The Ultimate Project
Imagine a project with your goals set, the availability
of thousands of human resources, billions of monetary resources, any
deadline you please and the plan is all up to you.
Wow, PM
nirvana.
Now also imagine your stakeholders arguing between
themselves, your every move watched, publicized and criticized, and
hundreds of people asking questions daily, often time the same,
repetitive questions. What can we learn from running a war?
Here's a short list of five thoughts. First and foremost, if your
strategy is correct, any number of tactical errors can be made and
yet the project proves successful. No doubt about it, not everything
runs smoothly or as planned. But be ready to change your tactics
when striving for your goal.
Second and third, communicate and communicate again. OK, so I
cheated. This one takes up two spaces on my 5 item list because it
is so important. Communication can take place many ways including
face-to-face, by phone, fax, email, or meetings. It is important to
know that 90% of a PM's time is spent communicating!
Fourth, don't wait until the end of the project to review the
lessons learned. While every project will have a "post mortem"
analysis, a great PM will review and learn from every tactical move
performed during the project. The lessons learned will then be used
in the next task.
And finally, keep a cool head. Missed deadlines, out-of- control
budgets, employee turnover and stakeholder scrutiny; It can be
difficult to get the feelings of "impending doom" out of your head.
It's natural with the PM's level of exposure to feel like your
nerves are being tested; to wonder how you're going to handle your
own anxieties. Remember the project's goal and continue to work
towards that goal.
More
about Project Management at our website.
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Greetings ! Happy Spring everyone!! As we begin our spring cleaning
projects, let's take a moment to pray for and give a heartfelt
thanks to our armed services personnel. May God shine upon
them and continue to bless the United States of America.
The Value Manager this month focuses on project management.
Project Management has been identified as a key to any
organization's ability to reliably deliver its commitments. No
matter what project you are working on - whether it's simple
and straightforward or complex and detailed, we are on hand to
offer unsurpassed support on how to initiate projects, get
them moving in the right direction, track and measure project
progress, and better manage the triple constraint.
Read on for helpful information and ideas. . . .
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Project Management Services |
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Project Management has been identified as a key to any
organization's ability to reliably deliver its commitments,
and our Project Management Services are especially beneficial
to you in the following situations:
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Inadequate staff or time to oversee a project: Few
clients have the staff resources to pay close and consistent
attention to a project. These details can make or break a
project and a budget.
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Inexperience with planning, design and/or execution:
Many clients may not have the necessary background to
adequately oversee a project.
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Remote location of a project: Clients with projects in
remote locations are unable to manage the daily tasks of a
project in abstentia. Many client's thought they did
not need a project manager until they get to the point of
starting implementation. Wrong! There are many valuable
services we provide long before the actual "doing" starts:
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We can help develop the scope of a project by evaluating
your current processes and infrastructure. Then we can
develop a budget from the results of the evaluation.
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We provide detail estimates of the scope of the project
so that you avoid surprises at bid time. Further, if the
estimate shows the project is beyond the budget we can make
recommendations on how to balance design and budget.
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We can review the documents to be sure they are clear,
possible and complete. Projects planning will create a lower
price on a complete and well organized set of plans.
Proven and repeatable project management methodologies help
yield bottom-line business benefits.
Find
out more... |
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Book Report |
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 Building a Project-Driven Enterprise: How to Slash
Waste and Boost Profits Through Lean Project Management
by Ronald Mascitelli
After reading Building a Project-Driven Enterprise and
learning about Lean Project Management, you will have another
tool in your tool belt. Use it as you would other tools, such
as the theory of constraints, Total Quality Management, Six
Sigma, Balance Scorecard, or the Project Management Book of
Knowledge. There is much to use here while not being burdened
with monotone, textbook dribble.
Read
more reviews at Amazon.
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Questions for Project Managers |
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Use this checklist periodically, especially when you
have time on and between projects to do some serious
evaluation of how you strategize, plan and manage your
projects. It will reveal the adjustments you need to make to
increase your chances of success on your future projects and
reveal ways to improve your current project and capitalize on
those things that are working best.
Checklist
(PDF). . .
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Brainstorming |
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 I often find that project initiation and planning is
always an issue when just deciding to begin a project. I've
developed this project planning checklist to scan possible
ideas to be considered when projects are just a gleam in your
eyes. It is especially useful when you're just brainstorming,
and giving yourself permission to capture any and all ideas
that pop into your head.
Another
handy checklist (PDF)
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Links from Previous Issues |
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In case you have just subscribed or, God forbid, you
deleted your previous issues of The Value Manager, here are
some links to review some past materials.
A quick lesson on PM basics:
Project
Management - a Short Course
PDF Whitepaper on ROI:
Show
Me the Money
Business Reading:
Reference
Library
Frequently
Asked Questions: |
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Please let us know. . . |
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Do you have a problem with a project or business
process you would like to see addressed? Just reply to this
email or visit the contact us page on our website. We'll be
happy to address it in an upcoming Value Manager issue.
Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues. Click on
Forward Email below. Thanks and see you next time.
Contact
Us: |
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