Learning Tips
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: What are the Common Mistakes of Project Resource Management?
The first step in an effort to do real resource management is to ask the hard question “What problem are we trying to solve with resource management”? However, the first problem lies in the fact that they haven’t done any real planning work upfront; such as the work breakdown structure (WBS), before identifying the resources.
Define the WBS => Identify Required Resources => Construct a Project Schedule
Following are our observations of the top 5 mistakes:
Mistake 1: Not understanding how to assign resources correctly. This is a very, very broad definition of the problem, but we have seen people assigned to projects simply because (a) they have excess capacity; note, this is not a skill set! (b) they always wanted to work on this type of project. Without a clear understanding of the project tasks and the skills that are required to complete them how can you properly assign a resource?
Mistake 2: Planning for 100% capacity. Really? We view an aggressive percentage of a resource’s allocation to any project to be 70%, at best.
Mistake 3: The wrong people are making resource allocation projections. We have seen projects, with no project plan developed, requesting resources for 6 months starting on specific dates!
Mistake 4: The “resource” is not even consulted or aware that they are on the assignment.
Mistake 5: There really is no inventory of skills; we just have a list of employees and contractors that we have to show are busy doing something.
To address those common mistakes, you can try out the following solutions.
Solution 1: Understand and define the problem clearly. In many projects you’re not dependent on all the resources, but there may be a few key ones that you need commitment from. Obtain commitment from the key resources and their managers and make sure everyone knows what is realistically being requested. That is, “what do you need and when do you need it”.
Solution 2: Projects should move forward primarily based on their value, not just which resources are available. Many resources are interchangeable. If your project is going to produce three times revenue you can justify going to the market to bring in outside help (acquisition).
Solution 3: Make sure resource availability is realistic. it should exclude time allocated for operational duties, time off, etc.
Solution 4: Build out a high-level WBS and engage potential resources to help with it. Many times we see a deliverable flagged as requiring specific resources for long periods of time only to find out that the actual subject matter expert believe the deliverable to a simple bit of work requiring only a few days.
Solution 5: Gain a realistic baseline of data in your organization that describes what the current resources are assigned to. If it is not realistic to obtain that information you shouldn’t have a high degree of confidence in future estimates.
In short, project planning will identify the resources required to achieve the full scope of the project. Attempts to build a resource management plan that informs the organization of how many projects they can achieve is a fool errand. Plan the project and work the plan!
If you’re looking to conquer this trifecta of skills and expertise, you may need the education to bolster your project management mastery. Look no further than the project management programs at CAREER GROWTH SDN BHD.
CareerGrowthTM has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes and operational excellence! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management, Business Management, and Operational Excellence Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced & professional trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
For any training enquiries, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] for enquiries.
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – (4 days, 32 PDUs)
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – 4 days, 32 PDUs
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/project-management/



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: 3 Ways to Define a Project Workflow Process
How do you get a new initiative done? You need a process for getting through the work, which, as is easier said than done. That’s because there are a lot of different people and perspectives embedded in every new initiative. These stakeholders and resources include project managers, team members, designers, customers, partners, contractors, project management tools, supplies, etc. That creates challenges, such as (Source: Jennifer Bridges):
- Legacy Processes: If things were done a certain way in the past, it can be hard to change people’s behaviors.
- Different Processes: Third parties, vendors and other contractors you work with might have different processes.
- No Processes: There might be no process in place at all.
- Tool-Based Processes: Some might have a process, but one that is wedded to a tool, which restricts flexibility and possibly results.
- Begin with the End in Mind.When you’re first thinking about workflow, you want to begin with the end in mind. That is, look towards the end goal and then work backwards, so you can figure out the right path to get there. This will help you determine your workflow process. From this perspective, you’ll want to ask yourself some questions, such as: what are the processes, workflows and systems needed to reach the endpoint in the project, and what are the best practices to employ? You’ll want to create a checklist, and ask questions. Note who you’ll partner with, and decide what leadership team will drive the whole endeavor.
- Workflow.That’s a lot to grapple with, focus on one aspect — workflow. Began by defining the term. Workflow is the definition, execution and automation of business processes: where tasks, information and documents are passed from one person to another for action according to a set of procedural rules. It involves work by one or more people, and transforms materials, information or services.
- How to Define Your Workflow?You can use the following three tips for defining the workflow for your project.
- Create a realistic workflow diagram, and involve the people doing the work.
