Effective Project Management

We've all been there. We've all exhaled loudly when finished - the proverbial 'monkey' is off your back! Maybe you have even given a silent 'high-five' as the project has finally gone live when it looked like you were going to miss the deadline? But have these reactions only manifest because you have managed to snatch project victory from the jaws of defeat? Would your behaviour be the same if the project was run smoothly? I doubt it.

So, how can we avoid the, some would say traditional, last minute 'all hands to the pump'? Well, here's my top tips for project management success - I have even given them a catchy-title: "Clarkson's Criteria for Cracking Change":

Project Manager

A project manager's prime task is managing a project to success. The products of the project need to be picked up by the line organisation, and if this involves change in the organisation or ways of working, the changes must be made to 'stick'. By ensuring that the responsibilities for project management and business change are well assigned in a project there is an increased chance of success.

IT Helpdesk Environment

In the IT Support domain, Helpdesks frequently have to make preparations to provide support for a new tool, application, technology or product that is being rolled out to their end-users. Although these types of projects are typically small and non-complex, all Helpdesk projects require proper planning and need to follow a project framework, in order to maintain customer satisfaction and to ensure that any changes in the supported environment do not negatively impact on the service that the Helpdesk is providing. After all, one of the key aims of a Helpdesk in its day to day operations has to be ensuring customer satisfaction by consistently providing the service that is expected.

Work Breakdown Structure in Microsoft Project

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project objectives into deliverable-oriented tasks that are executed by the project team to accomplish the overall project goals. The WBS forms the backbone of all the project planning activities. The WBS divides the scope of the project work into smaller, manageable work packages for maintaining better control of the project activities. As you move from the higher levels of the WBS to the lower levels, the definition of the project works gets more detailed with the upper levels representing the major phases of the project. It is imperative to remember that the WBS represents 100% of all the work defined in the project scope. Anything that is not included in the WBS is considered out of scope for the project.

Six Mistakes in IT Projects

As an "accidental" project manager, I used to think the challenges I faced and the mistakes I made were the result of my background (or lack of same). I have come to the conclusion that regardless of your level of project management training, there are some pretty common mistakes made by a lot of project managers. It doesn't really matter whether you espouse Waterfall or Agile, if you make these mistakes, your project will likely fail: