Do we have the courage to tell it how it is?

Last night I was at an APM event in Huddersfield, in which my colleague Richard Schofeild presented the reasons for project failure in an interesting and insightful way. A key point was about having those crucial conversations in which we tell team members and sponsors the truth about issues we face or risks we (and they) are running. All too often we keep the bad news to ourselves for fear of confrontation or upsetting bosses or colleauges but all we are really doing is to amplify the problem as it doesn't go away for acting like an ostrich! I wonder what the outcomes of some of the famous failures in traditional project terms would have been for open and honest conversations once the Project Manager had the gut feeeling that things were going wrong? For help and advice on this topic visit our website at http://cogenic.co.uk/advisory or read our White Papers at http://www.cogenic.co.uk/contactus

Value from project portfolios

There are two ways to create value from your project portfolio; by which I include programmes, and those are by selecting them differently and by running them differently. Of course, this is a simplification but nonetheless fundamentally true. When we select what we invest in, we decide on many important things, often subconciously. Examples are; the way our resources will be used, the risks we are prepared to take and the timescale over which we will accept returns (deliverables, products or benefits). Yet how often do we consider overlaping projects already underway that we may not be aware of, alternative ways of meeting the needs, different resources or using someone elses or even higher returns from accepting greater risks? The same principle applies to the way that we run projects. The old school used the "waterfall" method of sequential tasks from a Product Breakdown Structure, but really this is old hat. It looks good on a Gantt Chart, with an elegant series of lines cascading to delivery but it doesn't reflect how work is most effectively carried out,the best way to manage risks, use scarce resources or create the agility to respond to changing needs. As the old saying goes, if you always do what you always did.... To find out more about PPM visit us at http://www.cogenic.co.uk