- Get buy-in from the team, have them sign-off, and then adopt the plan for the project.
- Match workflow process to a tool functionality so that the process drives the tool selection, and not the other way around.
The benefits of following this course are that it will improve your productivity, reduce errors as you’re working on the project, help relieve the stress and keep you consistent. If you use a project management workflow tool, you can streamline the process, work more efficiently, automate much of the busywork and monitor the team’s progress. There are many software you can select, so read this first to invest the right one.
For any training enquiries, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] for enquiries.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – (4 days, 32 PDUs)
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – 4 days, 32 PDUs
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/project-management/



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: 9 “MUST HAVE” Essential Habits For All Successful Project Managers!
Following are the “Nine Essential Habits” of Successful Project Managers.
Habit 1: Following the Project Management Process.
Let’s not get into which project process. Your job is to determine the approach that will give you and your team the best chance of delivering your project safely, accountably, on time and within budget. Once you’ve done that, you’ll follow that process – adapting it, of course, as necessary. This is about technical competence, at the least, and technical excellence if you want to really succeed.
Habit 2: Acting with Complete Integrity.
The habit of speaking honestly and dealing fairly with people is obvious to most of us. But there are some people who seem to need to think this through, at each opportunity. But your habit should be to only take actions that represent absolute integrity, and not to consider whether or not to pursue them. But don’t for one minute think that this will always be an easy matter to assess.
Habit 3: Anticipating Risks. Prepare For It.
See the possibility of failure in every part of your plan. It’s too easy to study a plan – especially the one you have created – and see the risks as variances to the plan. But what about sudden bends or alternate routes? Successful project managers have two habits that complement one another:
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- Looking for problems and planning how they will deal with them.
- Constantly working their risk register. They review outstanding risks on a regular cycle and push constantly for progress.
Habit 4: Stakeholders Make Projects Tricky. Always be Listening.
If risk management is how adults manage projects, then: “Stakeholder engagement is how sophisticated adults manage projects.” Your stakeholders have the capacity to make or break your project. So, communicating with them must be right at the top of your priority list. There’s another assertion that I agree with; that project management is 80 per cent communication. That communication splits three ways, and not evenly. Some goes to your governance tiers, your boss, client or sponsor, and some goes to your team and colleagues. However, most of your communication will be with stakeholders. You need to inform, consult, cajole, persuade and so much more. So, the one habit that makes all this easier, that wins their respect, and feeds your insights is simple: always be listening.
Habit 5: There’s Always Too Much. Find the Big Lever.
Projects are big, complex endeavors with lots of moving parts. They can suck you in and drain your energy. You will never have time to do everything you want to do. Therefore, prioritization and focus are the orders of the day. But there is one thing that a project manager craves above all else: control. If you think about it, that’s the job of a project manager: to bring control to the messy, chaotic, uncertain, changing environment that is a project. For each project, find the one or two levers that give you maximum control over your project. Make them the focus of your monitoring and control. When you find the right levers, and learn how to work them, everything else will fall into place.
Habit 6: Focus on Your Strengths. Default to Delegation.
No project manager will be truly successful until they learn to delegate effectively. It confers so many benefits that it should be your standard solution for getting things done. Delegation frees you up for your most valuable single role: thinking. It engages your team members and motivates them. This is because it shows trust and confidence. But crucially, it’s the way most of us learn best; by doing the things we need to learn. Delegation is a premium tool for developing your people. And that does not just benefit them. It builds resilience into your project and therefore mitigates some substantial risks.
Habit 7: The Team Delivers. Serve Your People.
Try not to fool yourself. Unless you’re leading a small project, where you are the team, as well as the project manager, you won’t be delivering your project. Your team will. In the context of project delivery, therefore, your job is simple. You must make it as easy as possible for them to do their jobs. So, you can forget about stale stereotypes of being the boss. The habit to get into is making the coffee because your role is to serve your team, to provide them with the resources they need, to thrive and succeed. And, to shield them from the corporate meddling that constantly frustrates our day-to-day efforts to get on with our work.
Habit 8: Take Nothing on its Appearance. Ask Questions.
