May 08, 2021 11:25 AM
Replying to Keith Novak
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The "best" template is very dependent on the context. If you could find one basic source that is applicable to all domains and project phases, you would have found the Holy Grail of project management.
Templates include 2 major components that provide value:
1) They include the right data
2) The formatting makes the data understandable or in other words, transforms data into information.
The right data is very dependent on the subject matter. When designing a new electronic device, I have looked to IEEE standards and found plan templates that cover all possible scenarios and tailored approximately 10 pages of bullet points down to the few applicable to my needs. In an aerospace project which includes many technical domains, a similar type template is approximately 300 pages long (and highly limited proprietary information).
What I typically do is start by fining a domain specific template for everything that might be addressed by the project and tailor it down to my needs from a scope perspective (the right data) Then I benchmark a selection of good template formats to get ideas on the important fields to display and how they are organized, and build my own "best" template.
