How to set up a template library

One of the first things that you’d need as part of a PMO is a template library. Basically, a template library is a set of documents that a project manager would use to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and close a project. A template library that is well maintained will save you many hours rework. Each template in the library is meant to help the project manager get started on structuring his/her thoughts quickly, thoroughly and best of all, includes all the lessons learnt from previous projects.

Setting up a template library is relatively easy. In this article, I assume that the funding and headcount decision have already been approved. Depending on the size of your organization and the scope of the template library, this project usually ranges between 1-6 months. If you have been tasked with setting up a template library, here are the steps that I suggest you take:

1. Does your organization already have an existing template library?
2. Appoint a template librarian
3. Centralize internal templates
4. Supplement with external templates
5. Present to stakeholders and incorporate feedback
6. Rollout

Does your organization already have an existing template library?

Silly as this may sound, this step has saved me many valuable hours. Depending on the size of the organization you are working with, there is a high likelihood that there is already a template library, or at least a significant amount of frequently used project templates stored somewhere within the organization. If a template library already exists, is well maintained, and is well utilized, it is best to leverage that existing library and build on it.

Appoint a template librarian

Just as in a normal library, a librarian will manage the templates and help project managers identify the right template for the particular stage in a project. Unlike a normal librarian, the template librarian also has the additional responsibility to act as the gatekeeper for the template library. The library’s content should be kept to a minimum. It is the librarian’s responsibility to vet any new additions to the library. The template librarian should be responsible for the next steps.

Centralize internal templates

The best place to start would be current projects, as this typically represents the current best practices of the firm. Interview the project managers, functional leaders, and other project stakeholders. Collect all project documentation while noting the relationship between the documents. By relationship, I mean, what are the impacts of changes in one document to another. This process needs to be laid out in a workflow to aid later discussions.

Supplement with external templates

Once you have gathered and analyzed the internal project documents, you will begin to notice gaps within the project documentation that you have gathered. External templates also help kick start discussions in what should be in a template library. This is especially useful when the organization is still fairly young and does not have many current or prior project documents to fall back on. There are numerous external template libraries. I will review these external template libraries in a later posting.

Present to stakeholders and incorporate feedback

The value of a template library is only created when project managers actually use it to manage their projects. As you gather the internal and external templates, begin to show the collection of templates and how they interconnect to one another. Seek feedback from practicing project managers and incorporate their feedback. Use internal productivity tools, e.g. sharepoint, blogs, wikis, etc…, to maintain a continuing dialog with project managers who will have to use the template library. The success or failure of the template library will be determined by whether or not it is used by project managers.

Rollout

If you have been presenting to stakeholder and incorporating their feedback throughout the project, this task should be fairly straightforward. One important thing that you need to do during the rollout is to establish the template library as part of the project management office. This creates visibility across the whole organization to the template library and it being the central repository of all project management related templates.