Why do clients ask me to deliver Project Management training to smaller organizations? Usually, it’s because the directors or owners recognize they need better project results. Too often, their projects over-run, go over budget, or fail to delight their clients or customers. They know they need better Project Management results.
Often this recognition is urgent. Perhaps one of their clients has complained about disappointing or late outcomes. Or maybe the financial losses are becoming unsustainable. In these cases, they often want a quick fix.
Go Back to the Basics
While there is no shortcut to good Project Management practices, it is certainly sensible to focus training on the basics. In other articles, I have looked at the basics from the point of view of:
- 10 Critical Project Management Concepts You Absolutely Have to Know
- Project Management Basics are Key: What Should You Focus on?
- 8-step Project Success Plan: Your Essential Project Management Template
- Twelve Essential Project Management Rules
- Seven Vital Project Management Priorities
I have even produced my
But Now, it’s Time to Talk Tools
So, we are going to take a look at how you can get rapid Project Management results, using my top ten tools.
This is an article designed for new and aspiring Project Managers. There are dozens… hundreds maybe – of tools we can use. These are just the most basic. But they are the basics for a reason. Project Managers use them every day, because the work!
This is an article designed for new and aspiring Project Managers. There are dozens… hundreds maybe – of tools we can use. These are just the most basic. But they are the basics for a reason. Project Managers use them every day, because the work!
We will look at:
- The Time-Cost-Quality Triangle
- Project Brief, or Project Definition Document
- Business Case
- Milestone Table
- Stakeholder Communication Plan
- RACI Chart / Linear Responsibility Chart (LRC)
- Risk Register
- Stage-Gate Process
- Status Reports
- Change Control
Are there other, really valuable and basic tools?
Yes, of course. So, I have added a short ‘honorable mentions‘ section, too.
Ten Tools to Help You Get Better Project Management Results
Please note that this is not about Project Management software.
Many of the Project Management tools I am going to talk about are available as a part of different software tools. I have done a couple of articles about Project management software:
- Free Project Management Software: A Roundup of 20+ Options to Try
- Does Microsoft Project Still have a Future? The World’s Favorite PM Software
- Asana, Jira, Monday: the Big Three Modern PM Software Tools
Each of these tools represents a simple idea
Among my top 10 list of tools, each one solves a simple Project Management problem and provides a simple model to help you understand and control one aspect of your project. Using each tool on its own will improve your Project Management results. Introducing this full set of tools and using them properly can create a step-change improvement in your Project Management Results, for any organization or any Project Manager.
Which tools you should introduce first will depend on what the problems are with your Project Management results. So, for each of the tools, I will highlight the problem it solves and what it will allow you to do.
1. The Time-Cost-Quality Triangle
It’s also known as the Iron Triangle, Triple Constraint, or Triangle of Balance. The Time-Cost-Quality Triangle is the best way to understand your sponsor’s, boss’s, or client’s priorities.
Use this tool when you need to be clear about what matters most to your client. This way, you can be sure to protect the right things (time, cost, or quality) when the unexpected happens.
The Time-Cost-Quality Triangle will make your choices clear. It is, therefore, the tool of choice for a rational discussion about priorities, with your client. It is especially valuable when you understand that the T-C-Q Triangle actually has four corners, as I make clear in our training videos!
For alternate views, check-out:
- The Iron Triangle: Is it Time to Improve the Triple Constraint?
- What is the Agile Triangle – Value, Quality, and Constraints | Video
2. Project Brief, or Project Definition Document
Do you find yourself getting part-way through your projects, and still being unsure what exactly your project is about? Use a Project Definition Document as a way to crystallize precisely what your client wants.
And, crucially, also use it as a tool to get a formal sign-off from your client, so that you can move into planning your project with confidence. This early part of your project is what will establish the foundation for the Project Management results you will get.
If you don’t have a Project Brief you can rely upon, which is sufficiently clear and precise, then you are setting your project up to fail, from the start. You can find more detail in our earlier article, Clear Project Brief.
You may be interested in our Project Manager’s Project Definition Kit – an innovative course and resource kit, so you can take a jumble of ideas, needs, and requests and turn it into a well-defined project.
For more information:
- Robust Project Definition: How to Build it and the Components you Need
- What Goes into a Project Definition? | Video
- Project Definition: Three Big Questions about Your Project | Video
- What is Strategic Project Definition? | Video
- Podcast: The Importance of Project Definition
- Capabilities-Based Planning: A Full Primer for Better Project Definition
3. Business Case
For commercial projects, your proposal should form a part of your prospective client’s business case. Some clients will develop their business cases themselves. Sometimes, they will use the Project Team to help them to develop it.
