Whatever type of project you might be embarking on, from a small 2-person project for a start-up company to a global project for an international organisation, no project will be without its problems. No amount of proper planning and adherence to good project management standards will eliminate problems entirely. (Of course, they can be minimised […]
In the APM PMQ Exam one area, people really struggle with is how much to write to get the necessary marks in the time available. Some people write too much whilst others don’t provide enough detail. The other issue is they don’t use the command verbs in their answer. This is an automatic assessment tool […]
The below is information that may be useful for corporate IT teams enabling exams online who are whitelisting the APM exam portal. Links to whitelist: https://surpass.proctorexam.com https://apm.surpass.com/secureassess/htmldelivery Information for IT Teams: https://www.apm.org.uk/media/48206/association-project-management-it-online-examination-sheet.pdf The “BTL Surpass” assessment platform is a turnkey solution powering the development and delivery of tests for credentialing and licensure organisations, schools, Higher […]
With more people able to take professional exams online we answer some important questions below specifically about how APM exams work online. How will they invigilate the exam? The exam is invigilated by a remote proctor. The monitor you though a microphone, webcam and an app on a mobile phone. The APM is issuing detailed […]
Meetings are an essential part of any project – how well they are managed is critical to the success of the project and yet many stakeholders and team members see project meetings as an interruption to their real work and a waste of valuable time. Project meetings vary considerably depending on the organisation and the […]
Nowadays, more and more businesses are going global and hiring remote workers. As a project manager, it is highly unlikely that your team is always going to be in your office. You may have another department overseas that you need to liaise with. You may also have a number of freelancers that work in different […]
An efficient, well-run project management office (PMO) should provide a valuable service to a project manager and the team, particularly on long or complex projects and large organisations, but whether they do or not is a different matter. Some PMOs are mired in bureaucracy and are often perceived as just adding to a project’s workload; […]
We all make mistakes in the work environment from time to time. It’s learning from them that counts. This is most certainly the case when it comes to project management and learning lessons is embedded into project management methodologies so there’s no excuse not to. It is unlikely that you are going to get everything […]
This post was updated on 17 March 2022 Based on the Association for Project Management (APM) guidance for Planning and Project Control Managers and Engineers this course builds a structured and formalised approach to planning and controlling projects. The APM’s guide, ‘Planning, Scheduling, Monitoring and Control – The Practical Project Management of Time, Cost and […]
The new version of the Association for Project Management Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ) based on the 7th Edition of the Body of Knowlege introduced some new negotiation concepts. These are Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA), Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and Win-Win. In this blog post, we briefly explain these terms and […]
Five benefits of Programme Management are: Achieving the overall strategic goals of an organization. Improve management of projects interdependencies and impact on the business as usual. Effectively managing resources among projects within a programme. Manage risks, issues and changes across the programme efficiently. Focus on definition and management of strategic benefits. Achieving overall strategic goals […]
The APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition introduced a new term deployment baseline and defined it as: Deployment baseline: Agreeing the integrated plan to enable managed deployment. APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/what-is-project-management/what-is-planning/ It’s a new phase for many many project managers, especially when applied to both linear and iterative lifecycles. So in this […]
What is a VUCA project environment? Are we currently living in a VUCA world and how might this affect your project? One of the new topics introduced into the 7th Editions of the Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge was the concept of a VUCA project environment, but what is VUCA. VUCA was developed […]
It is almost six months since I wrote a blog post on the impact of Covid-19 on my training course. At the time I did not envisage that we would still be delivering all of our programmes virtual six months later. So I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the differences […]
Five Benefits of a Project lifecycle are: It provides a structure for project delivery. It improves communication between team members. It enables progress to be tracked across the organisation. It provides for the progressive evolution of the project. It enables structured reviews that support governance. It provides a structure for project delivery. It provides a […]
In the APM Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ) the answer to this question might be: Project Quality Management is the discipline that is applied to ensure that both the outputs of the project and the processes used to deliver the outputs meet the required needs of the stakeholders. Quality is broadly defined as fitness for […]
I have written before about the logical framework to define the clear linkages between the work done on a project and it’s ultimate impact. The principle here is that project should focus on making a change in society not just delivering things. To many projects just deliver things that do not meet the needs of […]
Join our discussion to share your views? What do you think? Many people want to understand the differences between project management methodologies and approaches to determine which would be best for their organisation and for their career. The main approaches in use around the world are PRINCE2 and those based on the APM BOK and […]