In project management, accurate cost and time estimates can make or break a project’s success. Bottom-up estimating offers a granular approach to forecasting by breaking tasks into smaller components and building estimates from the ground up. In this blog post, we’ll explore how this method drives precision, fosters accountability, and empowers teams to deliver projects … [Read more...]
Scope management, or rather the lack of it, is one of the biggest reasons for project failure. Correctly defining what is and is not included in the project is absolutely foundational to good project management. I've seen many projects go south even though they had the right expertise, schedule, high quality deliverables, and even satisfied clients. But if the dreaded … [Read more...]
In yesterday's post we outlined the critical path method which is one of the professional project manager's techniques to ensuring project deadlines are met. Today we will walk through an example with a complete solution using MS Excel. Our example project is to build a new driveway. We will be hiring our friend, Jon, who is a concrete worker, and we will … [Read more...]
Earned Value is a method used by project managers to calculate the current project status and predict future project performance. In this post we will outline each earned value formula. Planned Value (PV) Earned Value (EV) Actual Cost (AC) Schedule Variance (SV) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) Cost Variance (CV) Cost Performance Index (CPI) … [Read more...]
Project Management is like fixing a car - you must break it down into parts. You won't find the problem if you can't isolate the defective part, and you can't fix the problem if the defective part is not separated from the main engine. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) represents this division of a project into constituent tasks. It is a tabular or … [Read more...]
The real benefit of the earned value method is in the early warning signal it provides. In my previous life at a large engineering company, I saw many project managers get to a monthly billing cycle before they realized the project was behind, and even then they would rationalize it by deciding their project team was going to be more efficient in the next cycle. … [Read more...]
Getting an early indicator of deviations from the project plan can be a game changer for project managers. This is precisely the main benefit of the earned value method, and its diligent application can do wonders for a project manager's career. Planned Value, usually abbreviated as PV, is one of the fundamental inputs of the Earned Value Management System. … [Read more...]
The Project Management Institute's (PMI) definition of a project is considered by many to be the official definition: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. Two words within that definition are the key to understanding what a project is and isn't: Temporary: A project has a distinct beginning and end. The muddier these … [Read more...]
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the largest and most well known project management designation with 650,000 people certified worldwide. Issued by the Project Management Institute (PMI) based in the United States, it gives you the initials "PMP" after your name. The PMI issues a PMP Handbook which lists all the details. The following … [Read more...]
Risk is inherent in all projects because projects, by definition, represent a one time improvement to an operational process. There is usually some sort of primary risk factor under which the project was defined, such as market risk for the development of a new product, or technical risk for an assembly line improvement project (will it speed up the line, etc?). After … [Read more...]
