My car just failed its warrant of fitness – happy new year to me. It was a bit of a surprise. My car will flash and beep at me because I’m speeding or have low windscreen fluid, but could it tell me when my tyres were bald? It could not. After blaming the worn-out...
The project timeline is hallowed turf for an experienced project manager. More than a North Star, the project timeline is their statement of intent, their public line in the sand, and the starting point for external evaluations of their project. On time? There’s a...
The challenge of optimism bias Parent teacher nights are a PM’s nightmare. On the upside, everyone loves to hear how well the kids are doing. But my inner PM is never far from the surface… so I’m not the guy who turns up late. In fact, my organised self is always...
There are many ways to endure a pandemic lockdown. And sometimes the wisdom of the crowd can be wrong. So over March and April this year, as most of the country went big on bread making, moustaches, and home-schooling, I went another route. “Why change your life just...
A sponsor’s life is hard. The project’s yours. For better or worse. People above are asking tough questions. Scope creep. Budget blow-out. Schedule over-run. Recovery plan?? And people below have no answers… That’s a hard place. If you’ve been there you know it. But...
Four ways a recovery specialist will save your project When someone calls Luminate something’s gone wrong. It can take time to realise this - sponsors don’t like admitting there’s an issue. Often we’re called when a project (or sponsor) are nearly terminal. But...
Knowing the early signs your project’s in trouble can save you a lot of time and money. Most projects fail through poor project management or poor sponsorship. If you’re a project sponsor this one’s for you… and if you’re project’s struggling, this might just save...
So here’s the question… what do you do when your project is out of control? When scope creep has the better of you, your budget’s shot to hell, and delivery was three months back? And - perhaps worst of all - when none of your project managers can tell you where it’s...
You read the status reports. You attend the steering committee meetings. You even have 1:1 catch-ups with the PM. Yet inexplicably the project that’s been reported green week after week, is now reporting as red! Meaning the original baseline schedule, cost or...
Twenty-five years ago, a mate of mine made a colossal mistake. As a civil engineer in his first job out of university he designed a bridge that didn’t join up. Now for all of us who were his mates, this was a great laugh. For Mark however, this wasn’t so funny. And it...