan, subsidiary management plans, and project documents. By providing a standardized outline, content, and examples they improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a project manager. Project templates help to ensure that important details are not overlooked and provide a standardized format for project documents within an organization. Using templates helps project managers to focus more on managing projects and less on writing documentation.
The Art of War, a Chinese military treatise written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC, contains a number of principles and strategies that can be applied to project management in order to achieve success. These strategies include the importance of thorough planning, the value of flexibility and adaptability, and the need to maintain control over resources and personnel in order to achieve victory. By applying the lessons of The Art of War to modern project management, leaders can improve the chances of success for their projects.
In Agile project management, projects start with a fixed budget and fixed timeline but the scope remains somehow flexible. That being said no customer will dedicate a budget to an open-ended scope and then wait for the delivery date committed, and this is why Agile requires constant customer and stakeholder engagement.
Test taking can seem overwhelming at times. Especially something as important as PMI’s PMP exam. Our quick six tips for passing your PMP exam is based on experience from both PMP exam instructors and PMP’s who have scored well with the exam. Although everyone has their own unique study habits, you’re sure to find some of our tips helpful to you. These same tips not only apply to taking the PMP exam, they easily apply to all other exams you have to take during your professional career.
Read through our tips and apply some, or all, of our tips to your study routine. With a bit of organized studying you’ll find that taking the PMP exam isn’t too difficult. Before long you’ll have your PMP Certification. We all wish you good luck on your exam!
This week we’ve decided to share what we consider our top seven project management templates and the reasons why we consider them as such. These are what we consider the core documents required for project management. Of course we start with the Project Charter – as there is no project without an actual signed Project Charter. Then we selected the Project Management Plan as it’s the core document for managing the project. After that we selected four templates which we feel are important parts of the project plan. Finally, we included the Lessons Learned template because it is often overlooked but is important to improving the success of future projects.
Does your current status report measure up to Best Practices standards? This article lets you size up yours by outlining what project management experts consider essential in creating the most effective project status report. You’ll also learn how you can get a FREE customizable project status report template designed to meet those standards, courtesy of Project Management Docs.
It’s happened to nearly every project manager sometime in their career. They’re given the requirement to provide detailed performance reporting on a project and end up spending most of their time entering hours worked into work packages in Microsoft Project and estimating percent complete on these packages – on a daily basis. Whether the requirement for that level of reporting was real or perceived, the project manager finds that he’s unable to manage the day to day activities of his project because he’s too busy trying to measure the project’s performance.
Don’t let distractions control your meetings. As enjoyable as some distractions may seem, they result in an unfocused and off-topic meeting which results in not accomplishing its goals. By having a structured and professional approach to conducting your meetings you’ll get more accomplished by keeping the meeting focused and on-topic. And – the participants just may end up enjoying your meeting without the distractions.
As project management has grown as a profession over the years, we’ve seen that projects may vary widely in scope, cost, and timelines. While there is great variety in these areas, projects also share a similarity in many other areas. One area in which all projects share similarity is the area of stakeholders and stakeholder management. What is a stakeholder? Who is a stakeholder? How do we identify and manage stakeholders? The answers to these questions are an important part of successfully managing any project regardless of its complexity.
The last thing a Project Manager wants to risk is his career. When an unexpected risk surfaces in a project his career may be at stake. By conducting a risk assessment meeting the Project Manager will be able to identify the greatest number of risks for a Project. The key to a successful risk assessment meeting is to be sure that the Risk Assessment Meeting includes Key Project Team Members and Key Stakeholders. Additionally the Project Manager Should Conduct Expert Interviews and Review Historical Project Information.
Cost management is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of project management. As project managers we are well practiced at acquiring resources, assigning work, tracking progress and completing projects. But since there’s a cost associated with nearly everything our job becomes much more complex and difficult. We need to be sure the cost of the project is estimated accurately at the beginning, budgets are assigned for various parts of the project and we have the tools to control costs throughout the life-cycle of the project.
The one question I’m most frequently asked is what is a project plan? While there is no one single correct answer to the question, most can agree that in a nutshell it’s a document which provides the framework for how a project will be managed. But the bigger question is what should be included in it and to what level of detail. In today’s blog I discuss the answer to the question of what is a project plan. Whether you’re newly PMP certified, new to project management or an old hat, I’m sure you’ll gain some insight with today’s blog.
Be sure to download our free Project Management Plan or other Project Planning Templates.
Managing Scope Creep is difficult at first; however, if you practice it daily it will become second nature. Not only does it become a part of your personality, you also gain the reputation as a project manager who doesn’t allow unmanaged scope creep which further diminishes attempts at unnecessary scope creep. Practice it daily and soon you’ll be able to manage scope creep and chew gum at the same time.
This guide is intended as a compliment to our Communications Management Plan template. The guide offers additional support to developing the Communications Management plan for your project. Be sure to download our Communications Management Plan Template.
We’ve all experienced this situation at one time or another, either as a project manager or as a customer. A project is started, much work is performed, an exceptional product is delivered – but it just wasn’t what the customer was expecting. Requirements management is a critical component of project management. It starts with understanding the customers’ initial requirements, and possibly even refining the requirements as a part of the project, but most critical of all it is managing the requirements throughout the project lifecycle. Read this article for some common requirements management experiences and tips on how to manage requirements on your project.
In the mass of trees that is your project schedule, it’s way too easy to lose sight of the forest and veer off course while staring at the schedule. What’s a project manager to do?
Do a roadmap! Your project roadmap reminds you of what the forest looks like. When you tend to veer off course, your roadmap is your guidepost. Roadmaps are increasingly used in project management and program management. They are an incredible tool for informing your management and sponsors.
How come some meetings seem so productive while others seem to be a waste of time? By employing a few helpful tips you can ensure that your meetings are productive and everyone feels like it accomplished what it needed to.
As a Project Manager you’re chairing many meetings. Whether it’s with your project team, management or a working group you want to be sure your meeting accomplishes what it needs. While you’re probably already doing some of the the tips listed in this article, you might find a few helpful tips to improve your meetings.
Whether you’re working on your PMP certification, or have been a project manager for many years, it’s helpful to know what successful project managers have in common. Not only do we want to know what makes us successful but also to identify areas where we can improve as project management likes continual improvement. After you read our article be sure to browse many of our free templates – they’re a great starting point for many of your project documents.
Developing a project management plan is like playing a game of chess. You have to plan ahead and give it much thought before moving forward. This week we are highlighting seven things to consider when putting together a project management plan. These considerations and points are often brought up in discussions about project plans when developing them. After reading this article be sure to browse the rest of our site and help yourself to some of our many free project templates.
As project managers we often find that we suddenly have so many new friends who want to help us to succeed in our project. They show interest and have many ideas for improvements and what they consider minor changes. As benign as this seems, it is actually one of the greatest dangers to a project. Remember the triple constraint? Scope is a key constraint and if it changes it has a big impact on the project. As project managers we have to manage the project scope on a constant basis. A well thought out and written scope management plan is a good place to start.
Survival as a project manager can’t be separated from effective risk management. The necessary skills in the art can take years to mature, but even if you’re new to the subject you can get started right away and make a difference. In this article, we’ll attempt to get you started with immediate payoff and get you past a point of frustration often encountered when one is just beginning.