Project management articles, practical advise on how to apply the best practices with videos of PMs doing it the right way. See techniques based on our best practices from our Achievement-driven Project Methodology (AdPM) http://www.4pm.com project management The Hampton Group, Inc. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en-us Tue, 2 Feb 2010 12:24:01 -0700 dick.billows@4pm.com Tue, 2 Feb 2010 11:21:08 -0700 FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com http://www.4pm.com/images/4pmrss.gif http://www.4pm.com Project Management Training & Certification 105 77 Watch three executives ask nasty questions of a project manager. Then an expert explains how to handle each situation and steer the executive down the path to project success. http://www.4pm.com/articles/Best_Project_Practices/slideshow3.htm project management ED9F9DA2-F9C5-4C8B-887F-5F366A54515D Tue, 2 Feb 2010 11:15:10 -0700 Project managers need soft skills and effective techniques to secure approval and gain support from stakeholders and commitment from their team. The foundation is an understanding of what business benefits the executives value. http://www.4pm.com/articles/Selling_projects.pdf Project Management BBAC5C67-624A-453A-A445-797E97B79731 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:30:50 -0700 No one likes to report variances on their project assignment. Both team members and PMs can suffer from too much optimism and hoping Tinkerbelle will save them at the last moment. We need solid methods and effective interpersonal techniques to gather realistic status data so we can solve problems before it’s too late. http://www.4pm.com/articles/Project_status_toothfairy.pdf Project management 604FE2F1-61CE-4CAD-BFC5-84487DCC20FF Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:01:16 -0700 Video Lecture: The work breakdown structure is the key to good assignments and accurate tracking. Dick Billows, PMP, discusses the common mistakes and the best practices for the WBS. Join Dick as he hikes the critical path http://4pm.com/articles/Best_Project_Practices/slideshow2.htm project management F91249F2-4BE0-4059-A113-AEF946D1D889 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:46:21 -0700 We have all said things to executives and team members that we should never have allowed to escape our lips. Here’s a primer on the dumbest things a PM can say. If these start to emerge, zip your lips. http://www.4pm.com/articles/project_mgr_5_dumest.pdf Project Management E7A015DE-7B40-4539-912B-252803AF83AD Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:12:26 -1000 Project management requires a lot of vital counting and measuring. But if we count the wrong things on a team member’s assignments we can make matters worse and even lower the odds of the project’s success. We need to learn that activities don’t count so don’t count them. http://www.4pm.com/articles/activites_counting.pdf Project Management 3974CC92-B4F7-4407-A32A-847ED6809703 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:13:11 -1000 Few project managers will admit that they micromanage their teams. But when the heat is on from the executives demanding tighter control and the due date seems like an oncoming locomotive, many PMs resort to micro-management thinking it gives them tight control; but they are wrong. http://www.4pm.com/articles/project_micromanagement.pdf Project Management 3B0E64C2-2DCC-4AAA-BC94-F58BAD9EAE6C Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:56:20 -0700 Gone are the days of organizations wanting PMs who are only technical gurus. Consistent success now depends on much more than technical expertise. The demand for stronger PM skills also increases as you move up to larger and more complex projects and then into program management. Read Crème de la Project Manager to see what you need to succeed. http://www.4pm.com/articles/Creme_de_PM.pdf Project Managment 68453FD7-45BF-42F5-A65D-D003057B258D Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:48:32 -0700