PMI Reports Organizations Facing Disruptive Technology Wikipedia defines the business term, “disruptive technology,” as an innovation that creates a new market or value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading firms, products, and alliances. Project Management Institute (PMI) has released a new report showing that 91 percent of…

A new program from Sensei Project Solutions performs automated project checks for governance and compliance. Sensei Portfolio Advisor works on projects maintained in Microsoft Project Online and Project Server. Versions are available for both individual users and enterprises. The application performs a set of checks based on industry standards and best practices, including the Project…

Sharpen the Saw No doubt you know the story of the man in the forest who is too busy sawing to stop and sharpen the saw. Every day we come across project managers who are too busy updating their schedules and running their projects to stop and learn new techniques and disciplines that would greatly…

Synergize What is synergy? Stephen Covey defines it this way: “It means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means that the relationship which the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself.” Once all the pieces of the schedule have been put together properly and are…

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood In just about any situation, it’s much more important to listen and understand than it is to be immediately understood. When faced with a problem on your project, it is important to act as a facilitator and get all the right people involved in the conversation. The…

Think Win-Win While the project schedule is an important tool for many project managers, it is often misunderstood (or not understood at all) by project team members. When building the work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project, you will get a more accurate definition of scope (and as a result, the schedule) by involving the…

Put First Things First Once you have built a solid work breakdown structure (WBS), it’s time to walk the talk and put first things first. Building a complete and accurate dependency network is what makes the schedule truly proactive. When building dependencies, try to think about natural relationships that exist for the scope of work…

A Microsoft partner has released a new service to generate heatmaps specifically for resource management. Sensei Project Solutions’ Resource Heatmaps works with Microsoft Project Online to create quick views of potential bottlenecks tied to the resources on a project. The program, available as a subscription service, generates three kinds of heatmaps: Availability Heatmap displays the…

Begin with the End in Mind The most successful projects have a deliverable-focused work breakdown structure (WBS) to represent the true scope of the project. Build your schedules with the end in mind by establishing your outcomes/deliverables. This helps you manage scope throughout execution and ensures that the entire team is on the same page…

The great Stephen Covey has inspired so many of us. His teachings are integrated into every aspect of my personal and professional life. I recently took some time to pause and reflect on how the “7 Habits” have impacted my own career as a project manager and scheduler. Specifically, over the course of seven brief…