Introduction

In my previous blog posting "Seven Questions to Ask When Dealing with a Troubled Project" we examined the questions the project manager should ask when handed a troubled project. Let us now take a look at the possible actions one may initiate based on the answers received.

Answer #1 - This Project is Failing Due to a Poor Portfolio Management Decision

Actions you may consider:

• Cancel this project.
• Go back to the drawing board to change the project scope, timeline, budget, resources or timing to better fit company strategy, required project balance or to improve its value.

Answer #2 - We are Failing with the Project Scope

Actions you should probably take:

• Initiate proper requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation procedure. This action should be undertaken by the individuals specifically trained in requirements engineering.
• Ensure that the requirements document is written at a consistent and appropriate level of detail, provides an adequate basis for design and covers all possible  alternatives and exceptions.
• Get rid of all the TBDs and ambiguous words in the requirements specifications document.
• Conduct walkthroughs, inspections and peer reviews with customers, technical team and an experienced project manager.

Don't forget to ask the following questions in order to renegotiate the project scope:

Introduction

I am frequently being asked the following question in my consulting and training and training engagements:

We have a troubled project at our organization. What is the starting point when dealing with such ventures? What questions do we have to seek the answers for in order to rectify the situation?

Question #1: Why is this project failing?

In my opinion this is the most important question to ask. Before we move further in his analysis of the failed or troubled project we need to establish whether the failure should be attributed to the project portfolio management or project management root causes.

If we establish that - even if finished on-time and on-budget - the project would most likely not add any value to the organization (domain of portfolio management), why should we waste time and resources on putting it back on the rails? In other words, if determined that the project was a bad idea to begin with (e.g. construction of a new airport that no airline intended to use )we should probably either cancel it outright or go back to the drawing board and, if possible, change the design of the final product.

Question #2: Where did we fail on the project portfolio management side of things?

If we managed to establish that the failure was on the project portfolio management end of the spectrum, then the next step should be dedicated to find out where exactly our shortcomings were. Depending on the type of the organization the answers to this question could vary quite considerably.

Hi all,

Just wanted to let all of my followers in Asia know that I will be teaching my "Project and Portfolio Management Masterclass" in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on 24-26-Aug-2015.

You can register for the remaining seats in the course by either:

• Filling out a registration form online or
• Emailing CONFEX directly at register@confex-mice.com or
• Calling +673 828 2217

Click here to download the full course brochure and the presenter's bio. 

About the Author

Jamal Moustafaev, MBA, PMP – president and founder of Thinktank Consulting is an internationally acclaimed expert and speaker in the areas of project/portfolio management, scope definition, process improvement and corporate training. Jamal Moustafaev has done work for private-sector companies and government organizations in Canada, US, Asia, Europe and Middle East.  Read Jamal’s Blog @ www.thinktankconsulting.ca

Today I wanted to share a very interesting story that, in my opinion, demonstrates the importance of asking questions while working on the projects. This example comes from my personal experience while working at an IT department of a very large international financial institution.

My boss: “Risk Management is having problems with their desktop statistical analysis software. They are asking for an Enterprise Edition of the software and a dedicated server. Our initial ballpark estimates for this project are at $500,000 and we have neither the money in our budget, nor the resources to accomplish that. You mission is to explain to them that they are not getting this stuff in the next couple of years!”

Me (going over to the Risk Management Department): “What is the problem?”

Risk Management people: “We have to store files on the shared server because of the privacy laws and access them through our desktops. Processing times are very slow. We have to upgrade to the Enterprise Server Edition and get a new server”

Me (calling Network and Infrastructure people): “But why is the processing slow? Is it the network issue or the overloaded server?”

Network people: “We checked the network and it does not appear to be overloaded”

Infrastructure people: “Are you kidding me?! The entire building is using this server. Of course it is overloaded and slow”

Me: “So, what can we do?”

Infrastructure people: “We will give them a dedicated NT server; we have one lying around here somewhere …"

Result: The $500,000 project was diminished to a $2,000 server and 3 man-days of work-problem solved.

