A situational assessment of your project’s surrounding environment — not just the project itself — is a critical step in deciding the best way to proceed. You need to understand the true nature of the organization in which your project will live — not a textbook ideal — in order for it to thrive. Here are three key elements of such an assessment.
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A situational assessment — of your project, your organization and, yes, you — is a good way to determine the most appropriate methods for managing a particular project in a particular environment. And reassessment can help you adapt your techniques, tools and leadership style as the project unfolds.[more]
Despite challenges, many organizations effectively measure aspects of their project work. Here are some best practices for developing and maintaining a successful metrics program, from defining items and procedures to making it a habit and respecting privacy.[more]
Project managers must get into the habit of talking about projects in business terms. It can help to reduce communication problems, and smooth the way for customers and teams to work more effectively together. Project proposals are a real good place to start, even if it means writing them retrospectively after the work has been approved.[more]
After extensive project planning, everything will go smoothly — maybe someday, right? Until then, you need another plan for when projects go awry. An effective recovery plan will first evaluate how serious the failure is and then focus on what is salvageable. By incorporating the principles of medical triage, you just might save the “patient.”[more]
The work breakdown structure is supposed to be a fundamental tool for identifying project work to be budgeted, scheduled and staffed. But misunderstandings abound and it often fails to provide useful benefits. No wonder so many project managers swear at it, not by it. Here are six steps to creating a better WBS (no B.S.).[more]
When it comes to risk management, hope is not a strategy ... all single point estimates are wrong ... and communication is everything. Understanding these principles and two others are the only way to turn risk management theory into meaningful practice.[more]
Project managers, like most everyone else, make many decisions based on intuition and instinct. But on complex initiatives involving multiple objectives, uncertainties and stakeholders, those gut feelings can lead to biased decisionmaking that isn’t always in the best interest of the project. Instead, the authors of a new book recommend a structured decision analysis process based on psychology and mathematics.[more]
In this roundtable series on emerging trends in Agile adoption, application and acceptance, three technology executives discuss how Agile methods have made a difference in their organizations, from influencing their decision making and hiring practices, to improving team and customer interaction.[more]
In the face of unrealistic schedules and ill-defined or changing requirements, defects on software development project are inevitable. But the rush to report a resolution can make the problem worse or create new ones. Here is a rigorous, six-step approach to issue-resolution that ensures 'fixed’ means fixed.[more]
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