Use This Five Step Approach to Manage Project Finances 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 projectfinances to manage, think about these simple steps. 1. Estimate costs The first step towards managing your project finances is to […]
Eight Often Overlooked Keys to Project Success 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 […]
Remember These Five Key Activities to Initiate a Project Larger projects definitely need time up-front to define and plan the work. But there are some things to consider before you even start planning. These activities would be a part of project initiation and the work is often overlooked. When you are assigned as a project […]
Practice These Three Key Ways to Control Project Politics What happens when your project sponsor wants a different outcome for the project than other management stakeholders? The answer is that each party tries to influence the project team to get what they want. This is one way you get into project politics. The result is […]
Two Quality Management Philosophies to Adopt Now There are a lot of interesting processes and techniques associated with quality management. Here are two that approach the level of a philosophy. Don’t “Goldplate” The term goldplating refers to delivering more quality than what the customer requested. Even though it might seem that this is a good […]
Yes, You Need to Estimate the Project Size Before Gathering Detailed Requirements There is concern from many project managers that they are expected to estimate the effort, duration and cost of a project at the end of the planning process before the detailed requirements have been gathered. It seems like a valid question. Yet, when you talk […]
Be Effective with The Four Communication Basics There’s not one ‘best’ way to communicate with your project team, but rather a number of different ways. That being said, there are some fundamental communication options that are applied to most projects. Before you get too sophisticated with your communication approach, make sure you are very effective with these […]
Remember These Five Often Overlooked Activities to Start a Project 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 […]
Agile 101 – Estimating Work with Story Points In each iteration, Agile project teams implement a set of user stories pulled from the product Backlog in priority order. These stories make up the iteration backlog. The number of stories implemented in each iteration depends on the amount of effort it takes to fully implement each story, as […]
Two Essential Techniques to Manage Schedule Managing the schedule is one of the most important activities of a project manager. These are many great techniques to help manage the schedule. Here are three important ones. Don’t manage activities by percent complete. Manage by due date. When an activity starts it is zero percent complete. When the […]
