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Project Health Template
Looking for insight into how projects in your portfolio are progressing? You could ask the project manager or stakeholders, but they may give you the quick but standard, “It’s going fine,” not realizing disaster is right around the corner! The Project Health Check Template is a great tool to evaluate projects objectively. If everything is going well, its 35 questions spread across seven categories will give you peace of mind, or, conversely, the data you need to dig into next steps.
Why Use a Project Health Template?
Think about the annual physical. Most of us don’t look forward to it, however, we understand the importance of regular checkups. A physical has several outcomes. One, the doctor says you are doing great and to keep up the good work. Or, the doctor says you’re doing okay, but a bit more exercise and better eating habits wouldn’t hurt. Finally, something more troubling is uncovered, where the doctor sets up appointments to do more research and run tests.
The same thing happens when projects are run through a Health Check. You’ll find projects are either doing just fine, or need a bit of fine tuning, or more research and follow up is necessary to nurse them back to health. More specifically, a Project Health Check Template helps to identify:
- Preventative Measures - It’s been said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The preventative measures identified and put into place will keep your projects healthy.
- Trouble Areas - It sheds light on project problems that may lurk beneath the surface.
- Trends - Using this template year over year will allow you to pinpoint trends (positive or negative) that occur on your projects.
- Great Practices to Share with Others - You may find that a particular team’s projects are always in great shape. Find out why and share what they are doing with others.
How do you use the Project Health Template?
Follow these steps to make the most of the Project Health Check Template:
- Determine Scope - Determine if the Project Health Check is to be used for an individual project, portfolio of projects, or the entire organization.
- Choose Who Will Grade - Pick 2-3 people from different areas of the organization to perform the Health Check, i.e., the Project Manager or someone from the PMO, with the project sponsor or an Executive.
- Objectively Work Down the List - Be objective, honest, and fair by grading from a -4 (strongly disagree OR ‘don’t know’) to a +4 (strongly agree). The process is an audit, and the only way to improve project health is to deal in reality.
- Evaluate Your Score - Look at the Total Score for Project number and compare it against the result set on the bottom of the spreadsheet. How did you do? This will help you determine if you can keep doing what you are doing or if more tests are necessary.
- Come up with a Plan to Resolve - Base a plan of action on the results of your current score. Could be a matter of improving just one area of project health (i.e., Project Plan, Resources, or Expertise), or, calling in a consultant to help with a complete Project Health overhaul. We, of course, would recommend The PMO Squad :-).
Then, work the plan. Include Project Health Check Results as a topic for your weekly Project Manager meeting and discuss progress against the plan, new processes to implement, and results.
Benefits of using a Project Health Template
Using the Project Health Check Template results in:
- An Objective View of Project Health - Instead of hearing a project is “going fine,” you could hear a more objective numeric assessment, such as a “140” all the way down to a “-140,” depending on the results of the Project Health Check.
- Identifiable Areas to Fix - It will provide you a prioritized list of areas that need the most help first.
- A Great Training / Onboarding Tool - Have someone new join the team? The Project Health Check template will allow you to clearly explain and articulate what success looks like on every project, and what they will be measured against.
Get Started Today!
Stop wondering about how projects in your organization are doing and start measuring their health. There’s no truer adage than what gets measured gets managed. Our Project Health Check Template will make sure your projects are not only being managed the right way, but also improving year over year. And, the next time you go for your physical, when your doctor wonders why your blood pressure is right where it needs to be, say it’s because you started using the Project Health Check Template!
