The 10 Essential Resources Project Managers Must Have

April 28, 2018 Customers, Project Management, Technology, The Manager's Resource Handbook

10 Essential Project Management Resources

If you think about the best project manager you know, chances are he or she shares some common traits. For starters, successful project leaders are typically very well organized. Additionally, they are often great communicators, and they can remain calm under pressure. Despite these great talents, though, even the best project managers need help to bring about success for his or her respective program. Just as great painters need a brush to paint a masterpiece and great singers need a microphone to be heard, even great project managers need tools to run a successful program. We at MRH wanted to take a look at some of these tools and resources that great program managers use. As we go through the list that follows, recognize that each of these items is a tool. They cannot manage the project for us, but they can help us manage the activities and make decisions. Here are 10 essential resource that every project manager must have.

1. The Statement of Work (SOW) and Contract Documents

Whether you negotiated the context of the binding documents or simply inherited the responsibility, make sure you have copies of the contract. Think of these documents as your Owner’s Manual for your program. Ultimately in a court of law, the SOW, Contract and related specifications are how disputes will be judged. Refer to them from time to time when negotiating with your client and to keep things in-line with the initial agreements.

2. List of Initial Assumptions, Estimates and Budget

Every project and program starts with a set of key assumptions. These assumptions typically influence your initial project estimates in terms of hours, schedules, time and resources – your overall budget. They are the initial blueprints for the project. Always keep the original assumptions and estimates nearby. As time goes by, those assumptions may be forgotten, or may need to change. Understanding how your project plans may be affected by scope change and unexpected problems helps you make decisions on the fly.

3. Actual Expenditures

Tracking costs is often something that goes hand-in-hand with project management. But how can you make economic decisions if you do not know your current financial position? Actual expenditures accrued each month help you understand if you are overrunning or under-spending your budget. A detailed tracking of actual expenses helps you identify anomalies to your plans, as well as the occasional accounting error.

4. A Project Forecast

Like many project management tools, a Forecast of what is to come is really a form of communication that lets key stakeholders know what to expect. A project Forecast will often include things like resource needs, deliverables, milestones and expenditures, between present day and the end of the project. So, while your actuals are the total amount of budget you have already consumed, the Forecast is how much – and when – you anticipate spending going forward. The total of your actuals plus your Forecast is your total anticipated spend for your project at any given time. A Forecast is not just about the financials, however. Rather, use it to plan resource needs and identify future events.

5. Project Schedule

Unlike a project Forecast which contains a financial element, your program schedule should identify relationships, dependencies, durations and sequences of events. Furthermore, if done correctly, a detailed project schedule will help you understand what needs to happen before a certain part of the project can be performed. Sharing and publicizing the schedule with your customer or client helps calibrate expectations and communicate a series of events. While customers often just want results, a well-developed project schedule illustrates that those results are at the end of a chain of activity.

6. Change History

A change log, or change history, is an excellent tool to help track scope creep and directional changes from your client. Whether your intention is to seek additional funding from your customer or just to keep track of a project’s evolution, a change log helps organize and capture information over time.

What Should I Include In A Project Change Log?

Date of Change
Source of Change (e.g. Customer Request, Supplier Problem, etc.)
Description of Change
Qualitative Impact Assessment (e.g. Schedule, Resources, etc.)
Financial Impact Assessment
Reference Documents (e.g. Contract Memos, Approvals, etc.)

It is important to highlight that not all change is bad. In some cases, your customer or client may relax requirements that reduces costs and resource needs. Use your change log to capture these changes as well, so you can see the various ups and downs of project scope over time. Don’t rely on your memory!

7. Project Risk Matrix

A risk matrix is a tool that helps you anticipate and plan for the impact of risks. Rarely, if ever, will your entire path to completion of a project be clear, or run as you initially planned. Unforeseen situations arise often. In some cases you simply do not have enough information to make an educated guess. These types of risks should be captured in a risk matrix which enables you to account for the potential financial cost the risks can introduce into your project.

8. Meeting Minutes

Like a change log, your meeting minutes serve as a record of the past, which can be referred to at a later date. Minutes not only help keep track of progress over time, they also serve as a vehicle for documenting important agreements and decisions within the project team, or with your client. Archiving agreements is perhaps the most valuable aspect of documenting meeting minutes. In industries where projects can last several months or years, a history of meeting minutes can serve as a vehicle for reminding your customer of business terms they previously agreed to.

9. Rolling Action Item List (RAIL)

As a project manager, one of your responsibilities is to continuously drive progress. Every project has unique circumstances, and just about all of them will require a team effort. In such an environment, managing a team and keeping track of progress often takes a great deal of coordination. A Rolling Action Item List, or RAIL, is a great way to centralize an ongoing list of tasks, duties and responsibilities of the project team members. A RAIL does not need to be fancy – it simply needs to include the action, the responsible person’s name, the estimated date of completion and any comments or notes related to the task. Publicize it and make it available to team members so they can refer back to it often.

10. Lessons Learned Database

Every program or project offers an opportunity for learning. Maintain a Lessons Learned Database in which you record comments from time to time about changes or improvements you would like to make the next time around. Examples of Lessons Learned you may want to record include information about making better assumptions at the start of a project, or better ways to report information to stakeholders. Refer back to this list from time to time as you embark on new programs and projects.

All of the items described here are tools and resources that project managers should keep close by. Each one has a purpose, and helps make decisions or communicate information.
What other resources do you use to help manage your projects? Leave a comments and share!