Earned Value Management is the secret to project success! If you are passionate about having projects finish on time, on schedule, and with all other project success criteria satisfied, you must learn how to use it. Earned Value Management is a project control technique used by project managers to keep projects on schedule and budget. Earned Value analysis gives the … [Read more...]
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is an important step in project scheduling. A PERT chart is a tool used to plan the execution of tasks within a project. PERT charts are a central part of any project management course. They are quick to draw and intuitive to use. How to Draw a PERT Chart There are two rules: Tasks (activities) are represented … [Read more...]
Project quality is a unique aspect of project management in that it lurks in behind the scenes. Time and money (budget) are usually bigger factors in project success, but inadequate focus on quality can sneak up and trip up a project at least as much as those two factors. On top of that, the minimum quality standards are often difficult to define and subject to … [Read more...]
When a patient is first wheeled into the emergency room, the first priority of any doctor is their vital signs, that is, pulse, breathing, body temperature, and blood pressure. Regardless of the injury, if the vital signs are not stable the patient is dying and all efforts must be directed toward stabilizing them prior to treating the original injury. Project management … [Read more...]
The real benefit of the earned value method is in the early warning signal it provides. In my previous life at a large engineering company, I saw many project managers get to a monthly billing cycle before they realized the project was behind, and even then they would rationalize it by deciding their project team was going to be more efficient in the next cycle. Suffice … [Read more...]
Getting an early indicator of deviations from the project plan can be a game changer for project managers. This is precisely the main benefit of the earned value method, and its diligent application can do wonders for a project manager's career. Planned Value, usually abbreviated as PV, is one of the fundamental inputs of the Earned Value Management System. It is … [Read more...]
If projects had a share price, they would trade low at the beginning. Instead of completed work that has intrinsic value, the project's stock price would be derived from future hopes and dreams. And there would be many things that could happen between now and then to derail the most ambitious of plans. Near the end, however, most of the project work has been completed … [Read more...]
The project manager is the ultimate authority responsible for the successful completion of a project. They establish the critical success factors and take responsibility for achieving them. The buck stops here. Usually the project manager inherits requirements that the project must work with, such as budget, stakeholder concerns, and so forth. These are codified … [Read more...]
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the largest and most well known project management designation with 830,000 people certified worldwide. Issued by the Project Management Institute (PMI) based in the United States, it gives you the initials "PMP" after your name. The PMI issues a PMP Handbook which lists all the details. The following overview … [Read more...]
Project risk is like an orchestra with many instruments. All elements are crucial to the final result. If even one instrument is not playing correctly, the whole performance can be a failure. Hence, risk management is integral to project management. Since projects have many moving parts and technical knowledge areas, risk management keeps everyone singing the same … [Read more...]
