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Project managers: have you had the experience of being brought into a project too late?

Maybe everyone else on the project team has already been informed about the project and begun work, and someone finally thought to contact you “so somebody can keep track of things.”

Or maybe...

I’ve been a project manager for 8 years and I still don’t have project debrief meetings mastered.

Ideally in a debrief, postmortem, retrospective, or lessons learned meeting, the project team and other key stakeholders will reflect on what they’ve learned from the project so...

If you’re totally new to using Gantt charts, check out my post about the critical path method, which explains what Gantt charts are and how to use them in a meaningful way when scheduling your projects.

But if you already have a basic grasp of Gantt charts and just want a little help...

As a project manager, I’m in meetings ALL. THE. TIME. I probably have 15-20 meetings during an average work week.

For the most part, I enjoy meetings—not only because of the reminder that I’m not working alone, but also, I find them very effective in moving my projects forward.

I love meetings.

I am being hyperbolic to say they are the best project management communication tool, because the best tool varies by situation, and the fun of being a project manager is your opportunity to decide which tool is best in your situation right now.

But on average, I find meetings to...

Have an upcoming kickoff meeting, and want to write a clear invitation and meeting agenda that send your project in the right direction?

You’ll find a template at the end of this blog for a kickoff meeting invitation with an agenda built-in. Feel free to copy and paste it into your...

The more I write about project management, the more I find myself talking about the “tools I have in my toolbox.” When I use this metaphor, I’m essentially talking about the possible responses I know about and feel prepared to use to various scenarios that arise in the course of...

What does risk management look like on your projects?

Some companies have robust, established risk management procedures. Others almost entirely ignore the idea of risk and hope for the best.

Mostly ignoring risk is an understandable choice in some scenarios: if the project is a low priority, if...

“Organizational process assets” and “enterprise environmental factors” are terms you might come across in project management circles or resources, or while studying for your PMP.

These are fancy terms for fairly straightforward concepts. Let’s break down what they...

The critical path method is a way of creating and interacting with your project’s schedule. It works on waterfall projects (projects where tasks and timelines are planned in detail at the beginning of the project), or waterfall portions of hybrid projects (projects that are a mix of...