What's getting in your way? Let's break down the barriers and build bridges to success. Here are both leading-edge and time-tested approaches to better managing projects, programs and portfolios.
Time-tracking solutions can help you uncover hidden opportunities to maximize your project’s value, from more efficient resource allocation to more accurate estimating and bidding. Here’s a closer look at how better time management produces more successful projects.
Code reviews are not typically viewed as part of a pure Agile process, but some of the technique's benefits, such as collective ownership, are in line with the Agile philosophy, and they can be conducted without slowing your project down. Here are some suggestions for adapting code reviews to work in an agile environment.
Sometimes a pure agile approach is not appropriate for a particular project — the important thing is getting the work done, not strict adherence to a process. Still, a non-agile project can benefit from the inherent values of agile, including strong team collaboration, prioritized, incremental development, and regular progress assessment and adaptation.
Agile projects incorporate a number of techniques that are not easily transferable to traditional waterfall projects. One technique is the estimation of the size of user stories with abstract story points, and the use of story points to determine how much work can be completed in an iteration.
Instead of measuring quality, Agile enterprises commit to it by investing in integration and testing, developing a common language around quality, and nurturing motivated, disciplined teams. Ultimately, quality reigns when organizations value it as much as profitability and protect the agile processes that support it.
Disaster recovery plans focus on getting the day-to-day business running smoothly again, but they often fail to address the equally important need to preserve mission critical initiatives within the project portfolio. Here are five steps for applying crisis management at the project level.
At the release level, we approach the meaning of “done” more strategically by aligning User Stories with Epics and Vision Statements — all of which should be shared across the Scrum Team and all stakeholders so that they can see the building and not just the bricks. Here are some examples of what that looks like.
A concerted effort to manage and document the realization of business benefits is an indispensible key to the success of any program. It requires a well-defined business case and a structured approach to measuring and tracking the planned benefits throughout the program lifecycle.
Many companies struggle with justifying the need to maintain a project management office after it is established. But the onus is on the PMO itself. Here are five key performance indicators that PMOs should use to measure effectiveness and ensure alignment with the needs of the organization.
How many projects is your organization going to deliver next year? “As many as we can” is not a helpful or meaningful answer. In lieu of an established portfolio planning process, there are some techniques that can help a company calculate the number of projects and programs it can realistically handle in the coming year.
Would you describe the culture at your organization as casual, chaotic or compliant. How about committed? High-performance companies like Google and Southwest Airlines leverage workforce commitment to drive goal alignment and engagement. The key is fostering an environment of positive accountability.
Who is responsible for tracking and capturing the business benefits of projects within a portfolio? Is it the portfolio management office, which can take a long-term view, or the project sponsors who create the business case in the first place? Here’s a comparison of these two models.
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Tom MochalPresident, TenStep Inc
Tom Mochal, PgMP, PMP, TSPM is the president of TenStep, Inc. (www.TenSt…
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John D'EntremontProject Manager, PMP
John D’Entremont, PMP, is a project manager in the financial services in…
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Ty KiiselWork Management evangelist and host of TalkingWork, AtTask
Ty is a work management evangelist; “accidental” project manager and mar…
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Dave PriorPresident, ProjectWizards Inc.
Dave Prior, PMP, CST, MBA is President of the U.S. arm of ProjectWizards…
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Janis RizzutoContributing Editor, ProjectsAtWork
Janis has been writing for ProjectsAtWork for more than a decade, starti…
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Aaron SmithEditor, ProjectsAtWork.com
Aaron has been the editor of ProjectsAtWork since 2001, leading its evol…
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Last time we talked about what a great vehicle for learning social media provided. I thought it might make sense to share some of my favorite people and places in social media where you can learn f...
Posted in: The Social Project Manager
Last time we talked about what a great vehicle for learning social media provided. I thought it might make sense to share some my favorite people and places in social media where you can learn from...
Posted in: The Social Project Manager
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" —Sir Isaac Newton
Newton is considered one of the most influential men in human history. His contributions ...
Posted in: The Social Project Manager
We've often covered "green-by-definition" projects - those where the ultimate deliverable is reduction of waste, generation of renewable power, preserving biodiversity, and so on...
Posted in: People, Planet, Profits & Projects
EPM Live provides easy to use Microsoft SharePoint Project and Work Management applications for everyone in an organization, from teams that want to work within individual workgroups, to organizations that want to utilize enterprise tools.
Innotas is a leading provider of cloud-based IT Governance, Project Portfolio Management & Application Portfolio Management solutions and has been ranked a ‘Strong Positive’ in Gartner’s 2011 MarketScope for Project and Portfolio Management Apps.
Changepoint helps businesses gain competitive advantage and increase profitability through complete portfolio visibility, planning insight, process automation, and improved resource utilization throughout a customer’s lifecycle.
AtTask: the only project and portfolio management software that meets the business intelligence needs of executives, the planning needs of managers, and the collaboration needs of project teams, helping organizations get jobs done on time, on budget.
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Ty K: "Thanks for contributing to the blog Ojiugo. There are a lot of very smart PMs ou…" on Building Project Management Knowledge with Social Media
May 14, 2012
Ojiugo A: "Excellent article,these days experience is no longer the only teacher but great …" on Building Project Management Knowledge with Social Media
May 14, 2012
Ty K: "These are all great ideas. I think retrospectives are critical for any team, eve…" on Fresh Retrospectives
May 11, 2012
Anju A: "It pains a lot when some very common review technique are termed as "Alternate A…" on Agile Code Reviews
May 11, 2012