Building teams is a critical skill for any project manager. Once the team is built, it’s important to keep the team’s productivity high. Here are several suggestions for helping to increase your team’s productivity and manage their workflow. Keep meetings to a minimum Meetings are necessary and universally hated. But just because no one admits they like meetings doesn’t mean they don’t have a purpose. Ask […]
It’s a new year and everyone seems to be getting back to work. New project assignments are going out, and it’s time to start building teams. How do you make sure the team you get is the team that can get the job done? Assess the team needs of the project Working with the sponsor, the project manager develops a charter – the description of […]
Anyone that has been a project manager for any length of time has heard of Lessons Learned. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines Lessons Learned on page 544 of the PMBOK Fifth Edition: The knowledge gained during a project which shows how project events were addressed or should be addressed in the future with the purpose of improving future performance.” PMP Exam tip In fact, if you […]
Project managers seem to be very popular with large corporations, but what about businesses with fewer than 100 employees? Can project management help them? Small business owners and managers tend to have everything on their plate. Marketing, sales, payroll – everything is the owner’s responsibility. Which means that all the projects that are part of those ongoing efforts are being run by one person – […]
Art and science have so much in common – the process of trial and error, finding something new and innovative, and to experiment and succeed in a breakthrough. –Peter M. Brant, American businessman. Those of us who spend many hours involved with projects, sponsors, teams, and deliverables often don’t have the time or the inclination to look at the bigger picture. For those who are […]
Requirements management has always been part of the project manager’s job. It was something that I handled as the project progressed without much thought. In today’s world, requirements management is an important part of the overall project. What is “requirements management?” In short, requirements management is the compilation, monitoring, and control of stakeholder needs for the project. According to PMI, the Requirements Management Plan is a component […]
As project managers, our job is to deliver a defined set of deliverables. Those deliverables may be as small as relocating a team to another floor, or as large as a satellite that hovers over the earth. No matter what the deliverables, the members of the team are crucial to the success of the project. Team development In many companies, team development for projects […]
You’ve been in the organization for a year or two. Learning the business, trying to soak it all in, and noticing there is a definite lack of organization around projects and servicing your customers. This is not a secret from management, but they are not sure what to do about it. Finally, they see you trying to wrangle the alligators, and they decide to assign […]
Many of us in the project management field got our start before there was such a thing as a project manager. In fact, many folks today are probably working in the role of project manager, but don’t have that title. That may be just fine, or not. It all depends on where you want to go in your career and how you want to get […]
Everyone is always interested in “How did you get here?” and what led me to a career in project management. To that end, I’m starting a new series on ProProjectManager.com. The “How did you get here?” interview. I’ve got lots of friends (at least now) that are project managers and got to that place in many different ways. Let’s get started! My first interview […]
