templates for project managers at ProTrain Canada

Free Templates for project manager

Business Case: To help you package your business case for the early phase of the project. It provides all the elements required to justify or not the investment in a new project

Project Charter Letter: A lot of people are wandering how to do a project charter. The format is not important as long as there is an official announcement that a project manager has been nominated. Here is a sample letter you could use to do that.

Project plan: The integration of all sub plans into one mother of a plan is a body of knowledge by itself. here is a model to help you do that.

Estimation: Estimating IT project tasks or deliverables in terms of time and cost is always as difficult as forecasting weather. here is a template to help you capture all the elements and break it down into manageable elements after.

Opportunity Assessment: When people have great idea, we dont want to shut them down but at the same time we need to know more then few words. This template will help you help the idea provider to structure his or her idea into a framework that will allow you later to analyse thsi idea to its full merits.

Feasibility Study: Here is a template that will allow you to strcuture a Feasibility study that will provide answers to key business questions such as, why do we invest in this project, what are the tangible benefits, what are the risks, what are the possible solutions , what is the recommend solution etc..

Change Analysis: When change start coming at us we need to be structured in our analysis process to ensure that we dont oversea anything. this template will help you to structure the analysis.

Risk Management

Statement of Work:
This template could be use internally with marketing or sales department. It is a must to capture properly the requirements to ensure that we translate them into deliverables. If you dont tranlate them well to your own supplier then dont expect them to read your mind.

Status report

Earned Value report: Earned value calculation could be difficult or painful to do. Here is a template developed by a PTC contributor to help him track his CPI and SPI.

and many more…

Planifier des réunions / agreeAdate

Schedule conference calls, meetings and events the easy way.

agreeAdate saves you time and money by avoiding telephone and email tag to find when people are free. Just send invitations to collect availability and then make your choice from the results.

Free and easy to use with reminders, confirmations, ability to provide conference call details, understanding timezones… What else ?

Document Summarization / Résumer rapidement un document Anglais

great summary logohttp://www.greatsummary.com/

Un site utile pour réaliser rapidement des résumés certes approximatifs mais qui peuvent néanmoins vous permettre de décider si vous souhaitez ou non investir le temps nécessaire à la lecture complète du document (ou de la page web).

Quickly get the gist of a document, webpage, or any text selection of your choice. Identify the key topics of a document while eliminating redundant information

quels outils Web 2.0 pour les chefs de projet?

Il existe de nombreux outils de collaboration venant du Web 2.0 auxquels les chefs de projet trouveront une grande utilité.

collaborate 4Certains enrichiront des communications, accroîtront la capacité à joindre les contacts de l’équipe projet étendue, permettront de développer de manière collaborative et de stocker la documentation projet ou produit, supporteront la création de réseaux professionnels axés projet, faciliteront le brainstorming et amélioreront la productivité.

lire la suite…

Présentation en français sur les outils collaboratifs du WEB 2.0 dans le management de projet: http://www.slideshare.net/moperto/web-20-tools-for-project-managers

some useful web 2.0 tools for project managers

collaborate 4There are many collaboration tools coming with Web 2.0 that project managers will find usage for. Some will enrich communications, increase reach ability in the extended project team, develop and hold part of the project or product documentation, set up project related professional networks, facilitate brainstorming, and improve productivity.Some can be obtained for free, others for money. Your requirements for confidentiality and security will play a key role in your selection process. Read the full article…

La méthode de la chaîne critique ou théorie des contraintes

shovel-readyLa méthode de la chaîne critique ou théorie des contraintes élaborée dans l’industrie mérite que nous nous y intéressions de très près en management de projet !

Article complet sur Orange Business Live :

http://blogs.orange-business.com/live-france/2009/10/quest-ce-que-la-methode-de-la-chaine-critique-en-management-de-projet.html

deliver on time with the critical chain aka « theory of constraints »

weak linkThe method of the critical chain or « theory of constraints » is coming from manufacturing and I believe it deserves very close attention. At PMI France Sud, I attended a presentation of Eric Robien on this approach and how it applies to project management and I found it quite interesting.

I am wondering if any of you are already using it, how and with what results?

