Entries by Bonnie Biafore

Skills Required for Program Management

Thinking of making the jump from project to program management? A program manager’s job is more than being a very competent project manager. Let’s examine a few of the critical skills you need to fulfill a program manager’s responsibilities. Refined business sense. Program managers require significant business acumen. Just to initiate the program, you need […]

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Optimize Risk Responses

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) emphasizes how managing risk with appropriate responses helps optimize project outcomes. Here are the five characteristics of optimal risk responses outlined by the Project Management Institute.  Appropriate for the risk’s significance. The risk responses you choose should align with the impact the risk has on your project. For […]

How to Handle a Team Member Change

A team member leaving your project can be very disruptive. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the impact of that person’s departure. Here are some tips for welcoming and integrating your new team member to make the transition flow smoothly. Include orientation time. Regardless of your team member’s abilities, allocate time for reviewing with the […]

Managing a Sponsor Change

The relationship between the sponsor and project manager is so critical that a change of sponsor is very disruptive. If you end up with a new sponsor, quickly establish rapport with them with the following steps. Confirm the sponsor’s knowledge of the project. Always have a one-page project summary ready and review it with your […]

Is Your Project Ready for Its Kick-off Meeting?

The project kick-off meeting is a big milestone in the project lifecycle.  When it’s complete, the team can dive into getting the project work done. Here’s some preparation for you to complete to make your kick-off meeting a success.  Obtain agreement on the defined scope. Make sure stakeholders have a common understanding of the project […]

Dealing with Unreasonable Expectations

Key stakeholders sometimes apply significant pressure to achieve unrealistic project goals. Pushing back against these requests can rattle the nerves of even the most experienced project manager! And it can be difficult to convince stakeholders to change their objectives or perspectives. What do you do when you can’t change stakeholders’ minds? Adopt a process that […]

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Enabling Change

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) highlights the importance of preparing impacted stakeholders for new processes and tools introduced by projects, so they are not only adopted, but also become a permanent part of the landscape (or until things need to change again). Here are four ways to support the changes that projects bring […]

Is your project suitable for agile practices?

Not every project is suited to agile techniques. Sound criteria can help you identify whether your projects are good agile candidates. Here are questions you can use to develop your agile qualification criteria:    Can you get the right staff? Appropriate technical and business team members must be dedicated to the project. That means that you […]

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Navigate Complexity

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) talks about navigating complexity to successfully complete the project lifecycle. Although complexity can surface anywhere, there are four main sources of complexity to manage. Here’s an overview of those sources and tips for reducing the impact of complexity on projects.  Human behavior. The most significant project complexity comes […]

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Exploiting Opportunities

PMBoK7 places more emphasis on managing positive risks, called opportunities (situations that improve project outcomes.) In the past, this project approach was underutilized, because the tendency is to focus on negative risks (called threats.) Here are PMI’s five approaches to making the most of project opportunities.  Exploit. To exploit opportunity, you can take definitive action […]