The art of making a decision is a daily occurrence for most people, both at home and at work. We've all experienced projects where the best path forward is unclear, or there is no option without a major negative side effect. What does the science say about decision making that could help us? Decision making is the process of choosing a course of action from among … [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...]
A cost benefit analysis is a project selection method in which a common metric is used to compare a project's costs and the benefits it provides. It is used in public projects (like road building) or projects where the end product is not purely monetary. The cost benefit analysis is performed by computing the net present value of the project with the net present value … [Read more...]
Three point estimating is a technique which utilizes an optimistic and pessimistic estimate to determine the ideal estimate value for a project task. It is a shoe-in for PMP exam questions, which is not likely to change anytime soon. It allows known risks to be quantified and built in to the project budget. Formula There are two generally accepted formulas for three … [Read more...]
The largest projects in the world, from the summer olympics to big petrochemical projects, have one major thing in common at the project management level: A relentless focus on risk. What happens if there is a riot? Or a catastrophic explosion? What if protestors disrupt the project, or regulatory agencies reject it? These large megaprojects must allocate a small but … [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 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...]
Could your projects use additional risk management? Experts agree that it is one of the most underutilized areas of project management. As project managers we like to think we know the primary risks to the project that we have them under control. But a small amount of risk management planning at the outset of every project generally reaps disproportionate dividends for … [Read more...]
Because you can't see its results in a direct way, project risk analysis is too often sacrificed by project managers in the name of time or budget constraints. Compounding the problem is that small projects just don't seem to have the time and budget to justify the time spent on risk management. But I would argue that if risk management is a priority on … [Read more...]
