Project Management Knowledge

Risk Management Expert Rita Mulcahy passed away

Tom — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:27:55 +0000

Renowned business expert Rita Mulcahy died May 15, 2010 following a long battle with breast cancer. She was the founder of RMC Project Management, starting that company in 1991. It was at this time that Rita discovered the need for additional training to be able to grow their career. The certification process was intense and without the proper guidance, many people would fail. Ms. Mulcahy subsequently wrote a PMP Exam Prep Study guide for those persons who wanted to become Certified Project Managers. It received national and international acclaim, with most experts this to be the industry standard.

She was also recognized around the world on such business topics as project management techniques, risk management and project management certification. With more than fifteen years of experience working directly with business leaders, Rita had over 2.5 billion dollars of experience to her credit. Her company became a leader in the business industry, renowned for the ability to both teach people and allow them to enjoy it as well.

Ms. Mulcahy was also a guest speaker at thousand of seminars and business conventions every year. Her firm continues to be involved with this type of risk management work, offering help and guidance to many people training in this field. This includes e-books, online courses, kits, and self-help books. It has continued to grow, even in her absence, with expansion into other areas, including publishing, internet technology and even real estate.

Rita Mulcahy was a true pioneer in this industry, helping thousands of people along the way. Her company continues with the vision she began almost 20 years ago of assisting those most in need.

The company continues to grow with divisions in publishing, warehousing, distribution, online books, and real estate. Rita had a love for the outdoors, the arts, theater, and skiing.

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PMI and IPMA certifications

Tom — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:29:46 +0000

This is rather old news, but given that more and more people understand the importance of being certified by either the PMI or the IPMA, this should still be mentioned. In 2008 already, the Project Management Institute and the International Project Management Association signed an agreement that they will join forces in order to boost the project management profession. As a consequence, the PMI certification Project Management Professional and the IPMA certification Level C will be accepted by both parties as being equivalent. This is a huge step, given that both organisations were perceived as being two different religions that were not compatible to each other, despite the fact that some project managers have certifications from both.

Furthermore, the Project Management Institute and the International Project Management Association will work together building university programs and doing research. The agreement has been signed for three years so that we should see the outcome soon.

At the end of the day, there is no alternative than working together for the two big organisations. The project management profession is still very young, and too often project management is done by people who may have experience but lack a professional education. Compare this to the dentist profession: centuries ago, the barber was also the dentist. Obviously, there was not too much education available so that most barbers relied on experience which must not have been a bad thing in all cases. There was no alternative. Project Management in the early days was done by the “barbers”, and while more and more professional project managers are available, too many projects are still being managed by “barbers” because businesses have not seen the importance of professional project management by now; project management seems to be doable by everyone who has enough experience in another profession. The blame must not be put on these businesses: The PMI and the IPMA have failed to prove the value of professional project management by now, and they MUST work together in order to make sure project management is perceived as the art of improving the bottom line.

And while the barber comparison may sound odd: Centuries ago, a tooth was just pulled out by the barber, there was no way to save a tooth from being extracted. At the same time, teeth did not have the aesthetic value as they have today. Compared to today, often enough there is no alternative to loosing money due to unprofessional project management, and people believe that this may just be the way it is. It is not. It is time the attitude towards project management is changed. And this is the challenge the PMI and the IPMA must face together.

PMI and IPMA Certifications Two premiere project management organizations, the International Project Management Association...
Project Management in a troubled Economy The times, they have become tough, and more and more...
Risk Management Expert Rita Mulcahy passed away Renowned business expert Rita Mulcahy died May 15, 2010 following...

Open Source Project Management Tools, Part I

Tom — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:45:08 +0000

There are a variety of open source project management tools available for free online. Despite being developed and distributed for free, these programs are high quality software, and many are used for massive important projects done by various government and private agencies. We will look at these different tools and their strengths and weaknesses in a series of blog posts.

For hunting down bugs in a larger group of developers, Trac is the right solution. It is a web based project management tool specifically designed for linking with a programming bug database, viki content, and the revision control information. Trac allows a group to collaborate on finding and fixing glitches and bugs in any type of software.