Hi all,

I have had a chance to chat with Cornelius Fichtner of Project Management Podcast. We were discussing my new book "Project Scope Management: A Practical Guide to Requirements for Engineering, Product, Construction, IT and Enterprise Projects" and in the course of the interview I was asked to answer the following questions:

1. What is project scope management?
2. What is the state of project scope management nowadays?
3. Why did you decide to write a book about it?
4. What makes this book unique?
5. Who is this book for?
6. What are the main processes in the project scope management?
7. What is the state of project scope management in the IT and software development industries?
8. What is the state of project scope management in construction, product development, engineering?
9. What is your perspective on project scope management in multidisciplinary or enterprise projects?
10. How does project management play into this?

The interview has already been downloaded more than 27,000 times from the PM Podcast website.. Hope you enjoy it as well.

About the Author

Returning back to Vancouver, BC after a 2-month engagement on two US$ 20 million Oil & Gas projects in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Hoping to be back soon ...

Are you considering taking the Project Management Professional (PMP®) exam? Are you wondering what types of questions are on the exam, if you understand the material enough to pass, or if you can answer 200 questions in four hours? You can discover the answers to these questions and other like them through taking mock exams or answering mock online exam questions before you even register for an official exam date. If you are wondering what is a mock exam, how would an online mock test help you, where you would find a mock PMP test, or how good could a free mock online exam actually be. Keep reading, here you will find the answer to those questions and get the information you will need to both locate a free online mock PMP test and how to identify a quality exam that will help you to be on your way to become a certified PMP.

Introduction

In my consulting and training engagements I frequently get to have interesting discussions with executives and senior managers from around the world. Obviously, considering the nature of my professional domain, the conversations we have regularly revolve around the topic of project portfolio management. They ask me very interesting and difficult questions, and I have to provide them with clear and succinct answers.

After several years of doing this, I suddenly noticed that no matter what industry the company belongs to, of where (geographically) the conversation takes place, I always end up answering the same questions over and over again.

So I decided to come up with a series of articles "The CEO's Guide to Project Portfolio Management - Frequently Asked Questions Answered" that will span across several posts. Check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the series.

Introduction

In my consulting and training engagements I frequently get to have interesting discussions with executives and senior managers from around the world. Obviously, considering the nature of my professional domain, the conversations we have regularly revolve around the topic of project portfolio management. They ask me very interesting and difficult questions, and I have to provide them with clear and succinct answers.

After several years of doing this, I suddenly noticed that no matter what industry the company belongs to, of where (geographically) the conversation takes place, I always end up answering the same questions over and over again.

So I decided to come up with a series of articles "The CEO's Guide to Project Portfolio Management - Frequently Asked Questions Answered" that will span across several posts. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.

P.S. If there are any people out there who want to submit their own PPM-related questions, do not hesitate contacting me by leaving a comment here or sending an e-mail to info@thinktankconsulting.ca

Question #5 - Will Project Portfolio Management Help Us Develop Exciting New Products and Services?

This a difficult question to answer with a simple "yes" or "no". In order for company to continuously come up with new and useful products it needs at least two ingredients:

Introduction

In my consulting and training engagements I frequently get to have interesting discussions with executives and senior managers from around the world. Obviously, considering the nature of my professional domain, the conversations we have regularly revolve around the topic of project portfolio management. They ask me very interesting and difficult questions, and I have to provide them with clear and succinct answers.

After several years of doing this, I suddenly noticed that no matter what industry the company belongs to, of where (geographically) the conversation takes place, I always end up answering the same questions over and over again.

So I decided to come up with a series of articles "The CEO's Guide to Project Portfolio Management - Frequently Asked Questions Answered" that will span across several posts. Check out Part 1 of the series.

P.S. If there are any people out there who want to submit their own PPM-related questions, do not hesitate contacting me by leaving a comment here or sending an e-mail to info@thinktankconsulting.ca.

Question #3 - What is the Value of Project Portfolio Management?

To develop or maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace it is common practice to evaluate the actions of industry leaders if possible. Although we have discussed this thing called “project portfolio management” on this website numerous times, let us look at some historical data collected during an independent studycomparing the actions of industry leaders against the laggards*.

The first study that we will review attempted to answer the following question “Is there a systematic relationship between sound project portfolio management technique usage and the financial success of companies”.