You manage your project schedule by focusing on the critical path. But don’t stop there! Project time management requires examination of other items. Here are things to check to proactively manage your schedule: Examine “near critical paths.”A path with a small amount of slack means you have a near critical path. These tasks with very […]
It’s irresponsible to promote early estimates as being accurate. Early on, there are too many unknowns. A responsible approach focuses on communicating our estimates as gradually more accurate. Here’s what you can do to produce responsible estimates. Label your estimates. An estimate without a label implies the value is accurate. Label your estimates to […]
Each task has a start and finish, so there are four types of task dependencies: finish-to-start, finish-to-finish, start-to-start, and start-to-finish. In most projects, most (90% or more) dependencies are finish-to-start (FS). When one task finishes, it triggers the start of the next, like when cooking dinner is finished, eating dinner begins (assuming you don’t sneak […]
Bob McGannon and I talk about whether a project manager can have too much authority. We also talk about what to do to make sure everyone understands the authority the project manager does have.
Tracking project progress is part of a project manager’s job. Gantt charts aren’t always the best way to report progress–they provide too much detail for busy leaders. Using milestone charts are better for reporting progress. Here are my recommendations. In your project schedule, create at least 2 milestones per reporting period. Capture dates the milestones […]
Q: Everyone tells me to pad my project estimates. Should I follow their advice? A: No! You should share your best, most accurate and non-altered estimates with your sponsor. Padding your estimate is adding contingency without justification. Be transparent. Share estimates with your sponsor, emphasizing that they don’t include contingency. Then, share your recommendations for […]
Bob McGannon and I talk about project manager styles and the best one to choose in this video To learn more about project management, check out the Become a Project Manager learning path at LinkedIn Learning.
Collaboration is gold in projects. Collaborative stakeholders produce better requirements, provide support for your solution, and rarely raise issues when accepting deliverables. Even with these benefits, there can be too much collaboration. Here are symptoms of too much project collaboration and how to correct them: You have more stakeholders than necessary. Environments that are extremely […]
First, find out if higher priority items interfere with the person’s attendance. If so, work with your sponsor to revise schedules or re-prioritize work. Or you can try to find an available replacement for that person. Also, make sure meetings stay focused and provide project team members with information they need. (This helps makes ALL […]
Q: My sponsor asked me to prepare the justification for a project. Is that appropriate or should my sponsor do this work? A: The Project Management Institute (PMI) holds the sponsor responsible for project justification. However, sponsors can delegate project-related responsibilities to the project manager. So a PM justifying a project is appropriate as long […]
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