By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP So what happens when you fire without taking proper aim?  Chances are you will shoot yourself in the foot. Unfortunately, this occurs all too frequently in the world of project management.  We’ve all done it; sat in some meeting and recognized that someone should do something to resolve the...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Do you plan for travel time and travel expenses when bidding, proposing, or planning projects?  If not, you should and here is why. Let’s say that you are bidding a 4 week project that will that will be accomplished entirely at your customer site in another state.  Your on-site...
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Ten Tips for Managing a Project   Understand the project objectives and be sure that the project addresses the appropriate business needs Create and maintain a set of procedures and guidelines that support project management efforts Plan, plan and then plan some more Decide, before you begin, how problems which cannot be resolved promptly...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a view into a project that shows all the work that will be done by the project to produce the project’s deliverables.  The WBS is a common tool that helps the project manager to describe the work to be accomplished and displays the...
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By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The Project Charter is approved, the project planning is complete, and it’s time to begin the project.  Before you start however, be sure that you can answer the following 10 important questions: Are the deliverables clearly defined?  What activities and deliverables are not included in the project? Are all...
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By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The 4th edition of the PMBOK eliminated the step to Develop Preliminary Project Scope Statement from the project Initiation phase.  Previous editions of the PMBOK recommended that the preliminary scope statement be developed during Initiation, but since the project charter contains many of the preliminary goals for the project,...
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By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Return on Investment (ROI) is a measure of the profitability of a project or business investment.  Net Benefit Compares benefit to cost of initiative = Benefit – Cost Benefit Cost Ratio Ratio for benefit returned for each dollar invested = Benefits / Costs Return on Investment % Percent in...
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By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Net Present Value (NPV) is a measure of the net benefit of a project in terms of today’s dollars.  NPV is a financial analysis technique that considers: Timing of cash flows Time value of money  Projects with positive NPV add value to a firm, while projects with negative NPV...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Douglas Hofstadter’s law of programming simply states that, “It always takes longer than you think, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law.”  While Hofstadter was writing about programming when he introduced his adage, it may also apply to the estimates we do as project managers. If your experience...
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