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Software projects, while not inherently unknowable, are notoriously difficult to estimate. In fact, a study by PWC found that the largest contributor to IT project failures, at 32%, was poor estimation at the project planning phase. But why do software projects take so long (i.e. longer than you think)? Well, there are a number of...
Chances are your organization is on the path to becoming more agile, and you know there’s no such thing as flipping a switch from “Not Agile” to “Agile”. It’s a step-by-step process, which is why many companies operate in a hybrid state with some teams, processes or projects becoming agile, while others are waterfall. We...
One of the most basic competencies a project manager needs to know is what are the five stages of project management. These are the project management stages that any PM can use as a basic guide to understand how a project is progressing. In brief, the five stages of project management are: Project Initiation Project...
Pioneering quality control guru W. Edwards Deming once wrote that “if you cannot describe what you are doing as a process, you do not know what you are doing.” While it is a safe bet that Mr. Deming was not specifically or exclusively referring to the overall project management process, his wise advice – or...
During the project planning phase, when drawing up a project’s timeline and setting out key moments along the project’s path, two seemingly interchangeable terms continuously crop up: “milestone” and “deliverable.” Both set out waypoints that allow a project’s progress to be judged and provide a focus for a team to work towards, but are they...
Capabilities-based planning originated in the fields of defense and military planning, and it’s understandable why. In this area, operators will never have full information about what threats or risks they face, so capabilities-based planning focuses on ensuring they have the ability to adapt and succeed in the face of change and meet whatever challenges may...
When it comes to long term project planning and management, several challenges and difficulties can arise which require a total rethink of the project’s future or scope, all the way up to having to abandon it or adopt a whole new working approach. Loss of focus, the slowing of progress, a lack of immediate results,...
As experienced project managers know and emerging project managers quickly discover – and not always pleasantly – not all project management software solutions offer a similar set of tools to manage projects. Some solutions are sophisticated, while others are superficial. Some are customizable, while others are confining. And some are easy-to-use, while others are exasperating....
What is a Project Management System? The term “project management system” is widely used to describe two major pieces of the overall project management puzzle. The first piece is essentially an approach to getting work done. The second piece refers to various tools and technologies that help drive this approach. In this article, we will...
In the Scrum methodology, iterations, work and deliverables are completed in “sprints.” These sprints usually align with the project goals of a product owner, i.e. the specific team lead on a development project. A sprint can take anywhere from one week to four weeks and the scrum sprint planning session takes place on Day One....
