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PMBOK Explained – Session 2: Projects, Lifecycles and Organizations

October 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

PMBOK ExplainedIn session 2 of our PMBOK series we look at the project lifecycle and organization.

This series is helpful for those wanting to get a high level overview of the Project Management Body of Knowledge before undertaking further study or PMP exam preparation.

By the way, you can read more about PMP exam preparation, specifically, PM Prepcast by reading our PM Prepcast review.

You can watch the video and download the slides below!

Download the slides from this presentation: Project Management Success – PMBOK Explained – Session 2 Project Lifecycle and Organization (507k PDF)

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Mind Mapping for Project Management Success

February 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

I love mind mapping software!  It’s simple, it’s visual, it’s versatile – and everybody gets it!  I use mind mapping software throughout the project lifecycle for many purposes, including:

Product Breakdown Structure – the very first thing I do when I’m making sense of what a project is about is go through the documentation and try to define what the project deliverables are.  I use mind mapping software to make a visual and hierarchical representation of the project products in a product breakdown structure (PBS).

Project Plan – once I’ve identified the products of the project I can then export this PBS from my mind mapping software to my Gantt chart software, which happens to be MS Project 2007 at the moment.

Project Meetings – I use mind mapping software to take notes during any project meetings and then export the notes to MS Word or a pdf document.

Project Reporting – I keep the PBS and add some progress type icons to it and use this as a key project reporting tool.  Project boards and committees love it – they don’t have to wade through gantt charts or cumbersome text, they can just look at it – and get it!

So there’s just a few uses for you!

The software I use for mind mapping is Mindjet’s Mind Manager 8 – it’s commercial software that costs a little bit, but well worth it for the use I get out of it!  There is a free alternative that looks quite good – though I’ve not tried it and so not sure if it has all of the cool export options, but recommend you give it a go if you want free software – it’s called XMind.

Sample Product Breakdown Structure with progress indicators

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Project Management Success

February 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Being a Project Manager is hard work!  It can be an extremely challenging undertaking – managing people, tasks, risks, issues,activities and deliverables.  Get it right and sometimes it may just go unnoticed – all part of the job.  Get it wrong, however, and you  can bet everyone will be watching!  Being in control of a large project is kind of like being in control of a large freight train that is hurtling down the tracks. Exhilirating and a little bit scary!

Project management success depends on the ability of the project manager to perform in a number of areas:

  • Planning – the project manager needs to undertake a thorough and detailed planning phase that identifies the actual deliverable items of the project along with the development approach, the resources, time and tasks involved and the quality acceptance criteria.
  • Manage stakeholders – the key stakeholders of the project should be identified and an appropriate engagement and communcation plan developed for managing the stakeholders.
  • Manage teams – the project manager needs to lead a team to deliver the project products.
  • Manage Tasks – the tasks of the project need to be identified, estimated in terms of cost, time and resource requirements and tracked through the project.
  • Manage Scope – the scope of the project, or the quality and quantitiy of project product and function needs to be carefully managed throughout a project to ensure it stays close to the planned project outcomes and remains within the constraints offered by time and cost.
  • Manage Risk – risks need to be identified, assessed for their likelihood to eventuate and potential impact on the project should they eventuate.   Actions to mitgate risks should be employed where appropriate and risks should be monitored and managed throughout the project.
  • Manage Issues – similar to the management of risks, issues need to be identified, analyzed and managed through a project to reduce their negative impacts upon a project.
  • Communicate – communication is a key part of project management.  The project manager is the central point of communication for all project stakeholders.  Communication needs between the project team members, the project manager and the customer.  Project meetings and project reports are often the key vehicles for project communication.
  • Documentation – project documentation serves several purposes – it clarifes and solidifies what the project is about and who is responsible, it facilitates better tracking and management of the project and forms part of the communication of the project.
  • Manage Delivery – ulitimately the project has to deliver something.  It is important for the project manager to remember that whatever else is going on, whatever reports need to be written, meetings that need to be held, risks that need to be monitored and so forth, the primary focus must be on delivering the goods!
Having a process to follow, a methodology, can play a part in project management success.  Many project managers tend to be well organized and methodical planners and executers of process – and that is no accident.  Project management process is imperative to consistent success in managing projects.
Having templates and tools to assist in delivery projects is also a facilitator of project management success.  There are many software tools available to help you, including:
  • Project product planning tools.
  • Project task planning and tracking tools.
  • Project Documents.
  • Project Reporting tools.
  • Issue/Risk/Deliverable Management tools.

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Project Management Success – Quick Fire Strategies

February 5, 2010 By

Managing projects can be a difficult job and sure isn’t for the faint hearted!  All projects have challenges to overcome, in fact the complexity our projects, time and budget constraints in our high paced work environments mean that ‘putting out fires’ is an everyday part of managing projects.  But take heart, there are strategies that can help you to deal with challenges, issues, risks and problems and find Project Management success!

Here’s a few quick-fire strategies to get you moving straight away – strategies that take just a moment to employ, but can really make a difference in you everyday project world:

1.  Get Amongst It – Know your project inside and out, really understand what it’s about, talk to each member of your team and understand what they are doing, where they are at, what problems they are facing.  Really get amongst it.  Managing from afar just doesn’t work.

2.  Believe that you can – Ever heard that saying ‘whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right’?  Well project management is a bit like that.  Often we are given projects where the resources, time, scope and budget just don’t point to success even at the get-go, however, we need to keep believing that we can do it.  We can deliver it.  We will find a way.  This belief not only focuses our mind on solving problems and taking actions but it sends a message to the whole team.

3.  Get on top of issues – No, they just don’t tend to go away by themselves, do they?  If you or another team member have identified an issue – solve it.  Nip it in the bud.  Solve it now, while it’s still small.  Come up with the options, communicate with the team and with the stakeholders.  Some issues are just carried all the way through the project like a grumbling under the surface until the project has to grind to a halt.  If you know something is going to cause a problem, get on top of it.

4.  Make deadline – all projects have key dates where deliverables are due to customers.  Isn’t it amazing what a flurry of activity can occur in the week or so when the next deliverable is due.  Funny what deadlines can do, isn’t it?  Having goals that are bound by a date really focus people’s time and energy, so set internal deadlines for the next piece of work with your team and get focused.

5.  Prioritize – Prioritize your time and energy into doing things that matter, things that are directly related to the completion of key project deliverables or the solving of project issues.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the small stuff that we lose sight of what’s important.  Project Management success, particularly where you have multiple projects to manage, is dependent upon your ability to determine what is important – and what isn’t.

6.  Communicate – talk to the team, talk to the customer, tell people what’s going on.  If there’s a problem, if there’s a success, whatever, just communicate.  Being visible as a leader and manager is important and ensures both your team and your stakeholders are confident that you are on top of things.

So there are a few strategies for you to employ, that can help you to achieve Project Managment Success.  Good luck!

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