How Data Changes Everything – Guest post by Elizabeth Harrin

15 April 2016
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Data and Project Management

A while back I was working on a project that had technically implemented well and was nearing completion. The output was not being tracked, and that was not a concern, or part of the business case. I was receiving reports with some data in them. No one wanted to know about them, so I filed them away and didn’t pay much attention to them myself either. Then one day, the project sponsor and I were talking and he asked a question that I couldn’t answer. But I knew that those tracking reports held the output data that he was after. […]

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Don’t Get Alarm Fatigue! – Guest post by Elizabeth Harrin

14 March 2016
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Alarm Fatigue

  Does this sound familiar? As a project manager, your project management software flashes up daily alerts for tasks that are missed, deadlines that are at risk, issues where no action is being taken and resources who are over allocated. Your inbox is filled with email alerts and you don’t know which one to read and respond to first. As a project sponsor running several projects, your project managers often come to you with ‘red’ issues, problems they can’t resolve and requests for your intervention. Your dashboard is a sea of ‘red’ and you don’t know what really needs your […]

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How To Get Your Team To Follow The Process – Guest post by Elizabeth Harrin

5 February 2016
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Process-Mapping(1)

  This is a guest post by Elizabeth Harrin from GirlsGuideToPM.com. Where I work we have a saying: Respect The Process. We all get along just fine if we do that: processes are there for a reason. The reason is not to make your life harder, even if sometimes it feels like that. However, as a project manager it’s often difficult to get all your team on board with processes that are new for them. We need them to work within our project management environment, but they are looking at a huge change to the way in which they work […]

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6 Reasons Email is Not a Project Management Tool

26 October 2015
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Email_Laptop

It’s no mystery why people can’t seem to get away from using their inboxes as their personal project & task management tool; and why companies still attempt to collaborate via long over-drawn email chains. Email is well ingrained into our personal and work lives, and many of our “to-dos” arrive in the form of email – it’s a popular (and effective) way of communicating. But that’s where the line should be drawn – at communication. Using a more sophisticated task management tool can save you a lot of time sifting through your inbox, leaving a lot more time to get […]

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Why Excel is not a Project Management Tool

5 October 2015
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project-management-2-1

Excel spreadsheets are an excellent tool for independent analysis. The problem arises when people and companies try to stretch them beyond their capabilities. Spreadsheets have limited scalability and flexibility, and are not effective for managing projects, especially when they are large and complex. Here’s a look at the  main limitations of spreadsheets: Information: Projects contain several elements of essential information and simply put, spreadsheets don’t have the ability to store them. They aren’t designed to store files, conversations or any related information. All ideas and feedback are stored in separate files and there is no way to link them to […]

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The Benefits of Cloud-Based Solutions

21 September 2015
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Cloud computing

Cloud computing, or in other words, solutions that are made accessible through the Internet are forecasted for astronomical growth, and with good reason. According to a Forbes article, “Global SaaS software revenues are forecasted to reach $106B in 2016, increasing 21% over projected 2015 spending levels.” The same article sites that, “A Goldman Sachs study published this month projects that spending on cloud computing infrastructure and platforms will grow at a 30% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 2013 through 2018 compared with 5% growth for the overall enterprise IT.”  These are no menial numbers or statistics, and both adopters […]

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Understanding the difference between Change and Project Management

31 August 2015
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Old way new way concept

The reality is that Change Management and Project Management depend on each other – one simply cannot exist without the other. But while they are entirely different from a tactical point of view, too many people still confuse the two. In short, change management focuses on people and project management focuses on the tasks and activities that are necessary to make the change happen. So let’s dig a little deeper. Another differentiating factor of change management is that it focuses on 3 main processes: planning, direction and reinforcement. Within these processes, there are small gradual steps to be taken, which […]

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: An Architectural Feat

23 August 2015
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Guggenheim Bilboa Museum

“The randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light” Frank Gehry As one of the most famous buildings of the 20th century, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is deserving of significant recognition. Not only for its contemporary architecture and curvilinear shape, but also for the economic boost it created for the municipality. Like any large undertaking, the project came with its fair share of obstacles and stumbling blocks – which were fortuitously overcome with excellent planning and project management. The Vision The project of building the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was a strategic component of the Revitalization Plan for […]

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The difference between Project, Portfolio and Program Management

13 July 2015
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Project, Program and Portfolio Management

It’s not uncommon for an overlapping use of terms when it comes to project, program and portfolio management; and they are often interchanged with the assumption that they describe similar processes. But in fact, the three terms describe three very different practices. If we were to put them into a visual representation, it would look like a pyramid, with Projects as the base, Program Management as the middle layer, and Project Portfolio Management at the top. This is not because one type of management is more important than the other, but rather that each management requires the inclusion of its […]

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Part 3: PM Software is from Mars…Or is it Venus? What is Project Management

25 May 2015
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Compass

Continuing on in this 6 part series, with Parts 1 and 2 complete, we now arrive to the discussion of Project Management software. Of all the categories in the PM & PPM Universe, project management software is by far the most difficult to navigate. The reason being that every solution, no matter how simple or complex and regardless of what project management tools are actually offered, slot themselves into the PM software category. It is undoubtedly the most commonly used term to describe ALL the categories of PM & PPM software. Marketers are well tuned into this trend and do […]

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