Project managers create a lot of documentation — we try to keep it to the minimum effective use so no creating paperwork for paperwork’s sake (although it’s all electronic). But we do still need to produce project artefacts like plans, schedules, meeting minutes, terms of reference, statements of work, and so on… it’s a long list.
Below you’ll find some hand-picked gems from my template archive that will save you time and help you get the job done. And no, I don’t mind if you claim them as your own! They are all editable so slap your own company branding and logo on them (just don’t resell them, because that’s not cool).
You’ll find a lot of basic project management templates on RebelsGuideToPM.com for free, and lots of articles that describe how to fill them in or create your own, documenting the sections you should have. But if you want to take your template selection to the next level, with more ‘professional’ or advanced project documents, or a wider selection for your PMO, then check out my template shop.
You’ll find slide decks, spreadsheets, documents, all reasonably priced and created by a certified professional who actually uses these files for doing the job. (And no, they are not generated by AI!)
Where shall I send your login details for the free templates?
Every project needs a solid foundation. Basic project management templates provide structure, improve consistency, and save time on routine documentation. They help you stay on top of tasks and hold people accountable. Whether you are starting a new initiative or bringing order to an existing one, having the right core templates in place helps you move faster and reduce risk.
Browse the website for more examples like project charters, risk registers, stakeholder registers, RAID logs, communication plans, budget and business cases, and status report templates. These are the must-have project management templates that support governance, transparency, and accountability across the project lifecycle.
Personally, I like creating in Excel, because everyone at work uses it and I’m familiar with it, but you can make your own versions in your project management software, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Jira… whatever works for you and your team.
If you are building your toolkit from scratch, or standardizing processes across a team or PMO: start here! These practical templates are designed to be customizable, scalable, and easy to implement in real-world environments.
Manage your To Do list easily with this action log template. This simple and smart tracker is good for anyone who wants to keep on top of what needs to be done by when, especially if you have actions to track from lots of meetings. Oh, and it’s free! Click to get the template.
Project management can create a lot of paperwork, and itās not always the stuff you want or need. Letās talk about the essentials. Here are nine documents that no self-respecting project should be without.
A helpful guide to creating a comprehensive project management plan along with a handy PDF to refer to.
Project managers spend a significant amount of time presenting information to executives, sponsors, teams, and steering committees. Well-designed presentation templates help you communicate clearly, highlight key risks and decisions, and build credibility.
This section focuses on PowerPoint and slide deck templates for project timelines, executive summaries, roadmap overviews, status updates, and portfolio reporting. These presentation templates will help you tell the story of your project, not just display data.
Whether you are preparing a board-level update or a weekly project review, these templates help you organize information visually and keep stakeholders focused on what matters most.
Download a free status update timeline template for PowerPoint. Visualise project progress in one slide. Easy to customise, great for reports and reviews.
If youāve ever tried to show a project timeline on a single slide, youāll know how quickly things can get messy. Multiple workstreams, deadlines, dependenciesā¦ Gantt charts are perfect for showing it all, but they donāt always play nicely with presentation tools. I remember trying to crop and hide, moving columns around so I could…
Sometimes a single slide is all you get. When you need to present key milestones and progress to senior stakeholders, you donāt want to drown them in detail. You want a simple, clear, executive summary timeline. This free template is designed for exactly that: a one-slide overview of major milestones and dates, perfect for reporting,…
Effective meetings are critical to project success and they help with workflow, but without structure, they can quickly become unproductive. Meeting templates provide clarity on purpose, agenda, decisions, and follow-up actions.
Across RebelsGuideToPM.com you’ll find templates and guides for kick-off meetings, stakeholder workshops, governance reviews, a RACI matrix (so everyone knows what they’ve been signed up to do), lessons learned sessions, and project close-out discussions. These tools help you facilitate discussions, capture outcomes, and ensure accountability after the meeting ends.
