The
Federal
Project Manager
Quote of the Week
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good
when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. But of a
good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim
fulfilled, they will say, "We did this ourselves.
- Lao-Tse
Taoist Philospher
For if the trumpet shall give an uncertain sound,
who will prepare himself for battle?
Measure twice, cut once
(This Old House)
Decisiveness, that ability to make quick and unambiguous decisions, is a trait often associated with great leaders, especially great military leaders. But how does that kind of decision making fit into the demands of modern program management and when is a more deliberate, data-driven approach called for? What is your decision making style and how do you adjust it to situational demands?
Here are some points to consider about your decisiveness and a self-interview to help you gain some insight into your decision making style.
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WELCOME
Welcome to the Federal Project Manager site! The aim of this site is to aid the professional development of project managers who work for the federal government or for a company that supports a government agency. To do this, the site includes articles, individual exercises, links to other web resources, reviews of techniques and tools related to the practice of project management in the public sector.
In the near future, the site will launch a project management
schoolhouse that will provide no-cost and low-cost training in a
variety of project management topics. The schoolhouse's initial
offering will be an e-learning course and associated study aids to
assist PMs intheir preparation for the Project Management
Institute's Project Management Professional (PMP) exam. The importance
of this certification has never been higher and we look forward to
helping the federal project management community reach the level of
knowledge and proficiency needed to achieve this qualification.
A technical note: The site's operation makes use of both Flash and javascript so your full use of its features requires that Flash is loaded on your system and JavaScript is not blocked.
Drop by often to stay up-to-date on the site's new features!
Information and Opinion About Federal Project Management:
GAO Report Details the Challenges of DoD Weapon System Programs
The Government Accounting Offices (GAO) recently released the results of its sixth annual review of Defense weapons system programs. The results showed significant, widespread, and growing problems in these programs. More . . .
Ways to Improve Collaboration in Cross-Government Projects
An interesting article by Brian Robinson appeared in Federal Computer Week recently about how to foster collaboration in projects involving federal, state, and local government agencies. We only have to think about the successes and failures in disaster responses over the last few years to appreciate just how critical such collaboration can be to meeting the publics needs. More . . .
DoD Changes Earned Value Management Requirements
The Department of Defense has issued changed clauses to the Defense Acquisition Regulations System (DFARS) concerning the requirement for contractor use of Earned Value Management (EVM) on federal projects. More . . .
Scope Management & Risk Management From the Get-Go:
Most PMs are familiar with the rush of enthusiasm that often comes with the start of a new project. Like any new beginningfrom the the Cubs' first preseason game to the start of a new school semestera new project is a clean slate, full of potential and the promise of significant achievement.
With the projects full budget still available, with its entire duration stretching out into the future, and with the immediate distractions of getting the project underway, it can sometimes be easy to sail blissfully through the projects early honeymoon period. But if that happens without a sharp focus on critical issues like scope verification and risk management, those issues are likely to develop later into major project management problems -- the honeymoons hangover.
This series of articles talks about some of the issues a
project manager needs to formally address and resolve during the
kickoff meeting and the first couple of weeks of a project in order to
bulid a firm foundation for the
project's management. Key among these issues are
those concerning the project's scope and risk.
Improve Your Project Management Learning Methods:
When did you learn how to learn? If youre like most folks, the way you study and learn today is based pretty much on what worked for you during your school years. Yet, what worked then was shaped as much by the topics you were studying and how your teacher taught as it was by your own learning abilities and style. For this and other reasons, how you learned way back in school may not be the best approach for your adult learning.
As a project manager, you are
a lifelong learner. Whether youre learning your initial task management
skills, preparing for your CAPM or PMP certification test, or staying
up-to-date in your technical field, improving your learning skills can
only help your development as a project manager.
This just might be a good time then for you to
assess your present learning strategies and adjust them to your adult
learning skills and style. Adding a few new techniques to your
well-worn learning approaches will not only freshen up your training
and study sessions but could also help you match what you have to learn
with how you can best learn it. In that way, you can make the most of
often-limited development opportunities.
Check out our series on learning styles and strategies for ideas and tools that might help you in your project management development.
Project Management Learning Strategies Article
Federal Project Management-Focused Search
Looking for search results that are keyed to the issues and interests of Federal Project Managers?
Enter your search terms in the space below for a Web-wide search that produces results that are focused on Federal project management.
Our Project Manager Competency Model
The competencies that successful project managers need certainly go beyond just a knowledge of the PMI PMBOK contents. But where do they end? Effective negotiation is no doubt one; effective stapling, maybe not so much.
Click the link below for a description of the project management competency model that guides our selection of this site's content. And feel free--no, encouraged--to give us the benefit of your input and feedback.
Sometimes the hardest thing to know is to know what you know and know what you don't know.
To help out, we have a series of 10-question quizes on different areas of project management that you can take to get a feel for what areas in project management are your strengths and what areas you may want to brush up on.
This month's quiz with question-level feedback is on Earned Value Management.