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StrategyDriven Project Management Forum
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”
Project Management Body of Knowledge
Third Edition
Project Management Institute
To many, project management represents their worst nightmare. The mere mention of the term conjures images of bloated bureaucracies, large consultant-laden teams, and endless meetings where decisions are seldom made and status is often reported as being behind. Executed properly, project management can be an effective tool for aligning the organization to the successful implementation of simple and complex initiatives.
An art and a science, project management is most effective when implemented with a rigor correlated to the scope and complexity of the work to be performed. Regardless of intensity, the management of projects consists of five phases:
- Initiate – initial, high-level project definition and authorization
- Plan – project scope refinement and approval; task identification and sequencing; resource to task allocation; schedule development; project cost estimation and budget development; project plan creation and baselining
- Execute – project plan execution
- Evaluate and Control – project plan execution performance monitoring and reporting; project scope and plan change control; project risk management
- Close – final project activity documentation; financial closeout; overall project performance assessment and lessons learned development; product evaluation; project administrative closure
Focus of the Project Management Forum
Materials in the Project Management Forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies effectively managing projects for the efficient achievement of mission goals. Additionally, all project management information presented will be aligned with, compliment, and expound on the project management processes described by the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics critical to the effective management of consequential projects.
Articles
Principles
- Post Implementation Productivity [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- What is Critical Chain? [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Best Practices
- Best Practice – The Project Management Intensity Continuum [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Define What is Not In Scope [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Line Management Project Ownership [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Team Calendar [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Define Success First [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – A+ Players [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Use of Administrative Support [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Roles and Responsibilities Matrix [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Identify the Gatekeepers [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Communication Plans [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Warning Flags
- Warning Flag – Unfunded Activities [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Breaking-up a Project to Avoid Approval Thresholds [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Frequent Re-baselining [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Too Much Time, Too Few People [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Fast Tracking Everything [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
StrategyDriven Expert Contributor Articles
- Adaptive Project Framework is not Your Father’s Project Management by Robert Wysocki
- Managing Your Virtual Team by Elmer Thomas
StrategyDriven Podcasts
StrategyDriven Podcast – Special Edition
- An Interview with Michael Bender, author of A Manager’s Guide to Project Management
- An Interview with Robert Wysocki, author of Adaptive Project Framework
Documents
Whitepapers
- Project Size Determination [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Resources
Books
To supplement the project management information found on the StrategyDriven website, our contributors recommend the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides). This book is a complete process reference covering all aspects of project management including:
- Project Integration Management
- Project Scope Management
- Project Time Management
- Project Cost Management
- Project Quality Management
- Project Human Resource Management
- Project Communications Management
- Project Risk Management
- Project Procurement management
To say the accountable organization manages by fact may seem to suggest that a utopia exists, one in which all circumstances can be defined by ones and zeros. Within this utopian organization, executives and managers act to harvest the ones and discard the zeros.
“Midshipmen will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor will they mislead or deceive anyone as to known facts. A midshipman will be truthful, trustworthy, honest and forthright at all times and under all circumstances.
“Execution is where the rubber meets the road.”
Executives and managers maximize their organization’s value through transformative change brought about by the effective execution of a long-range plan. Some executives and managers, by setting long-term goals, the achievement of which is supported by a tactically flexible long-range plan, establish the conditions necessary for their organization to realize the significant benefits of transformative change. In other organizations, executives and managers concern themselves with small incremental improvements, eliminating the possibility of attaining the breakaway successes of truly great organizations.
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