PMcrunch

What do you do when hopelessness seems on the horizon? What do you do when it appears you have tried everything and nothing is working? What do you do when it appears that you are at the end of the road?

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[tag-tec]Task estimating[/tag-tec] is a critical skill for [tag-dir]project managers[/tag-dir] and [tag-dir]project teams[/tag-dir]. We cannot manage what we cannot estimate. However, realistically, it is very difficult to be able to estimate every possible task accurately.

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Human resources is an important function in all organizations and that includes the project organization. In these difficult economic times, the human resources’ function is being tested in organizations worldwide. How does that testing in this environment translate into the project team environment?

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Project cutbacks are a common theme. In many cases, teams are simply reduced in size. In addition, project scopes are decreased while agile methods are a key way organizations develop software more efficiently. The term agility goes far beyond that.

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In these challenging times, so many of our projects and programs are more challenging than usual. We are called upon to make tough decisions to solve difficult problems and to squeeze more out of every resource we have. How we face these challenges has more to do with our approach and attitude than anything else.

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In these tough economic times, it will be quite a challenge for so many of us to make it through the year with a strong financial performance. I have been thinking about what some of the keys are to ensuring that 2009 is a solid year. The best conclusion I have is that the customer is king. Here are my thoughts.

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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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The learning curve was “invented” many years ago. It refers to the competitive advantage derived from having learned a great deal about a product, service, market, or other competitive factors along the way. The learning curve can be a tremendous source of competitive advantage to organizations that have rode it upwards, especially when compared to those who have not yet accomplished that learning.

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Whatever performance review system is in place, the important thing for project management is that the line organization that holds ultimate responsibility for the project should be the primary input and judge of a project manager’s performance. Performance evaluation is often difficult in matrix-type organizations, such as those that include a PMO. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges.

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Though I have not heard it made official all indications are that we are in recession. This appears to be not just for the United States but for much, if not most, of the rest of the world. The cause of this recession, of course, is the credit crunch and all issues surrounding that. So the big question is, “What can project and program managers do to cope with this recession?” I have some thoughts, and for reference have tapped into ideas of Jack and Susie Welch.

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