PMcrunch

FMEA is an important lean Six Sigma technique that has potential to be used in project management. While in Six Sigma it needs to be used at a very rigorous way, there certainly is some room for flexibility when used in project management. In either case, it is a good structured technique for analyzing problems and identifying solutions.

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The Project Management Institute, Prince II, and numerous other project management centric organizations have, for some time, had at their core that there is great an broad value to the application of structured and formal project management. At the same time, people have been managing projects really for about as long as humans have existed, albeit with varying levels of complexity. The question is, what is the value of formal project management?

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Decision making is challenging. For many of us, it is just plain hard. But with good practice in the right areas, we can become better and more effective at identifying and executing at each phase at the decision making process. One way to simplify all of this is to view decision making as a three-part process.

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It is a great exercise in the beginning of a project to identify all the stakeholders. For anyone who has been on just a handful of projects, you know the importance of identifying stakeholders as it helps to formulate requirements, as well as to push toward a successful close of an effective project. RACI Analysis provides a useful way to put into perspective each and every one of the stakeholders or stakeholder groups on a project.

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Marketing projects are important to companies, simply because they provide the opportunity to increase the top line of the business. That is, they are initiatives focused on driving revenue, as opposed to controlling costs. I have been thinking about three keys for how to lay out the requirements for such such revenue-enhancing marketing projects.

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Projects, like anything else, are subject to change. One of these changes is changes in stakeholders. Many times a project will be very viable for a particular stakeholder, but priorities might change with a new stakeholder. This is also especially serious when the stakeholder is actually the sponsor of the project, the number one stakeholder. Let’s look at some key aspects of maintaining project control during these types of changes.

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With the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States and his coming inauguration in January, we are beginning to see what his priorities would be; this is an opportunity to think through what some of the impacts will be in the project management world.

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I recently listened to a Wharton podcast where a unique perspective on these turbulent times was cited. The book, entitled “Your Job Survival Guide: A Manual For Thriving In Change” by Dr. Gregory Shea and Robert Gunther. This book apparently lays out strategies for dealing with turbulent times. But what really caught my eye (or ears) is the reference to whitewhater versus an ocean liner as a description for work environments today. Let’s take a look.

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Organizations of all sizes have been taking a much closer look at their project portfolios in these tough times. One of the bigger questions is “where does innovation fit in in the portfolio?” There are some interesting ideas around this and organizations must reckon with the fact that decisions about innovation could very well set the stage for the future of the company. At the same time, we must reckon with the fact that, in order to reach a future, we must be financially sound through the crisis. I have been thinking a bit about the relationship between innovation and portfolio management in tough times.

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I have managed a variety of situations, from project means down to shop floor teams. In addition, I have managed virtual teams and teams of managers. While all these situations are different, there is a common thread when it comes dissention on a team. The key is to understand what kind of dissention you have, what it’s source is, and how you really feel about it.

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