07/07/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: pmo, project management, project management office, project manager
Do you have a project management office (PMO) in your organization? If so, is it successful? Is it contributing to individual project successes by its project managers? If not, is there one in your company’s future? Is the PM practice growing to the point where a PMO would be a welcomed addition to help streamline […]
06/23/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project, project best practices, project management, project manager, project schedule
Are all projects basically the same? Do best practices translate from project to project and industry to industry? What’s your take? I’m going to discuss my take on this and then I’d like to hear from you on your thoughts. Every project – in its details – is different, I know. Even two projects implementing […]
05/26/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project critical issues, project management, project schedule, project trouble
We all hit the wall at some point. Projects go awry, issues mount and we need to take action. The pressure mounts and tests our ability to make good sound decisions for our projects and for our project customers. What’s your point? At what point do you feel like you might be ready to pull […]
04/09/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project management, project management best practices, project manager
Project management is built around structured methodology – usually – and best practices. There are processes to follow, procedures to implement and documentation to create and deliver. It’s actually pretty structured when you think about it. Or at least it can be. But if we just follow a rigid process, will we really be successful? […]
03/31/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project flexibility, project management, project management principles, project managers
Structured, rigidly adhered to project management principles and practices have their place. No question about it. Be stubborn, stick to your guns, be unwavering. You know the drill. But, from most of our experiences, we know that adhering to that train of thought will only get you so far when you’re dealing with clients who […]
03/24/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: pm career, project goals, project management, project manager
It’s OK. Project management isn’t for everyone. It’s interesting, challenging, and somewhat rewarding. I’ll be honest and say it’s more internally rewarding than outwardly so. Success is expected but hard to come by. The target is definitely on the PM’s head if things go awry, but accolades do not come easy to the PM when […]
03/18/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project communication, project engagement, project management, project manager, weak link
Communication is one of the most critical aspects of managing a project. It must be efficient, effective, and must be managed by an organized leader on a project engagement – and hopefully the project manager is up for filling that communication facilitator role. However, in the project management world – the communication process is only […]
03/03/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project customer, project management, project manager, project sponsor
We have our project sponsors in the customer organization who have been tasked with getting a new technology installed or process implemented or accounting system built. But this is really often just a champion – someone who has some money and/or power to get things done in the organization. A decision maker and point person. […]
02/25/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: project end goals, project management, project timeline, project view
I realize this is a quote from Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” This one came to mind due to a recent post I saw on Twitter and it hit me that this is perfectly oriented toward project management. All PMs and all business professionals, really, should be keeping this mindset. Long range […]
02/17/2015 by Brad Egeland Tags: limitless project budget, project budget, project management, unlimited project budget
I realize we often don’t get to deal with the fantasy world much in project management. If we did, none of my projects would ever have issues, all would have customers that would agree with everything I presented, and none of my teams would ever have conflicts or personal issues – or personnel issues, for […]