PMcrunch

One of the greatest communication tools that a project manager can possess is strong briefing on the project. This can facilitate communications with all stakeholders for any project. It puts a good public relations phase on the project plan.

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Many project management positions are just that — positions managing projects. However, many other positions seemingly in project management are much more positions in programmatics. They involve tracking, reporting, working with metrics, and passing information on to decision makers. While, often, there is a need for these functions, there, often, also is not.

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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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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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Innovation is a popular topic these days. It is rare to read much in the business accross something about innovation. I have, at times, perceived innovation to be open creativity. However, based upon my experience, I have found that it is more of a deliberate act of which creativity is a part.

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In these tight times, we are acutely aware of cutbacks, of scarcity, and of the need to streamline. However, really, these are indicative of management practices that should be occurring all the time. In portfolio management, especially, it is important to have a healthy balance between short term considerations and long term considerations. It is all a balancing act and the equation really only changes slightly during a downturn, such as we are currently experiencing.

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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.

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Time Management and Prioritization go hand in hand. It is very difficult to think of one without the other. Let’s think about them separately for a moment and then see where they really fit together.

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One of the challenges that many managers have is organizing the plethora of projects AND processes that are part of their organizational realm. The first step to dealing with this is to clearly distinguish what is a project and what is a process. Getting clear on gray areas can pave the way for a forceful visions and way ahead on any program.

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