Archive for March, 2011
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M.B.A. Programs Focus on Project Management
U.S. News & World Report Increasingly, employers in various fields are seeking workers who have a proficiency in project management. Skills like time management, the ability to implement strategic change, and cost management, among others, are in great demand in the wake of … |
FROM his hilltop cattle farm in Sarina, Hugo Nella will have a great view as work on the Hay Point Expansion project hits top gear.
Australian systems integrator Tripoint Corporation is in the box seat to act as the prime contractor on a $25 million three year project to install a new financial management information system for the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Few project leaders want to spend the up-front time and money to actually put together a risk management plan, but it truly needs to be your first step in effectively managing risks on your project. Your planning needs to include four steps in order to be effective and in order to be a “sellable” tool in your PM process.
The Anti-Social Project Manager
By Ty Kiisel
Whenever I speak with someone about project management and social media I tend to get one of two reactions. They either see the value right away or they don’t get it at all-dismissing the socialization of project management out of hand. After a few minutes of conversation, their negative attitude [...]
Free Risk Register Templates are easy to access and understand tools for project managers to log risks. They give an ‘in a nutshell’ picture of the entire process of risk management for any given risk that is identified. In addition, it also gives important details such as supporting documents. Risk Register Template for Project Managers Th…
A visit to Dooster’s website and you’ll find this software is described as an “online project management and collaboration tool”. So, how does Dooster work and is it worth the price? Jean Scheid takes a look in this Dooster review. What Is Dooster? This web-based project management package comes from the developers a…
I’ve been involved in process analysis and design for ages. First in my local workspace, then in my team space, my department and then they let me wild with a whole business unit. I did things that, on the whole made sense, but occasionally scared the pants off some of my stakeholders. Luckily, things have mostly worked out.
In my wake I have seen problems though. Finding the balance between back office process gnomes like me and putting control of how work is to be managed in the hands of those that do the work is not a simple black and white exercise.
At the very least there is the change management aspect of telling someone to change the way they think and act when they come to work. Don’t forget that a new process changes the underlying values that underpin the purpose of the work.
Then there is depth of knowledge and unexpected consequences. When you re-organize the way teams work, you are certain, upon a follow up visit to see how things went to discover various interpretations, partial adoption of the change and occasionally outright bizarre scenarios that just weren’t anticipated.
Lastly there is the insidious undermining of the authority and decision making rights of the staff who do the work. You take away their ownership of how things get done, you take away a good deal of commitment to outcomes and replace it with commitment to process compliance.
This last scenario has been flogged to death recently in the context of managing project teams, but the truth is it’s a very easy thing to see in many more places than project teams. Just go to any call centre, or back office processing team and there it is. It wasn’t always like that and it doesn’t have to be like that today.
When changing business processes involve the people who do the work and help them feel like they are in control of what is happening. When designing new processes, ensure that they are defined sufficiently loosely to allow a range of responses to the many and varies customer needs and wants they are going to come across.
Recently a colleague contacted me. We both belong to and contribute to a networking site (ITtoolbox to be exact or http://projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/). He told me that he was not quite clear regarding my beliefs about conflict. This was wonderful news to me. Basically he was providing me an opportunity to discuss my perspectives about [...]
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This episode is sponsored by The PMP Exam Simulator:
Last week we welcomed 5 bloggers on the program to take a look back at what’s been going on in PM over the past few months. So let’s turn around and look into the future.
I wanted to know from our group what they think is the cutting edge of PM today, what trends they see, what trends they would like to write about, what they feel is missing from the PMBOK Guide and if they see anything in the horizon that will come after Kanban, Scrum and Agile.
The bloggers that you will hear from today are:
- Peter Taylor: www.thelazyprojectmanager.com
- Josh Nankivel: www.pmstudent.com
- Terry Doerscher: www.planview.com/enterprise-navigator-blog
- Elizabeth Harrin: www.pm4girls.com
- Soma Bhattacharya: www.steppingintopm.com
If you yourself have a blog and would like to be part of The Pulse then let us know to be included.
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