Priority #4 in project rescue – Requirements management
We continue our series on rescuing troubled projects by Bob Louton, PMP. This article discusses the 4th-most urgent of all process areas, requirements management. After you have addressed the big problems with the plan, you can turn your focus to the next on the list. For every project I’ve ever been on, the project […]
Priority #5 in project rescue – Communications management
This is the last in a series on Rescuing Projects by our friend and colleague, Bob Louton, PMP. This article discusses the 5th-most urgent area of a project, communication management. This is also the last on my list. As you address the big problems with team communications, you can progressively turn your focus to the […]
Sustainable project management – sometimes unplugged is a bad thing
From time to time we like to make you aware of other blogs of note. Our colleagues at Earth PM are all about sustainability. Today’s post is dedicated to them and their mission and is one of our favorite posts. Please take time to visit their site and check them out. In this case, unplugged is a […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #10
Reason #10 – Monitoring and Controlling Perhaps one of the less well understood facts about projects is that they need to be monitored and controlled. Basically what this means is that in a project you create baselines. (Let’s deal only with the schedule baseline for sake of argument). That baseline is an approved snapshot of […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #9
Reason # 9 – Team Planning Sessions As I mentioned before, PMI devotes fully twenty processes in the PMBOK just to planning. And they will be devoting even more in v5. Point being, planning on a project is extremely important. That seems like a fairly obvious statement. But in my travels, as I go into […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #8
Reason #8 – The accidental project manager I talked in my last post about the fact that so many projects fail because the concept of project management is not well understood and so therefore, is not supported in some organizations. And so I mentioned that people who are asked to manage projects are often not […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #7
Reason #7 – Unsupported Project Culture In my twenty years in project management, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. If you ask 100 random people walking down the street what a lawyer, doctor or accountant does, they will all know. Now ask that same group of people what a project manager does. Some will know, many […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #6
Reason #6 – Risk Put simply, risk management is one of the most powerful (and, I think, easiest) techniques you can use in managing projects. Why is it so powerful? Because projects have uncertainty. And by predicting risk, you can lower that uncertainty and increase the likelihood of completing your project on time. And so […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #5
Reason #5 – Estimates The Project Management Institute’s (PMI) book of all things project management (PMBOK) has a chapter dedicated exclusivey to risk. There are several facets to risk management but the one I want to mention today is risk identification. Yes, I know, we’re talking specifically about estimates here. But what I wanted to […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #4 (continued)
Stakeholder Management (Part Two) So, duly chastened, my team and I went home that night then returned to the office in Manhattan on Monday morning. Meanwhile, I had to report something to my boss. And so I told him what went on and what our speculation about Tom’s motives was. Needless to say he hit […]
Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail – Reason #4
Stakeholder Management – Part 1 I had originally intended each post in my “Why projects fail” series to be one page. But I wanted to tell this particular story which speaks so well to bad stakeholder management that it will be in two posts. So, still overall a ten-part series on what makes projects […]
