Project Management Blogs

From the Sponsor’s Desk - Speaking Truth to Power

Drew Davison

In my last post, The Never Ending Project, I reviewed a project whose estimated costs continued to grow with no end in sight. I also looked at how a Great PM could have leveraged the Project Pre-Check fundamentals of stakeholders, defined processes and a best practice based decision framework to achieve great results.

In this post, we’ll look at a project that had a great PM but a remote and uninvolved sponsor. Fortunately, the PM persisted with some critical yet fundamental practices, sometimes in the face of fierce executive resistance, to achieve success. That’s why I call this post Speaking Truth to Power!

Agile Project Management; Crossing the Chasm from Traditional Thinking!

Robert Galen

AgilePMCrossingTheChasm1 Far too often lately I see published materials surrounding traditional and agile project management take the middle road. I see the following sorts of positions taken:

Yes, the two approaches are different, but they’re also very much the same
Or, Agile PM is simply a slight twist on old, tried an true techniques
Or, they are simply a set of new tools for your tool-box
Or some sort of chart-based comparison, exemplifying them as largely situational or context-based choices

Rational Estimates: Motivate the Team by Acknowledging Reality

George Pitagorsky

It is not Possible to do the Impossible Project

I have written before about estimates, risk and managing expectations. Most of us know that there is such a thing as a rational estimate and we know that it is one that considers risk and uncertainty, is based on past experience, and on a realistic assessment of the work to be done, the work environment in which it is to be done, the tools and techniques to be used to do it and the quality and availability of resources.

An Elevator Pitch for Project Management

Kiron Bondale

If you have been involved with project management for any length of time, you likely have been asked to explain or justify the value of project management. The challenge in answering this question is that while it is fairly easy to provide a comprehensive response, you may not feel that confident if you are put on the spot to answer this question in a stereotypical “elevator pitch” of thirty words (or seconds) or less!

Why Organization Can Make or Break Your Project

Lisa Anderson

While working closely on multiple client projects lately, I noticed that organization (being organized) can make or break a project. I also find that it is an underutilized and underappreciated skill. So if your organization has this skill, leverage it to stand out in the crowd and deliver consistent and reliable project results.

Multi-Cultural Project Management

Kevin Aguanno

A few days ago, I attended a seminar on managing cross-cultural projects – these are projects where there are people from diverse backgrounds on the project team, perhaps spread out in countries across the world. The course was excellent, focusing on the need for managers to understand better the cultural differences that exist between people and perhaps to leverage these differences to improve project performance. Many illustrative examples were given that showed clashes between cultural norms and how they could impact communications.