Stories by: Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt and Jeff Hodgkinson

One of our goals when writing articles is to create awareness about the thinking within the global project management community. One subject in particular that we have been considering for a while (since July 2010) is the case and discussion in the community for being ‘professionally licensed’ as a project manager. In this article, we present our research and perspectives on the subject.

We always appreciate a good presentation! There is a good deal of excellent material and advice on presentation skills available, and we are not trying to cover every aspect in this article.

When we began our collaboration on this article, we wanted to ensure that our readers didn’t see it as another article on how to manage and/or define the benefits of a PMO (program and/or project management office).

Much has been written about how best to establish a PMO. There are many elements to take into account, and this article seeks only to provide what we believe are a few “pointers” to consider.

Whether you are a current practitioner in program or project management or you are considering a career in this profession, you may have thought about the value of obtaining one or more project management credentials.

We have all been told that communication with all stakeholders, particularly the core project team, is one of the central responsibilities of the Project Manager.

If you spend a reasonable amount of time working on projects, you are likely to hear team members use sports metaphors. This is a positive trait. Sports metaphors can be great motivators and examples of “how to do things.” Beyond the metaphors, can methodologies in team sports suggest core practices for project management? We think the answer to this question is yes. There are many similarities between project management and team sports. For the purpose of this article, we focus on eight areas that we feel are particularly relevant.

If you are an experienced project practitioner you may be asked at some point, ”What are the key things that a project manager should do in order to be successful?” There is no one-line, simple answer to this question. Success depends on many factors, including the organisation for which you work, the power granted or bestowed on the project manager, the responsibilities they are given on their project, and other influencing criteria. Having said that, we have found over the years that there do exist certain factors which, when done well, usually influence success. Let us elaborate.

In mid-2010, we wrote an article about project communications which focused on the challenges and techniques of communicating in a virtual team. We gave some examples of when to use different communications mediums to suit the task at hand. In this follow-up communications piece, we talk about some of the nuances of working in an international project team, and in particular, some things to bear in mind when you communicate with, and present to people from cultures different from your own.

Here’s a question for you to quickly consider: Effective risk management underpins a successful project – true or false? Was "true" your first reaction? We believe that you’re right.