Meeting Minutes
This report seems to be the most controversial of all the
reports involved in a project. The controversy revolves around who will take
the minutes. Until recently, I have advocated that the Project Manager (PM) or
the Business Analyst (BA) of the project team take the minutes. With my recent association
with Professional Service Organizations (PSO) and Project Management Offices
(PMO), I have come to the conclusion that the most important document from the
team is the Risk and Issues List. If the team is focusing on the meeting
minutes, then the project member taking the minutes most likely may not participate
in the meeting. Since there are multiple formats of the meeting minutes, I will
not comment on the actual document. I will however suggest that if the Risk and
Issues List is properly documented, then the “minutes” can be taken from there.
If the meeting minutes are taken, it is my opinion that the duties of the
“scribe” should be shared by the project team so no one person will always be
taking notes.
Project Risk Document
The Project Risk document should be developed as soon as the
project is approved and given to the PM. This document is an identification and
ranking of the risks. This document should include both qualitative and
quantitative analysis and should rank the highest risk to the lowest. Also, this
document should contain the possible resolution of the risk if it becomes a reality.
This document should be started by the PM and then reviewed by the project team
members to comment on and possibly come up with solutions. The high risk items
in this document should be reviewed by the project team on a regular basis and
risk items should be added to the document as appropriate.
Communication Plan and Contact List
What’s the difference between the communication plan and the
contact list? The contact list is just a listing of individuals, their role in
the project, and their contact information. However, a communication plan
develops an approach to communication during the project. This is not just the
number of status meetings the project should have, but also identifies who
should be involved in the status meeting, who should receive the Status Report
and Risk and Issues List and so on.
Also, and just as important, if there is a show-stopper issue, who do
you call first?
The Project Schedule
The most misunderstood document of a project is the Project Schedule,
which is sometimes called the project plan. The project plan includes all of
the documents of the project, including the budget. The Project Schedule is the
tasks and their duration, resources associated with the task, and if the task
is on the critical path. This is the full-view of the project, from initiation
to project closure. This is the document on which earned value calculations are
done.
Vacation Schedule
Most PMs will enter the vacation schedule of the project team
in the Project Schedule. This is a necessary document for the PM to have.
However, a separate document that all project resources can access and update
is also necessary. All project resources have to be aware of the vacation
schedule of the team.
Where does all this documentation go?
In this era of emails and attachments, it is necessary that
all documents go in a central repository. The tool to create this repository is
up to the management of the PSO, PMO, and the organization. This repository must allow access management to
all project resources. There are several options to use, even an
actual cabinet if the team is collocated. Whichever way is used by an
organization, the method of filing must be consistent with every project.
In my next blog, I will discuss vision in a project. This
was a request from one of the many emails I have received from my blog
postings. Please keep them coming by sending them to Benny A. Recine.
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