Updated 17 May 2023: Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, are a very important quantitative measure that will allow you to see how you are progressing with a project and help you work out where you need to improve. If they are identified correctly, they can be a valuable diagnostic tool. However, they should be relevant to […]
Clarifying KPIs for Project Success Read More »
Everyone likes the idea of perfection – the perfect holiday, the perfect house or the perfect job – but, in reality, we might want these things to be perfect, we might try and convince ourselves that they are perfect but they rarely are. And the same could be said for any project that we have
Does A Project Need to be Perfect to be Successful? Read More »
I was with a Project Manager friend, Steve, for a catch up this week when an old friend walked into the coffee house we were in. I introduced the old friend, Liz, to Steve and invited her to join us. After a few minutes, Liz asked Steve, “So, what do you do?” What would you
You are not an IT Project Manager. You are not a CIO. How you are so much more! Read More »
Who is your IT Project’s Leader? At this time of year, are you really leading or is your company’s calendar more in charge? I ask because, independently, three Project Managers have told me that they are pulling their hair out because of unanticipated roadblocks along their projects’ critical paths. In each case, the cause is
How to prevent holiday hold ups delaying your IT Project! Read More »
Ten years ago, a handful of firms had started to promote IT from business technology support to a strategic business partner but, for most, IT was still a back office function. That’s not to say that the projects weren’t complex and essential, they totally were. The thinking though, for many, was “this is what we want the business to do, how can IT help achieve this?” whereas the thinking now is more “what can IT achieve for the business?”
Happy tenth birthday to Stoneseed! Read More »
I was inspired by a recent Facebook post by a friend who asked, in a status update, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Within minutes, dozens of replies appeared, all along the lines of “You OK hun?” or “How can I help?”. She’s fine by the way, just wondering why despite best efforts,
Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good Projects? Read More »
Originally published on CIO.com We record ‘lessons learnt’ as part of the project management process but do we actually learn from them? Recent experience and the number of projects that fail to deliver suggest we could probably all do better at learning from lessons learnt. It is worth considering this for a moment … Do
IT Projects. Do We Actually Ever Learn Lessons Learnt? Read More »
In IT Projects, when something unexpected happens, I get better results when I respond, than when I react. You may have sussed this for yourself ages ago but my epiphany, strangely, came when I met a St John Ambulance community first responder. He was telling me about a traffic accident that he’d attended. He was
Managing IT Projects: Respond Don’t React Read More »
Have you ever taken on an IT Project, only to find that a major challenge either wasn’t mentioned in the handover from the departing Project Manager or, if it was, it was implicit – not explicit. It’s like those horror movies where a family buys a house only to find out, after they move in,
How to deal with what wasn’t in the IT project handover Read More »
With the success of my first eBook, I am delighted to publish Volume II. The book covers a wealth of topics from Stonseed’s Project Management as a Service and our IT services, to an array Project and Programme Management issues. Volume II of Straight Talk on Project Management is now available for download as an
Straight Talk on Project Management VOLUME II – Free E-Book Read More »
