True Confessions of a PM: Cost Estimating Makes Me Nervous
True confessions of a PM here on this unseasonably warm Saturday morning: cost estimating scares me. I'm an international economist and have never exceeded a project budget in my 9-year career, but something about the idea of predicting what a project will cost and managing to that budget terrifies me.
A is for Accountable: A PMIAA Review
In late 2016, Congress passed the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act. The intent of the legislation is, well, to improve how governments manage programs and hold them accountable for results. I have a few concerns with the Act, however, that depend upon how it is implemented.
Lessons. Learned?
Project managers talk a good talk when it comes to documenting lessons learned. PMI dedicates an entire chapter of its project management body of knowledge to project closeout, which on the surface seems fairly straightforward, right? As opposed to the hustle and bustle of project startup, project closeout seems like a breeze.
Chartering Away
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm in the midst of standing up a new project. This involves hurrying up to finish charters, PMPs, RACI charts, risk registers, and all those other trappings of a waterfall project--and then, after the hurrying up is done, comes the waiting.
Fresh for Fall
Maybe it's a childhood relic, but the start of fall always makes me want to run out and buy school supplies. Practically speaking, I don't have much use for a box of newly sharpened pencils. In my current reality, that same excitement for a new beginning translates into a desire to take a fresh look at my current project portfolio.
Product Review: Zenkit
I wonder if I'm like most PMs in that I am constantly on the hunt for the next snazzy new tool that can transform my project from "blah" to "boo yah", energize my team, and coax progress out of the doldrums and into the stratosphere. Today's tool review: Zenkit--another PM tool that promises to be everything to everyone.
PM...O(h)!
I love a good retrospective as much as the next PM. So what better way to ring in the new year than to look back on one of project management's most beloved institutions, the PMO?