February, 2018

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The What, Why, and How of Projects

Project Risk Coach

3 Powerful Questions for Fast Tracking Your Projects In this article, let’s look at three simple and powerful questions that project managers should ask in every project, the what, why, and how of projects. Getting answers to these questions will greatly reduce risks to your projects and position you and your teams for success. 3 Key Project Questions. 1.

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How to Create a Project Assumptions List: Examples and Template Included

Project Bliss

. When my daughter was very little she came home from school one day and told me the saying about assumptions: When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. Gasp! “Where did you hear that, honey?” “At school, Mommy. Our teacher told us.” Yes, you’ve heard that one. I just didn’t expect my little one to learn that saying so early in her life.

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The Pareto Principle is alive and well in project management

Ron Rosenhead

So let’s start with a definition or an understanding of the ‘Pareto Principle’? “The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes.”. Let me give you an example of how I used this many years ago. I was the training manager in a company that had a centralised typing pool (I did say it was many years ago).

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How to Create a Project Team Culture with Colin Ellis

Rebel’s Guide to PM

This article, How to Create a Project Team Culture with Colin Ellis , first appeared on Girl's Guide to Project Management. I recently did a Live Q&A with Colin Ellis in my Facebook group. Are you a member yet? Sign up for the Facebook Project Management Cafe and join in the discussion. We discussed creating a project team culture. You can watch the video or read the transcript below.

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The 2nd Generation of Innovation Management: A Survival Guide

Speaker: Chris Townsend, VP of Product Marketing, Wellspring

Over the past decade, companies have embraced innovation with enthusiasm—Chief Innovation Officers have been hired, and in-house incubators, accelerators, and co-creation labs have been launched. CEOs have spoken with passion about “making everyone an innovator” and the need “to disrupt our own business.” But after years of experimentation, senior leaders are asking: Is this still just an experiment, or are we in it for the long haul?

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Can agile teams be virtual?

Musings on Project Management

Somebody asked: can a virtual team do Agile? 15 years ago, the answer might have been no. Seven years ago, more less pre smart phone and smart-phone networking, the answer was probably yes, but with reservations. Now, the answer is "Of course", with some adjustments. Here are my thoughts on this. The communications channel: Virtual teams often begin by emulating the behavior and.

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The 10 Risk Management Commandments You’re Breaking Every Day

Project Risk Coach

I fear that many project managers live by the letter of the law and may fail to gain the true benefits of risk management. These individuals are too concerned with checking boxes and making the risk management processes overly complex. Let’s look at some common mistakes and how to overcome them. 1. Thou shalt not make risk management complicated. Every project is different.

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5 Steps to Manage a Website Redesign Without Losing Traffic and Customers

Planio

Redesigning your site, web app, or blog always seems like a good idea. A fresh coat of paint keeps you current, improves usability, and upgrades your brand. But when it comes to a full website redesign, it’s not just what’s on the surface that counts. A full website redesign involves a lot of moving parts. And if you've already got traffic coming to your site, the last thing you want to do is ruin a good thing just because you wanted a facelift.

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The Yin-Yang of Productivity

Digite

This year’s Nobel for Economics has gone to the Behavioural Economist Richard Thaler. Richard is a Distinguished Professor at the Chicago Booth Business School. His big work is the influence of clues and society on individual decision making and actions. The field of Behavioural economics has fascinated me ever since I read Daniel Kahneman’s bestseller “ Thinking Fast and Slow ”.

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How to Be Assertive At Work (Nicely)

Rebel’s Guide to PM

This article, How to Be Assertive At Work (Nicely) , first appeared on Girl's Guide to Project Management. This is a guest article from Andy Kaufman, PMP. Andy Kaufman. I work with project managers around the world, and increasingly there’s one success trait that I find could use a tune-up. In a word, it’s assertiveness. Some of this is unquestionably cultural.

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Breaking Ground on Better Payment Processes: Strategies for Construction Pros

Speaker: Timothy Allsopp

Payment challenges often lead to delayed projects, financial bottlenecks, and strained relationships. With construction projects becoming more complex, outdated processes are no longer sustainable. By refining financial workflow, companies can improve cash flow, reduce error, and foster trust between stakeholders. Discover practical strategies for redesigning payment systems to overcome workflow challenges while creating a smoother, more reliable process for contractors and subcontractors alike.

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Your Guide to Accurately Estimating Projects

LiquidPlanner

Estimation is an invaluable tool for anticipating and managing project uncertainties. Accurate project estimates help identify cost and schedule requirements with relative precision, and reduce the risk of running out of time, resources, and budget during a project. But even with years of experience, project managers struggle with accurate project estimates.

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RBS is one more technique for your estimation tool belt!

Kiron Bondale

Project managers need to be comfortable with different estimation techniques. Foundational project management courses will teach you about analogous, bottom-up, parametric and three-point estimating. Take a course covering agile delivery and you’ll learn about relative sizing techniques such as estimating poker or t-shirt sizing. But have you heard of RBS?

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Evaluating Risks Using Quantitative Risk Analysis

Project Risk Coach

Project managers should be prepared to perform different types of risk analysis. For many projects, the quicker qualitative risk analysis is all you need. But there are occasions when you will benefit from a quantitative risk analysis. Let’s take a look at this type of analysis: What is it? Why should we perform it? And when should it be performed? Continue Reading.

