OUR BLOG: HONEST VIEW OF THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY
IN THE WORLD OF DELIVERING PROJECTS

Firstly what does a Project Manager do? They are responsible for ensuring a project is delivered successfully by actively planning and managing their project. That's the very short version.  In truth, the role can be complex and challenging.   What demand is there for their skills today and in future? Project Managers are in increasing demand, and in general, project management skills are considered highly valuable by businesses across the globe today. Surveys have predicted the demand to ...

  The negative 'behaviour' they encourage and the damage they do to real data: In recent years, Project Dashboards have become very popular in major businesses engaged in large-scale projects. The principle behind them is simple and fine (in theory). It is to give visibility to senior managers and executives of the performance of individual projects.  However, what they often 'encourage' destroys the chances of meeting this goal. The format and content can vary greatly, but ...

How do you select the right people to be project managers? Most people who end up being a project manager do so more through circumstances rather than by choice.  Here’s an example:  I was talking to a manager in a large-scale business only weeks ago, who had just been appointed the project manager of a major change the business wants and needs.  We have an established relationship with this firm, which is why the newly ...

Why defining 'benefits realisation' through 'investments' does real damage: Benefits Realisation is a new concept, having only come about in the last decade or so. As such its application and definition are not yet mature. It is applicable to all aspects of public and private sector activity where any form of change is being sought that is intended to achieve some form of advantage (or benefit) for the key stakeholders of that organisation.  In the private sector, ...

What we call things really matters and here is why: Over the past decade, the topic of benefits realisation has emerged and is gaining much interest.  In some circles, it is referred to as benefits management. We do not agree with this and here's why. The goal of the concept is to provide a real focus on, and visibility of the actual realisation of the planned benefits in any business change, throughout the change cycle.  The goal ...

This is not semantics: it is critical to deliver benefits There are discussions on LinkedIn etc around the slow rate of take-up of benefits realisation and why this may be.  Some argue that language does not help and may contribute towards the rate of take up. Within these discussions some are suggesting what it could be called, using either new terminology or terminology that is used in seemingly 'similar' topics.  The most common usually involves ...

So who exactly makes the following claim? The current custodians of Prince2 ® (the UK Government’s ageing (1) PM Method), who look after it on their behalf by virtue of winning a contract from which they plan to benefit from, state on their website that Prince2 ® is “Global best practice”. That is quite a claim. This is a personal view (backed up by the references in the links below). However, it's from someone who has been ...

There is an important difference: Project risk management presents many challenges to project teams.  Two of them are understanding (across a broad enough range of people) and application. I.e. getting it done early enough in the project when you are always very busy, so that the outputs of risk management have a positive impact on the project.   In relation to understanding, there are many discussions that you can see around the Web on this topic, which ...

In principle it appears fine, in practice, it can be very destructive: One thing we need to be clear on at the start. We are not advocating that Project Managers sit on the shoulders of team members every day so that they see progress and issues. Some will refer to that as micromanagement. At the same time, we are referring to a working environment that uses and encourages practices that highlight issues, risks and progress ...

  Very punchy video with some really important messages: We have just launched a punchy video on "What makes a great Project Manager" that we hope you enjoy. Please feel free to comment at the foot of this post, as we would like to hear other people's view on what makes the difference between an average and a great project manager.  We also have another post on developing great PMs in your business. Lastly, we have ...

  Sharing the habits and skills of Great Project Managers: It is fairly rare to see a genuinely unique offering around the topic of project management, but we believe, this may well be one.  It's a brand new course on "How to be a great project manager". Many people believe that being a great project manager has very little to do with Gantt charts and methods, and everything to do with the degree to which ...

Every business wants great project managers - let's look at how best to develop them: Here’s an interesting question.  How do you find  and develop  great project managers in business? Firstly, what do we mean by find?  Let’s be very honest. Not everyone makes a good, let alone a great project manager.  It requires an unusual combination of skills that you simply don’t find in very many people.   So, let’s start perhaps with: “how not ...