allPM Today June/July 2010, Issue 119, Frank P. Saladis, Editor

June/July 2010, Issue 119, Frank P. Saladis, Editor

President and Chief Executive Officer of IIL
E. LaVerne Johnson

Senior Executive
Director of IIL
Dr. Harold Kerzner

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In this Issue:

*allPM's Letter from the Editor, Frank P. Saladis, PMP

*allPM May Poll Results and New Poll Question

*Theme of the Month: Are you Managing the Right Projects?

Are you Managing the Right Projects?
By Giancarlo Duranti, PMP

*Are you Managing the Right Projects?
By Anslem E. Begley, PMP

*Are You On The Right Project?
By Amro Elakkad, PMP

*Managing the Stakeholder – Part 4
“Stakeholder Management – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
By George Bridges, PMP

*Ask Harry: Root Cause Analysis 101 – The Fishbone Chart
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma

*Black Belt Chronicles:Black Belt Chronicles: Taking Work Home – A Good Idea?
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma

*Positive Leadership in Project Management – Strategies for Leadership, Lessons Learned from The Lives of Lee and Grant
By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

*The 5 Goals of a Project Manager
By Jason Westland

*Risk Doctor: Hitting the Target First Time, Every Time
By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

*PM Crossword Connections™: The Right Choice
By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

Past Issues- Archives

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Theme of the Month: Are you Managing the Right Projects?

From the Editor's Desk— Frank P. Saladis, PMP

Selecting the right project is a key factor in Enterprise Project Management. It really doesn’t matter if the project you are working on achieves its planned objectives, if the project does not add value to the organization that initiated the project or is perceived as not adding value from the end user or customer perspective. In today’s economic environment executives are extremely conscious about cost, return on investment and value to be realized.

Read more >>

May Poll Results

How often do you hold a recognition event for your project team?

a) At the completion of every milestone - 31.88 % (22)
b) At the end of each project phase - 13.04 % (9)
c) Only at the completion of the project - 33.33 % (23)
d) Recognition events are not scheduled at all - 21.74 % (15)
The June/July poll question is:

What percentage of projects can be directlyconnected to the organization's strategic goals?

a) 100%
b) 75-95%
c) 50-75%
d) Less than 50%

If you have not already done so, please stop by allPM.com and add your opinion today.
Test your PM knowledge. allPM will be posting sample PMP test questions and answers daily. Don’t miss out - visit allPM today.

Are you Managing the Right Projects?
By Giancarlo Duranti, PMP

Traditional project managers focus on efficiency which means getting the job done successfully balancing the Competing Demands¹ : scope, time, costs, resources, quality and risk. But what about the business results for which the project was created? Projects do not look like investments. They are investments! Why? Because someone put some money into the organization to finance its business strategy, which means money was used to fund those projects that support the business strategy.

Are you Managing the Right Projects?
By Anselm E. Begley, PMP

All of project managers love projects that will employ their knowledge, experience and unique competencies and capabilities and hate projects that don’t. Often a project manager (PM) knows when they are assigned to a good project and when they’re not. PMs hate projects that are “bridges to nowhere”, “solutions looking for a problem to solve” or a manager’s ego trip.

Are You On The Right Project?
By Amro Elakkad, PMP

So, you get a call from your PMO manager and she wants you to be managing a project that has already started. You are told that the last project manager was moved to another project. You jump right in and start catching up and following up. But wait, how do you know you are on the right project and what can you do about it?

Managing the Stakeholder – Part 4
“Stakeholder Management – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
By George Bridges, PMP

With many pitfalls that lead to project failure, I believe that a good project manager and project team need to manage successfully the relationship and expectation of their stakeholders. Over the last few months I have posted a series of articles regarding Stakeholder Management and this is the final installment.

Ask Harry: Root Cause Analysis 101 – The Fishbone Chart
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma

You know what one of the biggest obstacles is to improved performance? Not getting to the root cause. Many times, in our efforts to improve results we treat the symptom, not the root cause, so inevitably we have to revisit the problem. Obviously, this results in costly rework, delays, and inefficiency in the utilization of resources. It is also demoralizing when employees and team members have to constantly work on the same problem over and over again.

Black Belt Chronicles: Taking Work Home – A Good Idea?
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma

An enthusiastic and passionate Six Sigma Black Belt, Will, attempted to apply a few Six Sigma techniques in the home environment with his wife of nineteen years, Jenn, with mixed results.

Positive Leadership in Project Management – Strategies for Leadership, Lessons Learned from The Lives of Lee and Grant
By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

The project manager, upon receipt of an assignment, is immediately placed in a leadership position. Regardless of the size and complexity of the project, a team is waiting to be led. A few years ago the Wall Street Journal included the following quote in within one of its editions; “The news media doesn’t talk about world managers, it talks about world leaders.”

The 5 Goals of a Project Manager
By Jason Westland

As a Project Manager, you need to manage people, money, suppliers, equipment – the list is never ending. The trick is to be focused. Set yourself five personal goals to achieve. If you can meet these simple goals for each project, then you will achieve total success.

Risk Doctor: Hitting the Target First Time, Every Time
By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

Projects are risky undertakings. This is because they are usually unique and complex, based on assumptions and constraints, with a range of stakeholders, and dependent on the performance of people. Given these tough challenges, it is not surprising that some projects fail. How are we doing?

PM Crossword Connections™: The Right Choice
By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

(Click here or the image above for a crossword in a new window.)

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