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A project is defined in the PMBOK® Guide as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. At the core of this definition lies the fact, that there is “something” that our customers want and that it’s our job to deliver this something. We call this “something” the scope of the project. And the absolute best way to define, document and detail your scope is by using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

But now honestly, when was the last time that you used a WBS on your project? And if you have used one, did you use it correctly?

Josh Nankivel is a PMP who has about a decade of project management experience. During this time he used the WBS on initiatives that range from small projects to large scale aerospace programs. The WBS was always one of the cornerstones of his work. Sometimes it was even a contractual requirement.

A few weeks ago, Josh released The WBS Coach. This is a down-loadable training seminar that you can go through on your own time. Josh put all of his experience and practical advice into this training and you can take a closer look at it by going to www.mywbscoach.com. If you decide to buy it then The PM Podcast will receive a commission from your purchase which we can use to cover our production cost.

In our interview today, Josh and I will be looking at the basics of the WBS and how you can best use it on your projects to make them a success.

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This week’s episode is on one of my favorite topics: PMOs. In particular we are going to discuss if a PMO Assessment will lead to accelerated enterprise improvement or if it is simply a waste of time. But of course, we first answer the question what on earth is a PMO assessment, how do you do one and what type of results and follow up work can you expect if you do it right.

To help us look at this I have invited Pat Zornes as a podcast guest. Pat is an executive consultant for Robbins Gioia (www.teamrg.com)  wrote a whitepaper on exactly this topic so she has a lot to say about this. For instance, Pat says that “An effectively conducted assessment can save months or even years of effort and frustration.  But a poorly conducted assessment can waste not only the time to do the assessment, but valuable time afterward implementing the wrong “solutions”.”

Let’s see what her recommendations are.

Update: Pat's paper is no longer available for download and we do not have a copy either. So sorry.

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Communication is a critical, but often overlooked, component of successful project management. This means that we project managers must strive to becoming better communicators. But you cannot do that just by reading the PMBOK® Guide. It takes years of practice!

Enter Bill Dow and Bruce Taylor. Together they have over 60 years of project management experience and so they decided to write the “Project Management Communications Bible”. It contains many tools, techniques, and best practices in the area of project communications that you need to successfully execute projects, keep your team and customers fully apprised, and deliver crucial information in a timely manner.

Together we are going to take a look at a survey that was done in 2007 to determine the "Top 9 Reasons Why Projects Fail". Go ahead... guess... what might be #1?

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Project Portfolio Management (PPM) describes a methodical approach for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics. And yes… you’ve heard me say this exact sentence about 2 weeks ago as I introduced the interview with Rick Moreau from Compuware. The reason why I am repeating this sentence here is because you are going to hear from 8 companies who were exhibitors at the Gartner PPM & IT Summit and learn more about 7 PPM Solutions and 1 online project management community.

The original plan was that I would have a short interview with every single one of the solution providers at the exhibition for you. Unfortunately in the end only the following7 solution providers and 1 media company had a representative who found the time to talk to me:

• www.daptiv.com
• www.compuware.com
• www.portfoliodecisionware.com
• www.gantthead.com
• www.myclarity.com
• www.planview.com
• Update: Some companies are no longer in business, so we removed their links above.

The order in which they are listed and in which you will hear these interviews in this episode is completely at random. I got a business card from each of my interview guests, tossed them into a hat and drew them out one by one. And the way they came out of the hat is the order we present them to you.

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I attended the Gartner PPM & IT Governance Summit in Orlando, FL last month. During this time I got a chance to speak with Gartner's Audrey Apfel and learn more about specific findings and recommendations that Gartner has for it's clients.

Unfortunately, I was 25 minutes late to our 30 minute meeting.

However, Audrey was kind enough to get with me over the phone, so that we could still discuss the summit, what she sees as surprising research findings that were presented, her personal thoughts on important Project Management Office (PMO) strategies that organizations should keep in mind and lastly we also look at her recommendations in regards to Project Portfolio Management and Governance that companies with an existing structure and those who are just starting out must know about.

She has some excellent advice for all of us.

If you are interested in learning more about Gartner's services please visit www.gartner.com. Also, the tentative dates for the 2010 PPM & IT Governance Summits are May 2010 in London and June 2010 in Orlando, FL.

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In our first interview with Rick Moreau from Compuware (www.compuware.com) we looked at how to blend Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and agile software development methods for your organization.

