Project Management

Client Comment::
"Colm draws upon his significant experience and knowledge to progress a project. His ability to see the forest for the trees enables him to deliver the core elements of the project on time. As a consultant between a vendor and a client he is able to see both sides and works to reach a middle ground between a demanding client and a vendor working in overdrive.
Most of all, Colm executes.”
Melinda Beuf, VP
Deutsche Bank

There are many schools of thought about project management.

Some people adopt the Methods approach - using standard or in-house methodologies. Other insist on formal qualifications for the project managers. Neither group seems to be able to agree whether PRINCE2, V-Model or PMBOK is the way to go and can happily spend hours - of project time, which the customer is paying for! - discussing the subtle differences between these approaches or justifying the merits of their own in-house system.

I'm quite happy to apply any methods required - and I've even authored and trained some in my time - but where I have a choice, I prefer the Common Sense approach to project management, which is based on an understanding of the core issues:

What are we trying to do here?
Why are we doing it? - How does the project touch the business? What's very important and what's less important?
What work is involved? Who can do it? What are the interdependencies?
How long will it take? What will it cost?
How can I identify and manage the inherent risks?
What's the definition of success? How do I know how we're doing?

Armed with the answers to these questions - which I gather and document using brain-storming, pretty pictures and appropriate models - the project management process is relatively simple:

Talk to everyone involved - agree scope, tasks, communication
Assign the tasks
Manage progress - monitor against scope, mitigate risks, determine workarounds
Talk to everyone involved - agree changed scope, different and additional tasks, modified solutions

The key to sucessful project management - regardless, and even in spite of, any formal methodologies - is communication!

If you're not talking to the project stakeholders, you're likely to deliver results that don't meet the (changed) requirements! Common Sense project management

If you're not talking to the team - and they're not talking to you - you're likely to be managing a disaster that you don't even know about!

If you're not talking to everyone, you're going to miss the perfect workaround, the slight change in scope or the not-so-important ommission that together can turn a "dog" into a successful project that meets the business requirements, on-time and on-budget.

If your organisation could benefit from a dose of common sense, I'd be quite happy to lead your next project. Assignments are charged on a Time and Materials (T&M) or on a retainer basis, with daily rates under € 1000. Volume discounts and capped maximum monthly fees can be negotiated on a case by case basis. Use Quick-Mail to start a no-nonsense conversation!