Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

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 faced...

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...

The best project managers learn to say “no” without actually using the word “no.”  “No” has an air of finality and dis-empowers the team.  It is also a good idea to avoid phrases like “Yes, but …”  There are some better ways to express negativity.

Try some of these alternative phrases instead:

• Yes, and in exchange, I will...

Leaving a key stakeholder out of project decision-making may have consequences. Stakeholders that are affected may have an interest in or power over your project. If left out, they may not care, but some may have hurt feelings, or worse yet, want to cause harm to your project. It is always better to over, rather than under identify stakeholders - you can always remove someone from the list, but...

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....

As the size of projects grow, the project manager must scale efforts to meet the growing needs.  Project management becomes a full time job.  Some larger projects even have project management teams and project control specialists to help. But having the right tools can help anyone work more efficiently and effectively. 

Let's just take a look at one example - scheduling. ...

As a project manager, you need to manage your team by influence and motivate them to complete the project.  How can you do this?  First and foremost, get to know your team very well. Find out more about their interests and aspirations and use this information to make better assignments and seek rewards or promotional opportunities for those that exceed performance expectations.

In...

What are the 5 project management processes?  Regardless of the project life cycle or methodology you use, all projects go through 5 overarching processes, more correctly referred to as "process groups."  Some large projects may be divided into project phases and each phase should also go through the 5 processes.  Following these process groups and the processes they contain...

Why is project management important?  It is important because businesses run on projects.  Projects are needed to execute strategy.  Some organizations may not refer to them as projects, but whatever they are called, they usually meet the definition of projects.

Project management can be expensive.  I often advise that it should be around 10-20% of the overall project...

Predictability helps organizations more effectively and efficiently manage people, cash, and other resources.  And predictable projects usually finish sooner than others as well.

I often hear talk about how unpredictable projects are because <insert any excuse here>. By following some good and best practices and continuously improving, you will find that over time, your projects...