How do you define projects? Who is responsible for what? Who has authority? What are our goals? How do we communicate? In most organizations, these questions were answered long ago; the unique nature of projects, however, means that all of these questions have to be addressed each time a project begins. How they are answered…
Category: Project Management
A Product Development Life Cycle May Contain Many Projects
One of the reasons project management techniques are increasing in popularity is because of their role in new product development. Whether the effort is a new drug, a new software product, a new model car, or a new baseball stadium, it is done one time and produces a unique product. Since product development has the…
What is a Project Life Cycle
A project life cycle represents the linear progression of a project, from defining the project, through making a plan, executing the work, and closing out the project. At first glance, it might seem that this life cycle is the same as the project management functions. Define, plan, and execute seem to map directly to definition,…
Project Management Functions
Setting realistic expectations, fostering agreement among all parties, and then delivering the product is frequently challenging and always requires a wide array of techniques. From a high level these techniques can be grouped into the three project management functions. Project definition lays out the foundation for a project. There are two activities involved in this…
Defining Project Success In Three Easy Steps
This article focuses on the framework of project management. Just what are the components that go into building a successful project? How are we defining project success? Here are a few answers to these questions: On time. The product is delivered according to schedule. Some projects are essentially worthless if they aren’t on time. In…
The Evolution of the Project Management Discipline
From the time humans first worked together to build a shelter or cultivate a crop, there have been projects and project management. Yet it has been only since World War II that a formal project management discipline has emerged. During and immediately after the war, the U.S. government was engaged in enormous weapons development projects.…
Managing Projects, 6 Challenges You Should Know
Work that is unique and temporary requires different management disciplines. Because managing projects have different characteristics than ongoing operations, they pose a brand-new set of challenges. Here are some of the challenges that project managers could face: Personnel. Every project has different personnel needs. The number of people needed—and their different skill sets—is different for…
5 Ways to Improve Project Success
Project management has been called both an art and a science. Below, you will see how mastering the science of project management provides a foundation for the art of leadership. The reasons to improve project success are common to both. There is no question that the best project managers are also outstanding leaders. They have…
Do you have a Project Sponsor? No? Too bad…
The project sponsor role has grown in importance over the last years and I aim to provide some context attesting to that fact. But until then let’s focus a bit on the project manager. It is widely agreed that project managers fill a complex role within an organization. By definition their job requires them to…
8 Best Team Building Methods Series – Wheelan and Locke Methods
This article is the last part of a 4 segments series on best team building methods. If you have found this article through search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) I would recommend you start by reading the head piece of the series – The 8 best team building methods – to get an overall view…