Excellent projects often benefit from excellent governance. Because good governance takes responsibility – on behalf of the organization – for strategy, oversight and decision-making. To play your part in this, you need constantly to be questioning, challenging, and looking for new evidence. Avoid confirmation bias by preparing your project reports bottom up. Project reporting tools can really come in handy here. Start with raw data every time, rather than gathering data to illustrate your main points. Seek out wise counsel, and test your ideas with experienced and senior colleagues. While cynicism can drain the energy from a project, skepticism is healthy. Make it your habit to ask questions when you don’t know, and to quickly move past things you know already, so you can find out more.
Habit 9: Know Who Are You. Keep Learning.
Successful project professionals evolve faster than other people because they have an “always learning” mindset. Get into two valuable habits that will keep you learning:
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- Invest in your own knowledge, learning and skill set. Read books. Go to events. Take courses. Lifelong learning is more than just a CPD obligation for members of a professional body. It’s the surest route to flexible career options, fulfilment and even good mental health.
- Review your experiences. The people whom others most consistently rate as being wise, the people whose opinions we seek out and value, they have one habit in common. They make time to reflect on their experience. Often, they keep a journal. They record their thought processes, their choices, their reasons, and their actions. And they also reflect on how things turned out, looking for patterns and lessons to learn.
For any training enquiries, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] for enquiries.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – (4 days, 32 PDUs)
Career Growth Professional ScrumMaster Boot Camp – 4 days, 32 PDUs
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: 5 Crucial Strategies Delegate Project Work!
Based on many books, research and our experience, we offer some guidance below on the key strategies to become a good leader:
Step 1: Look for team members that can take more responsibility. Delegation is when you assign responsibility to another person to carry out a specific task. The task could be large (such as “revamp the manufacturing department” or small (such as “write and distribute the meeting minutes”). It doesn’t matter how large or small the task is. What matters is that there is another person that you can delegate the task to. You have to have good people on your team that can take responsibility for work, even if it requires them to work outside their comfort zone.
Step 2: Get comfortable asking others for help. You need to have a mind set where you feel comfortable delegating to others. You may be hesitant. You may feel that it will be faster to get something done yourself rather than having to explain it to others. Or, you may feel as if the other person already has enough to do and you don’t want to add more to their plate. In fact, it may take another person longer to do the work the first time. But you will have something off your plate and the team member will have a chance to learn a new skill.
Step 3: Create your full to-do list. Every day you should have a list of the things that you need to do that day. As a project manager, some of this work is your responsibility. There will be meetings, reminders, short-term items, longer-term items, etc. You should include any non-project work as well, such as pay for your credit card bills online.
Step 4: Determine which core work you must do. You are going to have a sizable list. You may be amazed at how much stuff you have on your plate to accomplish. Some of these things are extremely important and others may be of marginal value. There may be items on your list that are months old and probably should be deleted. Now figure out the items you and only you can complete. For example, updating the stakeholder register. Perhaps these can be flagged with a star.
Step 5: Begin delegating. The items that you have not starred are candidates to delegate. Since you did not star these, there must be someone else that can do them. Of course, just because you can delegate them does not mean you will delegate them. Make sure you keep a full plate of work for yourself. But ask others on your team to complete some of the remaining work for you.
This is not an easy process at first. But soon it becomes more comfortable. Delegating work allows you to leverage your time. You are now able to get more work done, with others help, than you could do by yourself.
For any training enquiries, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] for enquiries.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/12/pmi-pmp-boot-camp/
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Professional Scrum Master (PSM®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/pmi-agile-certified-practitioner-pmi-acp/
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: 3 MUST HAVE STEPS TO BE AN AWESOME LEADER!
One of your new year goals may be to enhance your leadership skills to lead your project team. Based on many leadership books, research and our experience, we offer some guidance below on the key steps to become a good leader:
(1) Connecting with your team: As the sayings go, “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care” and “Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand”! Connecting with people starts by knowing and caring for them. As such, you should invest time and hearts to connect to your team, e.g. through open communication during 1-on-1 sessions, lunches or tea breaks. Your actions also speak louder than words, so act with integrity and do what you say!
(2) Performing: Once connection begins to take place, setting the vision and getting the team to work to common goals are critical for success. The ability to communicate and share the vision with others is key to lead team to greater heights.
In this stage, the leaders continue to work with teams towards the vision, goals and success. Important leadership characteristics include:
- Having a “servant leadership” mind set. As your teams may consist of knowledge workers from different background, the leaders need to be able to work with the team to bring the strengths out from each individual and achieve synergy among them. Directive, top down or micro-manage leadership styles cannot work well with the knowledge workers.
