The Unspoken Additional Constraint of Project Management By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson Whether you are a novice just embarking upon your career in project management or a seasoned veteran, you are most likely familiar with the project management concept of the “triple constraint”. The triple constraint of quality, time and cost is perhaps as [...]

Languages and applications development frameworks continue to get more capable, more dependable, and help us build applications faster than every before. But building good applications fast usually draws attention to what we all know is the toughest part of software development: figuring out what to build. The good news is that while tools we use [...]

Performance Issues - Conflicts Outside the Project Team By Dave Nielsen Conflict that extends outside the project team brings an additional layer of complexity to the problem. Given that the conflict is negatively impacting project performance, or will impact it in the near future, you will still want to take some action to remedy the situation, but [...]

Project Management Screw-Up - We Didn’t Involve The Right People By Lonnie Pacelli Some years back I worked on a process re-engineering project at a large industrial manufacturer. The project went on for several months and it looked as if things were going quite well. Then, a person that I’ll call “Hack” showed up on the project [...]

Systems Thinking in Project Management By Michael D. Taylor Most project managers tend to think only conventionally when managing projects. This means that they begin from a given project goal, plan the project to meet the goal, then execute the plan in order to meet the project goal. Little thought is given to strategic thinking or systems [...]

10 Things Every Manager Should Know By Gina Abudi Although this article is targeted at managers in general, it easily applies for project managers… In working with clients over the years to develop programs for new supervisors/managers - there are some skills, knowledge and competencies that rise to the top of “must have’s” for someone in a management [...]

Value Is in the Eye of the Stakeholder By Lynda Bourne The only purpose of undertaking any business activity is to create value! If undertaking the work destroys value the activity should not be started. Any value proposition though is ‘in the eye of the stakeholder’ – this is rarely solely constrained by either time or cost. Effective [...]

Scope Management Does Not Mean Scope Stoppage By Vicki Wrona, PMP - Global Knowledge Instructor I would like to address what seems to be a common misunderstanding regarding the term “scope creep.” I read a recent question posted by a LinkedIn colleague titled “Why do so many project managers think scope management means scope oppression?” I like the [...]

Attitude vs Aptitude in Project Teams By Kerry Wills I have been on several projects now where there are project resources who are very talented in their particular field but who have a pessimistic and almost toxic impact on the team morale. These are the people who know a system or business area very well and therefore [...]

The purpose of technical documentation within a project is to get ideas across in a way the concerned audience can understand. Sebastian's team may need training and support to create effective documentation, but striving toward perfection doesn't add value. Lynda Bourne, DPM, PMP

Project Management - Gather Requirements For Successful Execution By Brad Holt People that rely on a project that is being executed rely on the project manager and the business analysts to gather requirements that will produce a product or service that will help the users or stakeholders of the project. The project Management Institute defines a requirement [...]

When Should You Hire a Program Or Project Manager? By Corbin Links A frequent question when it comes to buying Enterprise IT Consulting Services, is “do we really need the vendor’s project management services when we have our own in-house staff?” This is a great question, and a crucial component of Strategic IT Program Planning. The short answer [...]

Five Critical Success Factors for Project Managers By Sonja Hughes I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where someone assigned us to manage a project whether or not we were called a “Project Manager”. Have you been in charge of setting up or moving an office? Have you been responsible for an event like a conference or [...]

Your Project Has Been Targeted for Termination - Now What? By Kiron D. Bondale Termination of a large active project is like undergoing root canal surgery – intellectually you may realize that you need to have it in order to avoid serious long term impacts but that does not help to reduce the trauma associated with the [...]

Ingredients For an Effective Project Proposal By Nigel Brooks The contents of an effective project proposal that gets results include: Understanding of the problem Situation - this is the “status” What complicates the situation in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - this is a further elaboration of the “status” Clear statement of the problem including needs and requirements - [...]

How to Handle Project Budget Cuts By Michael Stanleigh Dear Project Coach: My project sponsor just cut 30% of the funds and I am really confused and short of ideas at the moment. What is the best practice and how am I to resolve this issue? This my first project with this sponsor and I don’t want to lose [...]

Separating People Management From Project Management By Johanna Rothman I was on the phone this morning with a senior manager. He was describing their current project: “Well, we’ve got 25 people: 12 developers, 6 testers, 2 writers, 4 support people, and 1 project manager.” I asked about the managers of the developers and testers. “Oh, the dev [...]

The Project Manager Must Be a Master of Paradox By Richard Morreale One of the major parts of the Project Management Success Equation (20%SS [Soft Skills] + 80%HS [Hard Skills] + 8S [8 Different Skills] + MOP=Success) is MOP which stands for the Master of Paradox. Let me explain. I believe that truly great Project Managers [...]

How Is the PMP Exam Organized? By Bogdan Gorka PMI and your practice First of all it is worth remembering during the entire exam preparation period that the PMP exam is based on practice. It means that most of the questions will be based on situations and your task in choosing the right answer is to know which [...]

Project Portfolio Management - Projects Must Position the Firm For Future Success By Jessie L. Warner In this article, I want to talk about how projects should contribute to the firm’s health and help position the firm for future success. Remember, for project portfolio management to be effective, projects must: Be aligned with the firm’s strategy and goals Be consistent [...]