Blog - Project Management Insight

The importance of project scope

by Karen

You might ask “What is the importance of project scope?” We all hear about successful projects being within scope, delivered on time and within the … Read more

The meaning of BAU

by Karen

Sometimes the meaning of BAU isn’t easy to describe because of the different contexts that apply. Here is how I would describe what BAU is and isn’t in relation to day-to-day business operations and project work to better help you understand it. I’ve used examples in the hope of making it easier.

Productivity tools for your project team

by Karen

Productivity tools should be something you consider using for your team, especially with remote workers. These days with the agility and stability of technology we … Read more

Early stakeholder engagement is hard

by Karen

Never underestimate the value of early stakeholder engagement to a project.
Not engaging the right stakeholders early enough in your project creates added headaches and problems with project delivery.

In previous posts I have discussed the value of good communication, and of creating what I call ‘the one team‘ mentality, this post ties in with those.

How to run effective project meetings

by Karen

When you manage a project you want to run effective project meetings. It is important because… -> wasting project resources time costs money, -> wasted time … Read more

Why byte size information sharing is valuable

by Karen

There are many online tools available these days to support project team collaboration. With social media such a part of everyone’s life, many people are … Read more

Why undertake Project Health Checks?

by Karen

Use Prince2’s Project Health Check Question List to undertake a quality Health Check. It doesn’t discuss the right time to undertake the check though.

In my opinion the right time to undertake a Project Health Check will depend on the size of your project. Another key factor will be the maturity level of your organisations project management processes.

5 Killer Mistakes Project Managers Make

by Karen

In his article 5 Killer Mistakes Project Managers Make’ I love the approach that the author Duncan Haughey has taken. In reading the article there were some key things that stood out for me and resonated with my approach to project management. Let me tell you what they are.

Who should write business requirements?

by Karen

You believe you need a system to solve all of your problems. Vendors should not write the business requirements. Why? They don’t know the business, like the business.

In a perfect world the business would first document their business requirements. And, in a not so perfect world .. a software vendor will suggest that they develop them for you. WRONG APPROACH.

Frustrated with your project team?

by Karen

What is it about your project team that frustrates you the most? I used to find that it was the people who would tell me … Read more

Project headed for disaster?

by Karen

I want to take a different perspective on one persons perspective of a project headed for disaster.

An article titled ‘7 signs your project is headed for disaster’ specifically discusses ICT project failure and I was interested in the way that it looked at each of the seven signs.

4 reasons PMO staff need project management backgrounds

by Karen

PMO Staff need project management backgrounds. The role of a Project Management Office (PMO) is one of governance and standards. They are the administrators of how projects are run within a program or portfolio, ensuring that processes and procedures for good project management are followed, and providing an assurance function to check that things are being reported correctly.

It is important that the staff working in the PMO have project management backgrounds. Here’s why…

What’s the value of business requirements?

by Karen

Never underestimate the value of documenting business requirements.
All too often I have seen projects which were clearly on the road to failure, even before they formally started. Why? Because they didn’t have fully defined and documented business requirements.

Ways to improve team cohesion

by Karen

Have you considered ways to improve team cohesion? As a Project Manager it is all too easy to get caught up in the day to day of running your project. There are a million and one things that need to be done, you’ve got pressure being put on you from your Senior Executive to deliver, and things may not always be going as well as you would like. Working on assisting the team to work better together is probably the furthest thing from your mind.

Project success tips

by Karen

In my view, project failure isn’t an option. Let’s talk project success tips.

On a LinkedIn Group that I am a member of I read a large number of the posts related to the question of what the main cause of failure for a Business Process Improvement project was.