You are here: Home / Archives for Project Management

RESOURCE CENTER UPGRADE

September 7, 2011 By

The purpose of this post is to advise readers that the Project Professionals Resource Center feature or page has been upgraded.  Please visit this useful page and familiarize yourself with the content.  Please visit the Resource Links page which provides links to useful industry tools and resources.  The pages were derived from years of frustration searching for reliable, substantiated references.  So, the desires to share our choices are listed on the noted pages.

The Resource Center feature of this McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] blog provides blog visitors with information and links to important and useful publications that relate to project management and dispute resolution in project work.

Recently, the Resource Center was upgraded to include several new publications, cite a new version of Mr. Pickavance’s book on delay and add some useful Resource Link updates. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 8)

August 29, 2011 By

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the sources of most project success and failure outcomes.  Using best practices and learning from the experiences of others are effective methods for skill set development.  Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.” These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

As part of the planning process, a review of relevant lessons learned can be instructive as well as a “sanity check” or completeness evaluation regarding the adequacy and comprehensive nature of your Project Management Plan.

This post continues the focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning.  The subject is Stakeholder Management. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 7)

July 30, 2011 By

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the sources of most project success and failure outcomes.  Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method for skill set development.  Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.”  These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

As part of the planning process, a review of relevant lessons learned can be instructive as well as a “sanity check” or completeness evaluation regarding the adequacy and comprehensive nature of your Project Management Plan.

This post continues the focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Issues (Part 6)

July 25, 2011 By

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the source of most project success and failure outcomes.  While project planning is one of the most fundamental skill sets in project management, the requisite processes and actions are not well developed or successfully implemented.  There is value in the planning process and value in implementing a well documented plan.  This was discussed in the prior post in this Subject Series.

Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method for skill set development.  Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.”  These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

This and several following posts focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Management Plan (Part 5)

July 20, 2011 By

This post is the fifth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the Project Management Plan [also known as Project Execution Plan, Project Plan and other titles].  The last post (Part 4) addressed the project planning process.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Process (Part 4)

July 15, 2011 By

This post is the fourth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the project planning process.  This is a crucial challenge and the importance of this process cannot be overstated.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Initiation Lessons Learned (Part 3)

July 5, 2011 By

This Lessons Learned in Project Initiation post is the third in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management world.  We have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the starting point or initiation of the project.  This is a crucial challenge.

The study of lessons learned creates relevance and importance in (sometimes) abstract concepts.  It answers queries regarding the practical side of the issue.  There is a famous quote out there that talks about those that refuse to study history.  It is suggested that you avoid reliving the mistakes experienced by others. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Initiation (Part 2)

June 29, 2011 By

This post is the second in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the starting point or initiation of the project.  This is a crucial challenge.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we will use the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Introduction (Part 1)

June 25, 2011 By

This post is the first in a series of discussions regarding challenges being encountered in current project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post introduces the topic and sets the framework for ongoing posts on individual challenges.  This series is intended to draw upon many sources within the project management discipline or profession.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we will use the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others.

Some blogs (other than this one) provide useful information.  Consider:

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Owner Furnished (Supplied) / Free Issue Equipment and Materials

March 15, 2011 By

Introduction

Owner furnished (supplied) equipment (OFE), also known by other terms such as “free issue” presents unique planning and scheduling challenges.  The idea is that another party to the contract procures / orders and supplies equipment, material (even services, such as utilities or scaffolding) to the contractor.  The notion is that the contractor receives the equipment, goods or services and then erects, installs or otherwise uses these items.

The motivation for this type of arrangement can be one or more of several seemingly logical concepts.  Equipment with long lead times for fabrication and delivery may be ordered in advance of placing a contract for the equipment erection or installation.  Another motivation relates to cost savings.  Some believe ordering equipment and commodities (bulk materials) can be done by a general contractor or owner (owner, developer, employer) and thereby save a markup by a subcontractor.  In these cases, an interface is created between the ordering/procurement entity and the execution (engineering, erection, installation, fabrication, etc.) entity.  The creation of this interface becomes the issue. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »