Knowing What DONE Looks Like

Program success means…

Knowing what DONE looks like begins with the Integrated Master Plan.
Recognizing what DONE looks like when it arrives means measuring the planned Technical Performance.
Measuring Physical Percent Complete tells us how far we have moved toward DONE by calculating the “Earned Value” we’ve achieved.

Connecting Earned Value, Technical Performance, and Physical Percent Complete establishes a credible [...]

Critical Concepts Applicable to All Project Success

Where are we going?
How are we going to get there?
Do we have enough time and money to make it?
What’s going to prevent us from showing up on time, on budget, and on specification?
How are we going to measure physical progress to plan?

From: [...]

The Rat Experiment

A great example of the importance of perception:

There was an experiment where researchers were given a set of rats and told to rate their ability to learn mazes.  They were told that certain rats were “smart rats” and had an abnormally high IQ.  When the researchers tested the rats, their studies showed that the “smart rats” [...]

A Process Framework for Increasing the Probability of Project Success

A Process Framework for Increasing the Probability of Project Success

The processes needed to increase the probability of a project’s success include:

The cost estimates for the project and the basis of estimate for those costs. The customer wants to know how much the product or service will cost
A Work Breakdown Structure describing the products and their components [...]

Quote – Glen Alleman

People, Processes, and Technology

Want to find the way to increase the probability of a project’s success? It’s not the tools – it’s the people.

I am currently working on a proposal response for a DoD agency RFP. I have been staring at this quote written on my whiteboard for almost two months. I believe it zeros right [...]

Tools for Project Success

Let’s Have an Honest Conversation About PM 2.0

From a April 2009, Defense Acquisition University (people who know some things about project management) “Insight Days” conference, there are 5 core “tools” needed for program success:

Earned Value performance measurement used to measure physical percent complete
Risk Management and the Risk Matrices for each deliverables
A Work Breakdown Structure to describe [...]

Quote – Terry Larimore

If you don’t know what success looks like for a particular project, you are too unclear to [...]