The important thing to remember about project management templates is that they are only tools. They are an aid to communication, so should be used in the context of a sound project management control process which prioritizes people. After all, if you look after the people, the people will look after the project.

Further down this page is a list of free project management templates. They are essentially lists of headings which can be copied and pasted into spreadsheets or tables and formatted according to your project or corporate standards. In this respect they are flexible and, of course, free.

Free Project Management Templates:

And at the end, a story of gross imposition:

Just fill out the form!

Mac was pleased with himself. As the project manager on the ordering system project, he felt in control again. He had got to grips with the risks at last. John, his young project support protégée, had created a risk log from the project management templates service provided by the project support office (PSO).

Suddenly, the phone rang. It was Bill, the purchasing manager.


“Mac, I need to raise an issue, well, a risk actually. It’s about the price we’re paying for these software contractors. If there’s any overrun, the cost will go through the roof! What are we doing about looking at alternative suppliers?”


“Whoa! Hold your horses. Have you filled in a project issue form yet?” Mac cut Bill short.


“What issue form?”


“We emailed out a form a couple of weeks ago so anyone who had an issue could get it into the system. First, we log the issue, then, if we decide it’s a risk, we transfer it to the risk log and manage it through the risk management process. It’s simple.” Mac was smug.


“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing in the project definition document and we’ve had no presentation or training on any of these processes or forms. How do you expect us to follow something we know nothing about?” Bill stormed.


“What could be so complicated about filling out a form?” Mac was getting impatient.


“That’s not the point. We’re all busy and if there’s a process, we should all be talked through it so we’re all on the same page. Unless someone shows me how this works, I’m going to have to escalate this issue some other way.” Bill wasn’t happy.

Debbie, the senior designer on the project, sitting near Mac couldn’t help overhearing the conversation.


“Sounds like trouble brewing. Bill’s not one to let things go.” Debbie remarked.


“He’s a real troublemaker. If I don’t do something, he’ll be speaking to Stephenson. All I need is the CFO poking his nose even further into our project.” Mac looked worried.


“Why don’t you ask John to knock up a quick presentation and get all the stakeholders together to talk them through the risk process? He can explain the forms, the logs, everything. It won’t take long because it’s quite simple, really,” Debbie suggested.


“I think you’re right. In fact, I’ll get on to it right away to head this off. John can also go on to further presentations of all our project management templates” Mac knew he should have put it all in place from the start, but better late than never.