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A RAID log and Action log, provides a way to track, manage and report on all of the Risks, Actions, Issues and Decisions throughout your project lifecycle. We started in Part 1, explaining what a project RAID log and Action log is. How they can be used by anyone to record, manage and control the smaller and key work items that support the project schedule and plan. Project work items like actions, risks and issues often arise daily during a project, and need to be managed.
A plan never executes perfectly. There are many unplanned work items that come up as you manage a project from the initial planning through execution and close. If you don’t manage these properly it can lead to a failed project and negative business outcomes.
Throughout a project, the Project Manager (PM) is typically responsible for asking these key questions.
What information do we need to know that could take (or is taking) the project off the plan or schedule? (Project Risk or Project Issue and Status)
What needs to be done to keep the project on track? (Action)
Who is responsible for taking the action? (Action Owner)
When will the action be complete? (Due Date)
These questions need to be raised with the team members regarding all of the planned project work and as any of the project Risks, Actions, Issues and Decisions arise.
What will be provided, who provides it and when,
are key pieces of information that the PM needs to track.
A RAID log is a critical tool to support the building of a project plan and schedule. The planning of a project requires a coordinated effort with multiple pieces coming together. The steps to construct a project plan and schedule usually follows a set process. The work to build the plan and gather the information to build a project schedule, create a project charter, clarify the project goals, outline requirements, coordinate project resources, and more, essentially becomes a project in itself. The process of working with various people and teams to build the project plan will generate its own actions, owners, issues and due dates that need to be tracked and managed.
Take the time during the planning process to gather the information and input from all stakeholders including the expected timing of the inputs to the plan, in order to develop a schedule and plan you are confident in. What will be provided, who will provide it and when, are key pieces of information that the Project Manager needs to track and ensure are delivered in a timely manner to support the project planning work. The use of an automated RAID log and Action log is an ideal way to support building the project plan and schedule, ideally with a flexible and centralized workspace to record all of the project planning details.
Now that the schedule and plan for the project is approved, the real work begins. As much as you can plan, most projects will run into situations that can throw the scope, schedule or cost off track. A few examples include staff lacking experience, resources that are misallocated, under-estimated work effort and juggling timelines within the schedule:
Project Managers know they need to immediately assess these types of situations. They need to look for a solution and any actions that can be taken, to try to keep the project on schedule. The PM uses their judgement, knowing that if the latest actions in support of eliminating these project issues, are unsuccessful, the project schedule or budget may need to change. If this is the case, then the project Change Management Process will need to be followed.
An automated RAID log and Action log should provide an enhanced way of recording, tracking and reporting on all the pieces of information supporting Risks, Action items, project Issues and key Decisions.
You can perform at a higher level of focus and efficiency as a Project Manager, by using an automated RAID and Action log.
It needs to provide a single place to easily organize, share and collaborate with project team members and stakeholders without having to look into multiple files or tabs or folders, and provides you with the peace-of-mind that the information you are seeing represents the most up-to-date information from across the project team.
You can perform at a higher level of focus and efficiency as a Project Manager, by using an automated RAID log and Action log. It can go a long way to improving day-to-day project work management and importantly, it should also provide the ability to automate and streamline workflows with productivity and collaboration tools.
When the project RAID log and Action log is automated, it provides benefits that help Project Managers to effectively manage and control the daily aspects of their project work. Benefits include:
Project RAID logs and Action logs are critical tools to help any Project Manager effectively manage the smaller but critical Actions supporting project work items and schedule. Using forms, lists or spreadsheets as a RAID log to track and manage key information involving your project, just does not measure up when automated project work tracking software is available.
Anyone leading projects needs to ensure that all project Risks, Actions, Issues and Decisions are automatically tracked and prioritized to effectively manage, control and deliver on project outcomes. The ability for a project manager to effectively manage even the smallest of actions within a project will lead to greater success of the overall project.
Automated RAID logs and Action logs provide the flexibility to easily manage all of the smaller actions, empowers PMs and team members, helps save time and leads to better results for your project.
Learn more about Traxidy’s project work tracking software with an easy-to-use project workspace and automated RAID logs, Action logs and real-time project Status to help Project Managers and project teams increase efficiency and project success.
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Organizations increasingly continue to rely on project-based work to drive innovation and achieve strategic objectives. As businesses and Project Managers rely on technology to manage their projects, automated project management tools will become increasingly important in
A plan never executes perfectly. Automated RAID logs and Action logs that go beyond spreadsheets are used to better manage the many unplanned work items that come up as you manage a project from the initial planning through execution and close.
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Project RAID logs and Action logs are critical tools to help any Project Manager effectively manage the smaller but critical and often daily Actions supporting project work and schedule. Multiple forms, lists or spreadsheets used as a RAID log to track key information involving your project, does not measure up when automated project work tracking software is available.
The best time to confirm and/or challenge your assumptions is before the project gets underway. Project Managers need to take the time before any real project activity begins to clarify assumptions. You need to fully understand the way in which project changes will be handled for a specific project and for a specific Sponsor.
How Project Managers handle the progress reporting of project work items from the team members, is crucial to project success and the relationships with the team members. To ensure the Project Manager is successful, we have some tips for managing and assessing the work item progress as reported from team members.
You may have to use the same template you’ve always used, or you may have started to deliver a new report based on a new template for a new audience or client. Either way, the project status report should always be judged by the value of the information versus the amount of time you may have spent to produce the report.
When you think about project risk management, there can be a seemingly endless number of possible risks to any project. From the small and minor to the large and scary. From the potential asteroid hitting to the people from a specific department being too busy doing their real job there is the possibility of a very long list. Here’s five tips to simplify project risk management for greater project success.
This blog will explain the best ways to use a Green, Yellow and Red (GYR) reference in project status reports, the potential definitions for using the colors and the critical success factors that make it work.
The Project Manager doesn’t work alone. One way you can be more successful working with your team, is to make the best use of everyone’s time when you are together as a group. These facilitation tips will make your project team meetings more successful.
What’s so hard about accurately predicting the future? Project Managers predict the future success of their project, all the time. Typically, Project Managers (PMs) have an audience with a number of people who are invested in the work and the output of the project and are keen to know the status and forecast for project success.
Here are some of the tough questions we’ve encountered from our Project Sponsors during project status update meetings and ways you can be prepared to answer them. We’ve also listed the related and unspoken questions that are implied and can be read-into based on the questions that were asked in the meeting.
