The League of Project Superheroes By Kerry Wills Growing up I used to watch cartoons about superheroes who had super powers. One of my favorite cartoons was the “Justice League” which included such greats as Batman and Superman. To overcome adversity the Justice League usually had to combine their unique super powers (e.g. Superman flying and Acquaman [...]

10 Essential Steps to Portfolio Management By Heather Champoux Once you have a process down for defining, selecting and executing your portfolio, you are ready for the essential steps to Portfolio Management. Before we get into the actual steps, we need to make sure that the following assumptions are true: The organization’s Executive Management is onboard with the [...]

Portfolio Management Process - The Process for the Process By Heather Champoux Many organizations do not have a Portfolio Management process. In order to create a process where no process exists, the following steps must be taken: Step 1: Define a Portfolio Management Organization Structure To define a Portfolio Management organization structure you can ask the following questions: Who will [...]

The Role and Significance of an Interior Design Project Manager in Commercial Construction By Kathryn Grube Abstract The question of “what value does an interior design project manager really add to a commercial construction renovation or new construction project,” in addition to the structural responsibility of the architect, has been too long misunderstood. Interior designers who work as [...]

Approaches to Leadership By James Grinnell Over the years there have been many different models of leadership style presented in the leadership literature. In fact, some have noted that there are as many theories of leadership as there are people studying the topic. While the literature is profuse, there is consensus in broad stroke. Daniel Goleman (2000) [...]

Point of Total Assumption (PTA) By Mamun Shaheed In a fixed price incentive free (FPIF) contract, the point where the buyer stops bearing cost is the Point of Total Assumption (PTA). In other word, it is the point, up to where the buyer bears the cost, however any cost above the PTA is not shared by the [...]

Project Management Foundations - Using Progressive Elaboration By Steve Hart Have you ever been assigned a project that seems to be “stuck” in the starting gate? There are stakeholders that support of the project, but there are too many unknowns, and not enough funding, to get the project launched properly. Here are some of the usual characteristics [...]

Avoid Communication Breakdowns - Listen to Your Team By Project Manage This Every PM type knows that communication is one of the core personality traits critical to success. They also know that it’s not just about the clear and concisely crafted email or that spot on presentation –keen listening skills and ability to engage the team in [...]

The Ineffective Executive By Simon Jackson “It is the duty of the executive to remove ruthlessly anyone - and especially any manager - who consistently fails to perform with high distinction. To let such a man stay on corrupts the others.” - Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive, p.89 “I’m sorry but thieves fatefully flawed. I am not sure [...]

How to Deliver More Than Just a Good Project By Christoph Papenfuss A few weeks ago, I had my road bike serviced by a mechanic who was highly recommended. And so I dropped off my bike. Went through a few basic questions and I asked for an opinion on a number of things. To my disappointment, the [...]

Savvy Organizations are Developing Leadership Talent with Special Projects By Michael Stanleigh One of the most effective developmental practices to develop leaders is to assign them special projects. Leaders who can achieve financial and organizational goals garner the most respect and are one of the top priorities for global organizations. These findings come from a study by [...]

Balancing Project Management and Project Administration By Kiron D. Bondale Regardless of how lightweight an organization’s implementation of project management practices is, it’s rare to find project managers that can strike the perfect balance between project management and project administration. Change and uncertainty are the very essence of projects and this can cause project managers to struggle with [...]

Project Planning Is Unnecessary, Boring, Dangerous… By The Grumpy Project Manager Plans are not needed in projects. A simpler and more usual method is to do projects twice or go on doing them till it is politically suitable to stop. Here I’m talking about IT or R&D projects. In building projects this would not be accepted. ‘We [...]

Suggestions For Better Project Planning By Arash Kashefian Planning is a chore for most people even those who are undertaking high profile management responsibilities. Not many people believe planning would help them get better results. There are many myths and best practices around the topic of project planning which leads to having effective and ineffective plans. In [...]

Project and Organizational Governance By Lynda Bourne One of the themes running through several of my recent articles is the importance of effective Governance. Both organizational governance and its sub-set project governance. Good governance is a synonym for ‘good business’, structuring the organization to deliver high levels of achievement on an ethical and sustainable basis. This requires the [...]

9 Steps to Successful Event Management By Michael L Young Event management is a union between project management and marketing. The secret to sensational events is early and detailed project planning. Additionally excellent communication, including keeping each key team member/stake holder informed regularly. Planning should include 9 key elements for success: Purpose - Why are you having the event? [...]

During the Golden Hour of Crisis Will You Be Captain Cool or Captain Coward? By James Grinnell Shortly after take-off from LaGuardia Airport, US Airways flight 1549 struck a large flock of geese and the aircraft’s two engines were disabled. With no engines left, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger had no choice but to ditch his aircraft in [...]

Project Success Plans - Planning for Success By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson “A Project Success Plan can be a platform for ensuring all project stakeholders start off, and continue on, the right footing.” Setting up projects to succeed in the view of the customer/stakeholder is a critical part of the Project Manager’s role. We suggest [...]

Working on Projects with Suppliers and Vendors: Seven Factors to Consider By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson At some point in their lives, many projects need the expertise of external third parties to ensure that certain activities are carried out. Much research and advice is available in the practice of supplier and vendor management, ranging [...]

Keys To Successful Postmortems - Part I: Setting Up the Meeting By Mark Calabrese Part of closing out any project, outage, service restoration team effort or any initiative whether successful or otherwise (and it’s even more critical on the “or otherwise”) is the postmortem. Too often, this milestone in the ‘Closing’ phase of a project is either [...]