One facet of the equation is a solid PPM tool – but as I always like to say “A fool with a tool is still a fool”. So how exactly can we ensure that our PPM tool helps us increase project success? What are the features to look for and use in these applications? And how do we implement it to ensure that our project managers are more than just "fools with tools"?

Well… who better to ask than someone who is at the forefront of PPM tool development? Say someone like Rick Moreau, who is the Field Enablement Director for Compuware's Changepoint PPM solution? In this premium episode rick and I explore this topic in more depth.

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In this episode you will hear a roundtable discussion with Ron Holohan and Shawn Futterer on The Virtual Project Management Office (PMO).

Ron works for a large consumer electronics company and a number of project managers directly report to him. He also created the company’s internal PMO portal. Shawn works for a telecommunications provider and is in charge of one of several large projects and also has other project managers who are reporting to him.

We talk about what we think a virtual PMO is and then I go and I kind of ambush the guys to determine if they have all the necessary components it takes to build a virtual PMO. Oh… and we are also joined by Mark Perry – but only virtually.

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Last week you heard part 1 of Margaret Meloni’s excellent discussion titled “Congratulations, you’re out of work” and part 2 will be coming your way next week.

For this premiium episode, I decided to give Margaret a call and dig a little bit deeper into the subject, with an emphasis on what we project managers can / should do when we get laid off.

You may now be thinking “Hey… I still have a job and I don’t need this” and I would beg to differ. Listen in to what Margaret has to say. She is so incredibly positive about this and even if you have a very secure position, I bet that you know a project manager whose project was recently finished and he/she is out of work. I certainly do and I promise you that I will paraphrase what Margaret says and help my friends deal with their situation.

If you want to hear part 2. visit Episode 114: Congratulations You're Out of Work (Part 2)

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About two weeks ago, Margaret Meloni, PMP sent out an email that was titled “Congratulations You’re Out of Work”. Of course I immediately opened and read it because it was such an odd subject.

This email led to a discussion between us and I quickly realized that what she has to say can be of enormous help to the project management community. After all, not a day goes by on which we don't hear about yet another company that is reducing their staff by several thousand. Some of you may be affected. I decided to bring Margaret back. So here is part one of Margaret Meloni’s discussion on how you can turn being laid off into a positive experience.

Part two will be published in about 2 weeks.

If you want to hear part 2. visit Episode 114: Congratulations You're Out of Work (Part 2)

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This is Part 2 of a presentation by Margaret Meloni.

About a month ago, Margaret Meloni, PMP sent out an email that was titled “Congratulations You’re Out of Work”. Of course I immediately opened and read it because it was such an odd subject.

This email led to a discussion between us and I quickly realized that what she has to say can be of enormous help to the project management community. After all, not a day goes by on which we don't hear about yet another company that is reducing their staff by several thousand. Some of you may be affected. I decided to bring Margaret back. So here is part two of Margaret Meloni’s discussion on how you can turn being laid off into a positive experience.

I encourage you to visit Margaret's website at https://pmstudent.com/ to check out her blog and her take away programs.

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This is the third of four special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

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This is the fourth and final special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

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This episode is sponsored by:

In today’s episode I am talking with Kristine Hayes Munson, PMP.

Kristine was my first ever interview guest and she has been on the program several times since then. She has come back because of some recent developments on her team: They have had some layoffs and her team lost a number of people. “How do you deal with that?” is the question of the day and many of you may have to go through a similar situation.

You might be leading a project team that loses some of its members or, like Kristine, you might be the manager of a team of project managers and the economy is forcing you to shrink. Kristine and I talk about the approach that she has found effective in helping your team cope with this situation.

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This episode is sponsored by:

In this week we revisit Episode 34 of the PM Podcast.

That particular episode was released on May 27, 2006 and it was an interview with Kristine Hayes Munson on her methodology of managing projects in an organizational environment where the project team has no formal authority. It was called "Getting It Done". Until today, the episode has been listened to just about 31,000 times and Kristine’s presentation on the topic is nearing 50,000 downloads.

So we thought that it might be a good idea to revisit the process of Getting It Done and see what she has learned. After all, almost 2 years (and not 1 year as I claim during the interview) have passed, Kristine has presented her process to a number of professional organizations in the USA and she has tweaked and perfected it. So here are the Lessons Learned from Getting It Done.

Play Now:

This is the first of four special episode of The PM Podcast where we introduce you to the Manager Tools approach to Project Management. Here is what Mark and Mike have to say about this episode:

In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.