Part of your job as a project manager is to be on a constant lookout for possible project issues—major problems with the potential to disrupt the project or cause it to fail. Issues are problems not totally within the control of the project team to resolve and may require outside help from managers and sponsors.

TechRepublic contributor Tom Mochal, author of Project Mentor columns and creator of the TenStep Project Management Process, notes that project managers must ensure that a process is in place to make the appropriate people aware of project issues and to resolve them as quickly as possible. Larger projects, especially, need more rigor and structure in how issues are raised and managed.

To assist in that effort, Mochal has developed an issue submission form that project managers can use to capture, screen, prioritize, and evaluate issues. Download it now.

Each form should be used to describe one specific issue and should include enough information so that the issue can be identified and tracked but not so much information that the form becomes a report.

Project managers should solicit issues from any of the stakeholders in the project, including the project team, customers, and sponsors. The submission form will help them to include all the details of the problem in order for the project team to resolve it as quickly as possible. Download the form now to get a handle on problems before they jeopardize your project.
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