Operational employees who come and go from a project are a common challenge for project managers. Due to their day-to-day business responsibilities, project tasks can become “when time allows” activities — which makes managing a project schedule difficult. Not only do dedicated project team members avoid this situation, they also come with these other […]
Business pressures often lead sponsors to set aggressive deadlines. And meeting those deadlines may be exactly what your organization needs. It’s not an easy situation. As a project manager, your best survival strategy is to set stakeholders’ expectations for what it will take to deliver the project in that timeframe. Let’s look at how […]
If you’re feeling lonely or isolated as a project manager, you aren’t alone (pun intended.) Overcoming that feeling is a balance between professional effectiveness and personal relationships. You also have to be intentional and apply some practical steps. Here are a few things you can do: Leverage the decision-making process. Decision-making and resolving issues are […]
Do you want to expand your capability to manage more projects? You can by delegating! But delegation can be scary, because you’re releasing control to others. With the right attitude and activities, delegation can become your go-to tool that isn’t so scary. Here are the best ways to make delegation work for you as […]
Conflict isn’t fun for most people. Emotions are high and substantial outcomes could be at risk for both business and stakeholder relationships. Constructive conflict can be beneficial and should be used, instead of being suppressed. Here’s how to recognize constructive stakeholder conflict. The issue and intended outcome are clear. Conflicts that improve project outcomes have […]
You’ve probably heard “the leader sets the tone.” This tone is all about the environment you create for your project team. Here are things you can do – TODAY – to make your project a positive (and attractive) place to work. And that helps you make your project a success. Receive news, both good and […]
Limited budgets, required scope, hard and fast deadlines, and quality standards. These constraints make project delivery challenging! Wouldn’t it be great to manage projects without the pressure of constraints? Not so fast. Here’s how constraints help us deliver our projects. Budgets drive perceived value. A non-profit I volunteered for used to hold an intro training […]
Testing your project’s products is a critical step in delivering successful projects – testing is one way to confirm that your project accomplishes what it’s supposed to. An effective testing scheme must meet the following objectives. Validate that requirements are satisfied. There should be a specific test for every requirement to confirm that it has […]
Providing opportunities to team members makes them individually more capable, which leads to more organizational capability for delivering projects. Here are things you can do – TODAY – to create this win-win environment. Encourage sharing of risks and issues that may arise. Project status can change based on what’s been completed, what’s delayed, what stakeholders […]
In project change management, stakeholders might request a change to introduce new functions, modify a requirement, or resolve an issue. Many project managers close a change record when the change control board approves the change to proceed. Others when the change has been completed and included in the project deliverables. Neither approach is valid, because […]
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