If you want more focused conversations, clearer decisions, and stronger alignment across your team, these meeting templates will support better preparation, smoother facilitation, and improved follow-through. Here are a few of the most popular articles to get you started.
Find out the most important questions you should ask to have successful project kick-off meetings when initiating a new project.
Tips on capturing lessons learned in project management including templates that you can use on all of your projects.
Meetings need agendas because it helps keep everyone focused. Here are 10 easy tips for great meeting agendas. Plus a free agenda template!
Here’s a collection of videos from me and some of my favorite creators on the topic of finding, setting up and using templates to save you time, so have a browse through.
The main advantages of using project management templates are consistency and time savings.
Templates provide a standardized structure for documents such as project charters, risk registers, status reports, and communication plans. This reduces setup time, improves quality control, and ensures that critical information is not overlooked.
Templates also support governance by making reporting formats predictable and easier to review. For teams and PMOs, standardized templates improve collaboration (hello Kanban boards and Teams sites) and make it simpler to compare projects across a portfolio.
It’s easy! To create your own project management template, start by identifying the purpose of the document and the decisions it needs to support.
List the essential sections, such as objectives, scope, risks, stakeholders, timeline, and approval details. Then remove unnecessary complexity and focus on clarity. Design the layout so it is easy to complete and easy to review, in a software tool of your choice that best fits e.g. document, spreadsheet, PM software form. Dashboard templates are best created in project management software that pulls from your source data. Don’t try to create them in PowerPoint unless it’s just a one-off. They are a lot of work to maintain!
Don’t forget to test the template on a real project, gather feedback from stakeholders, and refine it based on usability. Over time, your template should evolve to reflect lessons learned through using it and organizational standards.
A project plan template is a pre-structured document used to define how a project will be delivered. It’s different to a schedule, although in real life many people talk about plans and schedules as interchangeable terms to mean the project timeline.
A project plan template typically includes sections covering scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, communication, governance, and stakeholder engagement. It ensures that all key planning elements are addressed before execution begins.
You’ll use it alongside other documents like a work breakdown structure to get to a point where you can create the schedule.
Using a structured template means you can develop comprehensive plans more efficiently and maintain alignment with organizational processes and compliance requirements.
There’s nothing to stop any type of PMO providing document templates to support project delivery, but typically you’ll find supportive PMOs have libraries of files to help project managers save time.
Your PMO will probably have several categories or types so you can pick and choose from a set that best meets your need, whether that’s product development, a marketing campaign, or agile assets like user stories designed to support the project approach and lifecycle you are using.
You already know that project management templates help you plan, organize, and deliver work more efficiently. While the sections above highlight essential must-knows, there’s a lot more to discover!
The articles below include additional free project management templates, practical tools, and downloadable documents (in the resource library) to support every stage of the project lifecycle.
Youāll find templates for planning, reporting, stakeholder management, risk tracking, budgeting, scheduling, and governance. Browse the full collection to discover customizable templates that will soon become your favorites too.
Get this free project initiation checklist to help speed up your meeting. This is the document you want in your bag when you meet your project sponsor for the first time!
In this guide to project meetings learn about the different types of meeting you’ll hold on your project (and one to definitely avoid!). There are also some tips on how to make your attendees feel as if the meeting is relevant to them.
Download a free agenda template for a lessons learned or post-implementation meeting. Great time-saver for your project closure work and it’s also something you can use as you go through your project to make sure you are regularly discussing and documenting the lessons you are learning along the way.
Get a free organisational chart template created with PowerPoint’s SmartArt tool, and another created from scratch. Edit them to represent your own project team structure. Plus a free quick video tutorial on how to use the template.
Get this free powerpoint slide that you can use in a simple status report to show your project progress.
This article redirects to the Project Management Template Library resource page. See you inside the Template Library! If you are reading this page, something has broken š
Get a project budget template (with purchase order and invoice tracker) and a workbook with all the project logs you’ll ever need!