PMcrunch

At the end of a year and at the beginnning of a new one, we all tend to take some time to look back at the last twelve months and to look forward to the next twelve. This is a good time for us to asses our own performance, strengths, weaknesses, interests, things that we would like more of and things that we would rather do without.

[Read more →]

In any organization of any size and in any industry, politics is a reality. The word politics is, I would say, very definitely perceived differently by different people. Some perceive it positively, and perhaps as a game; others perceive it negatively as something to be avoided. Let’s take a closer look at the reality of politics.

[Read more →]

Two methods of capital budgeting often used on project and in project portfolio management are internal rate of return(IRR) and net present value(NPV). They are close cousins but take a little bit of a different look at the value of a project. They are both time based and bothrelayed to cash flows over time on a project.

[Read more →]

Many project managers are in somewhat functional roles where they are not neccessarily in a typical leadership positions. By contrast, other project managers are in significant leaderhsip roles where they have been given direct responsibility of the outcome of significant projects.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

For many years now, the debate over global warming and environmental consciousness has raged. This debate has become deeply embedded into the political consciousness, especially in the United States, but also elsewhere in the world. One thing is for sure: this debate will continue for a long time to come, and it will be a long time before any claims are proven indisputably accurate. So, the question is, how can we incorporate environmental correctness into our projects and programs?

[Read more →]

As project and program managers, we are leaders within organizations. Indeed, we lead small, smaller, organizations that are subsets of the larger organizations. As such, we are responsible for making decisions, and in the process, we need to define ourselves. Let’s take a look at this concept.

[Read more →]

In today’s information intensive world, managers are inundated with information from many sources. This presents a world of opportunity, but also a challenge in moving ahead. The opportunity is that there is far more valuable information available upon which to base decisions, and the challenge is how to sort through the information efficiently. Let’s take a look at some ideas on how to cope with all this information.

[Read more →]

Software project outsourcing and managing virtual teams are very hot topics today. They present new opportunities as well as new challenges for project and program managers. Below is a collection of recent articles and posts around the internet on this timely topic.

[Read more →]