What happens when your project sponsor wants a different outcome for the project than your other management team and stakeholders want? The answer is that each party tries to influence the project to get what they want. This is one way you get into project politics. The result is that the team is constantly pushed […]
Some projects have a large budget and require rigorous management and tracking. Other projects don’t have a budget component at all. When you do have project finances to manage, think about these simple steps. Estimate expenses The first step towards managing your project finances is to estimate the costs. This isn’t as easy as it […]
Over the past 15 years, Agile development models have moved from the underground to the mainstream. At the same time, the nature of Agile has also changed. The pure Agile model of 15 years ago has been refined, expanded and made friendlier to corporate America. While it is true that many companies have successfully implemented […]
There are many techniques and processes to help you be successful on a project. Some of them like better estimating and defining requirements are pretty standard and obvious. Here are some other ways to increase the likelihood of success on your project that are not so obvious. Understand the big picture and the details If […]
The job description of the project manager normally does not include providing formal performance reviews to team members. This is usually a responsibility of each employee’s functional manager. However, there is no question that a project manager does need to provide performance feedback to team members to let them know how they are doing and […]
It might seem that once a project makes it through the approval process it is ready to start. This is not the case. There is one more step that has to happen before a project can actually start. In portfolio management this is the “authorization” process. In project management it is “initiation“. On the surface […]
A Feasibility Study may need to be completed for your project. The best time to complete it is when you have identified a range of different alternative solutions and you need to know which solution is the most feasible to implement. Here’s how to do it. Step 1: Research the Business Drivers In most cases, […]
Larger projects definitely need time up-front to define and plan the work. If you do not adequately plan a small or medium project, the consequences will probably not be too drastic. You don’t have that same luxury in a large project. The planning process is very important. But there are some things to consider before […]
There are many great techniques that help you manage the schedule on your project. Here are a couple. Investigate Further When ‘Completed’ Activities Are Not Really Completed Sometimes a team member says that an activity is complete when in reality it is not quite done. This can happen for the following reasons: The activity should […]
Most of us still create some variation of a paper status report to communicate progress on our project. I remember when these reports were printed on paper. An old manager of mine once asked me to review a large binder of paper status reports and tell him if there was anything interesting that he should […]
