Month: April 2012

The Value of a Project Management Office (PMO)

Are you wondering whether you should establish a PMO, what value it would bring and what exactly it would look like? Then this blog is for you as I try and convince you that PMO is definitely the way ...

How to be Practically Perfect

This blog was inspired by the release of my first book, “The Practically Perfect Project Manager”.  I thought I would take the time to summarise what drove me to write the book and the key messag...

Pick the Right Projects!

So many projects are set up for failure right at the beginning. From that point on it’s a battle just to keep the project going. If the initial selection process had considered all the right factors...

Taking over someone else’s project

This blog was inspired by meeting a project manager who was very excited to tell me that they had just be given the opportunity to manage a large complex project that was already well underway. I didn...

Responsibility and Authority in Project Management

I am constantly surprised by the large number of people acting as project managers who tell me that they have all the responsibility for the success of a project but little or no authority on the proj...

Project Manager or Contract Manager?

It’s hard enough making sure you know whether you are a project manager, project administrator, project coordinator, project facilitator, or project expeditor. But what exactly is the difference bet...

People Skills and Project Management

Nothing matters more in project management than having great people skills. This statement may come as a surprise to those of you working hard on your technical skills of time, cost, quality and risk ...

Meetings Are Just Not Worth The Time

Meetings can be the biggest waste of time ever conceived. They can rob a project team of doing productive work, waste money and strip the team of morale.  I’ve seen some exceptionally bad meetings ...

Influencing is Not a Four Letter Word

As projects managers we are supposed to be master of many things. We are supposed to be great with our technical skills when it comes to defining scope, estimating time and cost, and managing change. ...

Can You Guarantee Project Success?

Does using all the right processes, tools and techniques guarantee project success?  Does having all the right credentials and training mean you cannot fail? The short answer is no, it doesn’t. Man...