Why Templates are a Good Thing?

First things first: Thank you for buying Project Management Template Kit.

I know you won't regret it. There is so much content in here and, while there may be something missing, I also offer to continuously update the package with new templates, as you suggest them. Go to the Suggest a New Template module in this section.

So, why are templates a good thing, then, Mike?

Templates Speed up Progress.

Everyday.

There are two balancing requirements on you, as a Project Manager:

1. First, you need to make steady progress to deliver your project to schedule, to budget, and to specification
2. And second, you need to be accountable and transparent in how you do it

Templates help you with both.

• They order your thinking
• They provide pre-considered information collation
• They create a solid record for the audit trail
• They make it easy for less-experienced colleagues to do things right

Here is a checklist of what Project Management Checklists can do for you.

Quality-related Benefits

1. Templates create consistency and reliability of content
2. Templates drive standardization of look and feel - strengthening your project's brand and guaranteeing easy of readability
3. When you have a template that has ‘correct’ built in, you will make fewer mistakes
4. Templates ensure that nothing gets missed
5. Templates can focus users on what is most important
6. Templates reduce errors

Time and Pace-related Benefits

1. Templates reduce development time
2. Templates save time in thinking through what is needed each time
3. Templates reduce the need for re-work and corrected versions
4. Templates drive concision, making it quicker for readers to assimilate a lot of information

Cost and Resource-related Benefits

1. Templates reduce wasted effort and mistakes, with an obvious cost benefit.
2. Templates help you to delegate with confidence, knowing that there is a clear specification of what needs be completed.
3. You can divide a template up, to delegate different parts to different team members.
4. Templates ensure uniformity of performance capability across your team
5. Reduced error rates reduce costs of re-work
6. Templates are easy to share, to track, and to version control

Additional Benefits

1. Templates are easy to use
2. Templates are flexible and easy to adapt to different projects
3. Templates reduce the cognitive load in consider what to document, and allow more focus on how to document it clearly
4. Templates embed best practices and organizational learning