Help for the Newly Minted Project Manager

Congratulations! Due to the recent [acquisition / divestiture, market expansion / contraction, organizational realignments, other] you have been identified as a Critical Resource for this particular bit of business process change. And, to help us implement these changes, you have been named the Project Manager for this effort. So now you are a Project Manager (PM, for short); what does that mean? You may be vaguely aware that people get certifications for this sort of thing, or that Microsoft sells…

When is a project a Project? How to prevent the buildup of backlogged requests

I just wrote something up (internal wiki) that I thought was common knowledge, but I think it's one of those soft-skills things that makes total sense once you hear about it - but somebody needs to tell you. I think of one of the reasons that IT (at times) intimidates the business - or why IT gets the cold shoulder when it comes to process improvement efforts - is that we can get a bit too wrapped up in the…

How to Cheat at the PMO Prioritization Game

15 December, 2007
PMO
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Many will say their Project Management Office (PMO) has been established to promote "Best Practices for Project Management" - better work product, alignment with business strategic direction, etc. That may be partially true, but let's inject a little reality here ... many PMOs were created to help solve what I call the Dirt Bag problem - you can't fit 10 lbs of "dirt" in a 5 lb bag. I'm talking about the project prioritization process; I have 100 different project…

Driving to a Decision on your Projects

I've written about the basic project proposal (for consulting groups) or charter (for internal IT) in the past. The point of any project summary document is to tee up the what and the why, using an outline like this: Description: What are we trying to accomplish here? What is our ultimate goal? Objectives: These are project objectives, not business objectives. How will we know we are done? Benefits: Why should we consider doing this? What are we getting? Alternatives: Are…

Making the internal pitch? Learn from the entrepreneurs

10 October, 2005
Communication
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This article (see also here) led me to this next one (access limited by subscription, sorry) in Business 2.0, about making an effective pitch for a new business plan. The same tactics can and should be used when moving projects and initiatives forward in an "internal", corporate setting. Bullets from the article ... Elevator Pitch - This is the 30-second project summary that you must be able to deliver flawlessly. It's not good to babble, and it's OK to aggressively…