Project Management

Help users plan, execute, and track projects effectively.

When to Use

• Creating project plans and timelines
• Sprint planning and backlog grooming
• Stakeholder status updates
• Task breakdown and estimation
• Risk identification and mitigation
• Resource planning

When NOT to Use

• Meeting documentation (use meeting-notes)
• Financial planning (use budget-planner)
• Hiring workflows (use hiring-recruitment)

Project Planning Framework

1. Project Charter (Start Here)

# Project Charter: [Project Name]

**Sponsor:** [Name]
**Project Lead:** [Name]
**Start Date:** [Date]
**Target Completion:** [Date]

## Problem Statement
[What problem are we solving?]

## Goals & Success Metrics
1. [Goal] — measured by [metric]
2. [Goal] — measured by [metric]

## Scope
**In scope:** [What's included]
**Out of scope:** [What's explicitly excluded]

## Key Stakeholders
| Name | Role | Interest | Influence |
|------|------|----------|-----------|
| [Name] | Sponsor | High | High |
| [Name] | End User | High | Low |

## Risks
| Risk | Probability | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|------------|--------|------------|
| [Risk] | High/Med/Low | High/Med/Low | [Plan] |

## Budget
[Estimated budget or resource allocation]

2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Break the project into manageable pieces:

Project
├── Phase 1: Discovery (Week 1-2)
│   ├── Stakeholder interviews
│   ├── Requirements gathering
│   └── Technical assessment
├── Phase 2: Design (Week 3-4)
│   ├── Solution design
│   ├── Prototype
│   └── Design review
├── Phase 3: Build (Week 5-8)
│   ├── Core features
│   ├── Integration
│   └── Testing
└── Phase 4: Launch (Week 9-10)
    ├── User training
    ├── Deployment
    └── Post-launch review

3. Task Estimation

T-shirt sizing for initial estimates:

• XS: < 2 hours
• S: 2-4 hours (half day)
• M: 1-2 days
• L: 3-5 days (one week)
• XL: 1-2 weeks (should be broken down further)

Planning poker / Story points:

• 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21
• If it's > 13 points, break it into smaller tasks

4. Sprint Planning (Agile)

Sprint Structure (2-week sprint):

• Day 1: Sprint Planning (2 hours)
• Days 2-9: Development
• Day 9: Sprint Review / Demo (1 hour)
• Day 10: Retrospective (1 hour)

Daily Standup (15 min):

1. What did I complete yesterday?
2. What am I working on today?
3. Any blockers?

Sprint Board Columns:

• Backlog → To Do → In Progress → Review → Done

Status Update Templates

Weekly Status Report

# Weekly Status: [Project Name]
**Week of:** [Date] | **Overall Status:** 🟢 On Track / 🟡 At Risk / 🔴 Off Track

## Summary
[1-2 sentence overview of the week]

## Completed This Week
- ✅ [Task/milestone]
- ✅ [Task/milestone]

## In Progress
- 🔄 [Task] — [% complete, expected completion]
- 🔄 [Task] — [% complete, expected completion]

## Planned Next Week
- [ ] [Task]
- [ ] [Task]

## Risks & Blockers
- ⚠️ [Risk/blocker and mitigation plan]

## Key Metrics
- Tasks completed: X/Y
- Sprint velocity: Z points
- Budget spent: X% of total

Executive Summary (Monthly)

# [Project Name] — Executive Summary
**Period:** [Month Year] | **Status:** 🟢/🟡/🔴

## Highlights
- [Major accomplishment]
- [Key milestone reached]

## Key Metrics
| Metric | Target | Actual | Status |
|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Timeline | [Date] | [Date] | 🟢 |
| Budget | $X | $Y | 🟡 |
| Quality | [Target] | [Actual] | 🟢 |

## Decisions Needed
1. [Decision and options]

## Next Month Focus
- [Priority 1]
- [Priority 2]

Gantt Chart Structure

| Task | Start | End | Duration | Dependencies | Owner |
|------|-------|-----|----------|--------------|-------|
| Requirements | W1 | W2 | 2 weeks | - | Alice |
| Design | W2 | W4 | 2 weeks | Requirements | Bob |
| Development | W4 | W8 | 4 weeks | Design | Team |
| Testing | W7 | W9 | 2 weeks | Development (partial) | QA |
| Launch | W9 | W10 | 1 week | Testing | Alice |

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• No clear definition of "done"
• Skipping the project charter (scope creep follows)
• Tasks without owners or due dates
• Not tracking risks until they become problems
• Status reports that hide bad news
• Over-planning: plan in detail for 2-4 weeks ahead, high-level beyond that