Project Management Office Template - Silly Question

PattiL

Hi Community!!

I'm working my way thru setting up a project portfolio using the Project Management Office template which is amazing! I have sort of a silly question......the Intake Form and Project Intake Sheet request something called a "Category". How should I think about categorizing the projects in the portfolio? How have you used this identifier in your projects?

I originally came up with some categories, but then as I got further along in building the portfolio those didn't make sense. Thanks in advance for suggestions! Patti

Paul Newcome

The nice thing about templates is that they give you a pretty good starting point, but... They aren't always 100% perfect for your exact needs. It could be that you just don't need them and can remove all references to "Category". There are a number of different ways to categorize projects, but if you don't currently use them and can't think of a way to use them that fits your current business processes, then you could always just remove them.

Some ways I have seen them used are

Small/Medium/Large

Internal/External

Strategic/Non-Strategic

Low/Medium/High Priority

Which budget it is coming from (IT/Ops/Admin)

A specific department within one of the above

If you think of a way to use it but "Category" just doesn't seem like the right label, then you can always change it instead of removing it.

That's the nice thing about them being templates. You can modify as much as needed to fit your needs.

Paul Newcome

The nice thing about templates is that they give you a pretty good starting point, but... They aren't always 100% perfect for your exact needs. It could be that you just don't need them and can remove all references to "Category". There are a number of different ways to categorize projects, but if you don't currently use them and can't think of a way to use them that fits your current business processes, then you could always just remove them.

Some ways I have seen them used are

Small/Medium/Large

Internal/External

Strategic/Non-Strategic

Low/Medium/High Priority

Which budget it is coming from (IT/Ops/Admin)

A specific department within one of the above

If you think of a way to use it but "Category" just doesn't seem like the right label, then you can always change it instead of removing it.

That's the nice thing about them being templates. You can modify as much as needed to fit your needs.

PattiL

Thank you, Paul!

As I got further along in the template build guidance, I was able to see how it was used and landed on a categorization similar to internal/external. Thanks for helping me think thru this!! This template and the instructions are AMAZING! Thanks again! Patti

Paul Newcome

Happy to help. 👍️

Glad you were able to figure it all out!