Project System Starter Kit

Good teams stall when there’s no steady cadence, work starts ad-hoc, and leaders can’t see the whole picture. Meetings drift. Priorities collide. Actions slip. You don’t need more software. You need one lightweight system that runs every week and makes tradeoffs timely.

Rhythm · Decisions · Value—delivered together in 4 weeks.

• Rhythm: three core meetings on a 13-week calendar with clear agendas and owners.
• Decisions: one door for new work, a one-page brief, and portfolio forums that make real tradeoffs.
• Value: a simple scorecard, value/risk flags, and a monthly review so progress is visible. 

Start with this package. Improve every cycle. When ready, step up to PMO in 30 Days.

Named artifacts you’ll own and use on day one.

• Simple RACI with named owners for all critical roles
• Company Scorecard with 6–10 measures and targets
• 3–5 Quarterly Priorities with owners and dates
• Weekly Ops Review Agenda Pack with scripts and action tracker
• Monthly Business Review Agenda Pack with pre-read checklist
• 13-Week Calendar with all cadences scheduled
• Work Intake Form for every new request
• Prioritization Rules balancing value, risk, effort
• One-Page Brief for scope, outcomes, risks, and effort
• Weekly Standup Pack with agenda and action tracker
• Single Portfolio View with value/risk flags and simple stages
• Capacity Snapshot by team or role
• Dependency Map Lite for cross-team work
• Decision Rights Map and escalation paths
• Decision Log tied to portfolio items
• Action Closure Log for commitments and follow-through
• Runbook that explains how to keep it running

Clear acceptance criteria so you know it’s working.

• All critical roles have named owners
• ≥ 80% of meetings end with a recorded decision
• All new work enters through the intake form
• Portfolio updated weekly by owners (not the consultant)
• Weekly standups run 4 weeks unassisted
• Value and risk flags visible on the portfolio
• Next 13 weeks of meetings are on the calendar
• At least two tradeoffs made in forum using the portfolio/capacity view
• Actions close on time and are reviewed weekly
   

• Quick scan of meetings, pains, and inflight work
• Draft RACI, scorecard, priorities, decision rights
• Build agenda packs; schedule the 13-week calendar
• Stand up intake, brief template, portfolio fields, capacity snapshot

• Run the first Weekly Ops Review and team standups
• Coach brief writing and prioritization rules
• Populate the initial portfolio and add value/risk flags

• Owners update the portfolio and variance notes themselves
• Use dependency and capacity views to resolve conflicts
• Record decisions in the log; prove two real tradeoffs

• Hold the first Monthly Business Review (rehearsal ok)
• Confirm acceptance criteria; finalize runbook
• Deliver a 90-day improvement list and next-rung options

• Short working sessions each week with a small core group
• We facilitate the first forums so your team learns by doing
• Built to run on your current tools (we add only what the cadence needs)

We track a few simple signals during and after the sprint.

• Roles with owners increase
• % of meetings with decisions increase
• Intake adoption and weekly portfolio update rate increase
• On-time action closure increase
• Early trend: decision cycle time decrease, schedule reliability & throughput increase

• Sponsor: sets priorities and accepts tradeoffs
• Portfolio Coordinator: maintains the board and runbook
• Item Owners: keep briefs current and close actions on time

We supply simple role cards you can keep.

• PMO in 30 Days: add charter, service catalog, governance calendar, reliable reporting, and resource/dependency views.
• PMO Maturity Diagnostic: get a heatmap and 90-day uplift plan when you want to raise performance.
• TMO Readiness & Pilot: when strategy spans functions, run the transformation lifecycle on one portfolio.

How much time will this take from our team?
About 3–4 hours per week across four weeks for the core group.

Do we need new software?
No. We use what you have. If needed, we add light boards/fields after the rhythm is running.

Can managers run this without you?
Yes. You get scripts, templates, and a runbook. By week four your team is running the cadence.