As described in this blog post, here is a centralized repository collecting the tools that I’ve published so far, along with links to the articles here that go into depth (and usually name any number of cautions and caveats) about each of them. All of them are carefully documented, reasonably robust to modification, and useful as a starting point for your own efforts in a similar situation. (They are all freely usable and modifiable, at no charge, under the broadest of the Creative Commons licenses).
To start, you’ll find the following tools and templates, some very general, some specific to a particular problem:
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Project Portfolio Management. A workbook providing various alternative mechanisms (ranging from the simple to the more complex) to quantitatively “right-size” your portfolio of projects to your department’s overall capacity, so that you don’t bite off more than you are able to chew.
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Blog post describing the approach and tool
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Return-on-Investment (ROI) analyses. A template for Investment analysis for any project, allowing for input of core assumptions on costs and benefits and producing quantitative measures such as ROI, IRR, and payback period.
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Blog post describing the approach and tool
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Resource allocation. An elaborate spreadsheet to perform detailed day-to-day resource allocation across multiple projects for a small team.
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Blog post describing the approach and tool
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Budget planning. A budget planning tool to model a corporate desktop/laptop refresh approach, allowing for corporate growth and planned retirement of obsolete machines.
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Blog post describing the approach and tool
