“A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows the corners.” I always think of this proverb when a project leader tells me about their new, more senior role and the radical plans they have to “shake things up”. It IS tempting to make a grand, headline grabbing move to justify your organisation’s faith in you, investing in a new portfolio software application or churning your talent, for instance. When new to a role (in many business environments, not just IT Project Management), new managers tend to lean into making sweeping changes, it’s human nature. Often though, hindsight show ..read more

Unpaid overtime increased sharply in 2023, according to a study commissioned by Rebel’s Guide to Project Management. As the momentum from the Great Resignation starts to wane, employees are finding that their bargaining power isn’t what it used to be. About a year ago, job opportunities and rising wages were abundant, but now, those trends are reversing, with fewer openings and slower wage growth.  A recent comprehensive study of US working trends by Rebel’s Guide to Project Management unveils that the amount of unpaid overtime labor that workers are contribu ..read more

“Thanks for your email. I’ve disconnected for two days for our annual spring clean of processes and capabilities …” I love this out of office reply from Collette, an IT Project leader who takes herself out of the project portfolio the first Friday and Monday of every March just to have a proper delve into how they do things, assess how aligned their resources and ambitions are, and imagine how they could operate better. A Spring Clean – what a great idea. IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT We measure how successful our projects are all year round, in terms of Return On Investment (ROI ..read more

Whilst self-study is a necessary step for anyone studying for the APM PMQ, or indeed most other project management qualifications, it can be difficult to know where to start. We have put together some helpful tips to help you get the most out of your self-study. Organisational Roles in Project Management Consider the roles and responsibilities of the following: Sponsor – The person with overall responsibility for the outcomes of the project Project manager – the lead when it comes to planning, executing, controlling, monitoring and closing out projects. Accountable for all project scope, th ..read more

Every organization understands the importance of having a good project manager to supervise the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. If an organization achieves its aims through the process of project management, it can see marked changes in employee productivity. However, at the end of the day, a project manager has to be a good leader in order to successfully achieve the desired goals. A good project management process affects the overall productivity of the organization as well as helping in reaching an optimized balance in costs. The cost efficiency is a very important aspec ..read more

It’s never good to hear a passionate project manager describe their projects as “meh”! Bex lives and breathes IT Project Management. She leads a team that, by any measure, would be considered successful: always delivering business case; always on time (and usually early); always within budget. So, when she shared her reason for wanting to move on was, “I just don’t feel we innovate any more”, it got me thinking: How can we build innovation into our IT Projects? Experience and anecdotal evidence suggest that Bex isn’t alone in seeking a little bit more. In many organisations now, IT p ..read more

When it comes to challenges, one of the biggest that we face is preparing for emerging risks. These are those risks that were previously unknown, or any familiar risk that manifests in a new way. All too often, our response to existing risks is not sufficient to deal with the risk. Whilst preparing for something that you have never seen before or did not expect is something you will learn about on a project manager course, in reality, it is still rather difficult. In a recent report, the international risk governance council (IRGC) identified 12 different factors that pertain to previously unf ..read more

Introduction Organisations who are new to running projects might want to begin using a project management framework, but they may not know where to start. They might not have the experience to introduce a framework themselves and may decide to bring in a project manager with experience of frameworks to help them design one that will be tailored to their organisation. As the project manager, you’ll need to explain to them how to use a project management framework, why it’s important and how it will help them successfully deliver their projects. This might sound like a challenge, but this can he ..read more

A project management team’s new hire asked her onboarding supervisor a brilliant question – Why? “Why?” is always a great question, this one was particularly illuminating. The trainer was explaining the team’s fairly unique binary approach to scrum sprints, which effectively boils down to them having two duration categories – A) one week long and B) three weeks long. The new hire found this interesting and enquired about the reason behind this approach. In her last job, length and number of sprints would be decided at a goal setting meeting, a twelve-week scrum project could have 15–20 Scrum s ..read more

The next couple of years will see extensive Digital Transformation and regeneration of many, if not most, businesses and organisations.   It’s not a bold or groundbreaking prediction, I mean, it’s happening already! Game changing technologies are revolutionising business operations and outcomes the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 is well underway, Accenture are even talking of an advanced group, The Reinventorsm who, they say are embracing “Total Enterprise Reinvention” – a “deliberate strategy centred on a strong digital core.”   Digital transformation, regeneration, reinve ..read more