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...]
How would you feel if your boss gave you a 23% raise? The Project Management Institute reports that certified project managers earn 23% more than non-certified ones. Job security also increased substantially over the 33,000 professionals surveyed in 37 countries. How do you become part of this club? Well, I've been part of it for 11 years, and in this article I'm … [Read more...]
Like many things in life, project management is an art form as well as a science. But fortunately, a strong knowledge of the science helps you practice the art form with more skill. Although some people are naturally good at the art of project management, I believe that anyone can become a great project manager simply by learning and implementing the fundamentals of … [Read more...]
Projects span a huge spectrum from big to small, innovative to routine, and technical to repetitive. But there is, in fact, a standard project organization chart within which all projects fall. The project management model within the PMBOK, as well as other project management methodologies, define this standard structure. The project management organization chart … [Read more...]
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a portfolio as a collection of projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. Portfolio Management, then, is the discipline of managing this portfolio to achieve organizational goals. The components of the portfolio can be projects, programs (series of projects … [Read more...]
A program is a group of interrelated projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities that are managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. Program management is often confused with Portfolio management. The main difference is that a program has a defined end point, since it is a series of related projects each … [Read more...]
The foundation for project management theory is called process groups. Although relegated to one of many project 'models' in the PMBOK version 7, it is a well established sequence of events which guides the project life cycle as a whole, as well as each iteration within the project. They are not project phases, although phases often result in the full cycle of … [Read more...]
Managing projects is like steering a ship. When the wind or sea conditions are rough, experienced helmsman use their keen sense of how the ship will react to keep it moving in the right direction. Because the ship doesn't react right away, the helmsman must anticipate the delay between turning the ship's wheel and the reaction of the ship. The destination is … [Read more...]
Projects don't manage themselves. Professional project management requires the development of a plan that outlines how it will be managed. According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (section 4.2), the project management plan fulfills this purpose. Although it includes any and all items that define the management of the project, there are certain … [Read more...]
