MPUG’s call for the most OUTRAGEOUS program sponsor experience kicks off now! As part of our 2018 Community Survey, we asked the question, “Are you getting the feedback you need from program sponsors?” Well, the results are in, and although 26% of you said that yes, you are getting needed feedback, over 50% said this…

Projects, like human beings, are living entities. Just as every human being goes through a life cycle, so does a project. To understand life cycles, let’s break down a real-life example. Every day, you wake up from your bed, do your morning chores, have your breakfast, do your work, come back home in the evening,…

The world today is more uncertain than ever. Waves of technological innovation and societal change are unseating incumbents. Status quo is being threatened, and it’s creating increasingly high degrees of difficulty for knowledgeable workers looking to develop products, deliver services, and build strong teams and companies. It is in the midst of this era of…

Dear Elizabeth: I manage a team that that is always juggling multiple project tasks. How can I keep my team focused on their top priorities, and help them know what the latest priorities are? – All Over the Place Dear Place: Welcome to my world! Juggling is the norm, I’m afraid, but it’s great that…

As we found in Part 1 Demystifying Custom Reports, of learning to design custom reports in MS Project is a bit like falling down a rabbit hole, akin to what Alice experienced in the Lewis Carroll-written adventures, but as we are about to find out, learning to produce custom charts in MS Project is more like…

Would you hire an architect to build a new house if you hadn’t even seen photographs of some of his past designs? What about a plastic surgeon if you hadn’t seen proof of their past work? Sure, the plastic surgery example is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the underlying point is not. When people are looking…

Dear Elizabeth: I’m currently running a large project that’s a mess. We’ve lost team members, the customer has asked for more features, and now we’re scheduled to go well over our deadline. I’ve had endless conversations with my manager about the need to add more people to the project—I’ve even shown her my resource workload…

As a new project manager, you will eventually have to write a project report. There is just no away around it! As an experienced PM, you may have already done thousands. Fortunately for all of us, MS Project has features and functions that are designed to help you get your reporting duties done in as…

In Microsoft Project, a baseline is like a “snapshot” of your project before you begin entering actual progress. Following best practices for baselining is essential to the success of any project, but do you know enough about what types of data are saved in a baseline, where to view this data, and how that all…

Introduction Ever wondered why there is stiff competition between an accountant and a Project Manager? Because they are both quite creative: the former with the money, the latter with the work estimates. Humour apart, Project Managers (PMs) are still much sought after as a ridiculously popular profession in today’s industry. Mostly because today’s businesses attempt…