Planning and execution … conflict and communication … teams and stakeholders … control and innovation … managing and leading.
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.
The more you specify exactly what your team must do and how it must do it, the less team members will seek to understand the thinking behind what they’re doing. High-performing teams start with a firm grasp of the goals of the project — the "why" — and then actively participate in achieving its success.
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]
Some of us thrive on stress. Others of us only seem to. For some, we seek to avoid it at all costs. While we all need to manage under stress, we need to make sure it doesn’t manage us. In this presentation, Mark Mullaly explores the subject of stress in a project environment, and how we can manage it more effectively. [14:40]
A project manager discusses challenges in the aerospace arena, including dealing with difficult clients and managing the often-antagonistic relationship between engineering and marketing teams. [9:30]
A veteran project manager shares some insights and experiences in turning around a major ERP implementation that had vanquished three capable predecessors who were too focused on the technical side. [7:05]
On many projects, regular status reports are how we communicate progress to stakeholders. On Agile projects, other tools and techniques are employed as "information radiators." Here is a comparison of both approaches, including tips and questions to ask as you incorporate one method or some combination of both that works best for your team and environment.
The weekly status meeting is the cornerstone of project tracking and reporting, and provides an opportunity for team members to bond. But when teams are geographically distributed, it is not always practical. And with real-time collaboration tools, is it really necessary? Let's compare the traditional weekly meeting with other methods of status communication.
When managing your project teams, are you more hands-on or hands-off? What are the key advantages and disadvantages of each approach? In what situations is one approach more appropriate than the other? Can you do both?
When planning your projects, do you use an objective or subjective approach? What are the key differences between each? When is one approach better than the other, and when can they be combined?
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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