How to Incorporate a Project Rationale Learn how to justify your projects according to a rationale. Choose the appropriate valuation scheme for your project when presenting your case to stakeholders. Just like when you write a thesis or have to hand in a business case study, a case defending your choices for your project management model is essential to demonstrate the value of your work to the company, clients and all other stakeholders involved. When backed by a suitable rationale, the project plan acquires weight and evidence... Read more... Managing Relationships – Part II A key component of creating sustainable and trusting client relationships is the demonstration of reliability. A reliability reputation is a direct reflection of the project manager’s actions. Customers and team members prefer to have a project manager who is dependable--that is, consistent in performing project management duties. A project manager can undo their credibility quite quickly if he or she is not reliable and consistent. Providing status reports with updates of the... Read more... Managing Relationships - Part I It is important for project managers to develop a competency in maintaining trustworthy relationships with key stakeholders. These relationships can entail a certain amount of risk, and often consume a lot of time and energy. In their seminal text, “The Trusted Advisor”, Maister, Green & Galford argue that an effective account manager must demonstrate, "credibility, reliability, intimacy and a low concern for self." These relationships develop over time, not only requiring a... Read more... Calculating Utilization It is important for managers to understand how productive their consulting staff is. Here are a few tips on how to set a standard according to total available hours for each consultant and work achieved. Some points to take into consideration include the difference in total available hours from country to country regarding holidays and work policies and standard working weeks for consultants. 1.    Total Available Hours Standard number of working hours available This figure... Read more... Project Management Checklist – Part II Project Management Checklist – Part II Deliverables Define how the final product will be used and implemented. 1. Is the product to be cross-platform compatible (eg. Mac and PC)? 2. Is the product to be cross-browser compatible (eg. Explorer, Safari and Mozilla)? 3. Is it necessary to develop a prototype or proof-of-concept by a particular date? 4. Will the assets involve graphics, animations, audio, video creation? How much time will the creation of these assets require? 5. Is the subject... Read more... Project Management Checklist – Part 1 Project Management Checklist for design and production of a multi-media platform This article suggests a set of considerations to be addressed when planning, initiating and determining the specifications phases of a multi-media IT-based project. Title, Project Details and Funding 1. What is the name of the project? Write down and communicate a succinct overview of the nature and scope of the project with the team that will be involved with the project. Discuss the major aims and... Read more... Why do Projects Fail? The top 10 reasons for the failure of projects in small organisations • Project sponsors and project managers with little know-how and/or experience. • Poor human resource management. • Poor management of expectations between stakeholders. • Inability to adequately identify, document and track deliverables. • Limited definition of pre-decessor tasks and stage deadlines inlcuding a poor assessment of time and effort required to complete each task. • Insufficient communication... Read more... International Project Management – Part II Risk Management Planning When taking on an international project, risk management planning becomes an imperative consideration to mitigate possible extra costs or loss of control of the project. Investigate the differences in the legal system. How does this affect the ability to own the rights of the finished product? If labour and materials are insufficient at any time to complete the project, what are the workaround alternatives? Create a backup plan, including possible companies for... Read more... International Project Management – Part I Training students in Australia, we expect many of our protoges to lead new projects overseas in completely different cultural climates than those in which they were trained. In this article we discuss the myriad of variables that must be taken into consideration when preparing to lead a project overseas. Research the country where you will be working. 1. Do Your Homework While the thought of living in a foreign country can be quite intriguing, do your homework to understand the unique... Read more... What are the key traits of a Good Project Manager? We have determined a little bible on the key features that must be celebrated about project managers. Although possibly underrated, sometimes the simplest means are the best. A PM’s ability to ask the hard questions, to detect unstated assumptions and to resolve interpersonal conflicts are some of the simplest and most valuable contributions that any manager can make. The perfect project manager must also have an innate understanding of risk management. She will find risks before they... Read more...

