Project Management Phases Guide

This is a simple guide to provide information on the four phases of project management by the Harvard Business Review.

Why Is This Important?

Project management, even if you are not ultimately responsible for the management of the project itself, is an important topic in terms of data analysis and management. As an analyst, you will be working with others to define and measure business processes for your organization. Often, you will be working with people that may have one perception of what is achievable but little visibility as to the data available to support that vision.

As an analyst, you are responsible for analysis and messaging the results of your analysis. You have a special place in any project team, because you have acquired skills to make complicated things plain.

Knowing about project management empowers you to step back and see what is required to take something from conception to implementation and closeout, while ensuring communication, problem solving, resource conservation, and continual feedback. You may not ask every question or do every task on the following checklists, but having visibility over the project lifecycle important.

How Can I Use These?

Below are simple tables that you can scrape and import using Power Query in Excel. The nice thing about it is you never have to store a template and check if the source has been updated. You can just scrape it from here with some Power Query code after adding a blank query and pasting M code from below.

Here are the checklists broken out by stage:

Planning

Type	Stage	Task/Question
❓	Determine the Problem	Is it a data problem?
❓	Determine the Problem	What data do they need?
❓	Determine the Problem	At what grain?
❓	Determine the Problem	How often and from what system(s)?
❓	Identify the Stakeholders	Who will use your product?
❓	Identify the Stakeholders	Who will provide resources?
❓	Identify the Stakeholders	Who will benefit from the product?
❗	Identify the Stakeholders	Gather Support
❓	Define SMART Objectives	Is it Specific?
❓	Define SMART Objectives	Is it Measurable?
❓	Define SMART Objectives	Is it Actionable?
❓	Define SMART Objectives	Is it Realistic?
❓	Define SMART Objectives	Is it Time-limited?

Build-Up

Type	Stage	Task/Question
❓	Assemble the Team	Do you need regular or temporary help?
❓	Assemble the Team	Do you need to provide training?
❓	Assemble the Team	What skills are needed?
❓	Assemble the Team	What does team availability look like?
❗	Plan Assignments	List the people on the team
❗	Plan Assignments	List the skills required
❗	Plan Assignments	Match teammate with skillset to task
❗	Plan Assignments	Communicate task responsibilities
❗	Schedule/Budget	Work backwards from mandatory dates
❗	Schedule/Budget	Hold a kickoff meeting
❗	Schedule/Budget	Set the budget

Implementation

Type	Stage	Task/Question
❗	Monitor and Control	Monitor the process
❗	Monitor and Control	Control the budget
❗	Monitor and Control	Look for problems
❗	Monitor and Control	Respond quickly
❗	Report Progress	Status updates
❗	Report Progress	Status reports
❗	Report Progress	Flag issues
❗	Hold Meetings	Weekly meetings
❗	Hold Meetings	Set agendas
❗	Hold Meetings	Manage problems
❗	Hold Meetings	Measure performance

Closeout

Type	Stage	Task/Question
❗	Evaluate	Compare progress with scope
❗	Evaluate	Reach consensus on % completion
❗	Evaluate	Keep scope front and center
❗	Close	Provide deliverables
❗	Close	Recognize wins
❗	Debrief	Document lessons learned
❗	Debrief	Share knowledge

Importing Into Power Query

The benefit of having these styled in simple html tables is that if you want to use them, you can use Power Query in Excel quite easily to connect and import these into an Excel sheet. Here is the code for each phase:

Planning M Code

let
  Source = Web.Page(
    Web.Contents(
      "https://powergi.tech/guides/project-management-cheat-sheet/"
    )
  ), 
  Data0 = Source{0}[Data], 
  Changed_Type = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
    Data0, 
    {
      {"Type", type text}, 
      {"Stage", type text}, 
      {"Task/Question", type text}
    }
  )
in
  Changed_Type

Build-Up M Code

let
  Source = Web.Page(
    Web.Contents(
      "https://powergi.tech/guides/project-management-cheat-sheet/"
    )
  ),
  Data1 = Source{1}[Data],
  Changed_Type = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
    Data1,
    {
      {"Type", type text},
      {"Stage", type text},
      {"Task/Question", type text}
    }
  )
in
  Changed_Type

Implementation M Code

let
  Source = Web.Page(
    Web.Contents(
      "https://powergi.tech/guides/project-management-cheat-sheet/"
    )
  ), 
  Data2 = Source{2}[Data], 
  Changed_Type = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
    Data2, 
    {
      {"Type", type text}, 
      {"Stage", type text}, 
      {"Task/Question", type text}
    }
  )
in
  Changed_Type

Closeout M Code

let
  Source = Web.Page(
    Web.Contents(
      "https://powergi.tech/guides/project-management-cheat-sheet/"
    )
  ), 
  Data3 = Source{3}[Data], 
  Changed_Type = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
    Data3, 
    {
      {"Type", type text}, 
      {"Stage", type text}, 
      {"Evaluate", type text}
    }
  )
in
  Changed_Type