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 »

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 »

Kimberly Wiefling had an article today on Projects@Work (www.projectsatwork.com) giving us a taste of some hard-learned lessons when dealing with project sponsors.
I’ve always loved Kimberly’s sense of humor and highly recommend just about anything she’s written. This is a great example of education a la entertainment. Check out her book too, you can [...] 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 »

Cutting’s Edge is one of my favorite project management blogs. Thomas recently posted on the cost of project success. I enjoyed the examples of the construction of several wonders of the world as projects and their often overlooked consequences on the project teams that built them.
Thomas draws out a parallel to contemporary projects, and [...] Read more »

Sam Hahn drew a pretty picture the other day in comparing project management and the role of the project manager to an orchestra and its conductor. I do not have much of a musical background, but even I can see the perfect parallel between a conductor and project manager. I started thinking about how [...] 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 »

I had a stimulating discussion today with Travis, a friend and colleague about communication styles. It reminded me about the importance of catching people doing things right. Many managers and co-workers miss opportunities to congratulate or thank people who go above and beyond, but rarely miss an opportunity to criticize when mistakes are [...] Read more »

I recently read a new book by Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx, Inc. titled “All Your Money Won’t Another Minute Buy - Valuing Time as a Business Resource.” I have always been a student of time management, so I was delighted with the opportunity to interview Curt about the book. Please enjoy the interview. 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 »

One thing that never changes is the constancy of change. That seems like a self-evident truth, doesn’t it? So why do we plan as if change will not happen?

People in general are fairly good at managing change, but of course we vary widely in those abilities among individuals. As a result, I [...] 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 »

Earlier I announced a contest for a free subscription to The Project Management PrepCast™. We have a winner!
There were only 2 comments where I could identify an email address, the rest of the comments left during the contest were anonymous. I flipped a coin, and Craig Brown is the lucky winner! Incidentally, [...] Read more »