The Project Coach

So often in advanced project management circles we talk about rigorous, complex tools, processes and methods which allow us to tackle the most difficult projects.  We acquire and train ourselves with the latest version of tools such as Project server or Primavera.  We become the champions of developing a myriad of rich artifacts from charters, scope statements, and work breakdown structures to schedules, budgets, communication plans, and risk registers.  We are prepared to employ sophisticated project management methods like qualitative and quantitative risk assessment and earned value.  So then what happens if suddenly some or all of those things don’t apply?  › Continue reading…

In my last article on risk, I discussed qualitative and quantitative analysis which allows a team to assess probability, impact, and monetary value of the risks identified.  This allows a project team to develop priorities for those risks that require further planning and threat mitigation or opportunity realization strategies.  In this article we’ll discuss how to develop risk response strategies › Continue reading…

In my last article on risk, I introduced how to get started with project risk management through risk planning and identification.  In this article we’ll discuss how to evaluate and prioritize those risks for action through qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. › Continue reading…

In our last post, Susan discussed the top project management stories of 2010, and in that article concluded that risk planning was one of the major take away lessons of the year. When we look to past news-worthy project stories such as the BP oil spill disaster, the Carnival cruise ship Splendor nightmare, or the delays of the Broadway production of Spiderman, risk management emerges time and again as a leading factor for better outcomes. So why don’t more projects and organizations embrace it? › Continue reading…

Here is my list of the big project management stories of 2010 and what lessons they offer for project managers.  At a glance, I think risk planning and perseverance are the take-aways.  › Continue reading…

Since we are on the topic of troubled projects, I started thinking about what has now been branded the Deepwater Horizon Response Project.  This situation has similarities to many project calamities one might encounter in the course of dealing with internal or external customer organizations.  A customer organization messes up, BIG TIME, and you have to step in and turn it around. 

In this case, the project manager is retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is in charge of the federal government’s response to the oil spill resulting from the April 20^th explosion at one of British Petroleum’s (BP) offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.  › Continue reading…

Well, the season has wrapped up, and for project managers, there were plenty of lessons to learn.  We saw failures in communication, planning, execution and risk management.  We saw poor ideas that were well-executed and good ideas that suffered in implementation.  We saw coalitions form and break apart.

Ultimately, it came down to Holly Robinson Peete and Bret Michaels, neither whom I would have predicted would be a finalist.  › Continue reading…

My New Year’s Resolution is to focus on creativity this year.  Even though today is only December 31, there is no time like the present!  So, let’s get started. 

For the next few weeks, I will be blogging about how we, as project managers, can help our project teams think more creatively.  In my last blog, I looked at the systems and causes of teams that are in a creativity crisis.  Today, I offer the first technique for helping your team break out of a creativity rut.  I will follow with many more techniques over the next several weeks.  › Continue reading…

Communicating about tasks, roles and responsibilities takes up a great deal of time for most project managers.  After communicating, a project manager documents and tracks task assignments in a project plan.  So everybody has something to do, and the plan forward is clear to all.  But how do you translate those task assignments into a real sense of ownership by individual team members?  How do you make sure that each member of the project team feels accountable for the project’s success, not just the project manager? › Continue reading…