Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

When selecting any resource of any type for a project, always keep in mind the automatic selection of the "cheapest" won't always be the least expensive option. This is why we have competitive bidding for major contracts -- we get a peek at the other dimensions. Does the resource meet our needs? Will our requirements be met? Will quality meet our standards?

Let's suppose we can choose between 3...

If your projects feel like "herding cats" or constant "fire-fighting", you are not doing something right. Check these five items first to avoid project chaos:

1. Define project success upfront with the project sponsor.
2. Do sufficient planning and get team and stakeholder buy-in.
3. Have a sound problem solving and decision-making process (and follow it).
4. Have a strong project management methodology...

Good project managers, especially those working in an Agile environment that can be very internally focused on the client-team collaboration, need to continuously scan the environment for external changes that might impact their projects. Make this a part of your periodic risk assessment. These can include legal, compliance, regulatory, financial, economic, and cultural changes.

Examples:

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A lot of folks in San Diego wonder how the construction of Petco Park, a managed project, could have possibly spent all the funding before it was half completed without anyone knowing. While I certainly don't have proof as to the actual cause, there is a very good way a project can get into this state -- they failed to look at all three key project success factors -- time, cost, and...

Getting the right requirements are important for project success. Whether you are in a dual role or collaborating with a business analyst, project managers should make sure all their projects include, at a minimum, these three basic types of requirements:

1. Business requirements usually represent the rationale - high-level goals and objectives - for undertaking a project. These should include...

Projects conducted with higher ethical standards have less risk and are usually more successful. Here are five tips to improve your ethics as a project manager:

1. Be a model of ethical behavior - lead by example: As others observe your actions, they will adopt more ethical practices.
2. Focus on issues, not people: Stress can cause unethical behaviors and a culture of blame causes stress.
3. Disclose...

To recap parts one and two of this post, we saw:

- how earned value is useful for monitoring both costs and schedule
- the basic formulas used to see if our projects are off track (and by how much)
- the recommendation that earned value be looked at weekly
- the ideal values for cost and schedule index are one (1.0)
- a simple way of communicating earned value information to our clients.

This week...

Last week we looked at the basic principles and formulas surrounding Earned Value Management. While the full practice of EVM may be very complex, it also provides a simple way to update clients on the status of smaller projects. But before we look at the "how", let's take a look at the "how often".

The frequency will actually depend on many things, but I recommend you start with once a week. If...

Risks can have an adverse impact on the success of your project. Here are five tips to help you successfully navigate project risk management:

1. Identify risks early and often. Start when you are handed the project charter, continue during planning, and be sure to re-visit your risk log periodically. If there were notable issues during the project, be sure these become a part of the lessons...