Project Management At Work

Project Management noteworthy news and commentary (July 15, 2011)

Planning is an important aspect of project management. However, as the saying goes: Even “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

As a project manager this is an important lesson to take with you. Undoubtedly, no matter how much effort you put into a project plan, you will run into issues that will impact your project scope, budget, or schedule.

What will determine the success of your project is how you handle these setbacks. If you ignore them and try to stick to your original plan, there is no doubt you will run your project to the ground. However, if you acknowledge these challenges, reflect on them as they come, and re-adjust your plan where necessary you have a much better chance of achieving project success.

This week we are featuring several posts that we feel do a good job of providing tips and advice on what you should do when you start noticing that your project is veering off its planned course.

We hope you enjoy these readings and they help you examine the way in which you approach your project plan. And if you know of an article you think would enhance our list, please let us know in our comments section!

“When the Project Plan Is the Problem” – Project Management Hut
The most effective project managers understand the importance of a robust project plan with reasonable estimates for each activity. So a considerable amount of time and effort usually goes into preparing the project plan. Click here to continue reading

“Don’t Plan, Speculate” – Jim Highsmith
One thing people are learning is that you can’t plan uncertainty away. Plans are good for things we know, or things that we may have some control over. However uncertainty—and its close cousin’s ambiguity and velocity—defy planning Click here to continue reading

“Enough is Enough: Planning is Important, BUT… – Systemation
Over and over we hear how inadequate we are in planning our projects. Lots of people judge it to be this way because they think project managers do not know how to plan. Supposed experts say we need to be more rigorous in our planning Click here to continue reading

“The Myth of the Plan” – Staying for Tea
My wife doesn’t like science fiction or fantasy movies – she finds the effort of suspending her disbelief too much to enjoy herself. I’m a little bit like this when it comes to writing project designs or annual plans – it’s just too much myth making for me to feel like it’s time well spent. Click here to continue reading

“Adjusting Goals & Re-planning” – Zen, Project Management, and Life
I ran the Chicago 13.1 last weekend and while my time was not very fast, I did make it across the finish line; which was an accomplishment under the conditions we faced. Because of heat & humidity, the race organizers actually stopped the race. Click here to continue reading

If you spot project management news of interest, or you have an interesting blog post you want to share, let us know at: info@mindedge.com

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