Let me ask you something: what do you think will succeed more in the market nowadays? A project with 10 documents or a project with hundreds of different documentations attached to it?
As of now, we have no idea because there’s no hard and fast rule for it and a good project may fall just between the two extremes.
In the market nowadays, projects come in different shapes and sizes, and deliverables, scopes, and life cycles are some of the many different variables that differentiate projects from each other.
What we know for sure that is for a project to be a success, you need to make sure that the project documentation is crystal clear and to the mark. This will make sure that all of the people associated with the project are on the same page at all times.
Let’s look at some of the most important project documents that will make your project a success.
List Of Important Project Documents
1. Project Charter
The Project Charter is the official document that symbolizes that the project has started and the project manager appointed to the project has complete authority over the planning, execution and merging activities related to the project.
Following are some of the entities included in the project charter.
- Scope of the work
- Proposed timeline
- Resources
- Project success factors
- Requirements
- Budget
- Definition of done
From this, we also conclude that the project charter makes it easier for all of the stakeholders involved in the project to be in constant communication with each other.
2. Project Business Case
This document is the necessary piece of paper that justifies to the investors why they are investing their money in this project.
It is the document that explains why the project is taking place, what are the goals and objectives associated with it, and what are the outcomes that are expected of it.
This document can be in different forms. It can either be an email from a client or a 100-page behemoth concluded by 10 different stakeholders involved in the project.
3. RACI Matrix
It doesn’t matter how big or small the project is, the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in the project should be clearly defined. To do just that, RACI Matrix is the best way.
This matrix is used to define and assign responsibilities to people involved in a project. The matrix includes:
- Responsibility
- Accountability
- Who should be Consulted?
- Who should you Inform?
Straightening out this information helps to reduce confusion and any mix-up later in the development phase of the project. it also helps to improve efficiency and distribute workloads.
4. Work Breakdown Structure
A WBS is the heart of the planning process. It also helps in managing all of the valuable resources associated with the project and to fend off any scope creeps that may be creeping towards the project in the long run.
This structure is used to organize the work into smaller manageable chunks and the duration set to complete this work is measured in time like two weeks or three weeks.
The list commences with highlighting all of the required deliverables associated with the project. the goal of the WBS is to break down the project activities into smaller work packages so that the teams working on it will know about the tasks needed to reach the end goal.
By focusing on the bigger picture, the work breakdown structure makes sure that no detail is left overlooked that can have a fatal impact on the project during the development phase.
5. Risks and Issues Log
This is exactly what the name suggests. It’s a risk and issues log that the project may or may not face during the planning and development phase.
There’s a specific format of this log and it must be followed. Some of the variables involved in the logging format are:
- Name or ID
- Description
- Impact
- Probability
- Proposed mitigation
- Owner
Learn how you can manage your risk and issue in nTask:
6. Project Communication Plan
This document ensures that there is ample communication between all of the parties involved in the development of the project. Many times, in the project management paradigm, this document is a simple list of dates with different meetings or interactions to be had by the team.
More complex projects may require rather a concrete document and email policies, automated status reporting, risks and issues, work statuses and status meetings.
Having a concrete communication plan will help all of the team members and the stakeholders involved in the project to be on the same page which makes making project-related decisions easier and more efficient.
Check out this project plan templates:
30+ Project Plan Templates & Examples to Visualize Your Strategy
7. Project Schedule
The project schedule is the itinerary of the project. This shows every activity and when and where it is needed to be performed. It is the timeframe that needs to be followed if the company and team want their project to be a success.
All the work that is needed to be completed to make the project a success, needs to be scheduled and organized. In many cases, the planned schedule is needed to be documented and laminated so that the team adheres to it and doesn’t waste their or the company’s time.
If you want to plan your project and want to find out if there are any task dependencies among the tasks of your project, then you should use project management software like nTask. You can give it a shot at www.ntaskmanager.com.
This will make you a schedule in no time and also make you a Gantt chart of the whole thing so you can track all of the tasks and stick to the schedule as rigidly as possible.
Originally published at https://www.ntaskmanager.com on April 8, 2020.