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How to Manage a Remote Team and Stay Productive (From the World’s Top Remote Startups)

Planio

As far as changes to the way we work, few things have had as much of an impact as the rise of remote work. And why not? As our jobs shift from menial repeatable tasks to more independent, cognitively demanding roles the need to be constantly supervised has dropped dramatically. Add to that a plethora of powerful tools that make collaboration and communication easier than ever and it’s no wonder that remote work is seeing such high adoption.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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Scrum Master vs Project Manager vs Product Owner and More

PM Basics

Eh? Scrum Master vs. Project Manager vs. Product Owner? Sound like comparing apples with oranges. However, in real life, project managers lead scrum teams. Scrum Masters do need project management tools and techniques. I’m asked this kind of questions so many times that I decided to create this in-depth article on roles in different project management frameworks.

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AlchemyWorks: Software Review [2018]

Rebel’s Guide to PM

This article, AlchemyWorks: Software Review [2018] , first appeared on Girl's Guide to Project Management. General information. Name: AlchemyWorks. Vendor: AlchemyWorks Ltd. Hosting options: Web only. There’s also an android app available. Languages: English comes as standard and you can add terminology in your own language. However, system prompts and contextual help are only available in English.

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3 Critical Reasons to Run Effective Meetings – It’s More Important Than You Think

Project Bliss

Effective meetings don’t just happen. It takes effort. And for that reason, you might be tempted to skip the prep work needed for a great meeting. But don’t do it. It’s easy to simply send out invitations and walk into the conference room at meeting time. But you’d be making a big mistake and missing valuable opportunities. There are three big reasons why running effective meetings is more important than you think… 1.

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What do you ask when interviewing project managers?

Kiron Bondale

I’ve written previously about what I look for when reviewing project manager resumes as well as what I look for when hiring for these positions. Testing a candidate’s knowledge of hard or soft skills provides limited benefit to the hiring process. If they have the letters “, PMP” or “, PRINCE2” after their names, they can very likely talk the talk even if they’ve never walked the walk.

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Prepare Now: 2025s Must-Know Trends For Product And Data Leaders

Speaker: Jay Allardyce, Deepak Vittal, Terrence Sheflin, and Mahyar Ghasemali

As we look ahead to 2025, business intelligence and data analytics are set to play pivotal roles in shaping success. Organizations are already starting to face a host of transformative trends as the year comes to a close, including the integration of AI in data analytics, an increased emphasis on real-time data insights, and the growing importance of user experience in BI solutions.

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Evaluating Project Schedules Utilizing Quantitative Risk Analysis

Project Risk Coach

Do you remember the first time you missed a project deadline? I do. I recall the embarrassment for me and my team. I promised myself I would take proactive steps to mitigate this outcome for future projects. Why do projects take longer than expected? Often times, risks occur and project managers lack adequate schedule reserves. Once burned, many project managers start a bad habit – padding their project schedules.

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Process breakdown structure

Musings on Project Management

A coffee shop discussion on process redesign and process improvement led me to state the obvious to my caffeine-charged debaters: Managers responsible for the business buy results [and outcomes], not process. Process, by itself, does not sell well; what sells is results. Process per se is a tool. For the most part, business people hire experts for their ability to deliver results; what.

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Why do most projects fail?

Binfire

It is no secret that a lot of projects fail! The high failure rate of projects has a devastating effect on the bottom line of businesses and the national economy as a whole. Every year Billions of Dollars are wasted on failed projects. What is even worse the bigger the project, the higher probability of failure, which means more money and resources are wasted!

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Free Organisational Chart Template

Rebel’s Guide to PM

This article, Free Organisational Chart Template , first appeared on Girl's Guide to Project Management. This month’s freebie is an organisational chart template created with PowerPoint’s SmartArt tool and another sample organisational chart created from scratch, also in PowerPoint. I’ve already populated the charts with made up details so you can see how they will look.

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How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

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Celebrating Project Success: 5 Things You Can Do

LiquidPlanner

One of the by-products of being an engineer, a project manager, and having served over two decades in the military is that I tend to focus on what’s going wrong, or could go wrong, on a project instead of acknowledging project success. While this is a great mind-set for solving problems and performing risk management, in the realm of managing people it falls short.

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Have we learned anything?

Kiron Bondale

In a recent role, I had the opportunity to review the lessons submitted by teams running large, complex projects and programs and found that over 90% of what was being captured and shared was of low or no value. Back in April 2009, I published my very first blog article titled “ Lessons Learned; Avoid the Oxymoron “ Since that time, I’ve gained a broader appreciation of the multiple challenges organizations face when trying to get sustainable, reusable knowledge out of projec

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The Difference Between The Kanban Method and Scrum

Digite

Introduction. Continuing our theme of helping Agile teams understand the Kanban Method, so they can effectively adopt it for their improvement efforts, I am again honored to publish a guest article by another great friend of ours – Dave White. Dave is a Principal Consultant at Depth Consulting Ltd, and Program Director of the KCP Program at the Lean Kanban University.

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C.R.A.C.K. customers

Musings on Project Management

Barry Boehm on the C.R.A.C.K. Customer Dr. Barry Boehm, a noted software methodologist with a long and illustrative career at TRW, DARPA, and USC, and author of the COCOMO model and Sprial methodology, writes about the ideal customer for agile projects. They are: -- Collaborative: they will engage with their customer peers and with the development team -- Representative: they know the.

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Navigating Chaos in Project Management

This text offers practical guidance for project managers navigating diverse frameworks. It covers topics like centralized reporting, standardized metrics, communication, training, risk management, and alignment reviews. By implementing these strategies, project managers can improve efficiency and achieve their project goals.