In Monday morning’s team meeting, project manager A is asking the team for status. The Quality Manager notes that they are 75% done with testing. PM A nods and makes a note. Perhaps she asks if testing will meet their dates. The Quality Manager says Yes. PM A moves on. But does she really know if testing will meet their dates? How many meetings like […]
Another phone call. Another change on your thorniest project. You roll your eyes, thinking, “How did I get stuck with this mess?” The never-ending project. The never-ending project sneaks up on you. Over time, you’ve made so many changes that it seems normal that in your team meeting, you’re changing direction yet again. The sponsor is excited to get their new vision created. You’re just […]
Cynthia Smith lives in the Denver area and enjoys running, hiking, and singing. She has worked in IT for 15+ years and most recently worked as a Senior Project Manager at Oildex, which provides cloud-based accounting software for the oil and gas industry. When did you first decide to become a project manager? I was working as a programmer and developer for quite a few […]
If you’re a project manager for a small company, you have a unique set of job-related issues. You’re probably the only person managing projects and may have responsibilities for several different types of projects – marketing, internal processes, or customer product development. Here are a few tips to make your job a bit easier. Get systems in place One of the biggest challenges small companies […]
We all have trouble getting started on what we need to do. For some, social media is the excuse for procrastination. For others, it’s surfing the Internet and reading about people and places that won’t get you any nearer to your goals. Personally, I’m a news junkie. I can locate and read news from nearly any source and even read about the same incident several […]
If your organization keeps good project history archives, you have the inside track on how to plan a new project and what to avoid. But what about the “Lessons Learned?” How are they different from project history? Project history and archives If you’ve got project history and archives available, they should contain all the documentation that was created for the completed project. Those documents include the […]
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 […]
Here’s the next installment of my project manager profile series, “How did I get here?” I met Alex at the local Denver PMI meeting and he agreed to be the subject of this post. Thank you, Alex! When did you first decide to become a project manager? In 2013. What was your academic and/or corporate background before you became a project manager? I have a […]
Whenever I start a new project, my first question to the sponsor or client is “What does project success look like?” I can tell a great deal about how the project is going to go from the answer. Here are a few examples: “I’ll know it when I see it.” I’m immediately skeptical. If a sponsor or customer cannot articulate what exactly they want after […]
