PMcrunch

Anyone who has been on a project knows that the most important thing is having good people. While we know that projects must be well-designed and well-planned, a project cannot succeed without good people. The question is, what are the criteria for choosing good people?

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In most situations on projects, failure simply is not an option. The project or program must succeed one way or another. We need to grapple with whether to do the project on one level; but once that decision has been made, it needs to be executed successfully.

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Two methods of capital budgeting often used on project and in project portfolio management are internal rate of return(IRR) and net present value(NPV). They are close cousins but take a little bit of a different look at the value of a project. They are both time based and bothrelayed to cash flows over time on a project.

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Organizations of all sizes have been taking a much closer look at their project portfolios in these tough times. One of the bigger questions is “where does innovation fit in in the portfolio?” There are some interesting ideas around this and organizations must reckon with the fact that decisions about innovation could very well set the stage for the future of the company. At the same time, we must reckon with the fact that, in order to reach a future, we must be financially sound through the crisis. I have been thinking a bit about the relationship between innovation and portfolio management in tough times.

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In these tight times, we are acutely aware of cutbacks, of scarcity, and of the need to streamline. However, really, these are indicative of management practices that should be occurring all the time. In portfolio management, especially, it is important to have a healthy balance between short term considerations and long term considerations. It is all a balancing act and the equation really only changes slightly during a downturn, such as we are currently experiencing.

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A great question that we can ask ourselves as project managers is, “Would we invest in our projects”? This is probably the single best indicator, if we are honest with ourselves, as to the health of our projects, our positions, our teams, our organizations and more. Here is a look at an investment perspective to managing projects.

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On December 11, 2007, PMConnection announced the introduction of “The Project Management Search Engine” product. This is a wonderful idea, and is true to the name and mission of “PMConnection”. Here are my thoughts on what practical innovation and usefulness it brings to the table.

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There are lots of opinions on delegating. There is no one right answer to when it best to delegate, but there are some key considerations. Here are 7 key considerations for determining whether or not to delegate a task.

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Earned value reporting is a powerful project management technique. It applies, one way or another, to ALL projects, large and small. What is important is to understand the concept, then adapting the application of the concept to an appropriate level that is effective for your projects.

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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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