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Decisions that directly affect Information Technology (IT) projects or IT services within an organization are not always made in the IT (or Engineering) department. That is not bad thing; it is just the way things are and how business runs. Like what? Management decides it is in the company’s strategic...
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I am sure there are people who enjoy traveling as part of their job, although I have not met any of them recently! Travel to current or potential customer sites, subcontractors, giving a conference presentation or receiving training is sometimes necessary for the project and the organization. Who knows...
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Those of you who know me understand how my company relies on cognition principles and experts to make our projects successful. Dr. Karen McGraw, the founder of Cognitive Technologies, has said on many occasions that “Cognitive is the first word in our company name because if you don’t focus...
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Do you ever ask for help or assistance? I don’t know why so many people (And organizations!) feel like they cannot go get help when they need to. Perhaps because people see asking for help as a sign of personal failure, they are reluctant to do it. Instead, they continue to struggle and hope for [.....
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If you have not wandered through the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) knowledge center, you have missed an excellent source of best-practice thinking on a variety of issues relevant to project and corporate management. Recently I reviewed an article by Pradeep Patra, PMP and Sunitha Bartaki...
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In part 2 of this series, I talked about selecting a content management system (CMS) and including the needs of people (stakeholders and users). I shared several great questions to ask when choosing a solution. So after you have done all the work of finding, selecting and implementing a CMS you can relax...
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Last week in part 1, I talked about selecting a content management system (CMS) (which has many names like records management or knowledge management) from a technical perspective. However, just as with any productivity-enhancing tool, the process does not end with getting the tool. Rather, the process...
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As a project manager, there were times when I sincerely wondered if I would not be more successful if I just did not have to deal with people. People — my team, senior management, support staff and clients — can turn a simple task into a complex one or a straightforward decision into a need...
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Though many businesses use project management software, a sentiment exists in some circles that successful project managers often achieve results in spite of their software tools, rather than because of them. The claim that project management tools provide an effective way to boost productivity...
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I do not want to mislead you with the title of this post. In my experience, effective IT project management is what it is, whether the project exists in a for-profit company or nonprofit organization. However, the culture surrounding the project and some of the challenges differ. To restate previous...
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A couple weeks ago (August 21, 2011 to be exact), I was watching a “60 Minutes” interview on TV about whistle blowing and a NSA employee’s possible trial for espionage. Interesting stuff, I guess. However, what caught my attention was that the charges revolved around a software development project...
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Conventional “management” wisdom states that having trust among team members and between the team and management is critical to project success. I just finished a project to implement a new tool suite for an organization and the need for trust was very apparent. Trust however...
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Every project that I have looked at over the years involving computers, software or technology had three key staff on them — The PM, the sponsor and the lead technologist (or some call them the Subject Matter Expert- SME). Selected by the project manager, the Project Management Office, program...
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Is there a difference in managing a project that is implementing a “Commercial-Off-the-Shelf” (COTS) application, versus managing a new software development project? Many of you would say there is a world of difference. In my opinion, it is not that simple – there are some project elements that are common...
Posted to
Project Management and Project Tools Blog
by
Fear No Project - A Project Management Blog
on
07-23-2011
Filed under:
Filed under: Project management, training, Best Practice, General Project Management, project manager, management, software development, pm, Requirements, implementation, client, COTS
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Recently, while sharing a quiet dinner at a nice restaurant (in lovely Regina Canada), I could not help but overhear the conversation at the next table. The patron was angry and demanding that the cook re-do the meat because it was not to his liking. I paid attention to this because the customer had...