Here’s how to plan and deliver your project without a project management certification: just imagine that you have to eat an elephant, and follow these steps. If the elephant is really big, find the way to have only one elephant dropped on your plate. Make sure that the elephant is … well, does not move. This […]
Tag: project management
If Zuck Were Project Manager, He’d Learn More ‘Tricks’
Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) once praised her boss for “trying to make meetings as productive as possible.” According to her, Mark Zuckerberg “asks people to send materials in advance so we can use the time for discussion” and “we try to be clear about our goal when we sit down for a meeting–are we in […]
Advanced Project Management Secret: Shared Values
Requirements can make or break your projects. Depending on your personal level of PM maturity, you will make sure that you have clarified them on one, two, or three levels. Here’s what can further improve your chances to deliver the project successfully: shared values of the team. The secret is in the proper composition […]
The Recipe for Project Success: 3 Requirements + 10 Values
The three key reasons why some projects fail are: Requirements Requirements Requirements There is but a grain of joke in this PM joke: requirements are key. In real life, three different sets of requirements could and should be identified during the project initiation. Requirements-1: The Spec. First requirements that come to mind are the “standard” […]
What are the identifiers of a bad project?
To answer this question (asked on Quora), we need to define the meaning of “bad” in “bad project.” As an old project management bit of wisdom goes, there are three main reasons why projects fail (and thus may be identified as “bad projects”): Requirements Requirements Requirements
How do we hire the best professional Project Manager?
Look at it this way: you are hiring a temporary General Manager who will run your business for some predefined period of time and deliver certain results. Regardless of the nature of your business, you will expect your General Manager, above all, to be proficient in making things happen. If what bothers you the most […]
How to Sell Your Team on Project Management in 7 Minutes
If you are a professional project manager, you have been through this many times. You get a project to run, receive a list of specialists assigned to the project, start making your calls – and see that the team that you will have to spend a better part of your life with in the coming months […]
What Do You Do as Project Manager?
“What is the purpose of your visit to the United States of America?” The US Custom and Border Protection officer was a big guy. He asked the usual questions in a deep and hoarse voice and was sitting on a rather tall chair behind his counter, which made him look somewhat dominating if not menacing. […]
How to Keep New Year’s Resolutions Using Project Management
If you are like 50% of Americans, you must have made your New Year’s resolutions recently. And if you are one of those “new-year-resolute” folks, then you could use some help right now: over 40% of new year’s resolutions do not survive past one month.
Project Management Master Class: the Fifth Project of Heracles
Storytelling is an effective coaching technique, but it is rarely used in project management. Fortunately, the history of mankind is replete with wonderful examples of projects delivered by individuals who lived long before project management as we know it was born, so we can learn from their mistakes.