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 […]
Our customer – whoever that may be – wants something done, right? That may be an external customer, an internal customer…it may even be our own CEO. But, is what they want done even feasible? First, you have to get past the cover your own neck concept of the thought of going through a complete […]
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 […]
No question, the project budget is critical. Customer funding is based on it, project success is derived from how closely you manage to it, and without it you can’t perform any work on the engagement. Properly pricing the project – properly estimating the costs that go into the project – is critical for any size […]
Issues come up, bumps in the road occur, many things work against the project manager and his team throughout the engagement as they try to deliver on the project. That said, there are a few negative things or statements from the project team, the customer, and even the PM’s senior management that can basically ruin […]
Working on the end of the project at the beginning is not the first thing on our minds. At least not mine – I have to make a deliberate effort because all euphoria and excitement is focused on getting the project going well for the customer and getting out of the gate on a positive […]
You are a busy PM – your project plate full of challenging projects. Yet someone in charge thinks you need to be the one to take over a project – be it troubled, or just in need of a replacement leader. It’s hard to look “weak” and say, “No”, so you smile and nod. Rarely […]
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? […]
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 […]
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 […]
