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Estimating and Planning

An Expensive Leap How Jumping to a Solution Cost Billions
Change, Estimating and Planning, Leadership, Project Management, Requirements, Watermark Learning

An Expensive Leap: How Jumping To A Solution Cost Billions And Made The Problem Worse

Originally published in PM Times on May 23, 2016. How would you solve this problem? The US VA has unacceptable wait times for veterans seeking medical assistance. The VA medical centers around the country are overbooked and understaffed. Some veterans have to wait months for appointments and treatment. There has been negative media attention on this

What’s Done is Done, Not Just Complete
Communicating, Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Stakeholders

What’s Done is Done, Not Just Complete

Last month, I was driving through a major highway construction project when my passenger commented how excited she was because she’d heard that the project was nearing completion and would be finished before year-end.  I took a quick gander at the site and responded that I was sure whatever source she’d heard that from must

Baselines – Don’t Leave Planning Without Them
Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Scope Creep, Watermark Learning

Baselines – Don’t Leave Planning Without Them

When I ask project managers what a baseline is and why it’s important, they tell me that it is an approved starting point against which project performance is measured. They are right, of course.  But when I ask them if they use baselines, as often as not, I find that baselining is a fundamental project

Do You Have Authority Over Your Project Resources
Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Watermark Learning

Do You Have Authority Over Your Project Resources?

No project should be initiated without a charter or some kind of project initiating document.  While they may include various topics and information, the key purpose of a charter is two-fold: 1) It sanctions the project (or phase), and 2) It gives authority to the project manager to apply organizational resources to the project. I

Is there a Resource Shortage or a Priority Shortage
Communicating, Estimating and Planning, Estimating and Planning, Facilitation, Influencing and Consulting, Organizational Change Mgmt., Project Management, Stakeholders, Watermark Learning

Is there a Resource Shortage or a Priority Shortage?

When I ask students for their biggest challenges in managing projects, they usually tell me it’s the lack of people, time, or money. They just don’t have enough resources to get done what’s expected of them.  I don’t doubt it. The relentless battle cry to reduce waste and increase productivity has many project managers feeling

Doing It Right Doesn't Mean Doing It All
Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Stakeholders, Watermark Learning

Doing It Right Doesn’t Mean Doing It All

At the conclusion of a recent project management class, a student sighed heavily and noted that, “If I did all of this stuff, my stakeholders would shoot me.” I hear this sentiment often from students who are new to project management or working in organizations that are new to project management. The good news is

Who Owns Project Success or Failure
Communicating, Estimating and Planning, Influencing and Consulting, Project Management, Stakeholders, Watermark Learning

Who Owns Project Success or Failure?

Recently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She commented that she knew the success of the project was her responsibility, but she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people.  Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders

Things We Know and Things We Don't
Estimating and Planning, Project Management, Risk, Watermark Learning

Things We Know and Things We Don’t

On every project there are things we know and things we don’t know – Knowns and Unknowns.  Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project as shown in the matrix. The Known Knowns you handle via the plan, but what about those various flavors of Unknowns?  How do