Peel Boss - From Sprout to Golden Leadership

Project Management Cheat Sheet

Herding cats while maintaining documentation

Waterfall: Sequential phases. Like dominoes - beautiful when it works, catastrophic when one falls.
Agile: Iterative approach. For when your client changes their mind every 3.5 days.
Scrum: Daily stand-ups and sprints. AKA 'Why am I standing in this meeting?'
Kanban: Visual workflow management. Sticky note paradise.

Scope: What needs done. Will mysteriously expand like your waistline during holidays.
Time: Deadlines. Always set them 20% further than you think necessary. Then add another 10%.
Cost: Budget. Whatever you estimated, it's wrong. And not in the direction you hope.
Quality: The first sacrifice when the other three constraints start fighting.

Identify risks: List everything that could go wrong. Then accept you missed 50% of them.
Assess probability & impact: How likely and how bad? High-high risks deserve your panic attention.
Plan responses: For each major risk, have a plan better than 'hope it doesn't happen'.
Monitor constantly: Check for new risks weekly. Otherwise they'll find you. They always do.

Identify all stakeholders: Everyone who can sink your project. Yes, including that quiet person in accounting.
Communication plan: Who needs what information when. Some want details, others just want to know it's not on fire.
Manage expectations: Under-promise, over-deliver. Never the reverse unless you enjoy late-night crisis calls.
Regular updates: Even when there's nothing new. Silence breeds conspiracy theories about project health.

No project plan survives first contact with reality
The most dangerous phrase is 'while we're at it, let's also...'
Document decisions and who made them (your future self will thank you)
Projects succeed through clear goals and better communication, not fancier software

A project manager is someone who believes nine women can deliver a baby in one month if properly motivated and tracked in a Gantt chart.

Life's too short for boring management. Make it count.

Management Master™

Pro tip: Pin these cheat sheets to your office wall or slip them into your notebook for emergency management situations.