Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

While the global pandemic meant many started working remotely as early as 2019, the idea of remote teams is not new.  In fact, I've been working with remote teams since the 1970s and found these next 5 tips to be helpful:

Respect differences. The diversity of teams becomes more apparent in remote work situations and you need to respect them.  Whether the remote team is simply in a different time ...

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...

You’ve gotten your business off the ground - but now, you want to take your company to the next level by running a tighter ship. You might be wondering which projects and process improvements you should prioritize first. From working with PPC Group to establish efficient project management workflows to choosing ideal software for your business, there are plenty of things you can do to boost your c...

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 need “x.” Will that work? (say yes and get something in return)
• I’m wor
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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 addition to tea...

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 become more predi...

A natural outcome of project management is increased team creativity and innovation. But some projects will need more than others.  For example, if you are a creative marketing team or have complex problems to solve as part of the project. 

Want your project teams to be more creative and innovative? You can take the next step by GRADually changing your organization's culture to enable and support...

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

- Peter Drucker

Rather than wait for your project management future, if you are planning to pursue a career, get started now and create it.  Here are five tips you can use to predict the high quality of that future:

1. Have a clear vision for every project and the team, and communicate it to all stakeholders.  Add to this clarity of roles and r
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Whether you are a project manager or a scrum master, if you are leading an agile project, there are some critical things to keep in mind.  Some of these we have covered in past articles and some of them are new. Here are seven tips for agile project managers.  Repetition helps to build retention, so even if these seem old, think of them as new :)

1. Respect client deliverables.  For agile projects
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COVID-19 has brought about a lot of change; however, some things remain constant.  In a more competitive environment, with constant change and fewer available resources, the skill of project management is now as important as ever. Projects must be more successful and deliver on their promised value to help organizations realize their strategies.  One of the unique benefits of employing good projec...