Congratulations! Your proposal won, and the boss made you the PM for that big project. Now it is time to start stamping metal and shipping boxes… or more likely, not. Jumping straight in, without a schedule or even a plan, is…
Humans are social animals, yet in many office spaces, eating lunch at your desk alone is the norm. It is possible with some jobs, to go to the office, work all day and go home without having said a single word…
In Part 1 of this two-part series on examining on a project that is going south on you, we looked at an out of control budget scenario and actions to take in response. Here, in Part 2, we’ll examine the…
What Makes a Project Successful? This answer is subjective to each project manager, and generally, consists of: On-time delivery. On-budget delivery. Quality. My answer to this question does not contain “quality,” instead, I use “customer satisfaction” in my concept of…
Can good project management and best practices save a project? Yes. Good, focused project management can save a troubled project engagement – there’s little question about that. Best practices applied well by an experienced project manager and team, will nearly…
Are you struggling with managing your virtual project management team? It’s a given that project managers are spending most of their time managing tasks and resources on the project. In fact, they have a hand in ‘managing’ everything including issues,…
New technology is very enticing and sometimes your customer really wants it … bad. Their desire can even push the entire project to center around it. And it’s hard to go a different route because it can draw you in too – new technology is…
An old issue of CIO magazine I was checking out recently contained some very concerning thoughts on the use of open-source software – things that should be carefully considered if you are using them in your organization and on your…
Project success is never a guarantee. We all know this is just plain fact. You can do your best, have everything go smoothly, and follow best practices – whatever those might be for you and your organization – and still…
New technology – having the latest and greatest toy or gadget is the way to go, right? Well, not if it doesn’t solve your need or real desire. If it doesn’t solve something, then it will just collect dust over…
Requirements are the lifeblood of projects. That’s one of my mottos anyway. If you don’t have a list of what needs to be completed, how do you know what to accomplish, or even when the project is actually finished? This…
Project Managers are organized in everything they do, right? Well, I can say that I’m not. And when I was attempting to change a tire on our full-sized 12 passenger van… I learned that I’m even less organized than I…