PM Forms: Useful Tools Or Extra Work?

Blog:

In both my project management training and my career, I’ve always been aware of project management forms and their proposed usefulness for all projects. However, because I wasn’t working on large construction or IT projects, I didn’t see the purpose of using these forms outside of creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for each project.

The beginning stages of a project include breaking out all the details of each task to complete the project on time and on or under budget. These details include deadlines, stakeholder assignments, predecessors/successors and risks. The first three of those details, I enter directly into each WBS from the very beginning of project discussions. However, the risks were a tally in my mind. I realize this doesn’t help anyone but me in working on the project. What if I have an unexpected illness or absence from work and no one else is aware of those risks? This could put the project in jeopardy if one of the risks happens while I’m unavailable.

In this case, the Risk Register has become a valuable tool even in the most minute projects. Keeping track of even the most off-the-wall risk, i.e. task cannot be completed because of a power outage, gives  the project manager a work around well in advance of the risk taking place and also gives the project team a heads up as to what to evaluate in this circumstance.

Another form I’ve found that is helpful and worth the effort, though quite time consuming, is the Project Closure. The most important piece of this form for my team is the signature approvals from each stakeholder. These signatures provide an official sign-off of the project completion from their perspective to be filed for future similar projects. Projects can be completed even if there are outstanding tasks. Each project has select criteria that need to be met to the satisfaction of the client. Once the criteria have been met, a list of pending items still needing completion are added to this closure form along with who will be completing them and why they are still outstanding.

To be honest, I never imagined I’d be utilizing the Project Closure form. It’s tedious to complete but comes in so handy when reviewing the plan, resources, suppliers and deliverables for similar projects in the future. Again, I looked at this form as being useful in much larger projects like construction or IT than the projects I was managing. Being able to document the project progress, deliverables, all resources used, communication, and risks that presented themselves during the project all in one final document provides a valuable resource to the project manager as they review what could have been done better to make future projects more efficient.

Risk Register and Project Closure are not the only forms out there for managing projects. That is one thing that the project management industry is not lacking! We have a list of over 50 forms we can utilize. We already use a tool that combines Gantt Charts and the WBS which combines a number of the forms available. This tool documents timelines, budgets, to-do lists, and daily time trackers into one project plan. Being able to have a tool that combines these aspects of a project into one area allows us to be much more efficient on each project.  

Most forms are ever evolving and not a final end-all as the project is being worked. Deadlines, budget, tasks, and assignments can be added, removed or updated throughout the lifecycle of the project. The project manager’s duty is to have a daily grasp of the project status along with being fluid in making adjustments where needed until completion of the project.

Getting used to filling out forms becomes a habit. Our team has become more efficient and aware of all projects since adding the use of forms and tools for each project. While initially getting used to the tools and forms is time consuming, in the long run it will benefit your team and clients. There are many Internet resources with templates already created for all sorts of project management forms, so there is no reason to recreate the wheel. Utilize what has already been put together and tweak it to best serve your team!