MS Outlook-friendly Contact List Template

Posted on 5 December, 2007 by duardo
How many times has one of your new team members joined a project mid-way through then been faced with the daunting task of adding everyone to your phone / Outlook / PDA etc?
Tool Downloads
  > Contact List Template

Most of the time your too busy to even think about it. There is an easy, no cost solution…use a MS Outlook-friendly Contact List Template which can be instantly imported into MS Outlook. 

You can download the excel spreadsheet template (MS Outlook 2003) at the bottom of this article or alternatively, if you have a different version of MS Outlook, you can create your own by doing the following simple steps:

Exporting an MS Outlook-friendly Contacts List Template

  1. Open MS Outlook and select File > Import and Export… from the menu
  2. The Import and Export wizard will appear.  Select “Export to a file” and click Next
  3. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click Next
  4. Follow the rest of the instructions to export your MS Outlook contacts into a comma delineated file (*.CSV)

Creating your MS Outlook-friendly Contacts List Template

  1. Open the CSV file in MS Excel, delete all your current contacts (remember we’re creating a blank template here) and format the table with your project/company look and feel.
  2. Hide (don’t delete) unused columns (you’ll need to keep these in order to import back into MS Outlook)
  3. Now you need to changed the file type from .CSV to .XLS so people don’t get confused.  Simply select “Save As” from the menu and change the “File Type” using the drop down box at the bottom of the “Save As” dialog box.
  4. Now get your Project Administrator to fill in staff information and circulate!

Importing your MS Outlook-friendly Contacts List Template

New team member arrives and needs to import contacts…

  1. Open file in MS Excel, unhide the columns by selecting all cells.  Now right click on your mouse and select “Unhide” from the context menu.
  2. Now save your file as a *.CSV file to your hard drive
  3. Open MS Outlook and select File > Import and Export… from the menu
  4. The Import and Export wizard will appear.  Select “Import from another program or file” and follow MS Outlook Import instructions.  Too easy.

Now you have a MS Outlook friendly staff directory/ contact list template.  Every time you have a new team member join they can simply use the import function in MS Outlook and sync with their various gadgets.

Did you find this helpful?  Need a little more info? Leave us a comment!

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On the Checkpoint Report

Posted on 3 December, 2007 by duardo
Keeping track of and reporting progress on your project is one of the key reasons why you were hired. One of the key mechanisms for this is “checkpoint” or “status” reporting.
Tool Downloads
> Checkpoint Report Template

It’s really up to you how often you wish your team to report in however, typically they can be held bi-weekly or weekly. When the pressure is on checkpoint reporting can be daily or even more frequently.

A project gets late one day at a time

The goal of the checkpoint report is to deliver a summary of team member activity on current work packages and the analysis of the impact on stage and project tolerances. This is a key input into you project Highlight report for the Project Board.

The relationship between reporting requirements and team morale

Project Managers also need to be aware of what reporting and the perception of too much reporting can do to team morale. Assuming you’ve recruited a team of self-motivated professionals, too much reporting can be perceived as a lack of trust in team members, a distraction from the job at hand or worse still, lack of management skill by the project manager.

A note on report structure

Always put the first things first

This template is obviously based on the OGC PRINCE2 template however you may wish to consider putting your report on tolerances at the top, as I have. I’ve always found my executives and/or programme managers will always want to know their risk position first then deal with the status of delivery.

Filed under: PMBOK, PRINCE2, Templates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

On Project Meetings

Posted on 27 November, 2007 by duardo

Despite the overload freely available advice on the Internet on how to plan and run effective meetings, I keep on sitting in project meetings that just make you wish you crawl under the table for a brief nap while the team debate item 3.2.5 on the agenda.  This blog entry is a collection of really good advice and tools I’ve created / received / found over time.  It’s obviously not a system to implement but use it to evaluate and improve yours.

Before your meeting

During your meeting

Taking Notes / Minutes

After your meeting: Covering your Assets

If you come across any other great tips let us know!!

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