‘Methodology’ Category

Project Management Methodologies. Which one should I use? (Part I)

August 25th, 2010

Hello everybody!

For this last post in August, we want to pick up the thread of posts about the 6 key reasons for the failure in project management. In the next two posts, we are going to take a look to project management methodologies and try to answer the questions that someone may encounter when dealing with this subject.

What methProject Management Methodologiesodologies are there? What are the differences among them? Which one is the most suitable for me?

Rationale behind the project management methodologies

Let’s define a project as the set of linked activities that have a common goal which has to be achieved in a predefined time span and with a particular set of resources. There are 3 key elements in the development of these activities: people, processes and tools/technologies. And therefore, the first step to take is to organize them so that they are completely coordinated.

Project management methodologies started to be defined in a formal way by the US army during the 50s. The goal was to reduce the number of projects that became out of hand and to solve some common problems that appear in most projects:

  • The load of work that is planned is too low or too high.
  • Costs surpass the project budget.
  • The final result doesn’t have the expected quality or value.

In general, project management can be predictive or agile, and as in any other subject, there are supporters of one and the other.

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Posted in Methodology, Project Management by Rosa Alnasser | 4 Comments »

6 Key Factors of Failure Projects

June 30th, 2010

Hi!

Today, I posted for the first time on the Doolphy time on the Doolphy Blog. I wrote about the essential factors that  should guide us to success in project management. This time, we want to vary slightly the approach and analyze the most common mistakes that prevent projects succeed and not conform to expectations in terms of results, term or profitability.

What are the most common errors you should avoid if you want to achieve the expected results in your projects?

Project Management Success1. No defining clearly the project objectives

One of the main causes of project failure is the lack of clear, measurable and attainable objectives. You need to know what you want to achieve to conveniently manage the efforts of all parties involved. It is also essential in this process the customer expectations management, whether internal or external, to ensure that the goals are aligned with what is really expected and ensure their satisfaction with the outcome of the project.

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Posted in Methodology, Project Management by Rosa Alnasser | 2 Comments »