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 is why requirements are critical to a project’s successful outcome. A project that is started […]
In Part 1 of this two-part series on figuring out whether or not what we have viable project … we looked at what brings us to the go / no-go decision point and how we review a project from both a justification standpoint and a feasibility standpoint. Now, in Part 2, we’ll consider how to: […]
Seriously. You can’t make a perfect project. You can’t just “will” a project to success. Too many variables. But you can do all that you can do to make a project engagement successful. And the two biggest ingredients to that success that the project manager can have a great deal of control over is practicing […]
In Part 1 of this two-part series, we looked at what I considered to be things that we absolutely need on every project, no matter what the size, dollars or length in duration the project may be. I look forward to your thoughts and input on this topic based on your experiences. And be honest…tell […]
A project is a project, right? Well, sort of. But it does stand to reason that not every engagement needs to be managed to the same level of detail. Certainly a $5,000 two-week project doesn’t require the same up front planning and detailed documentation that a $5 million two-year project requires. It is true, however, […]
Turning it all around is what project management is all about right? The excitement, the adrenaline rush of jumping in and saving the day. Or saving your own project from near disaster and ending up with a favorable outcome. Well, most of us would rather not have all that excitement if we can avoid it. […]
Can you really start a project without requirements? I know I certainly don’t feel comfortable – even for a short project – starting a project and trying to manage scope without detailed requirements in place for the project. Requirements are key – they are the lifeblood of the project. If you try to build an […]
In the first two parts of this five part series on smart project management, we’ve covered the following concepts: Make the customer work for you – the focus on keeping the project sponsor and customer team focused and engaged on the project by strategically assigning tasks throughout the engagement Let the team manage the budget […]
When I was a younger project manager – much younger and more naive – I foolishly thought that every customer that stepped into a project engagement was ready for the project. They knew what they wanted, had the budget in place, a team ready to work on their side, if needed, and pretty much had […]