Risks don’t add up
10 years 14 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 16 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 22 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 26 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 33 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
10 years 37 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
Making Sense of Schedule Risk Analysis
10 years 39 weeks agoPlanning Planet members are invited to a free AIPM Project Controls SIG (PC-SIG) meeting to be held at The Water Rat Hotel, 256 Moray Street, South Melbourne VIC, 3205: http://www.thewaterrathotel.com.au/
Date: Wednesday 20 November 2013, Start 5.30 pm – Start (note earlier start time) Finish 7.00 pm -
Spreadsheet error is normal!
10 years 42 weeks agoThere is not a project in this world that does not use spreadsheets from time to time and many are run exclusively by spreadsheets – in numerous surveys Microsoft Excel is listed as the most common / popular project management tool. And generally speaking Excel gets the calculations it is asked to perform 100% correct. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the users who set up
Spreadsheet error is normal!
10 years 42 weeks agoThere is not a project in this world that does not use spreadsheets from time to time and many are run exclusively by spreadsheets – in numerous surveys Microsoft Excel is listed as the most common / popular project management tool. And generally speaking Excel gets the calculations it is asked to perform 100% correct. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the users who set up
What is Schedule Quality?
11 years 10 weeks ago
As a scheduler within various industries, I have been asked “What is Schedule Quality?” In fact, if you pose this question to various project personnel, you may receive more than one answer per individual! Why? Some view “schedule quality” as a simple series of measures and techniques. I believe that the pursuit of schedule quality is a multi-front battle.
The United States
