[[wysiwyg_imageupload:4845:]]I have just completed my second book-signing event at Chapters-Chinook, Calgary, AB. Unique to the day's experience was a lively discussion with a group of young students. They were highly inquisitive and showed genuine i...
We presented papers at the Engineers Australia MCPC14 conference late last year. They are now available on our website.Understanding Design – The challenge of informed consent looks at the problem of communicating complex project information to stake...
The EPS (Enterprise Project Structure) is a logical, meaningful, hierarchical arrangement of all the projects in your organization. This is a view of the company showing its areas of operations.EPS is a hierarchical arrangement of projects in an orga...
The need for effective planning and scheduling has been recognised for well over 100 years. Projects fail when they overrun the allocated time and budget and overrunning on schedule is a great way to make sure you also overrun on cost.The elements ne...
On many occasion we, and others, have defined good governance as balancing the needs of stakeholders and the objectives of the organisation to achieve long-term, sustainable value for the majority, if not all, stakeholders (see: Mosaic’s governance a...
Ownership of Float BACKGROUNDWho owns the float? The purpose of this article is not to re-invent the wheel and dwell in to the complexity which already revolves around this Million dollar question. However, this question commands utmost respect regar...
This is the first of four articles based on Leonard Mlodinow's book, The Drunkards Walk; looking at probability, in the next article we will look at randomness, and then how this affects everything in project controls and business. For example, does...
In our last article You are probably wrong about probability we looked at probability[1]. Randomness is a key ingredient in probability, contributes to luck, affects statistics, and can easily be confused for skill or competence!Luck and randomness a...
A short while ago I posted a blog that was highly critical of the new ‘Practice Guide for the Governance of Portfolios, Programs, and Projects’. The core of my criticism was the confusion of management and governance (and PMI’s focus on improving ma...
Statistics drive decisions in every walk of life, including project management. One of the applications of statistics we’ve been exposed to more than once recently is answering the question how many meals to load on a Qantas flight? Qantas economy ca...
A couple of conversations in the last week or so has highlighted the importance of effective communication if you want anyone to take notice of the project information you have carefully gathered and analysed. Good data, good analysis and good infor...
One of the slow burning issues in Australia (and globally) is the flammable cladding used in lieu of the specified non-flammable cladding on many hundreds of high rise buildings. As a consequence, many of these buildings do not comply with the Build...
I was recently involved in a virtual discussion on the Association for Project Management (APM - UK) website around the use and differences between a Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The resulting briefing docu...
Most people when faced with a painful decision such as having a leg amputated seek a valid second opinion! Sitting for the PMP exam is no different – regardless of whose course you have completed testing your knowledge against a different set of rep...
Project controls processes and project reports are full of numbers and calculations and one would think that most project stakeholders, particularly senior managers, would see and understand the numbers in the same way. Unfortunately resent research...
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2453:]]Depending on the context this could be a compliment or an insult. During the second world war the Nazi’s used local government leaders to help them impose their brutal regime on conquered countries. The most infamous of t...
Projects 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 simpl...
Breakdown 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 ...
Complexity 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 inherent size usually measured in terms of value; The degree of technical difficulty in c...
Some organisations perform consistently well, others don’t! This statement is true of all aspects of an organisation’s performance including its ability to manage projects and programs effectively. Consistent high performance in the creation of valu...