Project Management

The key ingredients for digital project success

16 Aug 2022 | Greig Johnston

More than eight out of 10 digital projects get delayed, run over budget, and/or fail to deliver what they promised. So how can organisations avoid falling into the same trap?

The mortar in a project's wall

08 Jan 2021 | Wayne Turmel

What holds a wall together is the mortar between the bricks. And what holds a project together is the effective, clear and proactive communication between individuals.

Data, information and webmeetings

11 Aug 2020 | Wayne Turmel

Turning raw data into meaningful information is a key part of a manager's job. And smart managers know that webinars or videoconferencing tools can help translate one into the other.

Your team members aren’t pawns in a chess game

22 Nov 2017 | Wayne Turmel

Project management and team leadership are often viewed as chess games. But there’s one important difference. Those pieces on the chess board aren’t human. Your team members are - and they need to be treated accordingly.

Is your project going off the rails?

26 Mar 2015 | Peter Osborne

Time and again, projects get derailed for the same reasons. But how do you know if a project is in trouble? Here are five questions programme sponsors should ask to establish the health of their project and to keep it heading along the right track.

Project management: it's the people, stupid

10 Jun 2014 | Wayne Turmel

Many project managers forget that at the end of the day, every single milestone and box on their Gantt chart depends on people. So project managers who can’t manage people are in for a long, tough haul.

Jeepers Batman, it's projects as usual!

20 Jan 2014 | Peter Taylor

Do you remember the original Batman TV series and the cartoon fistfights with villains like the Joker, the Penguin and the Mad Hatter? Believe it or not, this does have some bearing on the future of project management!

Risk, uncertainty, project management and new shoes

14 Nov 2013 | Dawna Jones

If one thing is certain in life, it is uncertainty. So we could all do with some help managing risk and options in our lives and understanding how those risk and options keep messing up our projects.

Peanut butter, jelly and project management

01 Nov 2013 | Peter Taylor

Sometimes, project management offices forget that they're there to make life better, not to put obstacles in the way of delivery. Which (via Yahoo) is where peanut butter and jelly comes in.

Getting to grips with virtual project management

12 Sep 2013 | Wayne Turmel

If you're a project manager with a virtual team scattered all over the place, you don't just need the right tools to communicate, access and share information, you also need a project workflow that brings clarity and transparency to the whole process.

The importance of project sponsorship

26 Jul 2013 | Peter Taylor

Project sponsorship needs to be taken more seriously. Because the success or failure of a project is a direct reflection on the sponsor as the keeper of the organisational vision and the strategy that converts intentions into reality.

Don't worry, be happy

12 Jun 2013 | Peter Taylor

A happy face generally engenders a whole lot of other happy faces. And because there is a strong link between feeling good and doing good, these happy faces, in turn, can work wonders for the effectiveness of any project team.

What beans are you counting?

25 Apr 2013 | Wayne Turmel

It's pretty clear that remote working and collaboration can deliver significant cost savings. But top-line savings aren't the best way to assess whether something is working or not.

Communication is not an IT Issue

04 Sep 2012 | Wayne Turmel

When it comes to poor inter-team communication, no-one gets more blame pointed at them than the much-maligned folks in IT. But here's something to think about. While IT certainly is responsible for providing and maintaining tools, it isn't their job to sort out how these tools do (or don't) get used.

50 shades of lazy

11 Jul 2012 | Peter Taylor

I learned something very important when I first started out in project management. No matter how a good a job you do, if you don't let people know, then most people will never find out.

The power of project reviews

09 Jul 2012 | James M. Kerr

There are few better ways to engage staff in business transformation than to institute a project review panel process. Done right the benefits will be seen not just at the project level, but on the overall employee engagement front, too.

What makes a great remote team

10 May 2012 | Wayne Turmel

What separates great remote teams from those that are merely functional? Here are five differentiators that really mark out great remote teams.

Making the most of project software

29 Sep 2011 | Wayne Turmel

Work is becomming more project-based. That means that people need to organize, share and make sense of all the information associated with that work - which makes some sort of project management software a must, not just a nice-to-have.

Selling project management

18 Aug 2011 | Peter Taylor

Getting customers to accept the need to invest in project management when they buy products or services can be tough. So here's how to address some of the common 'pushbacks' you might come across.

Learning from the old beans

22 Mar 2011 | Peter Taylor

Every organisation faces the challenge of bringing on board and developing raw talent. So as far as project managers are concerned, what are the keys to a successful induction?