So much hinges on the project schedule, yet so few team members contribute to it. Whatsmore, they typically don’t care about critical paths, constraints and other building blocks; they just want to know “what, where and when.” We’re overdue for conse...
My best friend and I meet up once every year and we invariably end up chatting about our mutual passion for project planning. His view is a little extreme but one with enough merit to warrant discussion: “Ban activities and tasks from scheduling tool...
Project planning is all about figuring out when we are going to finish our project and how much is it going to cost. We typically start with a fixed start date and then figure out what the end date and associated cost may be.Why then, when planning o...
I like to think of Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) as a process that ideally flows through a project, digitally (i.e., virtually) creating, collecting, transporting, and delivering project data from design through construction. The VDC process in...
The Specification is full of errors and is biased in favor of specific software.Just take a look at a few sections, it is a disaster.2.1 SOFTWARE - 2.1.2.2 Other Than Primavera - If the contractor chooses software other than Primavera P6, that is com...
There is an ongoing dialogue in many enterprises: Should project management be a centralized, shared-service? Or, should project managers be decentralized and embedded within their functional organizations? The answer is, "it depends." Every enterp...
A project management framework is important in effectively managing projects. Planning and scheduling management framework is essential in managing plans and schedule. An engineering management framework governs engineering works as does a safety man...
Project planning and scheduling processes follow a management framework called the Project Implementation Model (PIM). Such model divides the project into sub-boundaries called stages, gates, or checkpoints.Does not really matter what proprietary ter...
20-May-2017 My first book signing event went well today at Indigo Signal Hill. I met a lot of interesting, intelligent people and was able to introduce the book to them. Had some lively discussion with a few who said that the book was timely. Some pr...
Conception bring us to a time before any recorded execution plan and schedule. It is the zero point in time where the fate of the project is most uncertain. From this origin comes initiation or Stage 1.A feasibility study and a business case becomes ...
Agile software projects have significantly better outcomes than Waterfall methodologies. Statistics from the 2015 Standish Group’s Chaos Report show that, on average, Agile projects are three times more likely to be successful than Waterfall project...
[[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 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...
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...