Some successful managers, line managers - not just project managers, may have never experienced a successful project. A few days after I originally wrote this, I came across an on-line discussion by some senior managers that just illustrated this surprising situation so well.
Continue reading »
August 13, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management
16 Comments
What you say and how you say it may have more impact than you expect. Communicating is one of your key project management tools. Just be sure you do speak up and be reasonably persistent in getting your ideas out to the team.
Continue reading »
August 9, 2009 Bruce Benson
Communication
4 Comments
I would often talk excitedly about some project we completed that was on time and had good results. Folks would say "yeah, we did that too." In my naive enthusiasm, I would pepper them with questions on what they did and how they did it. I would get horrified looks and then they would flee. I would come to discover that too many of those other on time projects were more noise than substance. How could a simple notion such as "on time" be so complicated?"
Continue reading »
August 5, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management, Schedule
2 Comments
I talk a lot about "on time" as being a project management tool. This might strike many as backwards. Normally we figure if we do a good job then we will deliver on time. I maintain that often, more often than one would suspect, we can figure out what "on time" looks like and then squeeze the project into that period of time.
Continue reading »
August 2, 2009 Bruce Benson
Schedule
3 Comments
Pay Attention. That's it. Pay Attention. The Ultimate Project Management Tool.
Continue reading »
July 26, 2009 Bruce Benson
Communication
7 Comments
All I had to do was to get about 500 software defects fixed, according to my project management tools. My boss told me I had to have daily meetings with everyone concerned to get this done. This meeting centric approach to managing this project turned out to be utter madness. Simple measurements, that anyone can do, demonstrated that these meetings had no discernible impact.
Continue reading »
July 20, 2009 Bruce Benson
Communication, Reporting
18 Comments
We had done everything "by the book." Sold management on the great project management technique and tools. Called all those planning meetings. Got approval and funding. Six months later, few people seem to be talking about the improvement project. Things don't look too much different . Does this sound familiar? Here are seven techniques we've used to ensure success.
Continue reading »
July 12, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management
11 Comments
Your development team is telling you it will take 24 weeks to do product development. You only have 20 weeks to your product launch window. After that, the product won't be competitive. What does a good project manager do?
Continue reading »
July 5, 2009 Bruce Benson
Schedule
11 Comments
A simple project management tool, such as computing an average, can transform a project from chaotic and out of control to suddenly predictable and manageable. Here are some simple averages that made a huge difference in our management of large and complex projects.
Continue reading »
June 28, 2009 Bruce Benson
Reporting
23 Comments
Project management tools is all about turning an out of control situation into a rational, methodical discipline. Sometimes, however, losing some control of the situation can be the best course of action.
Continue reading »
June 19, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management
7 Comments
Our team, led by a baby faced brand new 2nd lieutenant, delivered on schedule the annual software release of a critical national defense early warning system. This on time delivery was a first in memory of the organization.
Continue reading »
June 12, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management
Consider organizing your project management change effort as a "service" tool. This approach helps reduce resistance and it highlights how you are here to help. For us, it resulted in rapid improvements where previous efforts had little or no impact.
Continue reading »
June 5, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management
This post is adapted from an e-mail I had sent to a CEO who was looking for project management tools to help deliver his products when promised. In the past his organization had successfully been able to know precisely where their product readiness stood. Trending defects will work well in managing projects of all types.
Continue reading »
May 29, 2009 Bruce Benson
Reporting, Schedule
Project management tools and techniques help us to do the job we need to do. Yet, the tools can often become overwhelming with updating them, trying to get just the right report out of them, etc. It is easy to lose track of what we are trying to achieve. Estimating a schedule is one of the most critical things we will do so let's see if we can get it right.
Continue reading »
May 22, 2009 Bruce Benson
Reporting, Schedule
Honesty in project management reporting is just more efficient. Just report the status of a project as it is. If things are late, it will show things as late. If things are confused, it will show things as confused. Spending valuable time making things look better on slides than it does in reality is not productive.
Continue reading »
May 15, 2009 Bruce Benson
Communication, Reporting, Schedule
