Written originally in the tech crash that followed Y2K, this article describes many of the challenges and opportunities facing the project management industry in today’s economy. The article is reposted here from its original publication in Computing Canada Magazine.
Pilot Projects and Proof of Concept projects are often misguided and misunderstood when done for enterprise project management systems. It’s important to have realistic expectations. Here are some pilot project pitfalls to avoid.
In today’s world of instant gratification it is hard for some to understand the level of investment that must be made in order to reap the benefits available from an enterprise project management system. Some would prefer to follow the path of least resistance even if that means those benefits are not available.
So many project managers do the original schedule of the project, the planning and then start the project and run by the seat of their pants from then on. I can tell you how many projects I’ve seen with the schedule never updated. Project management isn’t just the planning.
So much of successful project management comes from starting with the right projects. Portfolio management isn’t just for IT departments, it’s for every organization which has some influence over the projects they select.
What kind of PMO would you design if it could be any kind at all. What? You’re surprised that there’s more than one PMO? There are many. Here are a few of the most common examples.
It’s everywhere I go. If there is more than one project or one department involved in project management, then Silo management is almost always in place. For those of you who haven’t heard this term before, this is a condition where multiple groups are working within the same organization. They share something in common. Sometimes it’s a project, sometimes it’s resources. Sometimes it’s both. These groups may share common goals but they don’t share much…
Project Management and communications have always gone together and the better a project manager is at communicating, the more successful they’re likely to be. With the plethora of technological assistance for communication now at hand, it’s worthwhile thinking about how to marry collaboration and project management. I take a look at that right here.
We hear often about the solution-sell; making sure that the project management software vendor is committed to deliver a complete solution not just a list of features. If true, that’s a great thing but where is the buyer’s responsibilty in the purchasing process? Here’s a thought on being a “solution buyer”.
EPM Vendors love to target the big enterprise. In some cases, so much attention is put on the hundreds of largest companies in the world that the hundreds of thousands of mid-market companies are ignored. This article takes a look at what kinds of tools and systems haven’t left the mid-market organization behind.