Project lifecycle management

Are your Projects employing “Best Practices”?

Project Postmortems which delve into the Technical issues (e.g., estimation errors, scope omissions, validation or qualification test gaps, test methodology issues, development process gaps, omitted or by-passed design rules, flawed analyses, etc.) are relatively easy to accept and implement – many of the necessary systemic changes are developed and implemented as the issues come up.… Continue reading Are your Projects employing “Best Practices”?

The Importance of Quality to project risk management.

Organizational Quality Systems cover many aspects of compliance. Many industries have established standards, and most companies establish their own. From a project life cycle standpoint, product quality includes meeting technical performance requirements and specifications, some of which are directed by industry compliance codes. Project teams are basically commissioned to establish objective criteria (via tests, analyses,… Continue reading The Importance of Quality to project risk management.

Why Supplier Management is so important to project risk management.

Project scope performed by suppliers can very likely be the riskiest activity on the project. There is a good chance that if your organization conducts very complex, risky development projects which require a multitude of technical subject matter expertise, some key aspect of the projects’ scope will need to be out-sourced. There is a tendency… Continue reading Why Supplier Management is so important to project risk management.

Why Good Communication is so important to project risk management.

There is a very good reason why PMs need to be good communicators – communication is vital to project success, especially on the more complex projects where team performance is highly scrutinized. Previous postings discussed some of the more critical communication items already – Priorities, Assumptions, Estimating and Planning, Change Management, and Risk Management. To… Continue reading Why Good Communication is so important to project risk management.

Asking the right questions.

I do not believe that good PMs should know everything. They should be experts in leading projects, and may also be experts in certain technical subject matter categories, but not in every technical subject matter category that the project team encounters difficulties in. Matrix organizations have evolved in part to take advantage of subject matter… Continue reading Asking the right questions.

Priorities must be well understood.

Project plans should accurately comprehend project priorities, and these priorities should be central to any re-planning activities necessary after the project is kicked off. The most important priorities are those associated with determining project success; i.e., key product technical/quality requirements, delivery schedules, and budgets. Delineating the priority levels between these key project objectives enables the… Continue reading Priorities must be well understood.