We’re in the midst of talking about Lean concepts and project management. Last time out, I discussed Lean’s concepts of wasted Motion and Inventory and how they related it to the habits of running from useless meeting to useless meeting and the potential dangers of disrupting a project’s flow by finishing tasks early.In the 3rd [...]
More Lean(er) project management, part 2
March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Last time out, I discussed Lean’s concept of Waiting as one of the 8 wastes and related it to task delays in the project management world. This time, I’d like to discuss the wastes of Motion and Inventory as they pertain to projects. Motion To recap, Lean’s 8 wastes are: Waiting Motion Inventory Transportation Defects [...]
More Lean(er) project management, part 1
March 7, 2011 By 3 Comments
Analyze the Variance
February 25, 2011 By 2 Comments
I think one of the weakest areas of project management (other than planning, which is rarely ever done very well) that I’ve encountered is the Variance Analysis. When things are planned and measurements are taken to determine the status of things, there’s often very little attention paid to understanding the root cause of the issue, and even less done to write those things down very well.
I’ve seen tasks overrun, and the explanation written as, “Costs were higher than expected.”
Gee, thanks. You’re telling me, “We overran because we spent too much.” Nice job, Sherlock. Did you come up with that one all by yourself?
How done are you?
February 10, 2011 By 1 Comment
One of the most frustrating things I hear when dealing with project managers is that they are unable to tell if a project is 5%, 25% or 95% complete, due to the ambiguous, ever-changing nature of the task at hand. Apparently, since the work is always changing, it’s impossible to measure it’s status.
What nonsense.
Putting a Band Aid on a sense of purpose.
December 2, 2010 By 3 Comments
(I return from a month-long hiatus from the blogging! More on that in an upcoming post. For now, however, let’s get into the Holiday mood!) The other morning I was in the Holiday spirit and so I turned on the 24×7 all-Christmas station. I heard the drums, the bells, then the voice of Paul Young singing, [...]
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