You were selected to manage a project but you have always been a part of a project instead of the cat herder you will become. Let me help you figure out your very next steps and how to navigate to a successful completion.
There are many pieces to a successful project all of which are used to various degrees and sometimes even skipped. Let us help you with the necessities of your project and help you get valuable deliverables completed
Changes can happen at critical times but it's not the end of the world. Let us help you explore strategies to stay or get back on track in the midst of your resource challenges and staffing surprises.
As I see the count of people applying for jobs for PM’s move past 400, I am reminded many of my fellow IT workers and all job hunters for that matter may have a need to file for unemployment. Some tips in doing so: It’s kinda your money anyway — You pay into several buckets
When involved in an acquisition or divestiture, keep in mind the stress, fears, and pressures your user base is undergoing apart from the demands your project is adding to their reality. This calls for patience and grace in abundance, including a personal visit or phone call instead of text/email/Skype, creating special instructions, scheduling, or
Exclusions are anything that isn’t included as a deliverable or work for the project. It’s important to list exclusions in your scope documentation so there is no misunderstanding about features or deliverables once the product is complete. Think of exclusions as corporate or user assumptions all interested parties might make from the gist or title
Wrong. Consider the following when you are behind in schedule or have a newly added chunk of work to your project: Phase the new work to after you finish the already planned project work Have you taught someone to drive, do dishes, play a board game? It takes more than double the time to do
Lost in translation can describe 2nd, 3rd, and 4th handed information that is passed on as “necessary” requirements, causing PM’s to plan in one direction while ending up in a completely different place 1/2 way through planning. On one project, between the first list of needs relayed and an onsite assessment, the equipment list was
I like to work with people who get things done, who doesn’t? I have be fortunate enough to work with some really talented coders who are great and offering ideas to solve problems, will listen and try alternative methods, and who are just all around fun and productive team members. But anyone with an amazing
Make the Change – sometimes you lose and have to make the change. Be sure to save all of your original work, document the impact on all levels, provide a new schedule, budget, scope, SLA’s, etc. Keep and eye on execution throughout and if it turns out it was a better plan, acknowledge it. If
This is not recommended unless you have a busy body that is allowed in your company to continuously disrupt projects, give irrelevant input, and overall derail a focused effort. You know who I mean. They make a case of rehashing that which has already been decided. They interrupt meetings with tangents. They have no real
If there is no one to back you up on what you know will be a negative impact or event disaster for your project, take some time to do an analysis on what it means to suddenly go a new direction or change a deliverable: Create an alternate schedule – the objections may stop at
Seems to me, more often than not, education works well with the uninformed. When that fails, I go up the chain to someone the detractor cannot say “no” to: You are likely in agreement with your manager and so allow them to address the issue. Often they are more familiar with the best approach with
