When is Scope Creep Value Added and when should it be an additional charge?

Tonight in a restaurant, we were charged an extra dollar for “blackening” the fish.  The waitress told us (oops, to be politically correct, I should have said “the server”) that it was a charge for the extra spices.  My companion and I commented to each other how cheap that felt - how “nickle and diming” and how much we resented it when people did it to us. (more…)

How to Kill a Project

It seems to me that too many High Tech companies have become so bureaucratic that the processes and meetings and inability to make decisions bog projects down unitl they die from boredom.

I see meeting after meeting after meeting of people afraid to take risks and actually make working decisions.  Instead, everything is discussed ad-nausium.  Is the fear a fear of making a mistake?  Of being unpopular?  Of ridicule?  Of an inability to actually rationally and logically look at facts and move forward?

Even little things, those that could easily be resolved by a phone call, or e-mail, are subjected to mettings and meetings and meetings. 

I’m curious to know your ideas on this subject - and your suggestions as to how we can help employees of bureacratic companies move forward as though they cared about the bottom line.  Any ideas? 

Rescuing a Late Project - What Will You Do?

Do you recognize that your current project is late, but you haven’t taken steps necessary to rescue it, except for saying “we’ll work harder to bring it back on schedule?” If you admit that you should do more to handle your project lateness, then the next question is what steps you should take? Actually, the most important step is one which should be put in place at the start of the project, long before development has started. (more…)

The Worst Project Management Challenge

Does your organization only give lip service the product development life cycle and not adequately provide requirements before design and development begins?

The biggest, baddest and most ugliest pain point for project management professionals is missing, ambiguous, misunderstood or incorrect requirements. To increase project success, conduct verification and validation activities to find requirements defects early in the process. Studies show that validation and verification techniques are a wise investment of time that prevent requirements related defects from showing up in later project phases. (more…)

The Second Biggest Project Management Challenge

Has requirements creep become a requirements stampede in your organization?

This is a major pain point for project management professionals; requirements creep after requirements are baselined. Increase requirements stability on your project by adopting a requirements sign-off process to increase stakeholder understanding of what they are committing too. (more…)

The Third Most Awful Project Management Challenge

Is your Vice President ambitious and overwhelming your department with new project work?

I understand the frustration of having an overflowing list of projects. It was a major headache after the .dot com crash when there were less of us to do the work. Now the valley is busy again and your project portfolio process is full-up with projects and initiatives for SOX demands, cost reductions and new products and services.

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The Forth Most Calamitous Project Management Challenge

Is everything on your project is in flux; new users, new stakeholders, and they have new project priorities? Argghhhh.

Yesterday I shared that I recently surveyed project management professionals. The issue of churn of key stakeholders was a big pain point for the 30 project participants. When the new stakeholders change project priorities, you can easily become an IPM (irritable project manager). (more…)