Project Management in Practice

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Project Management in Practice is for those of you who manage projects inside of organizations. In it, author Mark Mullaly explores the politics, issues, challenges and solutions that you can apply in making your projects, your life and your staff just a little easier to deal with.

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Certification: Commodity or Differentiator?
- by Mark Mullaly, PMP (July 21, 2008)
The PMP is no longer the only certification available from PMI. What does this mean for the project manager, and what does this mean for the organizations that are looking to hire project managers? Are certifications of value as a differentiator, or have they become a commodity?
Do We Need Another Certification?
- by Mark Mullaly, PMP (July 23, 2007)
There's a new certification by PMI--the Program Management Professional (PgMP). What is this certification, and where does it fit? And is it something that we need to be thinking about including in our development plans?
Where Are We Going? The Outlook For PMs
- by Mark Mullaly, PMP (February 12, 2007)
What’s next for the industry of project management and the role of project manager? While the future is difficult to predict, if project management is going to be successful, some ideas need to find traction
Repeat After Me: I Am Not A Paper Pusher
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (November 20, 2006)
What is the common perception of project managers and their role? You probably won't like the answer. It’s helpful to step back and take a quick survey of the organizational project landscape to find out why.
Where Do All The PMs Go?
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (August 2, 2006)
Statistics show a dwindling number of project managers in professional associations. What does this mean, and should we be concerned?
Do We Need Another Certification?
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (June 21, 2006)
PMI has announced the impending launch of a new certification--a program management credential. The question needs to be asked…do we need another certification? And is this the one we need?
Finding Value in Project Compliance
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (May 3, 2006)
Acts such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) have subjected every publicly-traded company, and increasingly many private ones, to similar levels of control and oversight. As such, compliance is becoming a widespread issue for most organizations.
Nice Ideas…Shame About the Implementation
- by Mark Mullaly, PMP (March 22, 2006)
Organizational culture is a complex thing. If our culture is what gets in the way of ideal project management, what can we do to help shape it to allow project management to work better?
Out on the Carpet: Confronting Our Organizational Challenges
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (February 15, 2006)
What is getting in the way of projects actually getting better? There is something missing from our organizational approach to managing projects, an essential glue between the organization and the projects they manage.
Out of the Closet
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (January 11, 2006)
Are you doing enough internally to position your organization for project success? It's time to step out and confront our organizational challenges.
Opening the Closet: Learning from Project Failures
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (December 14, 2005)
Theoretically, all projects are learning opportunities. The value of a post-implementation review is that it offers us opportunities to identify how to improve future project delivery. But many times, they are not conducted, or when they are the subsequent reflection required to identify and implement changes to future projects doesn't occur. Here are some thoughts on taking a step in the right direction.
Deadly Questions Redux: Resurrecting the Interview
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (October 31, 2005)
Face it: A traditional interview is simply inadequate in helping to understand how someone communicates except in a formal interview situation. If you want to know how they perform in different environments, you're going to have to explore those environments.
Deadly Questions for The Killer Candidate
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (August 11, 2005)
Job candidates know what you're going to ask them, so it's time to throw them a curveball and get some genuine insight into their strengths and weaknesses--and how well they will fit into your organization. (Job hunters, you better read this, too...)
Resume Reading
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (July 13, 2005)
There's no way around it. If you're looking to hire, you have to wade through countless resumes to get to that next step. Here's some advice on how to approach this time-consuming task with the right attitude and outlook.
Hiring Project Managers: Should PMPs Apply?
- by Mark E. Mullaly, PMP (June 8, 2005)
So you're looking to hire someone. How valid is the PMP designation? Not as valid as you may think, which highlights a very real problem--if the PMP designation is being used by organizations to screen for project managers, are their hiring practices producing random results?
Project Management in Process - Opinions & Observations
Project management is hard enough, but throw in the tensions created by organizational politics, conflicting priorities and competition for resources, and the challenge grows exponentially. Managing projects inside of organizations presents unique challenges. Our projects do not stand alone, nor can we insulate the team from the rest of the organization. As the need and awareness of project management grows more intense, these challenges continue to grow. Here we'll explore the issues associated with managing projects inside of organizations, and help to identify the solutions that are working today and being implemented tomorrow. This is your opportunity to comment, criticize, complain and contribute -- join Mark Mullaly to discuss, explore, challenge and expand on the ideas that he develops in PMP each month.



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