I summarized what I understood at: http://blogs.orange-business.com/live/2009/10/what-is-the-critical-chain-or-theory-of-constraints-in-project-management.html

quels outils pour le travail en équipe? sur pmi.org

collaborate

Comme décrit sur PMI.ORG, avant que votre organisation se décide pour un ou plusieurs des outils collaboratifs, assurez-vous que:

  • vous avez bien défini quel type de relationnel vous souhaitez faciliter: Est-ce entre employés travaillant sur un même site ou fuseau horaire, ou bien aux antipodes?
  • vous avez recherché les goulots d’étranglement dans la communication. Où des améliorations peuvent-elles être réalisées et facilitées par un outil?
  • vous avez identifiés les fonctions à améliorer. Par exemple, le management de projet, le brainstorming ou la planification?
  • vous avez établi le niveau de sophistication (et de coûts) recherché. Un logiciel gratuit suffira-t-il ou avez-vous besoin d’un outil plus puissant?

Lisez l’article complet sur: http://www.pmi.org/Pages/Tools-for-Teamwork.aspx

what tools for teamwork? on pmi.org

collaborate

As explained by PMI.ORG, before your organization settles on one of the many collaboration tools available, be sure to:

  • Consider what relationship you’re facilitating. Is it between employees who work in the same office or time zone—or on opposite sides of the world?
  • Look for communication bottlenecks. Where can improvements be made and how can a collaboration tool support that?
  • Define what function the tools will serve. Is it to facilitate project management, brainstorming or scheduling?
  • Decide on your sophistication (and cost) needs. Will a free version suffice or do you need a more powerful tool?

Read the full article at: http://www.pmi.org/Pages/Tools-for-Teamwork.aspx

Are you Agile?

agileIf you work in any industry or administration that uses IT to support its business (i.e. any of them) and your IT department hasn’t yet spoken to you about Agile development methodologies, you should certainly question why?

If they have, you’re probably confused with some of the concepts and all of its geek terminology. This short post aims to help you approach this promising way to incrementally develop new software. Agile development methodologies like Scrum structure some of the prototyping approaches we’ve used since quite a long time.

http://blogs.orange-business.com/live/2009/09/are-u-agile.html

And last week’s Agile 2009 conference featured a milestone in the project management profession: the formal launch of the PMI Agile community…
http://www.jessefewell.com/2009/09/04/agile-2009-and-pmi/

Agile en environnement onshore/offshore – Agile in an onshore/offshore environment

Excellent article dans la newsletter du mois de juin du chapitre PMI de Bombai en Inde (pages 16 à 18). Comment implémenter une approche agile de type Scrum dans un environnement où une partie de l’équipe est offshore? Un retour d’expérience vu depuis le coté offshore pour une fois. Voilà qui devrait intéresser beaucoup d’entre nous qui avons des équipes distribuées sur plusieurs pays et continents!

You will read a very good article in the PMI Mumbai’s newsletter on pages 16 to 18. How can an Agile approach such as Scrum be implemented with success in an environment where part of the team is offshore? An experience sharing that is coming from the offshore side this time. This shall be of interest to many of us who run teams distributed across several countries/continents.

http://64.78.9.230/sharepoint/mumbai/documents/Shared%20Documents/June_2009.pdf

Agile 2

Function Points Analysis basics

tout savoirUn bon article d’introduction et de démystification de cette technique d’estimation des points de fonction qui est très répandue pour l’évaluation des charges de développement logiciel (documentations et tests compris).

http://www.modernanalyst.com/Resources/Articles/tabid/115/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/512/Software-Sizing-During-Requirements-Analysis.aspx

1 heure sur SCRUM – video – 1 hour worthwhile investment

http://www.betterprojects.net/2009/02/schwaber-on-scrum.html

scrum

Ken Schwaber a co-développé le processus Agile, Scrum. Il est un fondateur de l’Alliance Agile et l’Alliance Scrum et signataire du Manifeste Agile.

