By Kevin Lonergan on February 10, 2011
Well here’s my view. If project management (or delivering projects successfully, on a more often than not basis) were purely common sense, then the evidence to do with project delivery performance would tell a completely different story. For example, a UK report by the Royal Society of Engineering a few years ago quoted some frightening […]
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By Patrick d'Astous on February 2, 2011
In project management, we imply the existence of a strong relationship between experience and good decision making. The question is: What kind of experience? Domain experience or project management experience?
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By Carter McNamara on January 27, 2011
A guest post from Patrick d’Astous , chief scientist at Smartbox Software. A project manager puts, by trade, or by choice, his credibility on the line every day. Another way to say this is “a project manager is as good as his/her last project’s perceived success”. Compared to traditional management and its long term objectives, […]
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By Kevin Lonergan on January 21, 2011
From time to time in my business life, someone will ask, or sometimes say that project management is ‘common sense’, meaning it is just common sense. Often they are making a statement along the lines of ‘what’s all the fuss about this PM stuff, it’s all just common sense isn’t it’? Well, my question is, […]
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By Kevin Lonergan on January 8, 2011
Many methods have emerged over the years that are hailed as the greatest and latest way to deliver a project. A good example would be the “scrum” method for delivering IT projects. The scrum concept is implemented in a number of ways, one of which could be to pick groups of requirements which are delivered […]
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By Carter McNamara on January 7, 2011
Benefits of Consulting and/or Project Teams Occasionally, a client will specify that they want a team of consultants on the project because the project requires substantial expertise and resources. While there can be many frustrations for consultants working in teams, there are also major benefits. The team can provide a wide variety of expertise and […]
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By Carter McNamara on December 4, 2010
Your client’s perception of project “success” is the basis from which your client concludes, for example, whether the project of high quality, that money paid to you was well spent, that you did a good job as a consultant, and whether you might be hired again (if you are an external consultant). Early in the […]
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By Kevin Lonergan on October 27, 2010
The following is definitely not at the “best” end. I recently had to respond to a bid for major customer – in the customer ITT the usual procurement rules were laid down. The ITT had been written in English; by someone who’s native tongue was not. The document was full of inconsistencies, incomplete or vague […]
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By Kevin Lonergan on October 11, 2010
There are many elements in the environment of a project, and ‘organisation’ is one of the most important. Organisational decisions can encompass wide-ranging aspects, such as partnerships, key supplier and sub-contracting relationships and responsibilities within a project – and that’s the key word: “responsibilities”. Making responsibilities clear at the practical working level, perhaps phase by […]
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By Kevin Lonergan on September 26, 2010
there will be times when you will not be the most popular person in the room …… Much of the lot of the project manager is concerned with dealing with issues; that may mean bringing attention to issues, their source, impact and resolution to the table for the project team, sponsors and executives to resolve. […]
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