Collabtive is a web based software that is a great open source alternative to BaseCamp. It allows all the members of a group working on a project to chart and track their goals, publish regular progress reports, share documents and other files securely, and has a built in private messaging system. It’s flexible and powerful enough to work for any project, and allows unlimited user accounts on one project.
eGroupWare is another program that allows group project workers to collaborate and connect. eGroupWare is mainly web based, but can also be used with certain compatible clients, such as Microsoft Outlook. It allows all of the users on one project to share and manage contacts, to-do lists and progress reports, track dates and timelines, and share project information.
For editing and presenting information and documents over the internet, Feng Office is a great choice. Not only does it allow for document and data management within the software, it keeps your team on top of time management with it’s built in tools. It’s also one of the few open source product management programs to allow online editing and multi-user presentations, eliminating the needs for regular video or in person meetings. No matter what the project is you need to manage, there is a perfect open source software solution for your team.

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PM Standards: A guaranty for Success?

Tom — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:59:17 +0000

If you use PM standards such as the PMBOK standard of the Project Management Institute (PMI), does this warrant that your project will be successful? Unfortunately, the answer is no. For me, the PMBOK is a toolbox, and depending on the requirements of the project, I use some tools, and some tools stay in the toolbox. It is comparable to the real toolbox that you might have in your house: You carry this toolbox with you if you have to repair the water tap and if you have to repair the car, but you will most probably not use the same tools out of the toolbox in both situations.

Now, using this picture, if someone does not possess the PMI toolbox, does it mean he does not have the tools to work on a project successfully? No. Actually, some of the PMI approaches are common ground with respect to other disciplines, even if they are labeled differently. Using a project log, for example, is not a PMI-exclusive approach, and it may be called differently in other domains. Managing stakeholders may also be the outcome of common sense. In other word, you can be successful in project management if you don’t have any knowledge of the standards. However, having the knowledge will not hurt you; in fact, your work might be easier if you are aware of best practices and available tools; if not, everything may look like a nail because you just know the hammer.

On the contrary, if you can be successful without the PM standards knowledge, this does not mean you will always be successful just by using PM standards. Just because you know that there is such a concept of managing stakeholders, this does not mean that you will do this successfully. Your communication strategy may be suboptimal, politically-based actions from others may ruin your project plan: There is more than just the PM standard that should be followed, and this is the non-reproducable part of project management success: The project manager and his soft skills that are not standardizable. Still, an untalented project manager may be more likely to be successful with a PM standard since he is using best practices, but it will not be a guaranty.

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Criteria Criteria is a noun which represents any representative standards, rules,...
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PMBOK, 4th edition revisited

Tom — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:20:35 +0000

Earlier this year, I had reported that the new version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge, the fourth edition, could not be opened on Macintosh computers. I had written an email to the local PMI EMEA office in order to ask when this would be solved but never got an answer. This is probably not the behaviour you would expect from the PMI

Nevertheless, in May I received an official mail by the PMI that these issues should be resolved. I had not time by now to test this in detail, but at least I managed to open the new download. I guess some stakeholders had been forgotten at the beginning of the project…

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Project Management in a troubled Economy

Tom — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:46:49 +0000

The times, they have become tough, and more and more companies are required to reduce the number of employees in order to survive or to keep the figures nice. Often enough, these means that less people are required to manage the same amount of work as before the reorganisation. In other words, resources need to be used more efficiently.

If there is one vital advantage of project management, then it is the effective use of resources. By managing scope and planning the resources that are needed in order to get the work done, project managers make a attractive promise to senior management: For budget “x”, you will get “y”, and provided that the project manager has been involved in ROI calculations during project initiation, the project manager can make sure that the scope of the project will reflect the needed means in order to deliver the ROI.

However, project managers are not always positioned to “sell” this advantage. Now, even more than in other times, it is important for project managers to evangalize organisations about the value of organisations, not because the project manager wants to survive but because project management does add value to an organisations bottomline if resources are used more efficiently.

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Avoiding Procrastination as Project Manager

Tom — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:22:07 +0000

As a project manager you have probably encountered a few projects that you just don’t like working on. Perhaps it’s the nature of the impending project or it could be your mood or maybe even the time of year. When faced with a project you just don’t find interesting, it’s easy to put things off by making excuses, but procrastination is not the answer.

The more the tasks before us are delayed, the more difficult and daunting they become. In addition, these delays can create much more work in the long run. So the question is, how does a project manager get past this tendency to procrastinate?

One way is to set up a reward for yourself once the project is complete. Make a list of tasks that need to be accomplished then assign an appropriate reward for each one. Just be sure to actually reward yourself once the task has been finished.