Dans cette heure de présentation, Ken partage un peu de son expérience pratique de Scrum. Il fournit des idées sur comment utiliser Scrum au mieux et parle aussi des raisons de certains des principes de l’approche comme timeboxing, les Équipes fonctionnelles mixtes, la transparence, …

Ken Schwaber co-developed the Agile process, Scrum. He is a founder of the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance, and signatory to the Agile Manifesto.

In this hour of presentation, Ken shares some of his practical experience with Scrum. He provides hints on how to best use Scrum and also talks about the reasons behind some of the approach’s principles like timeboxing, Cross functional Teams, transparency, …

Et n’oubliez pas, si vous n’avez que 8 minutes: http://www.pmthink.com/2008/12/agile-scrum-primer.htm

Modèles gratuits de documents projet sur IIL – Free PM Documents Templates

IIl_free_resourceshttp://www.iil.com/freeresources/templates.asp

Charte de projet Project Charter: This document formally describes and authorizes work to be performed on a project, phase or set of phases.
Documentation des exigences Requirements Overview: This report serves as a repository for the known information about a specific business opportunity or requirement. It will become a historical document, added to the project file should a decision be made to be proceed.
Registre des problèmes Project Issues Log: This form tracks all elements associated with issues including status, priority, assignment, description, resolution and more.
Matrice d’affectation des responsabilités Responsibility Assignment Matrix: This report tracks resources with tasks using a scale to indicate the specific responsibility of the resources assigned.
Plan de réponse aux risques et registre des risques Risk Response Plan and Register: This document reports risk events along with probability, impact overall risk, risk response and ownership.
Modification du contenu Scope Change: This template includes fields for description of change and justification as well as cause, technical response, effort and authorization.
Énoncé des travaux Statement of Work: This document allows you to succinctly present the description of the project including itemized descriptions of major deliverables.
Demandes de modification Plan Change Request: This report presents project requests for additional funding and/or time extensions.
Préparation de réunions Effective Meetings: This form itemizes project manager and team responsibilities in meetings as well as the process for running effective meetings.
Tableau de bord du chef de projet Project Manager’s Dashboard: This document offers a weekly ready reference covering risks, issues, daily and weekly tasks, plus other activities performed by a project manager to keep his/her project aligned and focused.

iil_logo

Modèles de Plan de Projet par Microsoft – MS Project Plan templates

Microsoft publie quelques modèles de plan de projet standards gratuitement.Certains ne fonctionnent qu’avec MS Project 2007 disponible à l’essai gratuit sur le site.

Le modèle « plan d’amélioration de processus » semble assez bien construit.

Microsoft has published a few free project plan templates. Some will work only with MS Project 2007 which is available for evaluation on the web site.

The « Process Improvement Plan » appears to be quite relevant.

  • plan annuel d’administration
  • développement d’application Internet/web
  • plan d’amélioration de processus
  • développement logiciel
  • extension de bâtiments
  • lancement de nouveau projet
  • évaluation de produit après lancement
  • fusion et acquisition
  • évaluation et consolidation de fournisseur
  • Government Annual Planning
  • Internet Web Development
  • Process Improvement Plan
  • SW Development
  • Facilities Expansion
  • New Project Launch
  • Product Evaluation Post Launch
  • Strategic Merger and Acquisition
  • Vendor Evaluation and Consolidation

http://www.easierwithproject.com/en-us/Pages/tl_resources.aspx

msproject

Quelques modèles de Project Plan par Microsoft

http://www.easierwithproject.com/en-us/Pages/tl_resources.aspx


Microsoft publie quelques modèles de plan de projet standards gratuitement. Certains ne fonctionnent qu’avec MS Project 2007 disponible à l’essai gratuit sur le site. Le modèle « plan d’amélioration de processus » semble assez bien construit.

Microsoft has published a few free project plan templates. Some will work only with MS Project 2007 which is available for evaluation on the web site. The « Process Improvement Plan » appears to be quite relevant.