- Ability to drive, inspire and embrace change and continuous improvement. The team may face some obstacles or changes, the leaders need to be able to embrace the changes, communicate, and inspire others to overcome these challenges.
- Other key characteristics include strong communication and active listening skills, focus on developing people, confidence and trust in your teams, regular use of reflective periods to think and learn, and having fun and be energized!
(3) Developing: In this stage, the leaders continue to work with team to develop them towards their career and life goals. Successful development and engagement over a period of time would create long term relationship between the leaders and teams!
In addition, we are having the 2-day courses on the “Project Leadership and Stakeholder Management (14 PDUs)” to elaborate and practice on the key stages above. Feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] for enquiries.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/12/pmi-pmp-boot-camp/
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Professional Scrum Master (PSM®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/pmi-agile-certified-practitioner-pmi-acp/
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: 7 MUST HAVE SKILLS to manage TIME!
Many people are so busy that they have difficulties getting through everything in a day. You might recognize this from your own work. That’s why it’s so important that we focus well, that we spend our time well, and that we have the top items at the top of our priority list. Following are some useful tips recommended by leadership coach Susanne Madsen.
(1) Start your day with 60 to 90 minutes of focus. First of all we recommend that you start your day with 60 to 90 minutes of clear focus. We’re actually fresher in the morning. Our brains work better. It’s like a computer program. The more you layer on top, the slower it goes. So utilize that time in the morning. Famous coach Brian Tracy says it in a different way. He has written the bestselling book “Eat That Frog!” And he says, “Eat the ugliest frog first.” The frog symbolizes the ugly task that we’re procrastinating on. It’s a task that we need to do. It’s important, but we just somehow tend to delay it because we find it unpleasant. To get results and to optimize time best, we have to get through those frogs. So you can also consider those 60 to 90 minutes of clear focus in the morning as frog eating time.
(2) Write your task list in the evening. Another tip is that you should write your task list or to-do list in the evening, not in the morning. When you write it in the evening you can come to the office and you are focused straight away on what needs to get done. You might even have your top three frogs, or your top three items to handle.
(3) Minimize waste, interruptions and multitasking. Next, minimum waste. Of course minimize interruptions and multitasking. It’s a myth that we work well when we multitask. Studies show that only 4% of the population are true multitaskers. They have two processes in the brain and can do two things at once. But the rest of use, 96%, I do believe I’m part of those 96%. We can’t do that. When we allegedly multitask, we jump very quickly from one task to the other. And as we do so we lose momentum. We slow ourselves down. So focus single-mindedly on your activities, especially when you are in your frog eating mood in the morning. Then when you get interrupted later in the day it doesn’t matter so much because you already got your most important task completed.
(4) Check email and mobile message less frequently. How about that? A lot of people still have an email notification and mobile message alerts whenever they get a new email and message. But again it interrupts us. It breaks our flow. You can also try to check email and mobile message less frequently. For instance by saying, “Okay, I want to check email or mobile message every hour, or three times a day.” It is possible. Why don’t you try to experiment with it?
(5) Ask yourself whether you’re being productive or just active. We also encourage that you ask this question at random times during the day. Am I being productive or just active? You see there is a very big different. Many of us are very active. We get lots of stuff done, and we may even leave the office thinking, “Oh, my God, I’m exhausted. I got so much done today.” But was it the right things that you got done? Were you really productive? Did your tasks add a lot of value? So this one can be really interesting if you ask yourself that throughout the day.
(6) Use Pareto’s Principle (80/20 rule). You can also use Pareto’s principle. Also known as the 80/20 rule. It will help you understand what your highest value tasks are. What are the 20% of activities or tasks that you do during a day or a week that add to 80% of your results? That’s where your focus needs to be.
(7) Delegate. Lastly, do more delegation. The remaining 80%, you may begin to delegate. Train others to take on more responsibility.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/12/pmi-pmp-boot-camp/
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Professional Scrum Master (PSM®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/pmi-agile-certified-practitioner-pmi-acp/
List of short Project Management Modules – starting from foundation level to advance level



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: THREE Main Factors to Consider for the Implementation of Effective RISK MANAGEMENT System!
