4 P's of a Presentation

I am currently working as a Consultant Project Manager, working side by side with one of the best consultants I have ever had the pleasure to work with.  I am someone who always likes to learn, so I have been watching the way that the other consultant is working on various  tasks, learning and understanding new methods and ideas along the way. 

As consultants, we produce many reports, breakdowns and presentations.  One simple tip that I have learned for a presentation format is to tell a story using the 4 P's.  This was such a simple tip, but one that will stay in my mind and will be incorporated into every future presentation.

1. Present - What is the situation now.  Explain the fact of the existing processes, procedures and architecture.
2. Problem - What is the problem with this existing model.  Explain the issues and risks with the current model, keeping to facts and providing evidence of situations that have caused, or could cause, problems.
3. Possibility - Suggest some options, clearly indicating the pros and cons of each.  This must be factual, stating as much information as possible, but limiting the information into a manageable size for the presentation.
4. Proposal - Provide a single recommendation from possibilities mentioned in stage 3.  this needs to have backing for the Subject Matter Experts.  This should not be swayed by personal opinion, but should reflect the best possible option for the business and explain the reasons for the selection over the other options.

When this simple method of presentation planning was explained to me, I could not believe that I had never heard of this before.  Usually simplicity is the best option and from now on, I will be remembering the 4 P's.

Standard Documentation

Is there such a things as Standard Project Documentation? I know different methodologies state that there should be x, y and z, but is there any standard format to these? … And should there be?

Most companies have a communications department, which designs templates and colour schemes for corporate literature, usually limited to external communications.  I have worked with guidelines for logos, colour schemes and fonts, but usually this have been for external documentation and website designs.

Project Initiation in a Japanese Corporation - Part 1

I am in the final week of the planning phase, within our Corporate Project Life-cycle   The life cycle is based on the Prince2 methodology, seeing as I wrote it soon after completing my Prince2 Practioner exam.  This is the time that the RACI matrix of the phase deliverables is being checked and the components are being completed.  There are many authorisations to seek and complete, of which each document could have between 1 and 6 signatures.  The final Project "bundle" of documents has a header sheet, where approximately 10-12 will eventually sign it off. 

I work for a Japanese Corporation, which follow a strict protocol in terms of project control and budgets.  It is actually quite a refreshing change to work for a company that expects you will spend a serious amount of time in the planning phases, proving your concepts and gaining sign-off from all parties concerned.  It means that each department and management level, understand your project, authorise your project and have buy-in to your deliverables.

Standard Project Documentation

Is there such a things as Standard Project Documentation. I know different methodologies state that there should be x, y and z, but is there any standard format to these? … and should there be?

Most companies have a communications department, which designs templates and colour schemes for corporate literature, usually limited to external communications.  I have worked with guidelines for logos, colour schemes and fonts, but usually this has been for external documentation and website designs.

The Project Management Office has a role to perform in terms of providing some standard documentation, but I have found this is limited to Report formats and PowerPoint presentations.  For the last two corporations I have worked in, both of which have a PMO, there has not been any standard documentation for other project documents.  

I am a believer in simplification.  I feel that standard formatted documentation should be available and reused, such as reporting, RAID and Project Documents.  I would go one stage further and ensure that there is a library of standard documentation for all of my projects.  I do not just mean that there should be a font, colour scheme and logo, but I feel the content should be "standardised".  I feel that a new Project Manager should be able to pick up a template and have a baseline for their documentation.  For example, the Test Strategy should have a number of sub topics that would help the Project Managers ensure that all of the required information is captured, then the Stakeholders would read and understand each test Strategy and be able to compare on a Project by Project basis.

If a Senior Stakeholder is running many projects, it would be beneficial for them to understand the documentation they can expect and the content and purpose of each of these documents.  A further example could be for the Project Charter, which should have a standard format and content for all project, no matter how large or small.  The topics of content of the documents for every project will be the same for this document, however the content and length may be different.  

A good example of other standard documents would be the Risk Register.  In all of the companies I have worked for recently, there has not been a definitive standard for the RAID log.  This document is one of the most important, most used and updated documents in the Project Manager's Library.