It also helps to psyche yourself up to start working. Avoid postponing tasks and take action immediately when a new job arises. There may not be a right time to do it, so you sometimes have to create that right time in your own mind.

Once a task has been completed it’s important to quickly move on to the next one. Small breaks help with refocusing but they can also be a distraction. If you are easily distracted, it might pay to move on to the next job quickly.

In project management it is easy to over-commit yourself, compounding the problem. It’s not an easy thing to do, but sometimes you just have to say “no”. It is much easier to disappoint someone by not committing than to disappoint them by not delivering.

So if you find yourself putting off work that needs to be done, try some of these techniques and the next project you manage is sure to be more productive.

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Become Better at Delegation

Tom — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:48:35 +0000

Leadership skills are the key to becoming an effective project manager. One part of leadership is the ability to delegate work to the people on your project management team. However, unless a certain amount of respect is not present, delegation can be a difficult task to accomplish.

There are several ways to earn the respect of those working for you. First of all you must demonstrate an ability and willingness to do the task at hand yourself. It shouldn’t appear that you are just dumping work that you don’t want to do onto someone else.

Next, let the person know what the overall plan is and explain its importance to the project as a whole. If they understand the task is important to the completion of the project, it is likely they will have a better perspective and will take the job more seriously. The work, however, should assist them in meeting their own goals. Base your delegation on what is important to them, not on what is important to you.

The task should present a challenge and it should be offered in that way. No one likes to have busy work thrown at them, especially if they believe you don’t think they have the ability necessary to take on challenging tasks.
Communicate expectations clearly and solicit feedback.

A project manager should also be likeable. By getting to know the other people on the team it becomes easier to be sincerely interested and sensitive to each individual’s unique qualities. In addition, really knowing those who work for you helps to utilize their strengths and avoid assigning tasks where they might not excel.

Finally, you should be willing to give public credit to project management team members once tasks have been completed successfully. A little praise can go a long way, but be sure you are sincere in what you say.

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Delegate Without Losing Control

Tom — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:47:42 +0000

The old saying, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” does not always ring true when it comes to project management. It is important to know that you can’t do everything yourself and delegation is an essential part of being an effective project manager.

As a project manager it can be difficult to delegate because you may feel a loss of control and power. After all it is your responsibility to make sure the goals of the project are met. Remember, however, that power must be used appropriately and poor delegation can lead to resistance or even resentment from project members. Maintaining a balance between delegation and control can be very tricky.

First of all, you should use the least amount of power needed to reach the desired outcome. Start out with a small use of power and increase that amount if you feel it isn’t working. It’s also important that you don’t abuse the power you have. Never use power for personal gain especially if you have no authorization to do so.

When delegating duties and power, try giving people a choice but make sure the choices are ones you can live with. For example you could give these two choices: “Would it be possible to do this by tomorrow or do you need until the end of the week?” Don’t however ask: “Do you want to do this?” The answer to that question might not be what you want to hear and it also takes away from the project manager’s power.

Be involved in project members’ tasks, but don’t become over-involved. Frequent checking of progress is important so that you can spot problems early, but too much checking can be interpreted to mean you don’t trust their abilities.

Once you become comfortable using these strategies, you can move on to letting others make decisions and set agendas while you, as project manager, control the environment.

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Can You Have Too Many PM Meetings?

Tom — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:27:45 +0000

Project management meetings can be a helpful tool to keep all team members on the same page, however, holding too many meetings can actually lead to a decrease in productivity as well as resentment for having to attend meetings when people could be working.

The first question that should be asked when considering a meeting is whether it is really necessary. Meetings held that do little more than get everyone together for a gab session are unnecessary and wasteful, taking away from the work that needs to be completed. On the other hand, when group action is needed to exchange information, deal with conflict, or develop ideas a meeting can be useful. The duty of the project manager is to determine whether the meeting is essential to the project or not.

Some project managers hold status meetings which can be inefficient and eat up loads of time and money. Instead, consider meeting one-on-one with individuals or small teams to get updates on progress. Email can also be an effective tool for measuring the progress of different sectors of the project.

One way to determine whether meetings are becoming detrimental to the project is to estimate the cost per minute of meeting time. Determine how much each member attending the meeting is being paid per hour and break that down into minutes. Multiply that by the number of meeting minutes and decide whether the cost/benefit ratio is worth it. Also keep in mind that negative morale caused by sitting in unnecessary project management meetings can offset any minor accomplishments that might have been made in the meeting.

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