There are a few key successful factors of an effective Risk Management System, based on our experience and research:
(1) Support from Senior Management. The support of Senior Management is crucial to develop, enhance and sustain the Risk Management System. Similar to successful Quality Management Systems, the senior management can develop or enhance the Risk Management Vision, Strategy and Policy. This support, in turn, can promote risk awareness and successful risk management to project teams. A “Risk Coach” or “Risk Champion” can be assigned to provide coaching and guidance to project teams and align the risk management objectives to organization vision and strategy!
(2) Simple and Practical Risk Management Plan. Simple and practical Risk Management Plan is important for successful implementation and adoption of the processes and procedures. The Risk Management Template, for example, should be easy to use and update, and visible to all project team and other stakeholders. The template should include all the Risk Management processes, from Risk Identification, Analysis to Responses and continuous Monitoring and Controlling.
(3) Risk Awareness and Management Culture. Similar to the saying “Quality is everyone’s responsibilities”, an effective Risk Management System needs the support from all the project team members and other stakeholders. The Risk Coach or Risk Champion, for example, can lead the continuous effort in promoting risk awareness and management culture. This, in turn, will enable the teams to successfully utilize the Risk Management System to enhance the project success and reduce “fire-fighting” activities from your projects!
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/12/pmi-pmp-boot-camp/
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Professional Scrum Master (PSM®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/pmi-agile-certified-practitioner-pmi-acp/



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: How to Measure Your Project Progress?
No matter what industry you’re in, whatever project you’re leading, the following tips on measuring your project progress are sure to help your project bloom.
(1) Get Your Project Team Involved. Collaboration isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a proven method for innovation and, more importantly in our context, for staying on track. Your team is your most valuable resource, but they’re more than just a group of people who take orders. Get the team involved from the get-go. There are many reasons why it’s good to plan with your team. For one, there’s the obvious buy-in it brings to the team, which is important, as an engaged team is going to help you stay on track. Start with the planning process, but don’t taper off on seeking your team’s advice. Remember, they’re on the project’s front lines and will be privy to information first. Set up regular check-ins with team members throughout the life cycle of the project. Example, held weekly progress meeting.
(2) Begin with the End in Mind. To measure progress, you must know where you’re going. When you use your imagination to visualize your goal, you have a better chance of making it a reality. This will also help you determine what steps are necessary to reach that endpoint. The worst thing you can do as a project progresses is to drift away from your goal as issues arise. By having the end in sight from the start you have a benchmark to measure your actions and decisions. This will keep you on track and allow you to measure progress more accurately. No matter where you are in the project, you can apply the concept of “Begin with the End in Mind”. It’s a great way to reset your priorities, but it can also provide a measure each day to track the distance from where you are to where you want to go.
(3) Use Project Management Tools. Tools have been helping people for millennia, and they can assist in measuring the progress of your project, especially since there are tools that have been designed to help manage projects. They’re easy to use and should be in the arsenal of anyone who is in charge of driving a project to a successful end. For example, a Gantt chart, which is just a fancy way of saying a timeline in which tasks are indicated as points that connect the start of the project to the end. This visual map makes it easy to see where you are in a project at a glance. Use the Gantt chart to assign tasks, determine a deadline and even link tasks that are dependent on another, so you can’t start “task B” until you finish “task A.” That keeps teams working. You avoid having someone blocked and idle as they wait for another person to finish their dependent task. And if your project management tool is online, you can track the progress of the team and note as their tasks move towards completion. Another handy tool to look for is a project dashboard. A well-made dashboard should collect all the metrics of your project in simple graphs and charts, so you can see at a glance where you are in the project. Plus, if it’s online, then it’s updating with real-time data, so you’re not stuck looking at past progress, but where the project presently stands.
(4) Plan Project Milestones. Milestones are a way to indicate the beginning and the end of major phases in the project. They’re a helpful tool for scheduling a project into digestible parts, and they can help you measure the progress of the project. Each time you achieve a project milestone you can see if you’ve reached it as planned. This is a great way to measure progress on a large scale, but you can also create milestones that work on a more gradual level to track progress. For example, by creating milestones tailored to the tasks assigned to individuals on your team, you can track the progress of everyone. Team members are instrumental in the overall progress of the project, so by measuring their individual progress, you have a clear view of how the project is progressing.
(5) Have Deadlines. It seems obvious, but deadlines are what keeps any project taut. Without a due date there is going to be slack. It’s unavoidable. If your team has an open-ended schedule, they’re going to use that time (Parkinson’s law). There’ll be no sense of real urgency. But deadlines aren’t just a way to keep the project on track. They can also act as a metric to measure the progress of that project. By setting a number of deadlines to meet, you have given yourself markers across the project schedule, which can be used measure whether or not you’re meeting your planned progress.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “Effective Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!
