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.
It is important to define your project’s technical architecture early in the process, with input from the team. This includes all the hardware, software and other technologies your project requires. It will need to be flexible, but the sooner you get it right, the better off your budget and schedule will be.
After showing how Kanban is applied to small projects and larger-scale initiatives up to three months in duration, our series concludes with a detailed look at the challenges and benefits of bringing Kanban to longer projects in multi-team environments. It starts with enabling a shared understanding of reality.
Many, if not most, projects rely on outside suppliers — vendors, contractors, consultants — for critical activities and expertise. But these partnerships can do more harm than good if ground rules aren’t established and respeected throught the project. Here are seven factors for working successfully with your project’s external participants.
In this podcast, Dave Prior interviews Agile thought-leader and author Roman Pichler about the critical role of product owner in an Agile environment. In shaping and, yes, owning the vision of the product, product owners serve as filter, facilitator and collaborator with project team members and stakeholders. [23:18]
Product development requires a unified, collaborative team effort. A social project management framework, combined with the right social tools, helps to connect team activities to the product development process and stakeholders. The benefits include increased visibility, more accurate estimates, responsive, real-time analysis and streamlined workflows.
Globally dispersed teams and stakeholders present daunting challenges to project, program and portfolio leaders. It is imperative that organizations develop a formal communication strategy that addresses distance, language, culture and access to information. In this undertaking, “the cloud” is a friend.
Executives need projects so they can deliver on commitments, and projects need executives, who control the resources and networks essential to success. This co-dependent relationship is itself a project that can be cultivated within a PMO for an organization's strategic long-term benefit.
Operational silos are a huge barrier to program management success. In this podcast, Deltek’s Jason Kinder discusses how an integrated PM approach can break those silos down and bring together people, processes and tools to improve six keys areas: forecast accuracy; collaboration; risk and opportunity management; PPM; change management; and actionable information. [6:08]
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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Glen AllemanVP Program Controls, Lewis & Fowler
As VP, Program Controls, Glen brings his 30 years experience in program …
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Andy JordanPresident, Roffensian Consulting Inc.
Andy Jordan is a well known author and speaker on project management and…
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Abid MustafaDirector of Corporate Programme Management Office
Abid Mustafa is a seasoned professional with 18 years’ experience …
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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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I picked up a recent copy of National Fisherman magazine. I hadn’t seen a copy in years and I picked it up for a couple of reasons; (1) as a sportfisherman, catch and release, I like to...
Posted in: People, Planet, Profits & Projects
When I am teaching CSM classes one of the commonly asked questions usually doesn’t show up until almost the very end. When it does, it comes disguised in various explanations and wrapped in d...
Posted in: The Reluctant Agilist
We’ve always said that, while the altruistic reasons for greening up your projects is a good thing, keeping in the spirit of people, planet, profits and projects, money is also good.&nbs...
Posted in: People, Planet, Profits & Projects
Half a trillion dollars.
That's a lot of money -a lot of projects - and clearly a lot of opportunity for project managers.
And that is the amount of money (about 3 trillion yuan) t...
Posted in: People, Planet, Profits & Projects
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.
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.
With Genius Project, leading project and portfolio management software, an organization can easily manage project in a collaborative way. Turn around time is quick, and as a result, project visibility and execution are enhanced.
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Kenneth K: "This article tracks very closely with a recent large and successful project that…" on Agile 101: Larger Teams
February 22, 2012
Samad A: "Jeff, Gareth, Gary, This is a great topic that is desperately in need for mor…" on Supply Side Projects
February 22, 2012
Stephen H: "Good starter article on managing operational supplier relationships within a pro…" on Supply Side Projects
February 21, 2012
Jeannette C: "Jim, thanks so much for sharing your experience with our book!" on Inside Look at High-Performing PMOs
February 21, 2012