Homework Guideline
How to write a strong project description
PMI isn't asking for your job duties — they want to see that you led a project from start to finish. For each project (at least 3 from the last 10 years, 200–500 words each), tell a simple story: what the project was, what you did across its whole life, and what it achieved. Write in the first person ("I planned…", "I led…"), keep the client's name confidential if needed (say "a leading IT company" or "a large bank"), and use real project-management words and tools.
- Write as "I", not "we" — show what you personally led and decided.
- Cover the whole life of the project: starting, planning, doing, tracking, and closing.
- Use action verbs: led, planned, defined, scheduled, managed, tracked, resolved, delivered.
- Name your tools and techniques (see the list below) — it proves you did the work.
- Add numbers: team size, budget, duration, % saved, on-time / on-budget, users, defects reduced.
- Keep it factual and plain — no marketing fluff, no deep tech jargon the reviewer won't know.
The template — with what to write in each part
1. Project Name
A short, plain name for the project (a generic one is fine). Example: "Core Banking Platform Upgrade" or "E-commerce Order Management Rollout".
2. About the Project — the objective & context
Set the scene in 3–4 lines. Answer:
- What was the business need or problem it solved?
- What was the goal (the objective) and scope?
- How big was it — budget, team size, duration, locations/teams involved?
- Who was the client? (Keep confidential — "a top IT company / global bank / large retailer".)
Starter: "A leading [industry] company needed to [problem]. I led a [duration]-month project with a team of [N] to deliver [objective], with a budget of approximately [amount]."
3. My Role — responsibilities across the whole project
This is the most important part. Walk through the project's life and say what you led at each stage:
- Starting: built the project charter, identified stakeholders, defined the business case and high-level scope.
- Planning: created the scope statement and WBS, built the schedule (Gantt / baseline), estimated cost and set the budget, wrote the risk register, resource plan, communication plan, and procurement plan.
- Doing: led a cross-functional team of [N], managed vendors, ran ceremonies/meetings, and kept stakeholders informed.
- Tracking & controlling: monitored progress (using EVM / burndown), ran change control, managed risks and issues (RAID log), controlled quality, and reported to the steering committee.
- Closing: delivered the product, obtained formal sign-off, ran a lessons-learned review, and handed over to operations.
Starter: "I developed the WBS and baseline schedule, managed a team of [N] across [locations], tracked cost and schedule using EVM, facilitated change control, and reported weekly to the project sponsor."
4. Delivery Schedule — your approach
Say which way you delivered and how you rolled it out:
- Predictive: planned in phases with milestones and a stage-gate/baseline schedule.
- Agile: delivered in [2-week] sprints with a product backlog, sprint planning, reviews, and regular releases (MVP first, then increments).
- Hybrid: planned the overall roadmap predictively, but built and released the software in Agile sprints.
Starter: "We followed a hybrid approach — a phased roadmap with fixed milestones, delivered through two-week sprints and monthly releases, starting with an MVP."
5. Project Outcome — the result & deliverables
Finish with what you delivered and the benefit it gave — with numbers wherever you can:
- What was shipped (the deliverable/product).
- The measurable result: on time / on budget, % cost saved, hours reduced, revenue added, users onboarded, defects down, customer satisfaction up.
Starter: "The platform went live on time and 5% under budget, cut order-processing time by 40%, and was adopted by 3,000+ users in the first quarter."
Words & tools worth naming
Techniques: charter, stakeholder register, WBS, baseline schedule, critical path, cost estimation, risk register, RAID log, RACI, change control, Earned Value (EVM), quality assurance, lessons learned.
Agile terms: product backlog, user stories, sprint planning, daily stand-up, sprint review, retrospective, burndown, MVP, release plan, velocity.
Tools: MS Project / Primavera, JIRA, Confluence, Azure DevOps, Trello / Kanban board, MS Teams / Slack, dashboards & status reports.
A worked example (about 230 words)
Project: Core Banking Platform Upgrade
About the project: A leading private bank needed to modernise its ageing core banking system to cut downtime and support new digital services. I led an 11-month project with a cross-functional team of 18 across two locations, with a budget of about USD 1.2M, to migrate customers to the new platform with zero data loss.
My role: As project manager, I built the project charter and stakeholder register, then developed the scope statement, WBS and baseline schedule in MS Project. I estimated the budget, maintained the risk register and RAID log, and set up the communication plan. During delivery I led the team and three vendors, facilitated change control, and tracked cost and schedule performance using Earned Value, reporting progress weekly to the steering committee.
Delivery schedule: We used a hybrid approach — an overall phased plan with fixed milestones, while the build and migration ran in two-week sprints managed in JIRA, released in three controlled increments.
Outcome: The platform went live on schedule and 6% under budget, with zero data loss. System downtime dropped by 70%, and the bank launched two new digital products within the next quarter. I closed the project with formal sign-off and a documented lessons-learned review.