PMcrunch

Oftentimes, as[tag-dir]project managers[/tag-dir] and leaders, we are called upon to compare a variety of potential solutions and to either recommend or choose the best one for our situation. There are a variety of ways to do this. It is important for us to recognize that the answer we come up with is very closely related to the questions we ask and how we do the comparison. Many times—perhaps even most of the time—we do this comparisons in a relatively informal way, putting together our own structure. In other cases however, there is a much formalized organizational structure with a formal name such as [/tag-tec]“analysis of alternatives”[tag-dir] that is performed.

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The benefits of conducting an annual employee survey is widely accepted but many organizations have been put off by the amount of effort those annual surveys take to deploy.

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Frequently, in our projects, especially those of technical nature, we are confronted with the opportunity to analyze various possible solutions. In this process, it is critically important to understand all aspects of cost related to each alternative. A potential trap is to simply compare price. Oftentimes, price is only one very small aspect of the cost of going with a particular product or service.

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Often times, in the day to day course of business, as well as life in general, we resist certain conditions if they are not favorable in some way to us. I would call this less resistance to change and more a matter of not accepting the inevitable.

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Project Portfolio Management, like Investment Portfolio Management, is a balancing act that requires constant monitoring and adjustment over time. Whereas an individual may have the right balance of risk, return, income, growth and others represented in an investment portfolio, a project portfolio is similar in many ways. Risks, returns, resources required, and alignment with overall strategy are just a few of the factors that must be kept in balance over time.

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The PMBOK specifies that there is a process for Activity and Resource Estimating. There are a variety of nuances to this process and it is very important to a project’s success that project team members have the skills to produce accurate estimates.

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Engineering analysis is often an input to overall project management. However, in larger organizations, or in consulting firms that service a multitude of customers, the engineering analysis is a project unto itself. This brings to the surface the question, “What is the process for these types of projects, and how does it map to the PMBOK?”

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