These are field notes from real project work — what we observe, what we challenge, and where we've had to raise our own game. We don't publish from the sideline. We write from inside the same problems we're helping others solve.
Effective stakeholder management has no one face. For each project, a handful of stakeholder groups have all kinds of requirements at all times. You’ll have those with high levels of power and interest who want to know everything. You’ll have the opposite. Then, you’ll see stakeholders who have very specific needs and reject every attempt at…
Stakeholder engagement is almost always looked over by our fellow project managers. You have a lot going on and barely have enough time in the day as it is. You’re probably looking at this post wondering what the heck this is even for. We get it. Stakeholder engagement just seems like more fluff. But we promise…
Managing stakeholders is an exhausting and labor-intensive complicated process, but only if you let it. We get how easy it is to slip into a worn pattern of putting out fires and fixing problems one after the other. We are here to argue the way it could be different. In this post, we answer some basic…
Stakeholder management is a method that every project manager finds themselves using eventually. You might think a couple of meetings here, and there will cover you, but as you grow, you learn that that is simply not the case. Every project takes place inside an environment, which is almost entirely set up by the stakeholders involved.…
There is nothing that will make your project function better than accountability. Read that again because it’s true. Without it, you risk everything falling apart. In some settings, it can seem like a rare feature. Everyone is just worried about covering their own backs, never each other. Nothing makes sense. No work ever gets from Point…
Outsourcing is a huge part of the professional landscape these days, and it makes sense. Getting a specialized outside perspective can be great for your project and the bottom line, but when left unchecked, that extra help can cause its fair share of issues when left unchecked. That’s why this “third-party risk management” concept is more…
A risk management consultant is a person whose entire tole is dedicated to cleaning up messes—ideally before they ever happen. While that sounds like predicting the future, it’s not nearly that exciting. It looks more like careful consideration of what could go wrong, planning for that to unfold, and preparing possible routes of action. The consultant…
Enterprise risk management is something only some project managers encounter. Generally, we manage risk with whoever is overseeing our project. We report risks (and potential responses), then move on to the next thing calling our name—usually whichever thing is screaming the loudest. But what happens when the company decides to slow down and stop ignoring the…
Communication skills are key in project management. Here are the top 10 and how to improve them all.
Communication to project management is like bones to a body. You aren’t going to get far without it. And as project managers well know, all of the different communication channels need to be organized, categorized, and managed. That’s why we are breaking down communication management, gathering all key components, and helping you develop your communication management…
