Article 1 - Well Planned is Half Complete!

Do you work in an environment where the undertaking of multi-projects is an everyday occurrence? Do your team continue to make the same project execution mistakes? Is there a lack of consistency regarding how projects and being planned? Are these problems giving you and your project managers ulcers? If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then read on. Read More

Article 2 - Are you estimating your IT Projects correctly?

In order to run the project we must know how long things take, how much it will cost and what kind of resources will be required.  The only way we can get this data is by doing good estimates.  Without good estimates we have no way of knowing where we are at any point in the project and we have no way of predicting how much the project will cost or how long it will take to do it. Read More

Article 3 - Are you running your Project Meetings effectively?

Almost all of a project manager’s time is spent attending meetings. Meetings are the backbone of project development. They are the place where aspects of the project are discussed, facts are reviewed, and decisions are made. However, meetings are also time-consuming and can be looked upon as inefficient, to a point where key attendees avoid meetings. This leads to discussions being postponed because the right people are not in attendance to make decisions. Read More 

Article 4 - Are Corporate Strategies becoming a reality and how does Project Management add value?

Business, in its ceaseless evolution, has a way of turning its own paradigms on their heads in the never-ending quest for ‘a better way’. This sacrificing of elder systems and the anointing of younger, more innovative ones is a corporate ritual that is increasingly being played out in the gathering speed of today’s age of technology. It is a restless energy of change. Read More

Article 4 - What is Crashing & Fast Tracking a Project?

Crashing and fast tracking a schedule are ways of reducing the length of a project schedule.  Crashing is a general term for reducing project schedules.  When we crash a schedule we spend money or resources to reduce the scheduled time for the project in such a way that we do the things that have the greatest reduction in schedule for the least amount of cost.  When we first start to crash a schedule relatively small amounts of money and resources need to be spent to get rather large reductions in project time.  As we continue to reduce schedules the relative cost of reducing schedules increases. Read More

Article 5 - What Is Goldratt’s Critical Chain Theory Anyway?

In recent years Eliyahu M Goldratt has developed several interesting ideas about project management.  One of the more controversial ideas is his theory of critical chains. This is a method of adjusting schedules to reduce the probability of projects being late.Using the critical chain theory involves delaying activities scheduled until the activities are close to their late scheduled dates instead of being close to their early scheduled dates as is traditionally done when scheduling projects.  Because the late schedule essentially places all of the activities on the critical path, a buffer is placed into the schedule to allow delays in the project activities without delaying past the promised project completion date. Read More

Article 6 - What is Risk Management anyway?

A risk is a possible unplanned event.  It can be positive or negative. In project management the success of our projects depends on our ability to predict a particular outcome. Since risks are the unpredictable part of the project it is important for us to be able to control them as much as possible and make them predictable.  A pure risk or threat is a risk that only has a negative possibility as an outcome. A business risk is a normal risk of doing business.  It can have a good or bad outcome. An opportunity is a risk that has only good outcomes. Read More

Article 7 - What makes a good Project Manager?

What makes a good project manager? Is it the person in your organisation who has recently qualified with a PMP®? Is it the person in IT who tells you that all her projects come in on time, within budget and adhere to the relevant quality standards? Who determines who is good and who is not? Nowadays, the majority of organizations have project management as a core set of skills in their business, where a wide variety of individuals have the function of project management somewhere in their job description. Some of these practitioners have the obligatory certificate or diploma in project management and the chosen few will have the much sought after degree on the subject or better yet the illustrious title of PMP. Which most corporations deem sufficient to provide them with a sense of comfort that their organizational projects are at least being managed. Read More

If you wish to obtain any further information on these articles, please feel free to e-mail Clinton in't Veld