We start projects because we want something out of them. Those deliverables are supposed to give the project owners the tools they need to achieve the stated benefits. Benefits delivery is something the PMO should support. However, project managers aren’t always involved in the benefits-side of projects. When a project manager is tasked with delivering […]
Duration Estimates and Pure or Gross Worktime
An important distinction when creating duration estimates is whether the time estimated represents pure work time or gross work time. There is a difference between the two. Pure work time is 100% uninterrupted work focused on the respective project. Gross work time, however, includes: project related tasks and non-project related activities. Duration estimates will vary […]
How To Get Senior Management Support For Risk Processes
Very few businesses start out with an enterprise or portfolio approach to robust risk management. It’s something that is designed into risk process improvements over time, or managed as a maturity initiative. In other words, implementing risk management is often a project, led by the PMO or project management community. As with all projects, it […]
Microsoft Project and Task Calendars
Microsoft Project schedules tasks based on the project calendar, but it is possible to define a unique task calendar specific to a situation. These are called task calendars. Typically, most work on a project is performed using the same schedule. Perhaps, an 8-hour per day five day week schedule or a 10-hour per day four […]
Understanding Schedule Critical Drag
Understanding Schedule Critical Drag Critical activities are all the schedule tasks that cannot delay without postponing the completion date of the project. Therefore, these activities are rightly called critical; you definitely want to pay attention to momentum on these activities. But of all your critical activities, which ones generate the most drag on your schedule […]
7 Specialist Services Your PMO Can Offer
7 Specialist Services Your PMO Can Offer Project Management Offices are all about tracking, right? Well, not really. While supporting teams to track individual projects and monitoring the health of the portfolio overall are key services that the PMO can offer your exec team, that’s not where their work ends. Here are 7 ways that […]
Microsoft Project and the Start No Earlier Than Constrained Milestone
Start No Earlier Than (SNET) constraints in Microsoft Project are helpful for modeling external constraints, such as delivery of material. But you may want to add a constrained milestone to properly assign accountability for delivery related schedule slippage. External dependencies are dependencies that are outside your control. The classic example of an external dependency is […]
NAVFAC Scheduling Guidelines and Positive Lag
Scheduling guidelines are very common and produced by many organizations. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s (NAVFAC) Initial Project Schedule (IPS) checklist item 64 says finish to start (FS) relationships should have zero lag. What is the reasoning for this stipulation? Scheduling guidelines are good to study because understanding the principles behind the guidelines increases one’s […]
Procurement Management Contract Types
Procurement management is typically a major effort in the life of the project and can have huge impact on the project’s final success. As part of planning a project, the scope is analyzed to determine whether or not internal resources can do the project scope. If not, then the work is outsourced. Well, outsourcing project […]
Why Your Team Should Do Risk Management Training
Why your team should do Risk Management training. Risk management is an approach that allows organizations to improve how projects and programs are managed from start to finish. It’s a way of improving the communication channels across the business, and encourages project teams to be realistic with their estimates and scheduling. Risk management training is […]