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This week we've put together a list of tips for conducting effective project meetings. These tips will help you avoid the pitfalls of a long and unproductive meeting.
Before the Meeting Takes Place:
- Meeting Objective - All project meetings should have a clearly stated objective of what is to be achieved. This objective should be included in the agenda and re-stated at the beginning of the meeting.
- Time Considerations - The meeting should be planned for enough time to achieve the objective but not so long that participants lose interest. An hour or less is generally ideal. For anything more than an hour, the project manager should strongly consider breaking the discussion up into two or more meetings.
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In this week’s blog we have compiled a list of what we believe are the Project Management Body of Knowledge’s (PMBOK) seven most critical project management templates. Each of these templates represents an important part of an effective and integrated project plan.
- Project Charter – The project charter can be considered the foundation of a project. A completed and signed project charter establishes the authority to begin a project to address a business need that has been identified. Great care and detail should go into the creation of a charter because of its importance. If you sacrifice quality with the project charter, your project performance and deliverables will almost surely suffer. Click Here to Download Our Project Charter Template.
- Project Management Plan - If the project charter is the foundation of a project, the project management plan is its core. The project management plan is important because it is an integrated framework which includes the management plans from all of the project management knowledge areas. It ties these management plans together into a collective whole which is then used to manage the project through to completion. Click Here to Download Our Project Management Plan Template.
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The Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential is widely recognized as one of the most challenging certifications, requiring coursework and years of experience in order to sit for a challenging examination. About seventy percent of those taking the exam pass. Here, we provide tips to help assure you aren’t in the thirty percent bracket. With care and diligence, you should do well, but you can’t enter the exam blindly.
Having decades of experience is not enough to pass. You must understand the examination and certainly be able to speak the underlying language. In fact, the establishment of a common language for communication is one of the prime benefits afforded by the Project Management Body of Knowledge® as embodied in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). That is, there is a body of knowledge that is described in the associated book, a key distinction.
On with the tips!
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In the mass of trees that is your project schedule, it’s way too easy to lose sight of the forest and veer off course while staring at the schedule. What’s a project manager to do?
Do a roadmap! Your roadmap reminds you of what the forest looks like. When you tend to veer off course, your roadmap is your guidepost.
Roadmaps are increasingly used in project management and program management. They are an incredible tool for informing your management and sponsors.
Why are roadmaps so popular? As discussed in another related article, as U.S. Army general and former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “I have found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” That really means that having envisioned the future better prepares you for dealing with it even if it presents itself a bit differently when you get there. Having envisioned it, nothing shows that future more succinctly and clearly than a well-constructed roadmap.
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Project Management has come a long way in recent years turning a loosely-tied community of practitioners into a growing and thriving industry through governing and certifying organizations like Project Management Institute (PMI), and others. Today’s project manager can benefit from training and knowledge sharing through these organizations and their members across the industry. Project managers enter the field with much stronger preparation and training than in years past. However, as we all understand, formal training, while beneficial, cannot fully substitute for years of experience. This is true in most professional fields and project management is no exception. While there are no shortages of tricks of the trade from experienced practitioners, these tips provide both new and experienced project managers opportunities to look outside of their formal training toward more effective project management.
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Project Plan Template
Project Charter Template
Business Case Template
