Managing dysfunctional conflict is a much more challenging task than encouraging functional conflict. First, dysfunctional conflict is hard to identify. A manager might have two highly ta… Read More

In today’s fast-paced world, there appears to be a greater emphasis on getting things done quickly. Still, organizations are always looking for ways to get things done whi… Read More

This article will be the first part of a miniseries on building a project cost-duration graph. The graph, as you will see in the next part, will provide you with insights into how you can co… Read More

This article is the third part in a miniseries on building a project cost duration graph. The first part can be found here and the second part here. If you have already read them please igno… Read More

This is the second part of a short series on how to construct a project cost duration graph. You can find the previous part here. There are three major steps required to start building a… Read More

This article addresses strategies for reducing project duration either prior to setting the baseline for the project or in the midst of project execution. Choice of options is based on the c… Read More

This is the message sent to the Government in a keynote speech by the recently appointed HS2 Chairman Sir David Higgins in Manchester on Monday as he delivered his long awaited review… Read More

Most decisions on a project do not require a formal meeting to discuss alternatives and determine solutions. Instead decisions are made in real time as part of the daily interaction patterns… Read More

Project managers are responsible for managing the reward systems that encourage team performance and extra effort. One advantage they have is that often project work is inherently satisfying… Read More

Unlike project scope statements, which include specific cost, completion dates, and performance requirements, a project shared vision involves the less tangible aspects of project performanc… Read More

One of the challenges project managers often face in building a team is the lack of full-time involvement of team members. Specialists work on different phases of the project and spend the m… Read More

Research on team development confirms what we have heard from project managers: The first project team meeting is critical to the early functioning of the project team. According to one v… Read More

Project managers play a key role in developing high performance teams. They recruit members, conduct meetings, establish a team identity, create a common sense of purpose or a shared vision… Read More

Experience and research indicate that the following conditions will aid team development and also help start the process of building a high-performance project team:  … Read More

A change request is a document containing a call for an adjustment of a system; it is of great importance in the change management process. A change request is declarative, i… Read More

There is positive and negative project team synergy. The magic and power of project teams is captured in the term “synergy,” which is derived from the Gr… Read More

The Project Initiation Document Template aggregates the information which was acquired through the Initiating Stage of a project. Keeping that in mind, the Project Initiation Document, or PI… Read More

Starting from Gersick’s research,  stating that groups don’t develop in a universal sequence of stages as suggested by the five-phase model… Read More

The Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing team development model was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that… Read More

Usually the benefits or dis-benefits of a project can’t be assessed until the change (occurred by completing the project) has been in place for some time. The… Read More

A project checklist template is a type of informational job aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and… Read More

The roles and responsibilities inside an organization should be understood and employed everywhere, but somehow we have managed to get it wrong in so many cases it’s aston… Read More

Stakeholder analysis in project management is the process of identifying the individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according t… Read More

Projects and project managers live and die by information. Have each member of your project management team fill out this project status report template to tell you everything you need… Read More

A Risk Log/Register is a Risk Management tool commonly used in risk management and compliance . It acts as a central repository(Our Risk Log Template will cover all bases ) for all risks… Read More

A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also sometimes come in the form of a short… Read More

We all know people who have influence but whom we do not trust; these individuals are often referred to as “political animals” or “jungle fighters.” While these indiv… Read More

The idea of ethics has already arisen in my previous articles where I have discussed padding of cost and time estimations, exaggerating pay-offs of project proposals, and so forth. Ethica… Read More

Research consistently points out that project success is strongly affected by the degree to which a project has the support of top management and that ties directly into your ability to hand… Read More

A highly visible, interactive management style is not only essential to building and sustaining cooperative relationships, it also allows project managers to utilize their most powerful lead… Read More

Once you have established who the key players are that will determine success, then you initiate contact and begin to build a relationship with those players. Building this relationship requ… Read More

The first step to social network building is identifying those on whom the project depends for success — Mapping Dependencies. The project manager and his or her key assistants ne… Read More

To successfully manage a project, a manager must build a cooperative network among divergent allies and make use of their influence. Networks are mutually beneficial alliances that are gener… Read More

An effective project manager has to be able to deal with the contradictory nature of his work. Why would I say that, well here is my view: Project management is, at first glance, a misleadin… Read More

First-time project managers are eager to implement their own ideas and manage their people to successfully complete their project. What they soon find out is that project success depends on… Read More

I will begin with a brief discussion on managing versus leading a project. Then in a subsequent article I will move to tackle the importance of managing project stakeholders. I couldn’… Read More

A high-performance project team can produce dramatic results. However, like any good think, there is a dark side to a project team that a manager needs to be aware of. I referred to thi… Read More

Since estimating efforts cost money, the time and detail devoted to bottom up estimates is an important decision. Yet, when estimating is considered, you as a project manager may hear statem… Read More

Since estimating efforts cost money, the time and detail devoted to estimating is an important decision. Yet, when bottom up or top down estimates are considered, you as a project manager ma… Read More

A typical statement in the field is the desire to “have a 95 percent probability of meeting time and cost estimates.” Past experience is a good starting point for developing time… Read More

Project managers must be aware that their actions will have some organizational culture implications. First, they have to interact with the culture of their parent organization as well as th… Read More

The decision for combining a discussion of project management structures (you can read it here) and organizational culture can be traced to a conversation I had with two project managers who… Read More

Well, every course, article and training provider out there is stressing about the importance of having a project plan. It’s as simple as that. A project plan will help you plan, execu… Read More

One approach to organizing projects is to simply manage them within the existing functional organizational structure hierarchy of the organization. Once management decides to implement a pro… Read More

Lean sounds a bit abstract on its own, but combine it with Kanban project management and it’s easy to build your own Lean project management system. Conceived by Toyota engineer Taiich… Read More

Motorola wasn’t about to let the auto industry take all the credit for project management innovation, so decades after Toyota’s introduction of Kanban, the mobile phone company&r… Read More

Chapter 9 of a much more comprehensive post Project Management Starting Out Guide. Let’s get right in and discover the areas where an aspiring project manager should focus. Developing… Read More

Implementation of projects without a strong priority system linked to strategy creates problems. Three of the most obvious project portfolio management problems are discussed below. A projec… Read More

“There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives”  by George T. Doran was the first reference of the term in the November 1981 issue of… Read More

Perhaps the most obvious way to break up your projects into a workflow, traditional project management is often referred to as “waterfall” project management because it handles o… Read More