Tag: Project management
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A PM whodunnit: The mysterious death of Earned Value…
The Case Background In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Earned Value Management (EVM) occupied a central place in professional project management. It was taught, standardised, examined, and applied across defence, infrastructure, engineering, and large IT programmes. Earned Value was not a fringe technique; it was a mainstream mechanism for answering the most fundamental project…
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Heroes of project management 🦸‍♂️💪🥇
This article hopes to establish project managers throughout history as being vital to the success of the greatest human endeavours, project management best practice is project management best practice after all, whether building pyramids in the desert, or rebuilding a war-ravaged continent and preventing mass starvation.
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V is for Volunteering
One of the criticisms of modern professional discourse is that there are too many opinions — including this one. Lists abound: “10 things to do.” “10 things not to do.” “10 things you thought were true but aren’t.” It’s endless advice in search of a verb. The only advice that really matters, though, is simple:…
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Factfulness Part Two – Rules of Thumb
Our first article explored Rosling’s Dramatic Instincts—the biases that lead CIOs and Project Managers to overreact to crises, vendor hype, and boardroom pressure. This article explores the very humans tendency to take a ‘good enough’ approach to problem solving. “Heuristics” is the official name, but it is also known as the ‘Rules of Thumb’. Are…
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Want to improve job performance?
“People’s mental wellbeing has been worsening. In the last 10 years, the number of people expressing stress, sadness, anxiety, anger or worry has been on the rise, reaching its highest levels since the Gallup surveys began.” But there is a practical step we can take to reduce the effects of negative stress…. Walk. Or take…
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Delivering Better Customer Service through Better Project and Program Management
“Customer service” — along with “value-add” or “quality assurance” — is one of those traditional phrases that can remind us of a different era. Whilst the focus on customer service has changed in recent years, it is still needed, and many organisations suffer from a lack of customer service design and understanding.
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Fast Breaks and Gantt Charts
After 30+ years of portfolio, program and project management, it felt good to encounter a new discipline that brought fresh perspectives and give me new insights on how to lead great and successful winning teams.
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A parable for failed project management, and how to find success …
Working with a team, managing a successful one, and leading for success allhave at their core a similar problem. How do we ensure that all team membersview the project — the drawbacks and the benefits — with the same insights andunderstanding? This is the Blind Men and their elephant problem. In the classic Indian tale,…
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What program managers can learn from NASA
When people think of NASA, they tend to think of the moon landings and the enormous benefits mankind has received from the side effects of the space But there is another great benefit of NASA that you might not be aware of: better program and project management.
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Introducing creativity to achieve better project outcomes
Whereas project teams and project methodology are understood and there is broad agreement on their usefulness in implementation, there is still no agreement on how to spur and nurture creativity in a business environment. So with little research and no agreement, how can we as program and project managers encourage project creativity for better project…
SquaringTheTriangle 