Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

Innovation is often a direct result of good project management - teams find novel solutions and produce superior results (creativity), which can be implemented (innovation). Here are 5 tips for encouraging and supporting innovation in projects:

1. Provide clear objectives, roles, responsibilities, and an overall plan to focus on creativity.
2. Demonstrate value for new ideas: let them be heard and d
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If we look at the five levels of effective quality management, it's easy to see that proactive (taking preventative measures) is the least expensive way to go.  If clients find problems, or we find the problems just before the project goes to the customer, there is a cost to repair issues, as well as the possibility of other losses, such as loss of reputation or the client.  A solid risk managemen...

They say that 90% of project work is about communications in some form. Others have estimated that meetings can take up around 50% of project communications time. So, make a commitment to follow these five steps to take your meetings from good to GREAT:

Goals: Pre-plan the meeting and determine what goals must be met to achieve meeting success.

Right people: Determine the right set of people to ...

Why do our projects not succeed?

Toward the end of last week, I completed a corporate training for UCSD Extension at a major San Diego/US defense contractor. They were taking the final exam, so I covered some short topics to generate discussion rather than cover new material.  I showed them the results of industry studies by organizations such as Standish Group and Meta Group. I showed them acade...

It’s been a year since the launch of the Accidental Project Manager book. PPC Group, LLC wants to help as many new, aspiring, and “accidental” project managers as possible during the next month. On 12 August 2019, we are launching Accidental Project Manager: The Online Experience. Continuing in the tradition of the book, this new online experiential course develops essential project management ski...

For the last two weeks, we looked at two different ways to evaluate project selections to determine which to work on. This type of activity is often carried out by senior management and not the project manager. The project manager is usually involved once the project charter has been developed. A special form of project charter is the Statement of Work or SOW. Its often associated with a contract ...

Last week we looked at the BCR -- Benefit-Cost Ratio as a way of evaluating a project. This week I'd like to look at a related technique -- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The purpose of many projects is to introduce a new product or service. Often this new product or service has a later ongoing operation. For example, if you have installed Oracle Financials, there is a need to develop the customiz...

Fire fighting and herding cats is not project management. To bring your project back to a stable environment, pause and consider the following:

1. Are there unidentified, poorly prioritized, or unmitigated risks that need attention?
2. Is there a sound problem solving and decision-making process in place?
3. Has the team been involved in these processes and bought-in to actions?
4. Have you built consen
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For the next few weeks, I'd like to take a closer look at initiating projects, with special attention to costs. This is an area of weakness for many who jump in to do work before looking at the consequences or rewards. Rather than use a microscope, you need a telescope to see to the far and of the project. We'll focus on costs, but once again, there are many other factors that must be analyzed.

T...

Projects that are off track may require corrective action or re-planning. Before deciding what to do, make sure the team is aware of the problem. Make them knowledgeable about the issue and empower them to be responsible and a part of the solution. This will:

• improve buy-in,
• grow team capabilities, and
• lead to a better solution than one arrived at unilaterally.
  
  
  

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