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 I discussed characteristics and roles of the agile scrum methodology as compared to waterfall.  In this continuation article, I committed to examine the artifacts, meetings and processes involved and also discuss what they compare to in a waterfall context.  By design agile and the scrum methodology deliberately minimize processes, artifacts and meetings › Continue reading…

For those of my PMP friends and colleagues who are firmly immersed in the waterfall way of doing things but who are hearing more and more about agile and scrum and wondering what all the fuss is about, I thought it might be a good idea to write a series of articles comparing and contrasting the two approaches.  I’d like to start by stating that I am very much a fan of agile and scrum and believe that the traditional PMI methodology, when practiced in a sensible manner and the agile scrum approach have more in common than you would think. At the end of the day the purpose of both is the same – to get work done well.  › Continue reading…

In her blog last week , Cindy Vandersleen talked about the challenges of gathering requirements and how the devil is always in the details.  I think many people would agree with this assessment; I know I do.  My best practice for gathering a comprehensive set of project requirements is to build a Requirements Template, and this week I’d like to share with you some tips for creating a model that your organization can use again and again to collect a comprehensive set of requirements and manage scope creep from the word “GO”.  › 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…

Is this a familiar sounding scenario?  You rush through the planning phase trying to get to the answer of “when will the work be finished?”.  You throw a schedule together with meticulous detail to determine that all important date, then promptly never look at it again.  Or, you lay out the schedule according to the different teams that will be working on the project, or according to the different work life cycles, or some other scheme you think easy to update.  Then when you take your project schedule into a meeting with executive stakeholders to report on status, › Continue reading…