As project managers, our management likes insight into what the team is doing. There are many different ways to accomplish this including your project plan and all its specific plans, meetings with the managers to status the project, and schedules. One method that is very popular is the use of Gantt charts. A visual depiction A Gantt chart is a visual depiction of your schedule. […]
Do you know the two most important documents in the Initiation phase of Project Management? In 2021, I wrote a couple of classes to present at a conference. The classes were canceled, and I thought I would offer the material here. The intent is to create a 5-part series for each phase of the Project Management process. Let us know if this is useful to […]
If you’re not a project manager, you are probably unaware of scope management. I was wrapping up phase one of a complicated infrastructure project. We were installing a large Storage Area Network (SAN) to handle all the U.S. and Canadian Training Centers – 10 locations if I remember correctly – with around 75 training rooms. I was feeling good that we were almost done, and I was […]
For many projects, status meetings are a given, mostly because that’s how projects are run in most companies. So, if your company culture mandates status meetings, then let’s make those meetings the best use of time possible. Let’s assume that you already have a basic understanding of how a good meeting is run. You know you should have an agenda, only invite the relevant folks, […]
In a good mood, you arrive in the office with your coffee and a spring in your step. You acknowledge your coworkers as you make your way to your desk. In your email, there’s a message from your boss requesting a meeting. Your coworker’s Project X is not on track and the boss wants you to do project recovery. Your co-worker has been reassigned to […]
I spent years as a corporate project manager, managing all types of projects from software documentation and training development to data warehouse infrastructure construction and server tech refresh. Lately, as a freelance writer, I find that the principles of project management are still relevant. All writing projects require some degree of task management. Let’s talk about the most popular content development projects: whitepapers, case studies, […]
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” ~Peter Druker As a member of a project team, what is the leadership style of your team leader? Over the years, I’ve seen many different styles of team leadership. Sometimes it was fascinating watching leaders attempt to get the project complete – often with little success. In other cases, it was seeing pure poetry […]
So, you’ve got content and you’ve got vision – but you’re not seeing results. What to do? Over the past year, I’ve been helping a few small businesses with their content needs as a content project manager. My background is project management, training, technical writing and communication for much larger companies. Even though these companies are small, they have some of the same problems I’ve […]
In Monday morning’s team meeting, project manager A is asking the team for status. The Quality Manager notes that they are 75% done with testing. PM A nods and makes a note. Perhaps she asks if testing will meet their dates. The Quality Manager says Yes. PM A moves on. But does she really know if testing will meet their dates? How many meetings like […]
Another phone call. Another change on your thorniest project. You roll your eyes, thinking, “How did I get stuck with this mess?” The never-ending project. The never-ending project sneaks up on you. Over time, you’ve made so many changes that it seems normal that in your team meeting, you’re changing direction yet again. The sponsor is excited to get their new vision created. You’re just […]
