Project Management Tip of the Week - 15th November - Project Documentation

Hello, Jasmine here from LVL Up Consulting with this week's project management tip of the week.

And this week I'd like to talk all about project documentation. Que the collective moan from everybody reading this. Now it's super important though that you do really effective, very clear and concise project documents.

Why? Because documentation is the key to making sure everybody who's involved in your project or who just wants to know about it, knows exactly what's happening, when it's happening and what they can expect as outcomes. Also things like benefits, risks, issues need to be clearly documented. It is no good to anybody if it's in your head, on a written to-do list or filed somewhere else where nobody else can access it.

So the first tip is to, of course, have documentation. And a lot of PMOs will mandate that documentation is required. But my biggest tip for you this week is if you are doing project management documentation to Keep It Simple for Success. That is a new KISS acronym that I got from a colleague of mine a few years ago.

So Keep It Simple for Success. What does that mean? It means say what you want to say in the most efficient way possible and in terms that anybody could understand. That last part it's extremely important. When you are writing your documents and reviewing your documents just think, could anyone who's never heard of your project before, pick it up and understand exactly what you're trying to say.

So remove your jargon. Write everything in layman's terms. It should be very, very easy to understand. And you should also not have to know other documents that sit alongside a particular project document. So Keep It Simple for Success. Distribute your documents widely once they are finished and approved and make sure they're accessible to everyone throughout the life of your project.

That's my tip for this week. I'll see you next time.