Author Archives: PM Advisor

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 18-May-09 For clients who occasionally need to create GANTT Charts or project timelines, investment in a project planning tool such as MS Project, Merlin or OmniPlan just isn’t appropriate. We’ve recently been testing a free Software as a Service (SaaS) tool which appears to do theContinue reading “Free Online Gantt Chart Tool”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 20-Apr-09 The current turmoil in the world economy is taking recognition of Project Management as a core business competence to a new level. The fundamental principles are fairly stable, but the knowledge of how to apply them remains in high demand. Over recent years, Project management hasContinue reading “Project Management Matters”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 29-Sep-08 Parents are constantly enabling the beliefs of their youngsters, by helping them to understand that they can achieve their goals and aspirations, they just may not yet have learnt how to. As one gets older this remains true, whilst there is another block to successContinue reading “No Such thing as “can’t””

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 22-Sep-08 Every day we come across more reasons for project failure, and it’s rare that they can’t be boiled down into a small number of headings. We were interested to see a summary of 5 reasons on the Project Management Hut blog recently: Executive Level Non-Support.Continue reading “Frustrated by Project Failure?”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 22-Sep-08 We’re always on the look-out for tips to help our clients. An interesting article on CIO.com recently highlighted these 5 tips: 1. Know what you are trying to accomplish 2. Get executive sponsorship 3. Create a reporting relationship for the project management office 4. PutContinue reading “5 Tips for establishing a project management office (PMO)”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 22-Sep-08 These days, many companies are finding that an effective way to evaluate the entire portfolio and control costs is to use a Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution, which make it easier to look at projects as an aggregate collection of cost centres to help identifyContinue reading “Project Portfolio Management (PPM)”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 11-Jul-08 With increasing pressure on businesses currently to ensure that they are making the best return for their fixed costs, strong project management is becoming more and more relevant. Whether they are launching new products, streamlining processes, implementing new systems, consolidating operations, or turning businesses aroundContinue reading “Credit crunch puts emphasis on great project management”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 04-Jun-08 There was a fascinating article in The Times last week. It is well worth a read for a number of reasons, not least for some of the quotes. You can get to the full article here. It is noteworthy that our views at ProjExc (alsoContinue reading “Project management – breeding ground for business leaders”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 28-May-08 Cautionary advice for project managers looking at IT/change projects from ZDNET, in an interesting article.  Here are the top tips (more details in the article so follow the link): •Get your head out of the software •Plan and define as much as possible—but don’t goContinue reading “Don’t Be a Scapegoat”

Originally posted on the ProjExc Project Excellence Blog on 20-May-08 ProjExc often help their clients to source project managers. One of the early obstacles in identifying the ideal candidate profile is agreeing the need for “technical” knowledge. This can be technical knowledge of the product or experiential knowledge of the market place. There isn’t aContinue reading “Project Managers – technical competence”