On Projects*

The PRINCE2 product itself isn’t that practical for me but I’ve found if you’re running an effective personal time/task management system that includes note-taking or journaling, it can be a very powerful tool in the Project Manager’s toolkit.

Why use a Daily Log?

There are a couple of good reasons for capturing daily log information.

Your memory isn’t perfect…

Project management systems are great at capturing issues, risks, defects etc but you still need to have a place to record bits and bobs of information that aren’t captured in these logs because let’s face it, your memory isn’t perfect and it was you’d be making a living as a texas hold’em player. A couple of uses for a log or diary could be to record:

• Staff member performance notes
• Interview notes
• Meetings notes
• Telephone conversations

Recording notes while they are fresh in your head is a good idea as it can be a day or so before you get the chance to write up the notes or meeting minutes and in the meantime life happens, you get distracted by the next fire and you end up forgetting some key information.

…neither is theirs…

Another reason to keep a daily log is because the people you work with also don’t have perfect memories and sadly, sometimes less than perfect motives. Aside from fail aspirations of late night poker championships, project life is busy and people can quickly forget important details to important discussions.

…notes are a record of history.

And finally there is also one other very good reason to keep notes - court. Sadly some projects end up in court, so keeping a professional diary can work in your favour. Obviously this will depend on what country and/or jurisdiction you are operating in but your original notes can be considered documents produced during the course of the project and maybe considered admissible in court. If prepared correctly your notes can even be considered factual over that of a witness.

Is My Daily Log Admissible in Court?

If you’re working in a particularly litigious environment, seek legal advise on what information you have to keep and in what format. For example some of the following components maybe required to make a legally admissible paper-based daily log.

• Use a book style note book (so the page order is maintained)
• Start writing on a new page
• Identify names, date, time and topic of discussion
• Use the same pen throughout the entry
• Cross out empty space with a “z” line (so you can’t add further notes later)
• Sign or initialise and date bottom of page

So to help you, the Project Manager, keep an eye on the “engine” of your project try using a weekly checklist to reflect on the key operational activities / considerations that will keep your project on track.

In this checklist I’m going to suggest using a five day work week as it’s a convenient ‘packet’ of time to plan for and report against. However you don’t have to use the work week as your unit of measure as it is highly dependent on your context.

For example, in some critical projects the Project Manager may mentally run through this checklist daily. Alternatively I’ve seen some organisations talk about this information in months and quarters although I wouldn’t recommend it. As always, you will need to adapt this to suit your own time frame.

The suggested headings are listed below, but you can download the MS word version of the checklist here.

• Progress to date and against plan
• Resource Forecast (rolling 30 day)
  • Human Resources
  • Equipment & Services Forecast
• Project Team
• Communications
• Issue Management
• Change Control
• Risk Management
• Quality Management
• Knowledge Management

Others gleefully tap their fingers together at the prospect of creating more detail and more control. The answer, fortunately for the more reasonable of us, lies somewhere in the middle.

Put simply, documenting and communicating a Work Package is a really good idea. After all how can you ask someone to deliver something if you can’t write a brief plan for it? And what happens if it all goes pear shaped and everyone is running for cover and point fingers at each other? How do you measure performance against plan?

The good people at OGC (the makers of PRINCE2) have made mention of the potential problems resulting from requiring too much information in the work package. The PRINCE2 handbook recommends that the “…process needs careful implementation to avoid being over-bureaucratic” and “For small projects … the link between this process and Controlling a Stage (CS) will be much less formal”.

However given the potential ramifications on the team’s morale and the PM’s reputation, I’m going to drive home the point to ensure new project managers, who are trying their best to get their heads around the processes, think before they leap.

The Work Package Template isn’t about creating more work…

How much and what kind of information you require from your team managers is contextual. To find the right balance you really need to understand the project, the organisation(s) involved and the team manager personalities / relationships (both up and down the food chain) to ensure you are customising your Work Package template to suit your team’s actual information requirements and not the other way around.

For example, if you have already established “Standard Operating Procedures” or SOPs in your project for quality checking, project reporting and problem handling and escalation, you don’t really need to reinvent the wheel so you can drop some sections or just reference the relevant SOPs. If you have a small team or a larger experienced team who have been working together well for a number of projects you won’t need to document the work package to within an inch of its life.

Unfortunately the recommended template that has been floating around the internet is a little cumbersome for my liking. In the Work Package Template I’ve added to this article, I’ve retained most of the section titles but added a little more structured and focuses on key “what do I need to know / what is going to hurt me” information at the top and less important information at the bottom of the document.

Compare the two and let me know what you think!