Crunch times are a sign of failure of project management, not a way of catching up. I was bleary-eyed as I finished the last of the typing. I did a quick spell-check, and pressed print, trusting that the chugging of the printer working away would be enough to keep me focused as I prepared the … Read more
As I mentioned last time, the company that looks after PRINCE2 for the UK Government, the APM Group, has announced it will launch a new PRINCE2 qualification on 30th January (next Monday). This new qualification will be called PRINCE2 Professional. I’ve written before about my mixed feelings about the attempts to professionalise project management (using … Read more
A quick word on why networking (the people kind, not the computer kind…) is important to project managers. Building a team With every project, you will have new team members and stakeholders to talk to, to bring onboard, and to keep involved. In essence, you need to build a new network for every project. This … Read more
It’s the people we work with who get projects done, but sometimes we don’t act like it. When people talk about project management, a lot of the time they only seem to focus on the easy bits – the processes, procedures and methodologies. I don’t mean that these are simple to do, but they can … Read more
Working in IT project management, I’ve had a lot of experience in building interfaces as part of my projects. But the important ones are nothing to do with the technology. When you are working on an IT project, it can be too easy to get carried away with the technical possibilities. I have worked with … Read more
Elizabeth Harrin has an interesting post up at A Girl’s Guide to Project Management called Use your experts. Despite my general lack of understanding of the importance of a good haircut (as anyone who has seen me recently can confirm…) I was interested by the idea of a project manager as someone who knows the … Read more
I read an interesting blog post the other day, called How Consensus Decision-Making Creates Shared Direction in a Team. The gist of the article is that for a team to be highly energised and committed to their work, they need to share a sense of direction. Now, I have to say that I broadly agree … Read more
Times are tough for everyone out there at the moment. The economies of Europe and the US are slowing down again, and there are real fears that they could dip back down into recession. So it’s only natural that businesses are looking to cut their costs – but sometimes they are making the wasteful saving … Read more
We all want to have successful projects. But what do we mean by successful? It’s not just a matter of hitting our milestones, on time and on budget. It’s also about making sure that the project goals are of value to the organisation we are working for. At the start of every project, you will … Read more
Project management is about creating change. All projects invole some sort of change, a change that will be beneficial to the organisation running the project. That’s why we have to be comfortable with change. Embracing change is one of the ways that project management is different from other sorts of management. In a business as … Read more
