What is a Work Package in Project Management?

A work package is an essential project management concept — but also one that is commonly misunderstood. This informative and easy-to-read article covers the basics of what a work package is, and how to use it to improve project planning, scheduling, performance and outcomes. You might have seen the term come up a lot, especially...

How to Become a Scrum Master

In the Star Wars franchise, becoming a Jedi master takes many years of rigorous physical and psychological training. Fortunately, learning how to become a Scrum master is somewhat of a less burdensome commitment — and there are no Sith Lords or Death Stars to worry about, and Yoda isn’t constantly finding fault with your efforts...

What is Waterfall Methodology?

Many new project managers — as well as non-project managers who have the mantle of project manager thrust upon them — are surprised to learn that there is not one single, universal methodology for building, executing and completing projects. In fact, there are dozens of them, each with its own structure, rules, advantages and disadvantages....

Project Risk Management: The Basics

What is Project Risk Management? All projects – regardless of whether they are relatively short and straightforward, or long and complex – carry a degree of risk. This is because while many factors may be known, established and predictable, there are some aspects and variables that are unknown or iterative (i.e. more is known as...

How Work Automation is Changing Project Management

The classic definition of project management provided by the Project Management Institute is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.” While this is essentially true, there is another piece of the project management puzzle that experienced project managers know all-to-well, and new project managers quickly discover:...

Have You Lost Sight of Your Agile Transformation?

In a time when business agility is legacy-defining, today serves as the perfect time for technology leaders to revise their Agile practice. For many organizations, the ability to absorb and adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic is a leading indicator of how Agile they really are. Despite heavy investment in the practice and...

Team Project Management: DO’s and DON’Ts

While there are many ways to achieve project success, there is a unifying factor that all successful projects share regardless of whether their mission is to develop new software, construct a skyscraper, launch a comprehensive marketing campaign, or do anything else important and worthwhile: they make team project management a top priority. Indeed, in this...

Planview as a Force for Good

It is important to us at Planview that our employees live happy lives so they can be their best selves every day. There is an old Chinese proverb that concludes, “If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else.” To that end, during the week of May 24th Planviewers around the globe were encouraged...

8 Kanban Board Templates for Agile Marketing

Editor’s Note: For this post on Kanban board templates for Agile marketing, we’re excited to welcome Jim Ewel to the Planview blog. As one of the leading voices on Agile marketing, Jim co-organized the first meeting of Agile marketers and co-authored the Agile Marketing Manifesto. Since 2010, he has helped over 70 organizations adopt Agile...

How to Write a Project Plan

Abraham Lincoln said: “give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” And Yogi Berra shared: “if you don’t know where you’re going, then you’ll end up someplace else.” The moral of these wise declarations is simple, clear and, indeed, timeless: investing the required...