Ø plan annuel d’administration

Ø développement d’application Internet/web

Ø plan d’amélioration de processus

Ø développement logiciel

Ø extension de bâtiments

Ø lancement de nouveau projet

Ø évaluation de produit après lancement

Ø fusion et acquisition

Ø évaluation et consolidation de fournisseur

Ø Government Annual Planning

Ø Internet Web Development

Ø Process Improvement Plan

Ø SW Development

Ø Facilities Expansion

Ø New Project Launch

Ø Product Evaluation Post Launch

Ø Strategic Merger and Acquisition

Ø Vendor Evaluation and Consolidation

Formation Projet / Project Management Training : Risk Doctor webinars

riskdoctorSi vous ne connaissez pas encore David Hilson, ne manquez pas cette opportunité d’écouter ses conseils. If you have not yet heard of David Hilson, join him on one of his webinars, for free.

Risk Doctor Webinars: http://www.risk-doctor.com

Des webinars gratuits d’une heure qui nécessite l’installation de WebEx player (http://www.webex.com/lp/player/download.html )

Agile ou en Cascade / Agile versus Waterfall

J’ai apprécié la comparaison terre à terre des approches et les commentaires  de la présentatrice sur la mise en place de l’approche agile pour des sociétés qui viennent d’un modèle en cascade (concept, analyse, design, construction, livraison) traditionnel. ScreenShot34 I greatly appreciated this comparaison of the two approaches. The practical comments of the author on the implementation of  the agile approach for companies coming from a traditional waterfall model (concept, analysis, design, build, deliver).

http://www.cardinalsolutions.com/CORUG/presentations/Planning%20Iterative%20Development%202006%2002%2023%20Final.pps#256,1,CORUG

by Annie Kerregan of Cardinal Solutions on project planning for iterative style projects versus Waterfall traditional projects.

« Lean » versus « Six Sigma » or « Lean Six Sigma » ?

Nous entendons souvent ces termes dans l’entreprise: Lean, Six Sigma. Ils sont quelquefois utilisés de manière interchangeable, d’autres fois opposés. En fait, ils se réfèrent à deux méthodes distinctes qui lorsqu’elles sont utilisées conjointement se complètent en Lean Six Sigma.L’article ci-dessous, truffé de pointeurs vers des documents plus détaillés, permet de mieux comprendre les différences et l’intérêt de ces deux approches.

Six Sigma?

TQM?

BPM?

BPR?

In business, we often hear the terms Lean and Six Sigma mentioned. They are often used interchangeably other times opposed. Actually, they refer to two different methods that can be combined for greater effects and then called Lean Six Sigma.The article is rich of pointers to more detailed papers to better understand the differences and benefits of the two approaches.

Il y a beaucoup de discussions et souvent de la confusion sur la différence entre Lean et Six Sigma. En général, voici l’essence des deux approches :

  • Lean = flux de processus Amélioré
  • Six Sigma = variation de processus Réduite

http://pmcrunch.com/certification/lean-versus-six-sigma/#more-357

Comparatifs Outils de PM / PM Tools comparison

compareListe de logiciel en management de projet / List of project management software reviews:

et bien sûr / plus, of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_project_management_software

Scrum en 8 minutes max / Scrum in less than 8 minutes

SCRUM: Les concepts en moins de 8 minutes

http://www.pmthink.com/2008/12/agile-scrum-primer.htm

Une excellente vidéo pour appréhender les concepts Scrum en 7 minutes et 59 secondes. A great video to grasp the concepts of Scrum in 7 minutes and 59 Seconds !
Un bon investissement. L’auteur passe en revue les fondamentaux de Scrum. Depuis la liste des besoins (le product backlog) jusqu’au contenu de version (Release backlog) et aux Sprints (découpage d’une version en plusieurs livrables). video I found the video really worth watching. The author takes us through the very basics of Scrum. Starting with a product backlog (list of requirements) to a Release Backlog (what you’ll embark on the next product release) to Sprints (breakdown of the release into multiple work packages).
Il nous parle également de 2 méthodes très utiles pour contrôler l’avancement: les « Burn Down charts » qui représentent visuellement le reste à faire pour compléter chaque livrable et version. Et le superbe concept des meeting journaliers debout pour continuer à avancer rapidement. burn down chart It also covers 2 useful methods to control progress: Burn Down charts that visually represent remaining work to be done to complete each spring and release and a wonderful concept of daily standing meetings to keep moving fast.