Mission, Vision, and Strategy in Project Management
Did you ever work on a project that was so intense that you didn’t ask?why? Why are we doing this? Why is this important? Why do people work 80 hours a week? Without knowing why,…
Methodology Madness – I was asked a great question by a subscriber of my PMP Guide newsletter about methodologies or frameworks. Information overload – by woordenaar via Flickr. He mentioned a long list and asked if he really needed to know everything.
Framework for Adaptive Projects Agile software development XP FDD ITIL Lean Development Scrum Spiral 10 Steps JAD RAD RDD Crystal Method DSDM Waterfall SDLC Prince 2 This list contains many different frameworks and methodologies. To…
Intuition is always more important than measurement
Travis Anderson guest post Glen Alleman mentioned?Against the gods? The remarkable story about risk? In a previous PM Student post, ‘How Expectations Misunderstand Project Estimates. I am a PM Analyst by trade and have an…
MBA: A Worthless Piece of Paper
My MBA is worthless Flickr photo by maveric2003 Are you up for the challenge? Good. From the pmStudent community Anne is from the US Anne is a recent subscriber of the?Project Management Career newsletter. She…
Master Plan An article entitled “Master Plan: IT executives must develop an eye for project mangers” appears in the April 2007 issue of PM Network. I would like to comment. This article is based largely on a Gartner Inc. study in Stamford CT, USA. A sad statistic that is true was that between 20-30% of IT executives have a “dismissive attitude” toward project management. These are the same executives who suffer from “poor quality, late delivery, and unrealistic project costs.” This is something I know from personal experience. I would venture to guess that the attitude towards project management decreases when you reach higher-ranking executives in operational areas. Most IT executives have realized that well-run projects, managed by people who have the right skills, can deliver real value. If I had to guess at a percentage of operational executives, I would say around 40-50% have a dismissive attitude toward formal project management. However, this number seems to be declining. The majority of directors and higher-ranking people still don’t see the value in formal project management. I see the shift towards project management adding value as a positive reinforcement to my decision to enter this discipline. But I digress. Referring back to the article in PM Network. I found some points that were insightful and worth sharing. First, Gartner has divided IT project managers into four categories.
Novice – Some project experience, lacks formal training Apprentice – Has some project experience and shows initiative towards managing projects. Journeyman – Minimum 2 years experience in project management, formal training in scope, risk management,…
How to work with a global distributed team
Guest post by Lindsey Vontz, 99designs. Lindsey works in Organic Marketing and PR at 99designs. Lindsey was a brand manager for 10 years before joining 99designs. She also helped to launch an outdoor apparel company…
How to use ActiveCollab in your Language
ActiveCollab can be used in 21 languages English, German and Spanish. ActiveCollab is easy to use. Click on your avatar in the top-right corner, then clickProfile. You can set your preferred language. ActiveCollab can be…
How to track billable hours? Tips to Increase Your Profitability
For most agencies, consultants, freelancers and other contractors, balancing billable and unbilled time is a constant challenge. It is safe to assume that companies and teams will want to bill as much as possible. However,…
How to Avoid Missing Deadlines with Better Workload Management
Poor workload management could be the reason your team misses deadlines or doesn’t finish their work on time. This can affect one person or the entire team. Your team members are well aware of their…
How to manage and lead creative teams
Managers believe that managing and leading a creative team can be a lot like taking care of preschoolers: they sleep when they want, play when they want, and whine if things don’t go their way.…