The use of an effective project portfolio management strategy helps organizations ensure they gain maximum value from their project investments. By bringing the entire project pipeline under central control, everyone maintains better awareness of where and when resource consumption is scheduled, how today’s staffing and funding decisions may impact tomorrow’s efforts, and which strategic projects…
Project Management Blog
Can Your Project Disaster Be Fixed?
December 3, 2019 by
Sometimes PMs encounter an issue within a project that looks like it could be a showstopper. In other instances, you may discover too late that your initiative is already so far off track that making meaningful progress appears nearly impossible. Recovering from these events can be difficult but the risk of all-out project failure may…
Get Your Executives on the Right Project Track
November 13, 2019 by
Sometimes an organization’s senior staff hinders, rather than helps, an important project. They may take their time approving the final budget for an urgent initiative or they might pressure the PM to change or expand the planned deliverables mid-stream. These kinds of issues aren’t just disruptive—they have the potential to drain your available funding, delay…
6 Strategies to Manage Low-Priority Projects
November 4, 2019 by
It’s important that PMs regularly assess their organization’s entire project portfolio. Recurring reviews enable them to ensure each initiative is properly prioritized against the business’s needs and available project management support, and that any opportunities to share resources or consolidate workloads across projects have been identified and evaluated. But when time is short, you want…
Are Executives Derailing Your Project?
October 23, 2019 by
Your organization’s leadership team plays a vital role in project success. The executives are typically key sponsors of high-visibility initiatives and their participation in moving efforts from concept to reality is crucial. There are times, however, when you may discover that senior staff are standing in the way of progress rather than supporting it. If…
Improve Project Performance with Templates
October 18, 2019 by
Though they may seem like minor players when it comes to successfully completing a project, templates can be tremendously helpful in closing some significant gaps in the planning and execution process. Without templates, your team may have trouble communicating effectively with stakeholders. They might omit crucial details when handing off a multi-part task to a…
Uncertainty and Project Portfolio Management
October 7, 2019 by
It’s not uncommon for individual projects to encounter uncertain circumstances. Short-term hiccups could delay equipment or material deliveries, or an unexpected contraction in the company’s workforce could temporarily put a project’s scope or timeline into question. In addition to addressing these acute issues for active initiatives, PMs must also manage the potential impacts of uncertainty…
3 Reasons Projects Get Bogged Down
October 1, 2019 by
Everyone in your project team is busy but your initiative isn’t moving ahead. You may be stalled trying to get through a particular sequence of tasks or it might seem like every new activity experiences delays. Sound familiar? You aren’t alone. Even seasoned project teams occasionally run into situations where progress comes to a standstill….
Project Management: Improve Individual Accountability
September 25, 2019 by
Successful project planning and execution requires commitment from every stakeholder. Everyone involved in orchestrating and carrying out tasks must be accountable for the activities under their area of responsibility, but developing this level of individual accountability and sustaining it across the entire project lifecycle is a task all by itself. Along with their normal project…
Uncertainty and its Effects on Project Teams
September 16, 2019 by
When project teams encounter uncertainty, the ability to tap into solid experience and the right expertise is crucial. It may be a situation where you simply need to ask different questions, connect with different specialists, or evaluate different data points to determine how to move ahead. Other times, you could be running up against a…
