Effective Project Management

"All too often people call any work they have to do a project."

"The set of five parameters form a system that must remain in balance for the project to be in balance."

"As business value changes so will the priority that management is willing to place on the project."

"The project management life cycle consists of five phases, with five steps in each phase."

"Is the subordinate committed or is the subordinate merely telling the manager what the manager wants to hear?"

"Given that senior management is interested in the project goal and that it addresses a high enough priority concern, they will read more detail on exactly what it includes."

"We present a simple decomposition process that shows you how to identify the activities that must be done from the beginning to the completion of the project."

"One of our goals in estimating activity duration is to have defined the activity to a level of granularity so that our estimates have a narrow variance."

"Estimating activity duration is challenging."

"Can two people dig a hole twice as fast as one? Probably not."

"Here is where you can give the details of your approach. Include what will be done, when it will be done, who will do it, how much time will be required of them, and what criteria will be used to measure completeness."

"Core team members are with the project from cradle to grave."

"We recommend creating a small management reserve line in the project plan."

"The work package will become the bedrock for all project work."

"Once project work is underway we want to make sure that it proceeds according to plan."

"No matter how hard we might try to plan a project, something will happen to necessitate a change in the plan."

"The client decides when the project is done."

"The environment in which the project team must function can be a great help or hindrance to successful project management."

"There is a trend in organizations to structure themselves such that cross-functional teams are commonly used. This adds several areas of concern for the project manager."