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Abstract Are your projects out of control? Is it difficult to determine the status of your most important projects? Is the status of all your projects “in progress?” Are the scopes of your projects in line with your strategic objectives? Are your estimating processes non-existent or totally dependent on a few key “experts?” Are you managing your resources effectively? Not even sure of what questions to ask? The maybe the answer for your organization is a Project Management Office (PMO) or if you already have one, then maybe you need a fresh look at your current one. This paper will provide a 30 day plan for implementing a Project Management Office for your organization. Invest 30 days to provide a structure that can serve your organization for years. (more…)

What Is a PMO? A PMO is a centralised, co-ordinating body within an organisation (or project) that provides a focal point for the field of project management. It can identify and address project management issues to support and facilitate the achievement of organisational project outcomes. What Are the Benefits of Having a PMO? According to Gartner (2008), investments in a Project Management Office (PMO) as a work management discipline can provide common planning and reporting processes and bring structure and support to evaluating, justifying, defining, planning, tracking and executing projects. It also encourages the resolution of conflicts caused by limited resources and other constraints. We've all seen renegade projects that seem to run according to their own agenda. A PMO can help organisations create effective control and oversight of projects…

While virtually every leader professes to understand and believe in the importance of process, we know from client data that over 70% of all business problems relate to process deficiencies of some type. Most processes are undefined, complicated, not consistently followed, not measured, and loaded with non value-added activities. Leadership often reacts to these broken processes by adding reviews, approvals, and more complexity, while missing the underlying causes of performance shortfalls. When we press for details of leadership’s understanding, we quickly discover that many don’t know the basic process structure under their command and the essential customer – supplier relationships that exist in all organizations. Given this background, I offer following the essential reasons that all leaders should embrace process in running their organizations. Why All Leaders Should Embrace Process…

"How do I make sure I’m thinking about the big picture, when I’m always working on a lot of small things that seem to take up all my time?” This was a question a product manager once asked me when she felt lost in the weeds, and one you may have asked yourself. How can you empower yourself to step back and look at the big picture so you can lead your team more effectively? Here are some highlights of strategies that have worked for me, and you might consider: Allocate time to thinking If you allow yourself to just do what’s next on your to-do list, you’ll never find the time to think about the big picture–there will always be something that feels more urgent. Block off time on…

Leadership coach Susanne Madsen channels change management guru John Kotter to offer a method for effective change in your organisation. Here’s a shot of the whiteboard for your reference! In Review Susanne began by introducing us to John Kotter, a recognized authority on leadership and change. He developed an eight-step method to manage change, a process that she shared in the video. It goes as follows: Create urgency Form a powerful coalition Create a vision for change Communicate the vision Remove obstacles Create short-term wins Build on the change Anchor the change It takes work, but anything of value does, and if you’re sure the change is needed then you’re invested and have the tools to see it through.  (more…)

Issues are large problems that are impeding the progress of the project. Issue Management is the process of identifying and resolving issues within a project. By quickly and efficiently managing issues, you can: Limit the effects of unforeseen events on the project Reduce the time spent administering project issues Greatly improve your chances of project success You can complete the issue management process by taking three simple steps: Step 1: Identify the Issue Any member of the project team may identify a new project issue. An is completed to describe the issue and its impact on the project. The actions required to resolve the issue are also identified. At this point the Project Manager also needs to determine who needs to be involved in resolving the issue. Step 2: Investigate…

Have you ever heard something like: “Agile development expects that we can operate quickly, efficiently and effectively without necessarily having an overall strategic plan”? If so, forget it! Why? Try to build a house from the roof and see what happens! Detailed planning is as essential to the effectiveness of Agile as it is to Waterfall. The difference between the two approaches lies in timing. Planning is ongoing in Agile, and its incremental approach allows projects to adapt rapidly to changes. Planning is predictive in Waterfall and the client knows exactly what to expect. Predictive vs Adaptive Projects Predictive projects are the ones in which the needs are not likely to change (at least we wish that they don’t change) and where the work being done can be “somewhat” identified…

10. MoSCoW Prioritisation 10.1 Introduction In an Atern project where time has been fixed, understanding the relative importance of things is vital to making progress and keeping to deadlines. Prioritisation can be applied to requirements, tasks, products, use cases, user stories, acceptance criteria and tests. MoSCoW is a technique for helping to understand priorities. The letters stand for: Must Have Should Have Could Have Won’t Have this time The reason we use MoSCoW in Atern is that the problem with simply saying that requirements are of High, Medium or Low importance is that the definitions of these priorities are missing. Using MoSCoW means that priorities are specific. The specific use of Must, Should, Could or Won’t Have implies the result of failing to deliver that requirement. 10.2 The MoSCoW Rules…