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» FEATURED: Standing Up for 15 Minutes: Why?

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The ultimate management sin is to waste people’s time, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister told us in their famous book Peopleware [1]. This includes having pointless meetings that prevent people from actually doing anything useful. Nevertheless, some meetings are considered a necessary evil and therefore the so-called “agile movement” in software devel...

» Offshore outsourcing projects: Seven things every project manager should know

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Project managers handling offshore outsourced software projects face extra challenges. PM expert Bas de Baar explains how managers can work with and learn from their foreign partners and employees. Here are seven things you really have to know before you get started.

» Business Analysts — Adding Value to Projects

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I’m sure there must be a thesis somewhere on this question: How do you know whether a specific decision or action definitely influences the actual event? I like soccer analogies — in a pre-World Cup game against Argentina, Sven-Goran Eriksson was praised for his tactical decision to bring on Peter Crouch and the 3-2 victory that resulted. Yet, Erik...

» Project Management and Business Analysis: Dependencies for Success

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How do the professions of project management and business analysis create their work synergies? It’s all about process. The process of successful project execution is reliant upon the business analyst providing the correct inputs to the project that the project manager uses to manage the entire delivery of the project. In short, the business analys...

» Why We Resist Planning

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The short answer: "Because it requires work." The long answer: People tend to resist gazing into the crystal ball and prefer to react to life as it passes them by. Some people believe planning in today's ever changing world is a waste of time, that you must be more "agile" and accommodate changes as they occur. As anyone who has designed and ...

» Covering for Incompetence

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The pointy haired manager in Scott Adams' "Dilbert" cartoon has become an icon for management incompetence. Although Adams' character may seem like an extreme, we have all encountered various examples of the Peter Principle whereby people have risen above their level of competency. We see this not only in our companies, but also in the nonprofit or...

» Understanding Effectiveness

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Discusses the use of worker time and how it impacts estimating and scheduling in Project Management.... It's been a while since I've discussed the concept of "effectiveness" but I was recently up in Cincinnati and saw it in action again. This time, I happened to be visiting my brother-in-law who had hired a crew to tear down some dead trees on his...

» Why Use BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)?

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A good negotiation method should protect you from making a bad agreement or rejecting one that you should accept. For example, if you implement a bottom line – by establishing in advance your worst acceptable outcome, such as the lowest price you’d accept for an item you’re selling – you’re limiting your options if circumstances should change durin...

» Lessons Learned: It's Not Just a Good Idea...

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Call them "Lessons Learned," "Retrospectives," "Postmortems," or whatever you wish; taking the time at the end of each project to look back is almost universally considered to be a good idea. In fact, I can't remember ever having someone tell me that they don't think it is a good idea. "Oh yes!" I am often told, "We should do them!" Author: Alan K...

» How Did You Get That Out Of What I Just Said? Five Rules to Communicating

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Have you found yourself wondering those exact words just moments after a conversation with a co-worker? Or have you found yourself in a heated discussion because of something you've said to your spouse or loved one? Better still, your teenager gives you the "deer caught in the headlights" look when you ask where have they been so late at night? You...

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