Poor planning can doom your project before work even begins. Changing expectations, shrinking budgets, and frustrating miscommunications can derail even the simplest project—and make life stressful for everyone involved. A thorough project plan can prevent scope creep, overblown budgets, and missed goals. But actually sitting down and planning a project can be an overwhelming task. How
Project management has a wide spectrum of effective approaches. Everything from hands-off supervision to management by walking around... And then there are the ideas that should go the way of the dinosaur — disappear in a ball of flames. This is just a list of the top 5 PM ideas that should be extinct. And if they
The Project Management Office, or PMO, remains an increasingly essential part of a successful organization. And as new technology emerges and companies seek greater innovation, PMOs must evolve to remain relevant and valuable. So what is a PMO, and how do they add value to your organization?
In my two latest posts (about Level 5 Leadership with Project Management 2.0 here and about Leading Collective Intelligence) I wrote about leaders and leadership aspects in Project Management 2.0. Now, it’s time to discuss project teams and their transformations in the PM 2.0 reality. I came across a very interesting blog discussion lately. Social media
Here are some of the key lessons hockey has taught me about project management: 1. Hire Flexible Players In hockey you have six players on the ice and three main positions: Forward, Defense, and Goalie. The goalie is the only one that should truly be a “specialist,” which means the other five players need to have some
In our Quickstart Project Management Glossary for Newbies, Part 1, we revealed the secrets behind Gantt charts, the Critical Path Method, and more. And now your boss has walked in with more confusing jargon to muddle your brain: "Can you double-check our resources to make sure this project isn't in danger of scope creep?" Uh,
Your boss just walked into your office and said: "We've overstretched our resources. I need you to check the Gantt chart and tell me if there is any free float for this task so we don't delay our critical path." Wait, what was that? Gantt chart? Critical path? Maybe I'm just not ready for this...
Two Wrikers helped host a #PMChat discussion on Twitter last Friday, where a community of project managers comes together once a week to discuss and share knowledge on various topics related to project management. Our team asked everyone to share advice on best practices and common roadblocks in a challenging project management area: stakeholder management. Experienced
There are three main factors that determine the success of a new project or campaign: Excellent top-down and bottom-up communication, so everyone is on the same page with progress, challenges, and achievements; Organized and collaborative project management to make sure all work is completed on time and within budget; Collaboration between team members and across departments to bring
The success or failure of a project can depend on efficient stakeholder management. Stakeholders include the project team getting work done, the project team's managers providing resources and directions to the team, and anyone and everyone who could be impacted by the outcome of the project — whether they are the client, or a different
You only have so many hours in the day, and precious few of them are your free time. So while you want to learn more about project management — either to pick up new skills or sharpen the ones you’ve already developed — you don’t have unlimited hours to read every book on the subject.