pmStudent

As a Mom, it is important to know exactly where everyone is at any given time, how long they are going to be there, and what they are doing while they are there. Other than that, it’s pretty simple.

As a Project Manager, it is important to know exactly what task each project resource is working on at any given time, how long they will be working on that task , what they are doing and why they are doing it. Other than that, it’s pretty simple. Read more »

Project management as a whole has paralleled somewhat the changes we have witnessed in photography. Project management also has been a skill for the few, with the barrier to entry being quite high. However, the barriers are being reduced and the chance for abandoning “point and shoot” project management is here! Read more »

In an article at Projects@Work, Tom Mochal discusses how enhancement work not directly related to a project should be added to the managed portfolio… Read more »

Anita Wotiz is the guest blogger this week over at the UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley Project Management blog. She published great post titled “An unrepeatable success?” Read it here.
It was great to hear about the project, specifically the lessons learned and trying to relate them to my own experience.
I wouldn’t write the first set [...] Read more »

The student syndrome is alive and well. I see it all around me, and I am no less guilty than any other.
Why do we put everything off until the last minute? Especially the important things?
I’ve recently read The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, which has helped heighten my sensitivity to this phenomenon going [...] Read more »

Dave Garrett recently wrote on the concepts expressed by Aaron Shanhar in his book, Reinventing Project Management. The gist is that the common triple-constraint model of managing cost, schedule, and scope is not enough. As I like to put it and in Goldratt’s words, necessary but not sufficient.
I have not yet read Shanhar’s [...] Read more »

Lately I have been working on thinking about the best way to go about project planning, especially in terms of objectives and deliverables. Based on my experience at several companies and some independent research, here are my current thoughts on the subject.
Hierarchy
I’m fairly convinced that in most cases, this is an effective hierarchy to [...] Read more »

Today I was trying to think of ways to integrate some of the methods and benefits of Critical Chain project management into the traditional PM methodology most companies use. I wanted to pick out one element of CC that would potentially yield the most benefit without much, if any, additional overhead to the project [...] Read more »

I finally got a chance to read this month’s PM Network magazine. There is an article on keeping project team motivated that caught my attention starting on page 38, written by Simon Kent.
The article reminded me of a previous post I wrote back in February, 2007 titled Motivational Theory in Project Management where I [...] Read more »

Scope verification is defined in the PMBOK as “the process of obtaining the stakeholders’ formal acceptance of the completed project scope and associated deliverables.”

I’ve been thinking about this process recently, and would like to share a few thoughts on the matter. When you start thinking about the details for how this will work on a [...] Read more »

Hello everyone! I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been going through a job change, and the last month has been hectic with getting things shored up at my previous company and (trying) to get up to speed at the new company. I recently listened to [...] Read more »

This point consists of two elements as I see it. (1) Walk the talk, and (2) hold systems accountable.
Walk the Talk
Slogans are phony. The word slogan has a connotation of something that is not real. It sounds like an advertisement, and not something you can really trust in. In a project management organization, it [...] Read more »

Many processes are cross-functional. The same is true of projects. This point is about dissolving the “us versus them” scenario that so often exists in one form or another within organizations. In most projects that I work on, there are individuals from departments such as operations, central services and other support functions, MIS, IT, Service [...] Read more »

Fear encourages short-term thinking. One of Deming’s classic stories was about a foreman who didn’t stop production to repair a worn-out piece of equipment, because he feared that stopping production would mean missing his daily quota. Instead, he let production continue. When the machine failed, it forced the line to shut down for 4 days.
The [...] Read more »

It is the age-old distinction that usually merits much lip service and little true implementation. There is supervision/management, and then there is leadership. Project managers can either be supervisors or leaders, regardless of their job title.
Supervising/managing is simply overseeing and directing work. If you know everything about PMBOK and other methodologies, [...] Read more »