Can someone tell PM how to do his job?

Should PM execute superiors orders even if this will conflicts with company interests?  Theory, as described in PMBoK (PMI), says a PM has moral and professional responsibility to apply always standards and best practices of management at any cost, in the interest of the company, even if it leads to a conflict of interest with direct superiors or means losing the job. Continue Reading →

EVM, KPIs for evaluation of staff, projects and company

In three of the startups I have worked, one of my responsabilities was to define performance KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for the employees. As an experiment, I tried to see in what degree the Earned Value Management (SPI and CPI) parameters can be used to evaluate the performance of the employees and the projects. I started with a pilot project where I have collected a series of informations for each team/resources/feature. Continue Reading →

Risk Management

-What is this?

-It’s a new Risk, Andrew.

-We have only one month until deadline and do you tell me there is a new Risk?

-Andrew, a risk does not mean it is already happened. In addition, I cannot foresee all the risks of a project from the beginning. Some risks appear or disappear depending on the evolution of the project. What do you want me to do? To tell you that the project has no risks?

-We need to talk. There are a lot of grumpy people complaining you don’t have the project under control. Continue Reading →

Agile Earned Value Management

Earned Value Management (EVM), described in PMBoK by PMI, is a technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. Although EVM involves three areas of knowledge in project management: scope, schedule and cost, when we talk about EVM, in general, it is about budget management. It is well known that EVM offers one of the most efficient method of control and forecasting during the project. Because of its complexity, EVM technique is usually used on large projects, managed “by the book”, in traditional way as in PMBoK. The question is: Can Agile framework offer the same methods and techniques of control and predictability as EVM from traditional project management? Continue Reading →