Either way, a business case is a vital tool to set out what the project’s outcomes will look like, and what the costs and challenges will be. Without it, you will not be able to foresee whether the project is viable, or even desirable.
You should prioritize introducing business cases into your project process if you sometimes find that your Project Management results are not justified by the amount of effort and disruption it takes to create them.
For more detailed information: Take a look at:
- Project Business Case: Write an Effective Project Proposal | Video
- Project Business Case: How to Create the Perfect Project Proposal
4. Milestone Table
A Milestone Table (or any other form of Milestone Chart) is the tool to use when the schedule is the main priority for you.
On time-driven projects, start by listing the key deadlines your project needs to hit, to succeed. Then consider intermediate milestones that will let you track progress, and celebrate your team’s successes along the way. Also, use your milestone table to build contingency into your plan.
Experienced Project Managers know that your Project Management results are usually closely linked to what you plan for. So, by planning around the deadlines and including contingency, you will start to lock in the results you want.
For more information:
5. Stakeholder Communication Plan
Have you ever done a good job managing your project?
You have the right Project Management results, but people are still not happy?
The reason for this is poor stakeholder engagement, and the tool of choice to fix this is a Stakeholder Communication Plan. The value of this is that it systematizes a vital part of Project Management that often gets shunted to one side when you are under pressure. By explicitly planning what messages you need to deploy throughout your project, and when and who needs to deploy them, you build in control.
Because events will overtake all of your plans, remember to update your Stakeholder Comms Plan whenever you update any other aspects of your plan or controlled documents.
Here’s a comprehensive article that may help you: How to Plan Your Stakeholder Engagement Campaign. I also recommend:
- How to Build a Great Project Communications Plan | Video
- How to Get Project Communications Management Right… Every Time
6. RACI Chart / Linear Responsibility Chart (LRC)
A challenge I was once set by a client whose project was failing, was to find the reasons and put it right in a day. The answer was easy, once I realized that the problem was role allocations. People were not properly briefed on their tasks. There was overlap, duplication, and confusion about what to do. Some tasks were unallocated.
For this problem, one tool stands supreme: the Linear Responsibility Chart. It helps you, as Project Manager, plan sensible role allocations, and balance workloads fairly. It communicates these clearly to everyone, and you can even use it to cost your project. Parents shouldn’t have favorite children, but if Project Managers are allowed favorite tools, this one is mine.
When I recorded these early videos, RACI charts and Linear Responsibility Charts were still somewhat different. They have converged to the point where now, the [to my mind, somewhat better] LRC is most often referred to as a RACI chart. Who cares? A rose by any other name smells just as sweet!
So, below, you’ll find my video on how to build a RACI chart, along with links to my original videos defining:
- What a Linear Responsibility Chart is (for purists)
- What a RACI Chart is (for purists)
7. Risk Register
Things go wrong. If this is the main cause of your projects failing to deliver the results you planned, then you need robust project risk management. And, at the heart of it is one tool: a Risk Register. And, critically, you need to use it in a disciplined way.
Look, it’s simple.
You are spending your organization’s (or client’s) money. You are hazarding their reputation and their businesses. And you might affect the relationship they have with their clients.
So, you have an absolute responsibility to manage these risks diligently. Active risk management is non-negotiable if you want to be in control of your Project Management results. And your risk register is your primary tool.
8. Stage-Gate Process
Do you sometimes get to the end of a project and realize you should have stopped it, or changed direction, ages ago? You may not have got to the end, but if you ever reach a point where someone is saying:
‘What’s going on? This doesn’t make sense anymore.’
…this means you need to stop, take stock, and review your options.
Stage Gates, Project Gateways, or Boundary Gates are the tool to use to compel these reviews at key points in your project. At each review, you can check the Project Management results so far. If the results are what you expected, ask whether it still makes sense to proceed as planned. If not: re-plan, and re-review.
We have detailed articles and videos for you:
- How the Stage Gate Process Will Make You a Better Project Manager
- How to Run an Effective Stage Gate Review | Video
9. Status Reports
There are a lot of good reasons for writing regular status reports.
Communication is important, as we saw above. So too is creating an audit trail, because you need to create transparency, to be fully accountable. But often, the simplest reason is the most compelling.
