Just about everyone has Microsoft Office these days, but not everybody uses it to its full potential. One of the greatest benefits of using Office software, such as Word or Excel, is that there are thousands of templates available, including hundreds just for project managers.
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Finding Project Management Templates
Putting together a project risk management plan?
Microsoft has a Word template that allows you to fill in your own risk management processes and stakeholder information (as well as insert your own logo). As soon as you’ve added your information, you’re ready to print — the template has eliminated the need to format your plan, as well as add standard information that belongs in every project risk management plan.
There are other templates worth considering, including the following:
If there is a particular project management template you’re looking for, start by searching those listed at Microsoft Online. Microsoft’s template directory allows you to search for templates by software as well as browse through a number of categories. There are other sites that offer templates for download, but if you can find a similar template on Microsoft Online, it should be your first choice. Templates not associated with Microsoft could include viruses and other malicious software. Even better, Microsoft's templates are free — many are provided online by Microsoft as a part of the advantage of purchasing their software.
Microsoft Project Templates
As well as the project management templates available to Microsoft Office users, you can download templates for Microsoft Project. Microsoft Online lists 72 templates available for download, with more being added. There are a number of project plans, from engineering to home construction, available. These project plan templates require various versions of Project to open but can really speed up your planning.
Creating Microsoft Templates
Because managing a project requires certain plans and documents, especially when working for a client or employer every time, templates can be an ideal way to speed up the planning phase of a project. And, if you regularly find yourself creating different versions of a document you can’t find a template for, it’s easy to create your own. Simply create a version of your document that you can fill in the blanks for future projects and save it as a template.
For any Microsoft program (Word, Excel, Project, etc.), you can save templates by choosing the ‘File’ menu, and then the ‘Save As’ option. The program will then give you several options, including a drop-down menu for ‘Format.’ One of the options will be a template version of a standard file for that program.
Or, you can check out our our Project Management Media Gallery for many project management-specific templates you can freely download.