PMThink Contest: Help Other PMs and Win a Prize!

Here's an opportunity for PMThink readers to help the project management profession and win something in the process.

Here's what we invite you to do. It's simple:

Post a comment to this message stating, in a single sentence, what the best project management advice you've ever received was.

That's it.

PS: I admit, I came up with this question after posting a link to a YouTube video that showed other people's answers to this question. I thought it would be nice to also leverage the collective intelligence of PMThink readers.

In a week or two, we'll pick one of the comments at random (we'll number the comments and drop the numbers into a hat). The winner will receive a free subscription ($39.99 value) to The Project Management PrepCast™, courtesy of Cornelius Fichtner, who was kind enough to donate the subscription to the cause.

Here's information about the PrepCast™ from PMPrepcast.com:

The Project Management PrepCast™ is the first true and "pod-ready" PMP® podcast. Students are able to instantly download all 77 episodes and intensify their studies. The average episode lasts 22 minutes giving the students a total of 30 hours of quality PMP audio material. The podcast covers concepts, tools and techniques in preparation for the PMP® or CAPM® certification exam. We cover material in the PMBOK® Guide, and we include the necessary models, theories and formulas not covered in the Guide.

Of course, if you're already PMP-Certified, you can donate the subscription to a friend, or to the PMI chapter or SIG of your choice. They'll love you for it. Either way, we hope to collect a nice list of PM "best practice" tips for our readers.

PS: When we announce the winner, we'll give you instructions for how to claim your prize.

Benchmark Project Best Practices

Opportunity to do some benchmarking and gain insights on best practices. Never mind that it's in Vegas. ...

... "Fall 2007 Benchmarking Forum, IT Project Management Best Practices: The two-day knowledge-sharing event, which will be held at the Bellagio Las Vegas, September 18-19, is designed to provide IT project practitioners with new insights about what's working in IT project management, what's not, and how to move forward. " ...

Center for Business Practices to Host IT Project Management Best Practices Forum

Project Management Delays Are Sometimes Good

There's an interesting article on Computerworld about the need to procrastinate more in project management.

Huh? No, really. In reality, it's about slowing down the early stages of a project in order to get the true client needs and requirements understood and prioritized. It also suggests procrastinating by moving some complex items later in the plan to accomplish some quick wins early.

Maybe good things really do come to those who wait.

How to Manage by Procrastination

Getting Projects Off On the Right Foot: The Pre-Flight Checklist

Something you don't hear much about, but is a critical success factor for projects, is what I call the "pre-flight checklist." As projects are completed, not only is it important to review lessons learned, but it's vital to have a checklist that can be updated as a result. This checklist would be the first thing a project manager would look at upon undertaking a new project.

This is especially true for agile projects, where adjustments are constantly made based on user feedback. Of course, not everything would go on the checklist, but any item that could save time later on a future project is well worth adding. Why reinvent the wheel?

If warranted, there could even be a checklist for various types or categories of projects.

This checklist is different from a pre-project assessment (another underrated tool), where preset questions pertaining to objectives, risk, value, organizational alignment, and more, can be asked.

As the adage goes, projects fail at the beginning, not the end.

ITIL Accelerator Tool

Tool accelerates ITIL implementation through reusable business process models. ...

... "ITIL, published by the British Office of Government Commerce, is grounded on fundamental principles such as client orientation, service level agreement, and quality management. The MEGA ITSM Accelerator is a graphical, ready-to-use repository of ITIL best practices. It enables IT managers to deploy these best practices in a consistent framework, thus reducing project risks and implementation costs. " ...

Via MEGA International: MEGA International Releases Advanced MEGA ITSM Accelerator

IT Governance: Board of Director Involvement

Corning demonstrates leading practices in board-level governance of IT - setting strategy, shaping the portfolio, understanding business impact, and sustaining benefit realization. The company expects growth through innovation in display technologies, diesel products, and telecommunications. Corning has a history of innovation and continues to invest in longer-term emerging technologies. ...

... "They play an active, creative role in helping to set IT strategy, make sure they know what's in the technology pipeline and what it will mean to the bottom line, and ride the results hard. " ...

Via Corporate Board Member Magazine: Board Level Governance of IT