Method123 Blog

Many businesses struggle with demonstrating that they are getting their money’s worth in sending employees to training classes. This question can be applied to project management training as well as any other type of business training. You know the cost side of training too well. But how do you tell what the business value is? "All organizations train their people, and most spend significant sums doing so. Yet they generally don’t have any idea whether they’re getting any business value from training. Beyond teaching new employees the specifics of their jobs, most companies train staff in areas such as leadership, communications,...

Method123 has just released a Portfolio Management Module for MPMM  for $195. Order Now! What is Project Portfolio Management? The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project portfolio management -- or simply portfolio management -- as the “centralized management of one or more portfolios that enable executive management to meet organizational goals and objectives through efficient decision making on portfolios, projects, programs and operations.” Note that this is an interrelated organizational processes by which an organization evaluates, selects, prioritizes, and allocates its limited internal resources to best accomplish organizational strategies consistent with its vision, mission, and values. This ideally means that PPM should drive...

Kanban is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. Kanban visualizes both the process (the workflow) and the actual work passing through that process. The goal of Kanban is to identify potential bottlenecks in your process and fix them so work can flow through it cost-effectively at optimal speed or throughput.   The 3 core practices of the Kanban method are: Visualize your Workflow Limit Work in Progress (WIP) Manage Flow & Eliminate Wasted Resources The Kanban Method is a process to gradually improve whatever you do – whether it is software development, IT/ Ops,...

For several years now the phrase 'Zombie PMO' has been used to describe a PMO organization that is barely alive -- more focused on mundane self-serving practices than delivering business value.  Be sure that well before the 'Zombie' reference was born, this has been a crisis in the PM community.  For years we've seen PMOs come and go in and out of fashion, not because the concept of a PMO lacked business value, but because those executing the PMO have failed to focus on the business value they should be delivering. We staunchly support the idea of embracing best-practices, standards,...

Project Management Life Cycle Change Management In this latest article, we're discussed the topic of Change Management. A project management lifecycle is typically undertaken within changing business environments, so it's inevitable that during the life of your project, there will be some element of change required. Whether a customer requests a change to their requirements, management request a change in priority or team members request a change in roles, you will need an effective Change Management Process to minimize the resulting impact on your project. So here, we have described: How to implement a “Change Management Process” Change Management is the process...