If you find your projects sometimes seem to go from ‘fine’ to ‘failing’ without warning, it may be because you are not monitoring often enough. The more often you check how your project is faring, the sooner you will spot problems and the smaller they will be when you do notice them. So, creating a frequent cycle of project reporting to compel you to monitor, will often pre-empt minor problems, and reduce big issues to manageable ones.
We have two long-form articles that will give you different, but complementary, perspectives on project reporting, along with some helpful videos:
- A Beginner’s Guide to Project Status Reporting (by guest contributor, Ben Aston, founder of the Digital Project Manager)
- Giant Guide to Project Reporting [How to do it well]
- What goes into a Project Progress or Status Report? | Video
- Reporting Project Status – with Richard Junod, founder of PM Rockstar
- What is an Exception Report? And what’s an Exception? | Video
- How to Write an Exception Report | Video
- What is a RAG Report, or Traffic Light Status? | Video
10. Change Control
When things are going well, one thing is more likely to compromise your Project Management results more than anything else: changes in scope or specification.
The reality is that situations do change. Operational managers, client team members, or even your boss will spot new opportunities, or maybe underlying problems with your project. So they will want changes. There is nothing wrong with this. Problems arise when you, as the project manager, default to one of two unhelpful approaches:
- The all-helping approach of saying yes to anything…
And then seeing your projects go over budget and often behind schedule, despite delighting clients with your flexibility and customer care - The cautious approach of saying no to everything…
Because, where is the authority for delays and cost overruns? It is safer to deliver as you promised, on day one.
What really matters is that you take full control of every change request. You need to evaluate its costs and benefits. You need to secure a decision from the right person who can authorize the change. And, critically, you need to document that decision. If you are delivering your Project for a third-party client, this also means getting a signed contract variation, to secure the additional time and budget it will need.
This is Change Control:
For more information, refer to:
- Project Change Control: What You Need to Know to Make it Effective
- How to Manage the Change Control Process | Video
- Change Control 101 – Your Guide to Project Change Control | Video
Honorable Mentions
Agile Project Management Tools
Let’s start by acknowledging that none of these top 10 tools come from the world of Agile, or adaptive, Project Management. So, for my favorite Agile PM tools…
AI Tools
Next, let’s reflect on the simple fact that AI tools are becoming ever-more commonplace. I said at the top of this article that I would not be covering software tools. But I do want to link you to a video that will tell you How to Write Good AI Prompts for when you use tools like Gemini, Clude, or ChatGPT.
What, Wait… Where’s the Gantt Chart
The Gantt Chart is the poster child for Project Management. It is probably the most recognizable Project Manageement tool. But I do not think it is the most widely used or the one that fixes problems. The same is true of its close relatives the Work Breakdown Structure and the Network Chart.
The two common forms of Network Chart are the PERT Chart and the Critical Path Analysis.
But, since you probably want to know a little about them…
- What is a Gantt Chart? | Video
- How to Create a Gantt Chart in 9 Easy Steps | Video
- What is a Work Breakdown Structure – WBS? | Video
- How to Create a Work Breakdown Structure: A WBS Masterclass | Video
- Work Breakdown Structure: How to Build One Effortlessly with a Mind Map
- What is a PERT Chart? | Video
- What is CPM (Critical Path Method)? | Video
- What’s the Difference between PERT and CPM?
Personal Favorites
Some tools are neither widely used nor in any way essential. But they are the ones that I find get me out of trouble from time to time. So, these are a list of my own go-to extra tools:
- The Drama Triangle? | Video
- Six Thinking Hats? | Video
- The Gemba …and Going to the Gemba? | Video
- Monkey Management (Onken’s Monkey)? | Video
Who is in Control of Your Project Management Results?
Project Management is all about introducing control to a complex, uncertain, and fast-moving situation. These ten tools are each designed to increase your level of control. If you need to improve your Project Management results, I suggest a simple four-step process:
- Inventory which tools you already use.
…And check that you are using each of these effectively. - Determine the major causes of poor project management results on your projects.
- Identify the most important one or two tools to introduce
…And build those tools into your Project Management Process. - Stabilize and Review, then go back to #2
You might also like to consider how much is the right amount of documentation, to get better Project Management results. Too much, and you will risk tying yourself up in the bureaucracy of your documentation. Too little, however, and you may not create the accountability and transparency you need. This is the topic we cover in a related article, Project Documentation: Do You Know the 7 Keys to Getting it Right?
What are Your Tips for Getting Better Project Management Results?
Let us know your own tips for getting superior Project Management results, in the comments section below.