What are Project Delivery Services and How can they Help? Project Delivery Services provide a high level form of project management, including taking care of the organisation, the supervision and the administration of workers and processes that make up a project. In addition to packaging the product, the product delivery manager delivers the final product to the client. Overseeing the entire operation, the delivery manager will also have client interaction and possibly even shareholder interaction as they pursue projects. The progress of these... Read more... Melbourne Project Management Courses We’d just like to take some time out to remind everyone that via the expansion of PM-Partners Melbourne office and the subsequent opening of our Melbourne project management training centre, all courses offered here at PM-Partners can now take place at our Melbourne project management training centre, located in the Melbourne CBD. For more information regarding our project management office in Melbourne, you can contact us our representatives at:PM-Partners group Melbourne (Office)Rialto... Read more... Why is Procrastination Good for You? Comedian, Helen DeGeneres, did a skit on the value of procrastination. I watched the skit on an airplane to San Francisco. On the way to a conference after pulling off an all nighter. I had left writing my conference presentation until last minute and somehow finished it in the taxi on the way to the airport. DeGeneres’ words about the value of procrastination made me feel a little bit better about my approach. "Procrastination is not the problem. It is the solution. It is... Read more... Emotional Intelligence and Successful Project Management An essential component of project management is making those who work with you feel good and confident about what they do. Giving them a chance to shine, on a deadline. Understanding and being sympathetic to events that hold them back. Emotional Intelligence is the key to a happy team and a successful project. “Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage your emotions in positive and constructive ways. It's about recognizing your own emotional... Read more... WHITE PAPER RELEASED: Project Health Checks Motivating Accountability for Project Performance with Health Checks Talented project executives rely on Health Checks to meet their accountabilities for establishing governance structures, delegating authority, managing by exception, clarifying change strategies, communicating with stakeholders, motivating project teams, and – ultimately – delivering strategic benefits to the business (Chiesa, et al. 2007).  Although widely used in practice, Health Check conclusions are often... Read more... 10-Point Project Health Checklist Leaders Judged Harshly When They Don't Deliver In modern corporations leadership is no longer simply about setting strategy and winning hearts and minds. Success goes to those who can make change happen. Remember the days when people considered change a bad thing? Today the general public, and therefore organisations, expect leaders to be effective change agents and are highly critical of executives who are unable to deliver the goods. Perhaps the most public example of this in recent... Read more... When the Planning is more useful than the Plan President Eisenhower once said, "The plan is useless; it's the planning that's important." These sage words are all too true in our lives as workers, project planners, entrepreneurs, excutives and presenters. It is not what is on the piece of paper when you present to the group, but the thinking and time you took to write down those details, and determine the chronology and level of importance of those items.   As Sun Tzu discusses in his seminal work, “The Art of War” "Those who... Read more... PM-Partners group Expands Melbourne Operations On the 1st May 2010 PM-Partners group officially opened the doors of its new Melbourne operations.  PM-Partners group has been active in Melbourne for the past 10 years. Icons of Melbourne business feature among our clients including NSC, Johnson and Johnson, Jetstar, HP, CISCO, ANZ, City of Melbourne, Port of Melbourne, Dept of Transport, Coca Cola CAmatil, Ericsson, Transfield Services and Transurban.   PM-Partners group provides our full range of services to Melbourne... Read more... Project Management Capability Development Paper Released Taking the risk out of project human resource selection and management is the Holy Grail of many organisations in 2010. With the volatility in the recruitment market over the last 18 months now behind us, there exists the need to have a quantified baseline of an individual's project management competence and an organisation's project management capability. To assist with navigating the new landscape of capability development PM-Partners group has released a Discussion Paper outlining... Read more... Project Portfolio Management: Pure Simplicity Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is “a process that ensures your company spends its scarce resources on projects that will deliver the most value to your organisation. It is a particularly important process for validating the costs involved in a project.” Put simply, project portfolio management presents an amazing opportunity for a business to simplify and streamline work processes that would otherwise be ostensibly complex. When creating a project portfolio management structure... Read more...

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