Book Review
A Project Manager’s Book of Forms, 2nd Edition: A Companion to the PMBOK® Guide, Fifth Edition
Reviewed by James Ure, PMP
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Author | Cynthia Stackpole Snyder, PMP, EVP, MBA |
| Publication | John Wiley & Son; Material © Project Management Institute; 2013; ISBN 9781118430781; 240 pages, 61 forms | |
| Purpose | This book translates information from the PMBOK® Guide into a set of forms and reports so that project managers have an easy way to apply good practices to projects. | |
| Audience |
This book will generally be most applicable for predictive (plan-driven) projects, although it has value for all projects lifecycles. |
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| Availability | Available for purchase in the PMI Marketplace, with a discount for PMI members and package deals bundled with the PMBOK® Guide or User's Manual. Documents in Microsoft WORD format are available for free download by PMI members in the Tools and Templates section of pmi.org. |
Have you ever spent too much time creating your own decision log or requirements matrix from scratch? Or labored too long over what belongs in your Project Charter vs. the Project Management Plan? If so, you are in good company! The good news is that The Project Manager’s Book of Forms is perfect for these very occasions.
Cynthia Stackpole Synder has excellent credentials and experience for this highly useful compendium. She was the project manager for the PMI team on the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition and is the author of the User’s Manual to the PMBOK® Guide. Her first edition of the Book of Forms was published in 2009 and traces back to the PMI Compendium of Project Management Practices, from the PMBOK® Guide 2000 Edition. She is faithful to source material and provides added value content in the forms, reports, templates, and summaries.
The true value of the Book of Forms is that it picks up where the PMBOK® Guide leaves off and supplements it perfectly. Where the PMBOK is process-focused, with extensive theory and explanation, the Book of Forms provides summary reference content with actual document templates ready to use, expand and customize. It fits perfectly with the PMI approach and Project Managers should apply these concepts and practices to their projects as they fit.
The book follows the familiar PMI outline, with five chapters corresponding to each of the project processes; Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring, and Closing. Each chapter contains a separate form for each sub-process or topic, with a fair amount of granularity. For example, there are separate forms for Stakeholder Register and Stakeholder Analysis. Similarly, the Planning Chapter has five sections and forms pertaining to risk, including a Risk Management Plan, Risk Register, Probability and Impact Assessment, Probability and Impact Matrix, and Risk Data Sheet. In some project contexts, five separate risk documents may be excessive, but the point is that you can pick and choose, and where there is a lot at stake, this level of attention to risk management may be warranted.
Many of the forms are straightforward, and easy to use. This is true for the tracking type lists: the Issue Log, Change Log, Decision Log, Activity List, Milestone List, and so on. These forms are a great help if you don’t have them already. Other forms reflect areas where planning and careful thought is required. Having a template guide and summary material is useful as you think through these more complex topics and expand your project documents. Examples are the Requirements Management Plan, the Quality Management Plan, the Process Improvement Plan, and the Change Management Plan.
One of my favorite forms is the Stakeholder Management Plan. It calls for identifying stakeholders as either “current” (C) or “desired” (D) and for clarifying stakeholder participation level with the designation of “Unaware, Resistant, Neutral, Supportive, or Leading.” This level of stakeholder insight can be a critical project success factor. I would urge caution, however, when documenting stakeholder engagement with terms like “unaware” or “resistant.” Some stakeholders may not like or agree with these descriptors being used about them!
My only general hesitation with this approach to project artifacts is that it may result in a level of granularity and distributed documents that are not always helpful. For example, with risk analysis, the five forms in the Planning chapter are supplemented with a Risk Audit Form in the Monitoring and Controlling chapter. If I was a project sponsor, I would want to see a single risk management document, not six separate ones. With good project execution, this could easily be accomplished using the forms in this book (perhaps as Excel worksheets), but it could just as easily lead to extra work to track, update, and maintain each form. Overall, however, this is a minor concern.
The second edition is fully current with the 5th edition PMBOK® Guide and presents the forms in an improved and more neutral layout. At a minimum, every PMI member should regularly consult with the electronic forms available with membership. Program Leaders and PMOs should have this book in their reference libraries and all of us should use these to help us build consistency of approach and practices.
About the Reviewer
James Ure, PhD, PMP, is a seasoned project manager and IT leader. He has experience managing and mentoring project managers.