The problem with CPM
10 years 7 weeks agoProjects are routinely finishing late. Whilst many have no effective schedule controls a significant proportion do outlay significant amounts of money on scheduling software and people to operate the computer systems and still finish late. The simple fact is most schedulers have no effect on the management of the projects they are working on - they are either there to comply with client
Controlling complex projects
10 years 11 weeks agoComplexity is not a synonym for complicated or large is just one of the dimensions inherent in every project. The four basic dimensions of a project[1] are:
- Its
Why are so many projects set up to fail?
10 years 19 weeks agoProject failure rates have remained steady for at least the last 30 years. Books’ Law was published in 1975[1], Cobbs Paradox was coined in 1995
Predicting project completion
10 years 23 weeks agoWorking out the probable completion date for a project and understanding the risks associated with achieving a target date have always been difficult. This article will take a quick look at the evolution of the techniques through to the current state of research reported at the Project Governance and Controls Symposium earlier this month.
Bar charts have been around for some 200
Risks don’t add up
10 years 31 weeks agoThe way PMI deals with risk in the PMBOK® Guide is simplistic. Calculating the effect of one risk using the suggested probability x severity calculation provides one value. For example, if there is an 20% probability an estimate is under valued by $50,000 the Expected Monetary Value (EMV) for this event will be:
-$50,000 x 0.2 = -$10,000 it is simple but
Breakdown Structures Revisited
10 years 34 weeks agoBreakdown structures are central to the practice of project management and have their origins in the industrial revolution. In the ‘Wealth of Nations’ Smith advocated breaking the production of goods into tiny tasks that can be undertaken by people following simple instructions. ‘Why hire a talented pin maker when ten factory workers using machines and working together can
Are numbers real?
10 years 39 weeks agoAs planners we use numbers every day of the week but how real are they?
In the western world, numbers in the form we know and use today appeared in the 13th century when Leonardo Pisano Bigollo (c. 1170 – c. 1250), known as Fibonacci an Italian mathematician, published the Liber Abaci (1202). In the book, Fibonacci advocated numeration with the digits
Predicting the Future
10 years 44 weeks agoOnly fools and the bankers who created the GFC think the future is absolutely predictable. The rest of know there is always a degree of uncertainty in any prediction about what may happen at some point in the future. The key question is either what degree of uncertainty, or in project management space what is the probability of achieving a predetermined time or cost commitment.
There are
Project Controls – A Definition
10 years 51 weeks agoThe Guild of Project Controls is in formation, and most people have a view of what is involved in ‘project controls’ but what is the ‘dictionary’ definition of ‘project controls’? To answer this question, my proposed definition for ‘project controls’ is:
Project controls are the data gathering, management and analytical processes used to
The new the Complex Projects Contrac
11 years 3 weeks agoThe Complex Projects Contract 2013 (CPC2013) focuses on managing time to ensure projects are delivered to specification on budget and without delays. Unlike existing contracts, which target failure by requiring financial compensation for late completion, CPC2013 provides the procedures to enable parties to manage time, cost and risk events in a modern and proactive
