Project Management News Round-Up

Here are some interesting project management news items from December 2012 selected by the Parallel Project Training team to keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in the PM world:

LiquidPlanner 4 Delivers Simplified Project Management
In early December LiquidPlanner, developer of the priority-based, predictive project management solution, announced the fourth generation of its product: LiquidPlanner 4. This version has multiple improvements to the user experience and reduces the time expended on managing projects with this tool. The changes include improved project and portfolio visualisation and dynamic status reporting all aimed at simplifying the management of complex projects.
8 Project Management Tools you Shouldn’t Leave Home Without
The Swiss army knife of project management tools – 8 Project Management tools you shouldn’t leave home without if you are to survive on your client’s site. Tips on doing everything you can to be as independent and self-sufficient as possible. This is useful information for anyone based on a client site for any length of time, except perhaps #8 – the toothpick (seriously!)
Want Better Project Success? Remember to Motivate!
Improving project management and project success is not all about using the right processes, following a tried and tested approach or taking the advice of an expert. This alone does not always guarantee success so before you reassess your project management skills or strategy consider one of the most significant drivers of success: motivation. And ask yourself if you are doing enough to motivate your team? An interesting read by Troy Larson…
5 Project Management Lessons Learned at the Overnight Web Challenge
An interesting perspective on “Lessons Learned” in a project management crash course for web professionals, where they spent 24 hours re-designing a website. Could this be a new business model?

6 Ways Agile Keeps Projects on Track
This blog post on the PMI’s “Voices on Project Management” blog considers how an agile approach can help project managers to quickly identify when project tasks are falling behind schedule or other problems arise. Agile offers both a focussed view as well as a wide perspective and does not assume that all requirements can be identified and documented at the start of a project.

Project Managers Are Up For The Challenge
The Project Challenge Spring Show will take place in the newly refurbished Olympia 2 Exhibition Centre in London on 13 – 14 March 2013. This is an opportunity for project managers, business planners and anyone involved in supporting project management to view the latest PM technology, products and services on offer. Leading project management training and consulting organisations will also be in attendance.