If ever there was a time to celebrate our involvement in the world of project management now is that time; 2017 looks set to be a year of change for project management and the wider world. To get ready for this year of change Parallel is offering 20% off all it’s APM course in January […]
We all know that a good quality project is one in which the final outcome or deliverable meets the needs of the stakeholders and is “fit for purpose”. So a Quality Management Process aims to ensure the final deliverable does just that by focusing on quality throughout the project lifecycle; by incorporating it into the […]
One of the sample questions is “List and describe five steps in creating a robust schedule. I’m struggling with this one as can’t decide what a ‘schedule’ is? Is it a WBS, precedence diagram, gantt chart, resourse schedule etc? Or is the question referring to combination of them all?
Earned value allows you to understand whether the performance of the project is making good progress or not. It is a term used to describe products that have been delivered to a project and cannot be taken away. It uses a calculation to multiply what has been delivered by the planned completion, the actual time […]
1.Collection 2. Storage 3. Dissemination 4. Archive 5. Destruction Information management is about the organisation collating information from the start of the project. Information is key to the lifeblood of any organisation. The information plan is written by the project manager to establish the process. Collection – this is where the project will collect data […]
In my last post I discussed the skills and qualities that project managers need to develop to be successful because they have such a varied role it can sometimes be difficult to know what skills are the most important. A good project manager will be able to engage just as effectively with senior management as […]
In this post, we return to the topic of politics in projects. Politics has a bit of a dirty name. It’s associated with false promises, backstabbing, alliances and manipulating others. The worst weakness of Politics is its failure to deliver on its promises. Time and time again we see public politicians or business leaders failing to deliver the […]
Pure project management is about planning, communicating, monitoring, controlling, reporting etc etc but it is also about risk management and change management because few, if any, projects are without risks and change. But it can sometimes seem that change management, in particular, is an afterthought or only concerned with changes to the project plan, business […]
Have you ever worked in a project team where someone, or sometimes multiple someones, seem determined to create conflict, no matter what? When you say black, they invariably say white, and when you try to make a decisive move to get something done it appears that they want to block you every time. If you […]
Project management can be extremely complicated, but it needn’t be. And it is beneficial for us all to simplify our processes from time to time. Here we look at how to do this. Project management, as anyone who has watched The Apprentice knows, is one of the most difficult professions there are. In fact plenty […]
We all know that few projects run smoothly but, as a project manager, you can help your project to avoid too many serious problems by making sure you have asked the right questions upfront and obtained a clear, accurate answer. By asking detailed questions you can avoid ambiguity, ensure the aims are clearly articulated, ensure […]
As project managers we all know the value of extra resources – if only we had that extra time in the schedule, an extra member of the project team or additional budget we would be bound to complete our project successfully. Wouldn’t we? Well that certainly can be true sometimes and on some well-managed projects […]
My previous post was a bit of a rant about a project I was working on that was abandoned because senior management did not believe they could manage the expectations of the stakeholders and end-users if the scope of the project had to be reduced, which it had to be because the budget was no […]
I have recently been in discussions about the abandonment of a particular project – the decision was taken by senior management “behind closed doors” without consulting all of the stakeholders. Needless to say there have been different opinions about how viable it was to continue the project and a lot of dissatisfied stakeholders. But one […]
The main purpose of the business case is develop the overall justification for carrying out the project, and a justification for the required investment. For example if there was a project to replace a Heating and cooling system within a large commercial building, the business case will describe the benefit to the organisation that the […]
1) One benefit of governance is that the projects support the corporate strategy or portfolio direction. Effective governance means that the projects sponsored by the organisation will be those that support the overall direction of the organisation. For example we may want to grow our business in the infrastructure sector so the directors will support […]
Explain 2 reasons why the scope of a project may need to be changed 1. The scope of a project may need to be changed as a result of revised or new legislation. This would affect how the deliverables need to be produced. For example, the H&S regulations around elevators coming into effect next year. […]
List and describe five typical contents (e.g. processes, components, techniques) of a structured project management method 1. Products 2. People 3. Processes 4. Templates 5. Tools Products are an element of a project management method. Products are what you need to deliver the project. For example, the PMP produced by the PM during definition phase. […]