Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

Stop throwing away lessons learned or putting them in obscure IT folders!  Lessons learned have tremendous value for projects - don't waste them.  Let's look at four reasons why project management lessons learned are essential:

Don't make the same mistake twice:  Spanish philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Albert Einstein said, "Insa...

I noticed that my most recent project management classes have had an unexpected number of women.  In fact, one class is 2/3 women and 1/3 men, which is exactly the opposite of what recent surveys have shown exists in most workplaces. It is good to see this diversity gap may be closing.

Last month, October, was Global Diversity Awareness Month, and last Thursday was International Project Managemen...

Are you an aspiring, new, or accidental project manager?  The tips in this blog are generally focused on you, however some are more important than others for those just starting out. These 5 tips are things that I learned early as a new project manager and hope they will benefit your careers as well!

• Get in GEAR - be an active listener:  Active listening is especially important for a new projec
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As project managers, we have a great responsibility to organize and manage the work of projects for our project sponsors and clients. The effort we put into this sometimes makes it difficult or impossible for us to be as personally organized as we might want or need. Unfortunately this might reflect poorly on our project management efforts, so we need to be as efficient and effective as possible t...

I recently volunteered to coach and mentor adult learners in an organization which is putting some of their staff through a project management training program.  When wrapping up a session a couple of weeks ago, I got a surprising question.  "Should I get my PMP certificate?  What about all the other certifications?  My boss is very pro Lean Six Sigma."

To start with, the PMP is still very releva...

To be successful, project managers need many different and diverse skills, ranging from expertise in their industry to business, and of course, project management technical skills.  Someone recently asked my what major skills project managers need.

To respond to this question, I grouped the most important into three major categories.  Without developing these skills, it is unlikely a project mana...

Short answer?  Absolutely! Being a professional project manager can provide great job satisfaction and excellent compensation and be a stepping stone to something more.  Take it from someone who has been managing various projects in various roles for over 30 years.

Here are just a few of the features that make project management a great career:

High Demand: There has been a nearly perpetual shor...

Projects generate vast amounts of data beyond the regular retrospectives and lessons learned. As the project progresses, collect and index this data.

Project data and documents contain information such as:

• Plans and changes to plans (e.g., budget management plan, schedules)
• Performance of the project and people involved (e.g., the metrics)
• Value and benefits the project provided
• Problems fa
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Ethics is about doing the right things. When you have integrity, you will continue to do them, even when no one is watching.

What if your manager is forcing you to do something unethical?  The best advice is to stand your ground and find a new job (or manager) if necessary.

Projects can be full of ethical dilemmas – the hard choices we must make.  Ethical dilemmas occur when all choices lead to ...

Last week, we looked at the importance of having project management tools.  To close that part of the discussion off, hive.com states that 77% of high performing projects use some form of project management software. 

This week, let's consider how to make sure you are getting the right tools. Here are 6 important points to consider in your search for the best project management tools.

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