The project scope statement is never a matter of the project manager politely writing down what the sponsor wants done. Project managers must know how to ask the right questions to get the sponsor’s acceptance criteria in measurable form. That’s the real definition of what the sponsor wants.

In too many organizations, project managers have to overcome the burden of executives, sponsors and team members who don’t know how to play their roles in a successful project. PMs also have to overcome a lack of priorities, poor allocation of resources to projects, and sponsors who can’t define...

Each project team takes on its own character and develops its own culture. We’re exploring the most frequently encountered project team types in this series of articles. The micromanaged project team is probably the most frequent type.

More and more internal project groups, such as IT, facilities, advertising & management services, see declining approval from their users. Soon those users turn to outside consultants and other firms to manage their projects. What do those outside firms do that’s different? How can the internal PM group improve...

You’re starting a new project and beginning to think about the project team and its members. It’s too much to hope that every member of the team will be a superstar or that your project will be their number one priority. So you need to focus on the skills...

Badly handled Change Requests irritate stakeholders and cause overruns on budget as well as duration. Fighting all changes doesn’t work nor does accepting all of them. We’ll talk about the mistakes project managers make on change orders and then discuss a methodology for doing it the right way.

Virtual project teams require different management techniques but offer lots of benefits and savings. Plus, some people are more productive out of the office environment. But not all are. Here’s how to judge.

Reaching agreement can be critical to project success and you can try and persuade everyone to adopt your view. But other times the smarter approach is to be more concerned with getting them to agree then getting your way. Particularly if there is conflict between people who outrank you,...

One Methodology Doesn’t Fit All Projects Too often organizations get carried away with developing their own methodology and create a paperwork jungle that bogs down project managers and their teams. The solution is to train people to use a three-tier methodology where projects get the right amount of project...

Earned value has a nasty reputation but can be very helpful, even on small projects. You also don’t need to know the hundreds of earned value formulas that the exponents of earned value management and the project management Institute talk about. The best part of all is your project...