Bringing change to the organization for successful projects
As a consultant advising customers on new process, I am automatically an agent of change. Especially so since at least some of the companies who contact me face varying levels of dysfunctionality. They either have no idea how to do projects or they know how to do them but don’t have the right people. […]
Updates to the Continuing Certification Requirements for PMP exam
As you may know, once you get your PMP certification you never take the exam again. However, in order to maintain that status, you must get 60 Professional Development Units (PDU’s) in the course of a three-year cycle and then pay PMI 60 bucks. (If you get up to 80 in that cycle – and […]
My comments on upcoming changes to the PMP exam
So in my last post I detailed the changes to the PMP exam. I’ll drill a little deeper here and talk about my thoughts on what these changes might mean. I say might because none of the exam prep providers has released questions yet and PMI is notoriously close to the vest on these. They are like […]
Upcoming changes to PMP exam
As noted in my previous post, as of June 2015, PMI has updated its Examination Content Outline. which, per PMI, is the blueprint to the PMP exam. (The last day to take the current exam is January 11, 2016, after which time it will reflect the new Outline). Any and all tasks and skills mentioned […]
The Denver International Airport Story or Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About How Not To Run A Project (final)
Project Management Expertise As previously mentioned, the person in charge was in fact not a project manager at all but a Chief Engineer. Now, this is not to say that a technical person cannot manage a project. But I would argue that this is a classic case of the “accidental project manager,” or someone who […]
The Denver International Airport Story or Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About How Not To Run A Project (Pt. 1)
In the annals of project management literature, there are few stories as compelling as that of the Denver International Airport (DIA). DIA – which was to replace Stapleton International Airport – was scheduled to open in October of 1994 with the construction budget being set at $2B. It eventually opened 16 months late, ultimately costing […]
Changes are coming to the PMP exam
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has performed a role delineation study. As a result of this, they are going to issue a new PMP exam starting on Jan. 12, 2016. Note that this exam is still very much based on PMBOK 5 Fifth Edition. The changes mostly seem to revolve around what they call the […]
Scope Creep or Death by a Thousand Cuts
Imagine this scenario: You and your significant other decide to build a house. Let’s say it’s a split-level with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a one-car garage, no frills. And so you hire an architect and she gets to work on a blueprint. And after she’s been building the house for a couple of months, you […]
Lessons in Bad Stakeholder Management
Stakeholders can make or break your project so it’s crucial to involve them early, understand their needs, buy them into the project and set expectations. The project management literature is riddled with examples of poor stakeholder management. (See, e.g., Denver International Airport.) But it has recently occurred to me that one of the most egregious […]
Solving the right problem – training as panacea
One of the things I’ve personally identified as a top ten reason for projects failing is using training to solve other institutional problems. I ran into this situation recently and it provides a perfect example of what I mean. I am going to briefly describe a prospect’s situation but I’ll disguise the industry the customer […]
The Use of Assessments in Gauging Project Manager Maturity (Part 1)
Increasing project manager maturity in your organization by using assessments In many organizations, there is no clear path to becoming a project manager. For as many companies as there are that have a path, there are those that do not. Team members are often assigned to be PM’s because of their availability or even because […]
