SULE PROJECT AND PLANNING CONSULTANT NETWORK

Success in project management hinges on the creation of a comprehensive and accurate project budget. Find out what to include in your budget and download a free example of a project budget template. What is the Goal of a Project Budget? One of the key elements of any  project proposal  is the project budget. It is a pivotal tool that will be used by several different groups involved in the project. The project manager will use this budget to determine whether the project is on track; project personnel will use it as a guideline to fulfill certain project milestones; and the client will use it to determine the success of the effort. But the task of creating a budget for a new project may be a bit daunting- especially if the project manager has had little or no experience coordinating projects. Some expenses, such as salaries, utilities, rent, or equipment costs, may seem pretty straight forward. But there are many contingencies and unknowns that may affect how and w...

People like to talk about work, don’t they? Whether you meet someone for the first time in a bar, at a party or at the bus stop they are likely you what you do a living. The problem is that project manager is such a vague description to most people that they don’t know what it really involves. Some of them might press you for more details but others might smile and change the subject onto the weather or the price of beans. If you want to get across what your job is about (and why wouldn’t you?) then it is worth thinking about how you can describe it in a language which non project people can understand. Here are a few of the ways I have tried to do it in the past, although not all of them have been successful. I Design Processes This is a pretty safe way to describe the project manager role, even though it only tells part of the story. Everyone knows what a process is and the idea of someone designing them shouldn’t be too much for most of them to grasp. Possibly the main prob...

5 Ways to Gather Project Requirements 27 June, 2013 All projects start with requirements – after all, you have to know what it is you are about to deliver before you can start work. But how do you get those requirements? You may be lucky and find that you are asked to work on a project where the requirements are already clearly defined. Perhaps the business needs make the requirements really straightforward, or perhaps a business analyst has already gathered them and prepared the project scope information. On the other hand, you may be handed a vague brief and asked to finalize the project scope yourself. In that case, you will have to work with all the key stakeholders to identify the important elements of project scope and prepare the project requirements. You can do this with your team members as they will probably have their own ideas of what needs to be included in the scope of the project. However you go about it, you need some techniques in order to be able to captu...

5 Terms Every Project Manager Should Know June 26, 2013 Have you ever sat in a meeting and wondered what on earth was going on? When you are new to project management it can be difficult to get your head around all the new terminology, as, let’s face it, project management has a language all to itself. The jargon can make you feel as if you’ll never make any progress, and what’s worse is that you won’t find it easy to get your hands on a glossary of terms. Many project managers who have been working in the field for a long time have forgotten that once upon a time they didn’t know what any of these words meant either! Here we try to demystify 5 of the most common project management terms – things you’ll hear every day when you are a project manager. 1. Baseline A baseline is a snapshot in time. It’s usually used to refer to a  project plan , so it captures the plan at any given moment. Baselines are important because project plans usually change, so what you think ...

How to Update Your Project Management Skills June 26, 2013 When I first took a project management course I had no idea that things would change. I naively thought that what I learned in those 5 days would be good enough to see me through my career as a project manager. I was wrong! We all have to update our skills, both in new project management techniques and also to ensure that we are growing professionally and being the best we can be. What are you doing to keep your skills fresh? Here are 7 ways to update your project management skills. 1. Take a Course The most obvious way to update your skills is to attend a training course. Many employers have an annual training budget, so ask your manager if you can attend a course this year. Be specific, as you may have more success getting them to agree if you present them with a well-researched justification for the course you want to attend instead of just generally asking if you can have some training and expecting them to...

5 Project Problems You Might Need to Solve By KAKA SULE 3 in Share The life of a project manager tends to involve a lot of different situations and will require you to use a variety of skills to solve the problems you will come across. There is no way of accurately listing all of the issues you could need to solve during your career but as a sample we could look at 5 which you might need to deal with at some point. The Wrong Team The project team is going to be very important to you. In fact, if you are presented with a team which has been recruited or allocated by someone else then one of your first steps should be to assess their suitability for the task at hand. Even if they are all experienced and capable workers you will need to think about whether or not they will combine well and provide the mixture of skills which you are going to need. If the makeup of the team is wrong then your first step is probably going to be that of pointing this out to the stakeholders...