The PM templates you'd build yourself, if you had the weekend
Seventeen Excel tools and cheat sheets covering the recurring program work: status reports, QBRs, risk registers, charters, pre-mortems, retros, OKRs, the first 90 days, and more. Built by a working Director of Program Management.
Try the Status Report Cheat Sheet, free
One-page reference. The exact format I use to brief leadership in under five minutes. See how the toolkit reads before you commit. There are also six free Excel templates and two browser tools, no card needed.
All 17 tools, $99
Every Excel template and cheat sheet in the catalog. $533 à la carte, so you save $434. One purchase, instant download, no subscription.
“Cheat sheet first, then I bought the toolkit the same morning. It reads like it was written by someone who actually runs programs, not a content team.”
Which is right for me?
Four ways in. Pick the one that matches how you'd actually use this.
I just need one tool
Pick the single template that solves this week's problem. Status report, RAID, charter, retro.
I want the full toolkit
All seventeen Excel tools and cheat sheets. Save $434 vs. à la carte. Most popular.
Toolkit plus the playbook
The full toolkit plus The Director's Playbook, 13 chapters on the discipline behind the templates.
I use Notion, not Excel
All eight core tools rebuilt Notion-native. One workspace import, linked databases.
What's in the toolkit
Every template ships as an Excel file plus a one-page cheat sheet. Buy individual tools, or get all seventeen as a bundle for $99 (saves $434).
Eight templates available individually
Excel files with cheat sheets. All eight are also included in the $99 bundle.
PM Status Report Generator
Executive-ready status reports in minutes. RAG status, milestone tracking, risk callouts, in a format leadership can read on a phone between meetings.
RAID Log
Risks, Actions, Issues, Decisions. One sheet, one weekly cadence, named owners on every line. The single tab I keep open all week.
Risk Register
Probability/impact scoring, mitigation owners, and review dates. Built so the register survives past kickoff and gets opened every week.
QBR / Program Review Pack
A program review that opens with the decisions you need from the room, then uses history to support them. Cuts the average review by twenty minutes.
Program Charter
The one-page kickoff document that gets signed by leadership. Scope, stakeholders, success metrics, constraints, and the decisions you'll need to make later.
Prioritization Matrix
Rank initiatives by impact and effort with a scoring rubric that holds up when someone asks why their project didn't make the cut.
Roadmap Tracker
A quarter view you can update in a few minutes. RAG per workstream, dependency callouts, room for the slips and re-bases that real programs go through.
Stakeholder Communication Plan
Power/interest grid plus a cadence schedule. The unglamorous work that catches surprises before they reach the steering committee.
Alternative formats, sold separately
Interactive web apps and a Notion-native bundle. Different formats of tools that are also in the Excel bundle. Sold standalone, not included in the $99 bundle.
RAID Log, Interactive
Browser-based RAID with one-click scoring and live filtering. Runs in any modern browser. No Excel, no install, no account.
Prioritization Matrix, Interactive
Drag-to-quadrant workshop tool. Built for live planning sessions where the team scores items together on screen and walks out aligned.
Roadmap Tracker, Interactive
A visual quarter view with drag-to-update timing. Edits happen on screen during the meeting, not afterward in a follow-up Slack.
Notion Templates Bundle (8 Tools)
All eight core PM tools rebuilt Notion-native with linked databases and views. One workspace import, wired so the dashboard updates when you update a project.
High-stakes & career-moment templates
Premium individual templates for kickoff, closeout, and new-leader transitions. Sold standalone or in the $99 bundle.
Pre-Mortem Tool
Surface the risks a standard register misses: people, org, and political ones. Run before kickoff so the team isn't writing them up in a post-mortem six months later.
Post-Mortem / Retrospective
A structured retrospective that ends with two or three concrete process changes. Includes the "what are we changing?" section most templates leave out.
First 90 Days Kit
For new PM leaders inheriting a team or program. Stakeholder map, listening-tour template, 30-60-90 plan, early-wins list, inherited-risk register.
Executive One-Pager Generator
The 60-second handoff a new exec actually wants. Strategic outcome, current RAG, top milestones, the ask. Four layout variants for different audiences.
Five more that round out the bundle
All five are included in the $99 bundle, and each is also sold individually. À la carte they total $135.
Decision Log
Every major decision logged with options considered, rationale, and the decider. Useful when an exec wants to revisit a call three months later.
Change Log Tool
Every scope change logged with requester, rationale, impact, and decision. Catches the small additions that compound into a missed deadline.
