Tag: project management

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4 Project Management Blogs That Won’t Give You Scope Creep

As I prepare to take the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam early next year, I’m constantly trying to cram as much project management (PM) info into each day. While browsing my RSS reader today I realized I have a good spread of PM sites in my arsenal. Instead of hording them to myself I thought I would share. Here are four project management blogs that are worth your time:

  • The Project Management Hut. Always updating, the PM Hut is stuffed with PM articles covering just about every topic you could imagine. The collection of authors do an excellent job relating to various industries as well, making sure not to cover one sector too strongly.
  • Project Shrink. This site does a great job of mixing the sometimes boring semantics of PM work with the real world human aspects of working on projects. The author, Bas de Baar, intermittently updates the site with informative videos, thoughtful advice and a drizzle of social media info.
  • Scope crêpe. Rich Maltzman, PMP, updates his site Scope crêpe about once a month. He tends to focus on showcasing tools and processes that will help any project manager, novice or pro.
  • Fear No Project. The FNP blog is written by Bruce McGraw and is focused on covering real world project scenarios. He recently posted a timely read called “What to do when everyone leaves town for the Holiday” which I’m sure is on every PM’s mind about this time of year.
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4 Key Ingredients to Organizing Your Project

In November 2006, I changed the course of my career. Curious to learn the inner-workings of the company, I took on a project management (PM) role in operations. Today, I’m still flexing my PM muscle but in a different industry.

One thing that has remained constant are 4 key ingredients that keep most of my projects organized. I have found success with these items in both a healthcare and media/news setting.

  1. Project Schedule – All projects should have a start and an end date. It’s the job of the project manager to make sure the project gets from point A to point B. A detailed schedule outlining tasks and milestones is crucial to overall project success.
  2. Decision Log – As the project progresses through the schedule, decisions, large and small, will be made. I have found recording decisions to be very helpful, noting what decision was made, who made it and when it was implemented. Project changes are inevitable but knowing why the project went down a certain path can be very helpful as the sails change direction.
  3. Issues Log – We all know that things don’t work as they should so we keep a Rolodex full of smart people to call for help. Projects can be loaded with unforeseen issues. Tracking these hurdles will keep a finger on the pulse of the project.
  4. Project Team Roles – As a project manager you can’t do it all. That’s why you have a team of individuals who specialize in focused areas. Team member roles broken down into a matrix can help shed light on which seat your people should be sitting in.

Talking is one thing but doing is another. Have a look at this sample Excel file which contains all 4 elements as listed above.

Project Master Excel File Template

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Project Management Resources

Simple, to-the-point Project Management resources that can be found on-line. woork also provides Excel templates for download.