Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

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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This week someone questioned the wisdom of having a weekly project status meeting where all project team members participated to discuss issues and potential requirements changes. "Wouldn't that be an expensive meeting?" he asked. "Sure", I replied, "but imagine the expense without it."

It's especially important when dealing with a virtual team or remote clients. Without it, instead of managing t...

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
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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:

• Eve
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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 the
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Happy Passover and Happy Easter to family, friends, and colleagues around the world who are celebrating. Easter, in addition to being a religious holiday, is also a marker of the start of Spring (celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring). Here are 5 tips for project managers in the Spring:

1. Review your annual personal and project goals (hopefully set
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I've heard from several industry experts that many new project managers do not know how to effectively create and manage schedules. Here are 5 tips for better control of schedules:

1. It is essential to start with a well-constructed schedule.
2. Track all time on a daily basis. On Friday, most people won't remember how many hours they worked on specific tasks and projects on Monday. Be sure to inclu
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Having a good schedule is critical for project success.  Time is money because every day worked means resources are paid.  Here are five tips to improve your project schedules:

1. Include project critical success factors and other key messages at the top of the schedule (and all project plans).
2. Get the right level of detail. The WBS work package level becomes a summary task with action verbs as s
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Once project execution begins, you will need to track your budget regularly. Here are five tips to help you control your budget:

1. Review progress weekly: Update schedule and budget actuals, check for trends, and take corrective actions as required to get back on track. Record the changes so you will learn how to budget better next time.
2. Have a change control process in place: This process shoul
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