Check out our interactive and fun PROJECT MANAGEMENT & AGILE Certification Courses;
PMI-PMP® Boot Camp – PMBOK®Guide 6th Edition (4 days, 36 PDUs) Project Management Professional Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/12/pmi-pmp-boot-camp/
PMI-RMP®Boot Camp – PMBOK®6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Risk Management Professional Certification
Professional Scrum Master (PSM®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO®) – (4 days, 32 PDUs) Assessment I, II (Based on Scrum.org)
PMI-ACP® Boot Camp – PMBOK® 6th Edition (4 days, 32 PDUs) Agile Certified Practitioner Certification
https://careergrowth.com.my/2018/02/07/pmi-agile-certified-practitioner-pmi-acp/



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: How to Stay on Your Project CRITICAL PATH?
The critical path is made up of all the tasks that determine the end date of your project. Following are key measures and steps that can assist you to stay on track!
(1) Understand the Critical Path. First, take the time to understand what is a critical path is. The critical path is made up of the tasks that happen one after the other without any slack in the project plan. If one of those activities finishes late by a day, the whole end date of the project moves out by one day. Knowing which tasks are on the critical path means that you can monitor them to make sure they all hit their deadlines.
(2) Identify Slack in the Schedule. Go through your task list and note down for each task:
- The earliest possible start date
- The latest possible start date
- The earliest possible finish date
- The latest possible finish date that wouldn’t impact the end date for the project.
The difference between the earliest and latest dates is the slack you have in the schedule. For example, if a task could start at the earliest on Monday but has to start by Thursday, you have three days of slack (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).
(3) Plot Your Critical Path. Now you have those details for each task, it’s time to work out which of your tasks are on the critical path. They won’t necessarily be the tasks that are most important, but they are easy to spot. The critical path tasks are the tasks that have no flexibility in the start date or end date. They are the tasks you identified that have no slack. They might be the least important activities, but their completion dates determine the project’s delivery date because you can’t flex the dates forward and backwards. Highlight these tasks on your project schedule – these are the ones you really have to focus on managing to get the project delivered on time.
(4) Resource the Critical Tasks. The easiest thing to do to make sure you stay on the critical path is to allocate resources to the work. Do it early, so they know the tasks are coming. Tell the team which tasks are on the critical path and make it clear that you expect the work to start and finish on time. You can also consider putting your most experienced resources on critical path tasks. They are more likely to be able to complete activities on time with less help than less experienced team members.
(5) Manage Your Team. The only way you will stay on top of your critical tasks is if you consistently manage to your plan. Make status reporting part of every team meeting and get your team to give you updates in real-time. You’ll be able to quickly spot where they need help and step in to get the work back on track. Link project risks to activities on your plan so you can see what needs to be done to keep everything moving forward at the right pace.
(6) Monitor the Critical Path. The critical path on a project can change, so it’s important to monitor it as the work progresses. There are many variables on projects. An activity that is not on the critical path can suddenly pop up as a critical task if it takes longer than planned. The best way to identify and monitor your critical path on an ongoing basis is to use project management software. This can automatically calculate your critical path and highlight the critical tasks. It saves hours of manual tracking and takes the guesswork out of when your project will finish.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “High Performance Coaching” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!



PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: Enhance Software Development Cycle using Lean-Kanban System!
The name “Kanban” originates from Japanese “看板”, and translates roughly as “signboard”. In the context of software development, it means a visual process-management system that shows what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce. There are a few key characteristic of a Lean-Kanban System:
(1) Visualization is an important aspect of Kanban as it allows understanding of the work and the workflow. Using the Kanban Boards, the development process, from definition of a task to its delivery to the customer, is displayed for team to see. Team members pull work from a queue.
(2) Teams first understand and map the current system, with existing roles and processes and stimulates continuous work flow.
(3) The current system’s capability is to be measured and analyzed. Lean thinking is then applied to continually improve and enhance the system to deliver values to customers in a more efficient and effective manner.
(4) There are many practices that can be used to improve the work flow, including “pull system”, “capacity allocation and WIP limits”, “coordination points”, “cadence – deployment, testing, release”, etc.
CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “High Performance Coaching™” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!


