Imagine how much more you and your team could accomplish if everyone was accountable for the work they do. You can make this dream come true by creating an environment in which team members hold themselves accountable. This Project Pointer describes techniques for achieving this nirvana.
At a project start, there are things you won’t know, so you have to make assumptions. Practical and reasonable assumptions can make the difference between a project launch and “a good idea, but.” This Project Pointer lists some characteristics of useful assumptions from the ones to avoid.
Some people constantly multitask in meetings, which disrupts attendees’ attention and prevents important information from getting to the audience. This Project Pointer offers some recommendations to get people to pay attention.
High-performing project teams embrace continuous improvement. And continuous learning is the core of that mindset. This Project Pointer presents tips for developing a learning environment in a project that enables continuous improvement and long-term performance.
I learned that pathology from surgery showed stray carcinoma cancer cells in my body. After the shock wore off, the project manager in me took charge. Now that this ordeal is over, I can’t imagine handling it without project management. This Project Pointer describes what I did to make it through.
Project reporting often uses traffic light indicators (green-yellow-red) to present status, such as variance from the plan. This Project Pointer describes how to associate percentage ranges with traffic light colors for several project conditions.
People’s (especially management’s) expectations for estimation accuracy are usually unrealistic. You’re expected to produce estimates with little project information and then are challenged when you adjust your estimates. In this Project Pointer, Bob McGannon and I present an approach to make estimating less controversial with an added benefit of educating management and team members on the realities of estimating.
Making decisions is an integral part of project management, yet most projects don’t have a predetermined, agreed-upon approach to decision-making. This Project Pointer provides some tips for creating an effective decision-making process.
Requirements are supposed to represent business needs, but sometimes, stakeholders sneak in solutions. For a project to create value, you need to make sure requirements convey business needs not solutions. This Project Pointer describes some techniques for scrubbing solutions from your project requirements.
In this “The PM is in” article, I describe a few superpowers every project manager would love (and what to do until our wishes are granted).
