In today’s digital age, social media is not just for sharing personal updates or marketing products; it's an incredibly powerful tool for project managers aiming to improve project delivery. When used strategically, social media can enhance communication, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and even project marketing. Here are six ways that project managers can … [Read more...]
Project Management in 2040: A Journey Into the Future
In the grand tapestry of human endeavor, project management has always been the thread that weaves chaos into order, the alchemy that turns plans into reality. As we stand at the threshold of 2040, let's embark on a speculative voyage to explore how this ancient art has evolved in the face of technological change, societal shifts, and the unquenchable human desire to … [Read more...]
How the Olympic Games use Project Management Principles
Few projects out there are as big and complex as the Olympic games. They're truly in a category of their own due to their massive visibility and the world scale construction projects leading up to it. It gets awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the host city more than 10 years in advance of the two-week long event, and the entire decade is spent in a … [Read more...]
Applying Sun Tzu’s Tactics to Modern Project Management
Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War" is a timeless masterpiece, offering strategic insights that have influenced military leaders, business executives, and strategists for centuries. Although it was written over two millennia ago, the principles laid out in this ancient text are remarkably applicable to modern project management. A project is not necessarily a "battle to be won," … [Read more...]
OceanGate was Agile
By now most people have heard about the disaster of the OceanGate Titan, the underwater submersible that imploded on its way down to the Titanic wreck site carrying five billionaires on a tourist mission. I'm genuinely surprised about how little the project management community is talking about this, because the lessons appear to be vast. Although the cause is not … [Read more...]
Project Risk Checklist
Identifying risks is a central component of project risk management. Risks are identified using various methods and placed into a risk register. The risks are then analyzed and prioritized, and appropriate risk response plans are drawn up. I would like to update this list and keep it current, so if you have anything to add please leave a note in the comments … [Read more...]
Creating a Risk Register
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...]
The 6 Parts of Project Portfolio Management
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...]
How to Create a Risk Response Plan
Project risk management is what separates good project managers from great ones. Even when everything has been planned and executed to perfection, an unexpected event can cause considerable duress on the project stakeholders and even cause the project to be considered a failure. Risk management is a three step process: Risk Identification Risk … [Read more...]
Project Risk Analysis – Example
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...]