Category Archives: Project Management

What are we trying to achieve?

Project scope clarification is a pre-requisite of ensuring a successful project delivery. Without a clearly defined projcet scope, the client and team may well be expecting different outcomes from the project. Whiteboarding is a way of ensuring that clarity when building up the project scope.

Digging a hole

Fear can inhibit project managers and project teams alike when challenged with a project management issue. This can allow project issues to fester and create bigger holes or problems later. Better to create a climate that allows for issues to be dealt with quickly.

Expectation Management

As part of commencing a project, a project communications strategy is a key component to get agreed with the client. This will prevent unnecessary communication and questioning by the client which distracts both the project manager and the project team from performing their roles effectively.

Does one size fit all?

Project management methodologies are excellent at giving a tool for the project manager to use to deliver a project. But methodologies can be incorrectly applied to the detriment of a project. They should be adapted and changed to ensure that they are a tool for success rather than an inhibitor. It is more important for a project manager to understand the basic delivery fundamentals and then to apply the correct methodology for that project over these.

Where am I going?

When presented with project management or operational management challenges, sometimes it can be overwhelming. The sheer magnitude of the problem at hand seems to defy the ability to address and manage it. And yet it has to be. So how should this be done?

Keep control of the weeds

Project issues always arise. How they are handled will determine whether they come up again or are dealt with once and for all. It is important to deal with the root cause of the issues rather than merely the symtoms.

The Right Stuff

Having the correct project resources is imperative to ensuring success in a project. Often businesses can be pushed to offer starting a project before all of the right people are in place, but this will only damage the end result. Surely its better to wait until all project resources are in place prior to starting.