Project Diary

00:02 Even with planning, the project will change and grow.

00:07 This needs to be recorded formally and we're going to use our laboratory project to show you how. All right.

00:15 So you're holding your kickoff meeting.

00:18 And Lamborarri's HR manager, has asked if we need to hire anyone who speaks a language other than English.

00:26 This is a good point that you hadn't thought of.

00:30 The marketing manager is also there and they confirm that with the expected clients it would be a good idea to have at least one Spanish speaking member of staff and one Russian speaking employee.

00:43 The HR manager says that it is doable, but the time needed for the hiring process would be around 11 weeks rather than the eight initially planned.

00:52 This means that your action is to update the activity, recruit personnel in your project plan.

00:59 You are the person who needs to complete it.

01:01 And as you know, this is a task which you can complete in a day.

01:05 You mark this down to.

01:08 Something to point out.

01:09 Even if there is a relatively simple task and you are the one responsible for it, don't assume that you will remember because firstly this can lead to mistakes. Secondly, other people on the project need to know what is happening and to trust that you are being thorough in your execution.

01:28 And thirdly, this can be a record for future projects where similar actions may help you with planning.

01:36 Now imagine you're a month into your project and you hold a project update meeting. The marketing manager shares a problem regarding the activity order furniture and tech with the sub task select vendors, which by the way is line 45 of your project plan.

01:54 They tell you that the design agency will not be able to prepare the work in the next two months as they are over-encumbered with other clients? But you have estimated five weeks for creating the furniture.

02:08 Two months are not okay.

02:10 Your project is now in week 22 and the construction company is already working on the final stages of construction.

02:17 The roof works.

02:20 So you ask the marketing director to search for another design agency. However, they explain that they cannot help, and it's the finance manager assistant who deals with the vendors.

02:32 After speaking with them, you set a deadline of two weeks and fill it into your project diary. Nice job, project manager.

02:41 As you can see, projects change and evolve, but with a clear and concise project diary, everyone can see their commitments and when the project manager is on top of it, there is a lot less room for delays and mistakes.

02:54 The Project Diary is a great tool during the execution phase, but since the tool is only good as its user, a project manager needs to be able to manage all the work and people involved. In the next few lessons, we will discuss just how the project manager can do this.

03:10 Keep in mind, the popular name for this tool is a project action log.

03:15 So in your next project, use this as the fancy cover for your diary.

03:19 See you in the next lesson.