Procurement

By Dr. Matthew Kenney • September 23rd, 2011

Did you know Project Management is having a birthday? Well, sort of a birthday. It was 100  years ago, in 1911, that Frederick W. Taylor published Principles of Scientific Management. Early pioneers of project management, such as Henry Gantt, were followers of Dr. Taylor. Now, for historical accuracy, it should be noted that Dartmouth College [...]

      While you are shopping the holiday sales, and fighting the crowds, do you ever wonder what it takes to get that merchandise out there?  Do you ever wonder how it all happens? The Holiday Season is a Project       Is the Retail Holiday Season really a project?  Think about it.  It has a start and stop [...]

A joint post from EarthPM and TenStep: There are many examples of projects undertaken to produce some deliverable with environmental implications. In fact, one may assert that in fact, any project, since it uses resources, has environmental implications. This varies tremendously, based on scale and the direct impact on the environment. One project that clearly [...]

I have been lucky enough to witness (and in some cases be a part of) several overturns of conventional wisdom.  I remember hearing how quality “costs money” and “we can’t afford higher quality.”  Now, it’s common to think about quality and value perception strategically. I remember working with factory schedulers where they were driven by [...]

This is the 2nd of the three articles that discuss about strategies for new project managers to function effectively. The three steps are; understanding top ten reasons of a project failure and how to proactively plan to avoid them, how to have a solid communication plan and how to manage changes. The 2nd article covers the importance of communication and how to create project communicationmanagement plan.

My esteemed colleague Natalie Udo’s post a few weeks ago, “What is a Project Manager?” started me thinking about what are the elements which make us successful in the business. And hopefully, I’m reinforcing Kimberly Wiefling’s recent posts on what are the keys to success as a project leader… and not being too redundant – Thanks, [...]

One of the reasons I got into Project Management in the first place is that I’ve always been interested in people – their personalities, where they are from, what makes them tick. Growing up overseas in Japan, I attended an international school for foreigners, and there were kids from all over the world – kids [...]

As I was wracking my brain trying to think of interesting topics to write about for this week’s blogs, it came to me, a subject which is a sore spot and a pet peeve of mine – the fact that people don’t say “thank you” very often on projects, or in everyday business situations much (except [...]

It had all the earmarks of a disaster, a real career-sinker of a project. And here was my old friend and former colleague calling me up enthusiastically, on the phone: “Hey Lisa, we need a Technical Project Manager for this start-up I’m working for, in Redwood Shores… you’ll love the project and the team. It’s [...]

After years of managing online products and projects, you’d think it would become old hat… but never, not for this gal. There’s always something new to learn, and a different twist on old scenarios, if you’re open to them. People and team dynamics are endlessly fascinating, and you never know how it’s going to go [...]

As Project Managers, I’m sure we’ve all seen the kind of scenario where there is a project team member who is generally uncooperative or can’t seem to get the tasks done on time – and the different approaches you can take in order to solve this problem. You can take the dictatorial “Do as I [...]

Announcement. Announcement. The survey results from this week states… 50 % say your biggest pain point is finding your next engagement 31 % want to be more successful in working with your clients 6 % want tips and techniques on running your business Yes! These are key pain points for our industry.  How do you [...]

Making yourself into a publicity machine is a way to consistently have an opportunity to have discussions with project manager hiring decision makers Being a project management expert is the path to success to accomplish this goal

A desire to contribute to this industry is another facet of a successful project management consultant mindset. It is the key to establishing an expert status in your project management area. This is the way to getting invited to engagements. Stop being viewed as just another project manager who has to compete on price alone.

The Consultant’s Mindset: Use your project experience to share your fresh, relevant and targeted interpretation of trends, needed skills and cutting-edge tools to improve project results.

In this economy you need to find the fastest path to cash. That may mean taking a contract job while waiting for your next job. But many of you, this is time to rebrand yourself as a contractor and turn up the dial closer to a score of 50 on our Project Management Contractor test.

Project management is undergoing wrenching global changes. The economy is forcing management to fundamentally rethink the employment paradigm. Outsourcing in the 90’s began to impact our projects. This century, the full force of societal shift is upon us and we are now outsourced. To survive, we need to rejoin the project team as a contractor.