Project management checklist
A to-do list for succesful project management
-
Getting started
- Develop a business case for the project
- Make sure the project fits company agenda
- Overview any key risks avoiding details
- Identify all concerned in the project
- Consult a finance expert
- Get the business case approved by senior managers
- Business cards
-
Closing down
- Set a date for a post project review meeting
- Invite senior managers and project team
- Consider debriefing the project team at the meeting
- Check whether you have the same results as in the original plan
- Check budget, quality requirements and deadline meeting
- Make a list of unfinished tasks
- Write final project report and share it with all concerned
- Inform all involved in the project about its closedown
- Write personal thank you notes to project contributors
- Celebrate the close down within your team
-
Monitoring the project
- Agree monitoring and reviewing process with senior managers
- Decide on how and what will be monitored
- Keep records of the project
- Choos the type of control that is needed
- Agree monitoring and approving changes system with senior managers
- Have a formal approval from senior managers before action on a change
- Appoint someone to be responsible for the project quality
- Review the project quality with the client
- Make sure someone can sanction changes in senior management absence
- Set an agenda for project meetings to review progress
- Define action points against each item on the agenda
- Review the items on the critical path
- Report if cost or time limit exceed
- Report progress at the end of each stage of the project
- Monitor issues that may be causing concern
-
Planning the project
- Make your project planning checklist
- List all the activities in work breakdown structure
- Group tasks under different category headings
- Write down dependencies of all activities
- Estimate how much time each activity will take
- Identify activities that have to be completed by the due date
- Prioritize planned activities
- Make a communication plan and communicate it with all concerned
- Carry out a full risk analysis
- Appoint a team member to manage each risk
- Filter your project for slipping tasks
- Make a Gantt chart to monitor the project progress
- Make a milestone plan for the stages of the project
- Check the project by the milestone dates
- Set a realistic deadline for the project
-
Defining the project
- Write project definition statement
- Send project definition statement to all concerned
- Define areas to be included in the project scope
- Describe what each person does in the project
- Specify responsibility of each project team member
- Think who should be in the project team
- Ensure each team member has the skills required
- Form a group of project managers
- Hold a meeting with all concerned

