There is a balance where not enough detail harms the progress of the project and too much, delays different deliverables. Incorporating some measure of ‘ready to start’ (and periodically reviewing this for e.g. agile stories) is a good way to verify if you have done enough planning and elaboration. That way you can adjust appropriately for your own, your team’s needs. Project managers generally talk a lot more about planning horizons, they cut their teeth on projects where there was a direct link between certainty and forecast accuracy, and the client understood that. Certainty would relate to having a clear […]

It is the project manager’s job to bring the team together, get its members all headed in the right direction, and motivate it to achieve the company’s goal. Team Building exercise is a very effective tool, used to improve the team’s performance and keep the team members motivated. Motivation helps people work more efficiently and produce better results. There are many theories on motivation. It is entirely up to the project manager, to understand them and apply as and when required. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs  This is the first theory that comes to an individual’s mind, according to this theory,

Some people confuse arrogance with self-confidence. Self-confidence attracts people while arrogance does the opposite and there is a thin line that distinguishes both. To deal with attitude of a particular team member, evaluate what this person has to contribute. Although there are managers who have been managing large, complex and global projects, but everybody learn something from others. Nice tips and advises are always welcome if they help the project. If the resource however is trying to become a leader with nothing useful to contribute and harming the project with that attitude, then the correct approach is place him in his

Communication is the most important factor in success or failure of any project. One of the issues faced by project manager is often being handed a project with a scope of work that does not contain a clearly defined purpose or expected end results, and a definition of the acceptance criteria for project completion. This relates back to the rule of communication, but too often newer project managers make the assumption that the stakeholder providing them with the scope wants a successful outcome; therefore, the scope must certainly provide all of the details relevant to achieving success. This is often worsened

There are times when a project manager and project team hold different opinion or approach, resulting in an internal conflict. In such scenarios, you need to talk to your team and get the facts on why it lead to this, conform your team on your shortcomings. If you find the team is right on a decision that has to be made, take the team’s decision. Admit you were wrong, they will respect you for it, and consider this self and team development and move on. If the top management is also in your team’s favor then it is time for

It is said that Time = Money and Project Manager is not only responsible for his own time but also accountable for the resources under the Project assigned. A simple yet vital ingredient to success is to always know the real up-to-date priorities and work according to those. The occasional switch between two or more high-priority tasks is inevitable and also valuable — since this refreshes one’s wits, energy, and motivation. It is difficult to chase deadlines. Start keeping a time log of your activities. It allows complete transparency to your team, and they can see what you are actually getting accomplished.

The Project Manager needs to have a very effective tracking method, so that he/she can watch ‘burn’ rate real time. Otherwise there would authorized activities and purchases at a higher rate than expected or unauthorized activities within the budget. Just watching and approving of activity progress is not enough for the project manager. The manager should outline all the possibilities, assumptions and constraints before starting the actual implementation. An activity could actually require more effort or materials or there may be charges against the activity which shouldn’t be. Training and experience can add a lot to it. If you want

In project management the Earned Value management is used for measuring the performance of software and other development projects. Establish your baseline phase-by-phase, baseline for coding and testing before the design is available. Make sure that every project activity (task) has clearly defined completion criteria that allow you to objectively determine that it is “done.” From an agile view, while EVM focuses on plans versus actuals, the value delivered to the user. EVM people say that the project is a failure when it fails to deliver all of the specified functionality on time and budget. For agile developers the project is