project planning
|
How to Plan for Your Goals—and Then Reach Them Chances are good that by now, you've already given up on your New Year's resolution—or at least aren't quite where you want to be with it. How can you turn it around? Achieving your goals often depends on the way you map out how you plan on getting there in the first place. Read on for some advice. |
|
|
The Abstraction ProblemAs technical people, when we give too much information in a project status meeting, we can overwhelm managers. Worse, if we don’t answer the implied question ("When is this thing going to be done?"), the managers will get answers elsewhere. Read on for ideas to get you speaking the same language. | 
|
|
Goals Are Good, but Adaptation Is Often BetterSetting goals is admirable. But in doing so, you can't neglect the possibility of change. What good is achieving your goals if they became irrelevant or the assumptions behind them were incorrect in the first place? It's smarter to focus on the ultimate outcome you want, not just compliance to plan. |
|
|
Long-Term Trends: Project Schedule and Productivity on the Decline QSM recently completed an analysis of how project schedule has changed over time and the subsequent impact on effort and productivity. The results indicate that project size, effort, and productivity have all decreased over time. This story explores the findings and shares some related observations. |
|
|
Using Big Room Planning to Help Plan a Project with Many TeamsPlanning is essential to agile, but for larger projects, it can become problematic. When you have multiple teams working on a project, the big room planning technique comes in handy. All planning takes place in a single, large room, so everybody can discuss their teams' needs and identify conflicts. | 
|
|
Unblurring Lines: Clarifying the Scope of Your ProjectProject and subproject boundaries can be challenging because people have different assumptions about exactly where the boundaries are. What, exactly, do your plan and budget include? Items on the boundary should be reviewed with project sponsors and documented as clearly in or out of project scope. | 
|
|
The Project Manager-Business Analyst Relationship: When Roles CollideIn some organizations, the project manager and business analyst roles are played by different people, and in others, one person performs both. The two roles require different skill sets, so it's important for both people to collaborate—or for the one person doing both to compartmentalize actions. | |
|
Cassandra’s Curse: You Can’t Make Clients Take ActionAccording to Greek myth, Cassandra's curse was that she could predict the future but no one would believe her prophecies. Sometimes the same can be said for project proposals. You can give the best assessment possible, but that doesn't mean the client will heed your words. Read on for encouragement. |
|