Today in the Project Management Guide we are looking at our day to day work, the real meat of what it means to be a project manager. This is where we really earn our keep. Not surprisingly, there is a lot to this, far more than be covered in one blog post! However, as part … Read more
Last week I blogged about the going getting tough for project management. In that post, I suggested that we, as project managers, needed to start doing some new things. Perhaps not surprisingly, there’s a few other views out there. Pawel Brodzinski posted Why the Hell Project Management Should Be Different During Recession? where he points … Read more
So, you’ve been working hard. You have a clear project plan and schedule. You have got a good management structure in place. Everyone is clear what success means for this project. And off they go! Work starts, and then… well, then what? Today in Project Management Guide, we are looking at how to monitor the … Read more
In our projects, we seek to provide benefit to our business, by delivering a product at the required quality, on time, and on budget. Now, when economic times are tight, and budgets are being squeezed, we need to start looking how we can deliver on another, bigger project: keeping our business in business. It is … Read more
This week on our Project Management Guide, we’re going to take a look at risks. Every project will face risks. Risks are those things which could go wrong, or change, and adversely effect the project. The idea of handling risk in a project is not to avoid all risk. Any project will face some risk … Read more
And maybe they’re right. Project managers have a bad name. Let’s face it, we’ve all come across people and whole companies that think project managers just cause problems. In their eyes, we insist on the production of arcane documents, we get in their way while they are trying to just get on and do the … Read more
In previous posts in the Project Management Guide, I have alluded to the project management structure, the organisation that you as project manager will sit in. In keeping with the aim of teaching project management to absolute beginners, I’m now going to flesh out this idea a bit. First of all, why do we need … Read more
As a project manager, you are likely to have to attend and run a lot of meetings. Indeed, some people see project management as basically making Gantt charts and holding meetings. But are we running meetings well? I have a confession to make. I hate meetings. Always have. I started my working life in an … Read more
There are a number of qualities a good project manager needs. A lot of these are so-called ‘soft skills’. Let’s have a look at some of them. Be organised. A large part of project management is keeping track of the project, and making sure the right things happen at the right time. Naturally, being organised … Read more
Yesterday I posted about why I am still feeling pretty optimistic about the prospects for project managers, even given the current state of the economy. That’s got me thinking a bit wider, about why I enjoy being a project manager so much. Now, I am sure there are as many reasons for this as there … Read more
