Effective project communications (1)
Communications is one of the 10 Knowledge Areas that PMI covers in the Project Management Body of Knowledge. When I teach it, I tend to get on my soapbox about it, just because it’s so important. It’s my contention that the average person does not know how to communicate in any clear and consistent fashion […]
PMBOK 4 to PMBOK 5 deeper drill (final)
PMBOK 5 PMBOK 4 Work Performance Data. Raw observations and measurements including start and finish dates of schedule activities, percent complete. Work Performance Measurements. Planned vs. actual performance, earned value measurements such as SV and CPI Work Performance Information. Work performance data collected, correlated and contextualized. Includes deliverables status, implementation status for […]
PMBOK4 to PMBOK 5 deeper drill (4)
Some of the changes in the early sections of the book appear to be there for the purpose of justifying project management’s role as a business tool in adding value. PMO now described as having three types: supporting, controlling and directive Expands on the concept of operations management including operational stakeholders Adds a new section […]
PMBOK 4 to PMBOK 5 deeper drill (3)
Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs that were removed Work performance measurements Project management estimating software Budget forecasts Proprietary quality management methodologies Run chart Stakeholder management strategy Forecasting methods Reporting systems Information distribution tools Planning meetings and analysis Risk register updates Status meetings Teaming agreements Risk-related contract decisions Contract types (these are now inputs […]
PMBOK 4 to PMBOK 5 deeper drill (2)
Processes that changed names Old name New name Direct and Manage Project Execution Direct and Manage Project Work Verify Scope Validate Scope Plan Quality Plan Quality Management Perform […]
PMBOK 4 to PMBOK 5 deeper drill
Late last year, PMI came out with a new Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) v. 5. Like a lot of people, I wrote something up about it on these very pages. Now that the date of the test cutover (July 31) is imminent and I’ve done a deeper drill, I thought it might be […]
First blog – why we’re here
So this is my first post. I called this blog, “The Useful Project Manager.” My goal – as much as possible – is to have a forum where project managers and those that don’t call themselves that but are running projects, have a place they can look to for useful, effective ideas. This comes from […]
PMBOK 4 to 5 – Stakeholder Management
The most significant new item in PMBOK 5 is the addition of a tenth Knowledge Area, Project Stakeholder Management. The important thing to know is that stakeholder management is by no means new to PMI. But they have taken it out of the Communications Knowledge Area and put it into its own Knowledge Area. As […]
The Flexible Project Manager
A client of mine recently posed this situation/question to me: “When I was just beginning and even now as I mentor new PM’s, I constantly see a battle between the PM best practices and a company’s maturity/ capability to practice it. It would have been very helpful when I was starting out to know where […]
Thoughts on being a project leader
The same client that prompted thought on my last post also prompted this one. Basically she said she wished she knew how to get control of people on the project, especially early on when she was first new to project management. The problem is that oftentimes none of these people report to you. So how […]
Thoughts on Scrum
As mentioned in my previous post, I recently took a class on Scrum Master certification. As such, I wanted to put my thoughts down on paper while they were still fresh in my mind. And I figured if I was doing that, I might as well post something on it to my blog. Now, a […]
