Project status reports are essential tools for keeping teams, stakeholders, and leaders aligned on progress, challenges, and next steps. A well-crafted report provides clarity, builds trust, and ensures everyone understands where things stand. Projects are by definition temporary, that is, they have a defined beginning and end. For this reason, the project schedule is … [Read more...]
A baseline is defined as a time-based standard against which performance is measured. A project baseline is a time-based plan as opposed to one, single target value. Projects will often have a single, target value that defines their success, but it is important to know if the project is in good health at any given intermediate project control point. The baseline … [Read more...]
Carpenters have hammers, plumbers have wrenches, and programmers have computers. But does a project manager have any tools which help them perform their work better, quicker, or cheaper? Absolutely! In fact, if you don't use these tools you will be at a serious disadvantage to other project managers. And if you do, your career will see an order of magnitude return … [Read more...]
Staying within budget and schedule is one of the project manager's most important jobs. It is not an understatement to say that if you master this one thing, most other things will fall into place. The secret to doing this well is called earned value management. It is one of the foundational processes of project management, as well as a central component of the … [Read more...]
Mismanaging project costs is the single fastest way to cause project failure. Project costs represent the many multi-faceted experiences that occur on a project, however stakeholders see only the bottom line and draw rapid conclusions from it. For this reason, the planning of the management of project costs is the focus of the Project Management Body of Knowledge's … [Read more...]
Keeping project costs under control can feel like swimming against the current sometimes. To prevent you from going up the creek without a paddle, a Cost Management Plan is the guiding document which allows you to take fast, decisive action when issues arise and the sharks are circling. The Project Cost Management Plan is the component of the overall Project … [Read more...]
A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart showing the start and end dates of each task within a project. It shows the tasks on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The tasks are shown sequentially. It can have many other pieces but these are the basic building blocks. Gantt Chart Example 1 Here is a Gantt chart that was created with Microsoft … [Read more...]
Project scope issues are the number one reason for unhappy clients and customers. Human nature is such that unauthorized tasks will always tend to slip into a project unannounced, thus project scope management is just as important as the more visible aspects of project management like scheduling and budgeting. Hence, it is the project manager's job to actively manage … [Read more...]
The Budget at Completion (BAC) is a value used in earned value management, a division of project management. It represents the original project budget. For example, if a project has a budget of $10,000, BAC = $10,000 Therefore, there is no other formula or calculation for this metric. The BAC is often compared to the Estimate at Completion (EAC) which … [Read more...]
Love it or hate it, the measuring stick for a project manager is often their ability to keep projects on time and under budget. Thankfully, project management theory provides us with a fantastic tool to keep us on target. But it has to be used correctly. Like a software tool, if you are not trained to use it, it’s just a bunch of numbers. Once the technique is … [Read more...]
