Skip the navigation

The Ten Commandments of Project Management

They'll lead your company to the promised land of project-based culture.

By James M. Kerr
October 2, 2006 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - In our increasingly project-centric world, the productivity to be gained by good project management is far too promising to ignore. But for most companies, shifting to a project-oriented management structure represents great change, and people resist change, regardless of the benefits that it may bring. Rules and guidelines are needed, so I’ve devised these commandments. By following them, your company can position itself to enter the promised land of project-based culture.

James M. Kerr
James M. Kerr
Credit: Peter Murphy
I Thou Shalt Narrow Project Scope

Nothing is worse than the never-ending project. It can suck up resources and exhaust even the most resilient teams. To keep projects tight and focused, carve larger efforts into smaller projects that have achievable deliverables and can meet deadlines. In the long run, a series of small wins has more impact on the organization than a big bang that never sounds.


II Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Fat Team

The best way to get off to a good start is to ensure that the project team is the right size. Larger teams are more difficult to motivate and manage, and personalities can get in the way of the work. There is no optimum team size, though a good rule of thumb is a role for every person and a person for every role. But if team members need to play more than one role, that’s OK. If you err, err on the side of a smaller team.

III Thou Shalt Require Full-Time Business Participation

To ensure that the desired results are delivered, the business perspective must be represented on a full-time basis. Moreover, if business leaders want the best and brightest from IT working on their initiatives, they need to provide the same from the business side. By committing full-time resources to every project, business leaders confirm that project work is important.

IV Thou Shalt Establish Project Review Panels

A project review panel is a project team’s governing body, addressing issues of business policy and strategic direction while assisting in the removal and avoidance of project roadblocks and pitfalls. Typically, midlevel business and IT managers from the involved areas participate in biweekly project status meetings. To ensure flow and continuity, any problems identified during these meetings are assigned to project-review panelists, who address them while the project team carries on with its work.

V Thou Shalt Not Provoke Burnout

It’s not unusual for project staff to become both mentally and physically exhausted by the stress and struggle of the work. Be sensitive to this and take precautions to avoid it. One common contributor to burnout is serial project assignments. Organizations tend to assign the “usual suspects” to every high-visibility initiative. If you find that certain people come off one project only to be assigned immediately to another, you may want to consider creating some policies that limit or monitor such staff use.


Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Management and Careers White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Smarter Commerce is redefining value chain visibility
Smarter Commerce is redefining the value chain in the age of the customer. It starts with putting the customer at the center of...
Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives
This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make...
The Executive Buyer's Guide to Project Portfolio Management
The Innotas Executive Buyer's Guide provides you with a concise overview of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and delivers important buying criteria to help...
All Management and Careers White Papers
Management and Careers Webcasts
Live Webcast
Integrated IT Operations Management in the Cloud
Join award-winning technology editor Stan Gibson and Andrew White, CMO at Numara Software, to learn how asset management and service management are converging...
Integrated IT Operations Management in the Cloud
Join award-winning technology editor Stan Gibson and Andrew White, CMO at Numara Software, to learn how asset management and service management are converging...
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
All Management and Careers Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs