The New One-Page Project Manager: Communicate and Manage Any Project With A Single Sheet of Paper, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

What Is the One-Page Project Manager?

I go into detail later about the makeup of the one-page project manager (OPPM) and how to build one, but for now I offer a simple OPPM definition: the OPPM is a communication tool for informing project stakeholders.

The OPPM paints a highly visual, interlocking picture of a project. It displays, relates, and links various project components, making immediately clear to stakeholders the plan and then the performance to that plan. Because names of responsible people are shown, motivation is magnified and opportunities for appreciation are amplified. A simple open circle, or bubble, indicates work planned during its corresponding time box. When the planned work is complete, the bubble is filled in. Comparing open and filled bubbles to the current date reveals timely performance of the scheduled tasks. Stoplight colors (red, yellow, and green) also highlight project performance and risk mitigation.

Driving the development of the OPPM was the acknowledgment that we at O.C. Tanner lacked, as a management team, the discipline to consistently manage projects to achieve on-time and on-budget results. We just didn't have the skills needed to successfully manage projects on a consistent basis. The solution, we thought, was to send our managers to project management school, which we did. We also read many books and hired plenty of consultants—and got mired in project management theory and details.

The minutia of projects—exhaustive planning, ...