The Gestalt of ToC “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” – Isaac Newton The Theory of Constraints. What sort of management strategy is that? Who calls a management approach a “theory”? And “constraints”; isn’t that the same thing as a “bottleneck”? If you’ve read … Continue reading
Category: project management
Decision Making – Focus on the Goal Almost every manager is aware of Pareto’s law, the important few – the trivial many which is often thought of as the 80/20 rule. 80% of results are generated by 20% of the actions. To improve your effectiveness, one only need to focus on the 20% and you’ll … Continue reading
In part one, I said time is not equal to money. Most of the time. Project managers and managers in general must know the difference. In that post, I highlight when time is not money. In part 2, I’ll explain when time is money. Let’s suppose your teams are delivering one project every other month; … Continue reading
“I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced … Continue reading
We’ve all heard the expression that time is money, but is it true? I don’t think so. What does it truly mean? Does time equal money in my project? If I lose time, I waste money? or If I delay, I get the money later? If it’s the first definition, you are saying, money is like time. … Continue reading
So many of us have often heard that “a failure to plan is a plan to fail,” so we grow confident that successful planning leads to successful project completion. The old adage isn’t necessarily untrue. Having a plan is crucial. But research shows that the common approaches to project management fail to produce the outcomes … Continue reading
Two Sources of Project Uncertainty Projects, by their nature, are uncertain, but not all uncertainty can be treated the same way. Knowing the where your project’s uncertainty lies will help you pick the right approach to managing your project and delivering the best outcome for your team, your customer and the project owner. Many projects … Continue reading
When your project is in trouble, you must change the way it’s working. Change the behavior of your team. The most important project measurement is not whether it is arriving on time; that train has left the station. To arrive on time, you must stop losing it. To stop losing time, you must change the behavior of your … Continue reading
Thousands of surveys around the world show that projects are rarely delivered on time, on budget and in scope. Here are the warning signs and what you can do to turn things around. You don’t see it coming until it’s too late. Everything was “green” until it wasn’t. All parts of the project were close … Continue reading
Project management success: everyone wants it, yet successful project completions are rare. For the project manager wanting to improve their skills, there is no shortage of problems to solve. Fortunately, thanks to many experienced project managers, there’s plenty of excellent information available online, for free (!) that you can turn to when you need some relief. I’ve … Continue reading