PMcrunch

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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For many years now, the debate over global warming and environmental consciousness has raged. This debate has become deeply embedded into the political consciousness, especially in the United States, but also elsewhere in the world. One thing is for sure: this debate will continue for a long time to come, and it will be a long time before any claims are proven indisputably accurate. So, the question is, how can we incorporate environmental correctness into our projects and programs?

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We are living in an age of “standardization”. It seems that everything is standardized, from processes and procedures to management practices across the board. While we, as managers, try to standardize much ourselves in order to reduce error, create efficiencies, build a common vocabulary, and enhance communication, what happens when things just don’t seem to be working the way we like?

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There has been a tremendous amount of buzz more recently about PMOs, otherwise known as Project Management Offices. Here is what a select group of experts are saying about PMOs today.

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Thomas Edison was the quintessential mistake maker. He believed that the more mistakes he made, the more wrong answers and wrong solutions he could eliminate and, therefore, the closer he came to the correct solution to his problems. In management and on projects, on one hand, we seek to minimize mistakes but it is important to recognize when “mistakes” can actually be beneficial and produce positive outcomes. Indeed, we should not be afraid to make mistakes but rather should try to control and leverage the process. The project portfolio management process is an ideal place to formally do this.

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What does you organization “tolerate”? This is an important question to ask because you will know where you have some flexibility, and you will know where you have risks and inflexibility. You may very well also find out where your organization is lacking, and where it needs some reform in its project management practices to become a much more streamlined, and lean operating machine. A useful tool for thinking about this is the triple constraint.

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PRINCE2 – PRojects IN Controlled Environments – is a major worldwide project management framework, or methodology. It takes a different approach than the PMI’s PMBOK, but the goal of both is to improve project performance. While PMBOK is generally well-accepted worldwide, it is by far the leading approach in North America. PRINCE2 on the other hand is strongest in the United Kingdom, with a strong presence in Europe, Australia, and other typically English-speaking countries outside North America. But both are expanding there reach on a constant basis as the world gradually “projectizes.”

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Edmund Hillary, of Auckland , New Zealand, , died on January 11,2008. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to climb Mount Everest. This hit me especially because I have always had a great interest and enthusiasm for the outdoors, and I just finished reading a great book about the climbing of Mount Everest. What makes Hillary’s death even more interesting for PMcrunch is that he was in practice actually a great project manager!

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How important are interviews to [tag-ice]project management[/tag-ice]? Suffice it to say that the success (and failure) of many projects rests on how well some interviews are conducted. Much responsibility rides on the shoulders of the person using this tool of [tag-tec]project communication and assessment[/tag-tec]. Interviews, used in the right manner, can reveal the right candidate for a project and verify elements regarding procedures and practices involved.

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MPMM – Method123 Project Management Methodology offers a very comprehensive suite of project management templates and more for implementing best practices – derived from PMBOK and PRINCE2 – within an organization.

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