How many productive hours do you expect your people to work in a day? Rather, how many required hours do the person has to work? This depends on the labor law of the country but for my insight I will use the standard 8 hours we have from where I come from. While productive hours...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP PMI emphasizes the role of the project manager as the key figure in project leadership.  It is true that the project manager leads the work effort and manages the all of the project relationships from the project sponsors and stakeholders, to the project team, and including any vendor relationships...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Sometimes we just need a quick reminder.  Here are the basics of project management and high level view of the project manager’s role and responsibilities. Project A project is a temporary endeavor that is undertaken to create a unique product or service. Project Management Project management is the application...
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  Success Is Not Noticeable There is little evidence the project manager did anything The project looks simple in hindsight Failure Is Very Obvious The project manager will get blamed when things go wrong
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Project management is the application of: Knowledge Skills Tools, and Techniques to perform project activities to meet project requirements. It is accomplished through the application of 42 logically grouped and integrated project management processes from the following 5 process groups and 9 knowledge areas. Process Groups Initiation Planning Execution...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP A project manager can control 4 things: Resources A project manager can get more dollars, facilities, personnel Time A project manager can increase schedule, delay milestones, etc. Product A project manager can reduce functionality,  e.g. modify requirements Risk A project manager can decide which risks are acceptable   Don’t...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) must contain all the work to be accomplished by the project.  PMBOK V4 simply states: “The WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project…” Thus, the 100% Rule states that your WBS must account for ALL of your project’s work. The...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The project trilogy, consisting of scope, schedule and cost is the holy grail of project management.  Control these three constraints and you are likely to have a successful project.  Also called the project triangle, these three are sometimes joined by a fourth, quality. There is a strong relationship between...
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation -wikipedia. They’re everywhere! There are rules for this and rules for that. It seems that there are rules for nearly every situation in life and business....
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By Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Here are the most common reasons projects are successful.  I’m sure there are more.  Can you add to the list? Executive support Client involvement End user involvement Well defined and limited scope Clear objectives Firm basic requirements Standardized procedures Formal methodologies Reliable estimates About the Author: Ray Myers, Jr....
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