OKR Tracker
Objectives, key results, scoring, quarterly reflection. Includes a confidence column so you can see when a team is over-promising before the quarter closes.
Dependency Tracker
Map cross-team dependencies with source, target, due date, criticality, and the upstream-downstream chain. Catches the second-order ones a single team can't see on its own.
RACI Matrix
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. Built to drive the ownership conversation in the room, then live in the program docs.
Mini-bundles · bundle 2-4 tools by moment
Smaller bundles for specific moments (kickoff, governance setup, planning season, retros). Each saves more than à la carte but less than the full $99 toolkit.
Governance Pack
4 tools: Program Charter + RAID Log + Risk Register + Decision Log. The artifacts a steering committee needs.
New Leader Starter Pack
3 tools: First 90 Days Kit + RACI Matrix + Executive Status Report. For PMs walking into a new role.
Outcome & Planning Pack
3 tools: OKR Tracker + Prioritization Matrix + Roadmap Tracker. The annual or quarterly planning trio.
Pre/Post-Mortem Pair
2 tools: Pre-Mortem at kickoff, Post-Mortem at closeout. The learning loop most PMs skip.
Still deciding? Read the guides.
Free, no email required. The pairs of tools PMs most often confuse, and which one earns its place when.
Program charter vs project charter
Scope, authority, and the reason a program charter is not just a bigger project charter.
RAID log vs risk register
One is a weekly working document, the other a quarterly governance artifact. Most programs need both.
Pre-mortem vs post-mortem
Predicting the failure before it happens, and auditing it honestly after it does.
Status report vs QBR
Weekly and async against quarterly and in the room. Which decisions belong to which cadence.
Decision log vs change log
Why the decision was made, against what actually moved. Conflating them loses both.
OKR tracker vs roadmap
Outcomes against dates. What each one commits you to, and where they contradict each other.
RACI vs stakeholder comms plan
Who decides against who simply needs to hear about it. Two different failure modes.
Prioritization matrix vs RICE
One sorts a long list in a live room. The other defends a single call in a document.
OKR vs KPI
A KPI is the state of the business. An OKR is what you are trying to change about it.
RAID log vs issue log
One tracks what already broke. The other tracks what broke and what is coming.
One-pager vs status report
Cadence and completeness against a single ask. Swapping them is how sponsors stop reading.
All guides
Every guide and template walkthrough in one place. Free to read, no email gate.
The Director's Library
The full toolkit plus The Director's Playbook. The reasoning behind the discipline, paired with the templates to run it.
Add the playbook to the bundle. Total $129.
Get the Director's LibraryThe complete seventeen-tool bundle
Every tool, every cheat sheet. One purchase, instant download, no subscription.
Save $434. One-time purchase. No subscription.
Buy the BundleCheat sheet first, then I bought the toolkit the same morning. I used the tools for my first weekly report and it helped me validate the right level of communication and information for Senior Leadership, and saved me generous time. It reads like it was written by someone who actually runs programs, not a content team.
This was an amazing, easy to digest and put into action read. I highly recommend it to everybody.
Thomas Schmidt
Twenty-plus years leading enterprise programs across aerospace, retail, and tech. PMP certified. Most of that time has been spent on programs that were off-track when I joined: building cadence, getting the right people in the right meetings, and shipping the thing.
These are the tools I built for myself over the years. The ones I wish someone had handed me when I was a senior PM trying to operate like a director.
Connect on LinkedIn ›Common questions
All templates are Excel (.xlsx) files that also work in Google Sheets. The cheat sheets are PDFs you can print or keep open on a second monitor.
Yes. Change headers, add your logo, modify sections to match your org's reporting cadence. The files are unlocked.
Just Excel or Google Sheets. No macros, no plugins, no dependencies. Open the file and start using it.
Individual tools start at $19 (RACI Matrix, Stakeholder Communication Plan) and go to $49 (First 90 Days Kit). Most core tools are $29; higher-stakes tools (Program Charter, Pre-Mortem, Post-Mortem) are $39. The full bundle is $99 for all seventeen tools plus every future addition, roughly 80% off the $533 à la carte total.
If the tools don't work for you, reach out within 30 days and I'll make it right. No questions asked.
The toolkit has grown to seventeen tools. Recent additions cover pre-mortems, retrospectives, RACI, decision logs, OKRs, dependency tracking, change control, and a first-90-days kit for new PM leaders. Bundle buyers get every future addition at no extra cost.
Seventeen tools. One bundle. No subscription.
The PM toolkit you'd build yourself, if you had the weekend.
Get the Bundle, $99