They say if you want to improve your golf swing focus on improving only one element of your golf swing at a time. The principle being if you focus on too many things at once you lose your focus altogether. When it comes to project management there are many elements you can focus on that […]
Responsible Organization vs. Performing Organization
What’s the difference between Responsible Organization vs. Performing Organization? On any given project, there is always the conversation on who is responsible for the accomplishment of certain segments of work. During the initial planning stages (often times during the proposal) of a program you develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), identifying a logical breakout of […]
New Projects: PMOs Can Propose Them Too!
Yes, the PMO can propose new projects too! The PMO is a hub for all new project ideas and they’ll be coming in from all areas of the business. As PMOs are generally considered impartial, you might feel that you can’t put forward any ideas for new projects of your own. That’s not true! In […]
Managing Project Risk
How well are you managing your project’s risk? For many project managers risk analysis is an addendum. And it’s not even the icing on the cake; it’s the sprinkles. Yes, most project managers do not think of risk management as an area of essential focus on their project. But risk management, never-the-less, is a primary […]
PMO Management: The Global Challenge to Stay Relevant
Research out from analyst firm Gartner last year points to a shift in the business drivers behind PMOs. A few years ago, they report, the main reason for having a PMO was to drive through measures that supported the economic survival of companies. Executives looked to PMO management to manage process improvement, improve standardization and […]
PMO Trends To Watch In 2016
PMO Trends To Watch In 2016 You’d be forgiven for thinking that the PMO world moves quite slowly, given that the focus of many corporate PMOs is on delivering services in a standard way, over and over again and with a strong eye on governance. In fact, the PMO is one of the most dynamic […]
GAO Releases Schedule Assessment Guide
Just before the end of 2015 the GAO (Government Accountability Office) released its Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules. This has been a long time in the making. It was originally started in November 2010 with a draft released in 2012 for comment. The GAO Schedule Assessment Guide develops scheduling concepts and presents […]
The Changing Role of the PMO Manager
Ask people what they think about the role of the PMO Manager and you’ll get lots of different responses. In some companies, the PMO function is purely administrative. In others, it’s the heart and soul of how projects are done and companies don’t know how they would function without it. For most, it’s somewhere in […]
Driving and Free Float Activity Properties In Primavera P6
Imagine a large project with many tasks and associated relationships, and you have a critical task with an important start date. Do you have a quick way of spotting all the predecessor activities that may be encroaching on this critical activity’s start date? As projects become larger it becomes increasingly cumbersome to analyze the effects […]
5 Reasons To Have a Project Management Office
Setting up a Project Management Office (PMO) is a pretty big task. It involves restructuring your company, or at least some of it, in order to take advantage of the benefits of bringing together the project management professionals in your business. So you need to go into it with open eyes, and cognizant of the […]