Here’s a collection of case studies, first person accounts and experiences from senior project managers to inspire you.
How do you keep the production of a film on time, on budget and on scope? In this video I discuss these issues with short film producer, Michael Savva. Elizabeth Harrin: Well, hello! I’m Elizabeth Harrin from A Girl’s Guide to Project Management and I’m here today with short film festival finalist, Michael Savva. And…
“I left school with minimal qualifications,” said Roger Clutton, Programme Director at Lloyd’s Register Group Services Ltd. “I was probably programmed to feel not good at things.” Clutton is the self-confessed project manager for “horrible projects” at the risk management organisation which provides risk assessment and risk mitigation solutions across the UK. Lloyd’s started out…
I speak at events every so often, mainly to project management audiences, but occasionally to techies. For example, I spoke at a BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, event earlier this year on conflict management in teams, to their Young Professionals Group. They were all much more technical than me – web developers, infrastructure people,…
The last time I met Melanie Franklin I don’t think I made a particularly good impression – I told her I mainly wrote about handbags* and I expect I came off as rather flippant. So it was with slight trepidation that I sat in the offices of Maven Training after work waiting to interview her…
Today I want to look at the Pareto principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. As an Office Goddess, you make everything you do look effortless, although afterwards you can explain just how complex it was. No whinging while doing the task, mind. There’s no real secret to getting everything done – it’s just a…
This is part two of my interview with Sophie Kain, director of Prior Kain Ltd, in honour of Ada Lovelace Day. Missed the first bit? Find it here. One of the biggest issues for programme managers (well, for me) is the transient nature of a team over the lifecycle of work, especially when a programme…
It’s Ada Lovelace Day, and in honour of the great woman here is an interview with a modern great woman in technology, Dr Sophie Kain. My conversation with Sophie went on a bit, so I’ve split it into two pieces: one for you to read with morning coffee and one for afternoon tea. Sophie is…
Laura Magahy is Managing Director of MCO Projects Ltd, which she established in 2000 together with a colleague. MCO is a project management, architecture and environmental engineering company, specialising in 4D planning, healthcare and sustainable development in the public and private sectors. She’s also the first woman in Ireland to hold the IPMA Level A…
Set your out of office email response if you’re out for a day or longer. Change your voicemail as well, especially if you’re at a crisis point in the project and you know people will be wanting to get hold of you. Know where your project team are, so that when people ask you have…
The construction of the new Scottish Parliament building is a good example of how things can go so wrong on a project. The innovative design was in its early stages when the procurement process started. Architects were bidding to deliver something within a specification of 20,740 m² and £50m. At this point, there were no…
Sometimes it is not the work that makes work difficult, nor the people. Today the challenge that made my day more difficult than usual was something much more mundane: the arrival of a new telephone. It came with a three-fold leaflet explaining how to do a multitude of things, except set up my voicemail. A…
Last week was all go, so I was glad to have last weekend in Villefranche-sur-Mer, looking at the houses set into the cliffs, making the most of a little bit of free time before the project kicked off. Launch week for any project is always busy, but it’s my favourite time. It’s the moment when…