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More Project Management Best Practice Tips

PM Tip, Week of 22 March 2020

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5 Superior Stakeholder Questions for Project Leaders to Ask

Whether you are a project manager or a business analyst, these five open-ended questions posed to the project sponsor and other senior executives can get you vital information you need for project success in a short amount of time:

What does success look like to you? – Learn what is most valuable to manage the triple constraints appropriately.
What are your biggest challenges and opportunities? – Confirm your project is solving the most critical problems.
What happens if we don’t change or succeed? – Determine the importance of project success for future reference and communication plans.
Who will be impacted, and to whom else should I speak? – Grow and confirm your stakeholder register, so no one important is missed.
What else may impact the project? – Grow and confirm your risk register, so priority risks, especially those outside your project, are not missed.

50 Top Global Thought Leaders on Risk Management

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Honored to be named #8 of 50 Top Global Thought Leaders on Risk Management (March 2020) by Thinkers360. See more here:

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Risk Management

PM Tip, Week of 08 March 2020

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5 Tips to Improve Your Agile Project Management

As Agile and iterative methods grow in popularity, it is easy for those with a solid project management background to work in a new environment. These 5 tips will help:

Question traditional PM practices: everything you know still applies, but question how to tailor and improve past practices for the new environment.
Use pictures over words: lighter Agile documentation benefits from images and diagrams more than written words. Make a conscious effort to use more images.
Risk and schedule management are still relevant: make sure these are included in lighter versions: more diagrams and schedules map out sprints, rather than details. Use burndown charts to show progress. Re-examine risks when planning each sprint.
Consider the user experience: customer involvement is critical. Don't lose sight of who needs to use the project.
Always re-evaluate your process. Frequent retrospectives will enable continuous...

PM Tip, Week of 19 January 2020

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PM Tip, Week of 29 December 2019

accidentalpm best practices continuous improvement navigatinguncertainty risk management tip

PM Tip, Week of 13 October 2019

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#tip #accidentalpm #navigatinguncertainty

Finishing up Risk Assessment Framework: Successfully Navigating Uncertainty this week ... launch date soon!

PM Tip, Week of 6 October 2019

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PM Tip, Week of 29 September 2019

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Another tip from my new book, Risk Assessment Framework: Successfully Navigating Uncertainty, with publication planned for November. Watch for more details in October.

Managing Risks of Fixed Costs

accidentalpm best practices continuous improvement cost management navigatinguncertainty risk management tip

Last week we looked at fixed schedule, so its only natural to want to look at fixed costs too. Or perhaps I should more precisely say "fixed price" since fixed costs have a connotation of overhead. And there's a further clarification to make as well (finances are so much more complex than schedule and time) -- we're talking about risk to the seller. Many buyers like fixed prices since they know exactly what their budget will be, but its the seller who has to manage most, if not all, of the risk.

Now with the clarifications aside, here's my top 5 list:

1. Well defined scope and specifications: Having a well defined project scope and necessary specifications will make it easier to manage and estimate. Uncertainty leads to errors.

2. Diligently completed estimates: if there was ever a time to be cautious in estimating, this is it. Obviously you're not going to be able to "sandbag", but a carefully thought out and documented estimate provides a solid basis for success. Be...

PM Tip, Week of 15 September 2019

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From Risk Assessment Framework: Successfully Navigating Uncertainty. Look for news of publication in late October, early November.

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5 Superior Stakeholder Questions for Project Leaders to Ask

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