Category Archives: Project Management

Self-Inflicted Project Management Wounds

Posted on March 8, 2016 by donmcalister

  Forensic assessments of failed and troubled projects often reveal that the direct causes of the problems, and/or the contributing factors, are self-inflicted. The damage caused by these project management “friendly-fire” incidents can be significant and long lasting. Consider these … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, coaching, Knowledge Sharing, Leadership, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Baseline Management, Project Management, Risk Management | 2 Comments

A Simple Approach to Building Better Project Plans

Posted on January 22, 2015 by donmcalister

  Often, new Project Managers, and even some experienced Project Managers, facing the challenge of planning a large, complex project, are overwhelmed by how to get started. I’d like to offer a simplified approach to this daunting task. There is … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Project Planning | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Profound Knowledge & the Art of Project Management

Posted on November 16, 2014 by donmcalister

  Successful Project Management is accomplished through the thoughtfully balanced application of leadership art and science. There are many excellent resources available for those seeking to improve their leadership science competencies. However, few experienced-based resources are available for those seeking … Continue reading →

Posted in Better Thinking, Deming's System of Profound knowledge, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Building a More Robust Team Working Environment

Posted on September 10, 2014 by donmcalister

    Successful execution requires effective and efficient interactions between the people that make up complex organizational systems such as Project Teams. Project Teams perform work that is difficult, complex, often without precedent or examples to follow. They do it … Continue reading →

Posted in Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Risk Management | 1 Comment

Exploring Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge – Appreciation of a System

Posted on February 21, 2014 by donmcalister

For many years I’ve been interested in the work of W. Edwards Deming. In particular, I’ve been interested in Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. For convenience, in the remainder of this post, I’ll refer to it as SoPK. While … Continue reading →

Posted in Better Thinking, Deming's System of Profound knowledge, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Better Project Initiation with Mutual Learning

Posted on July 29, 2013 by donmcalister

Project Initiation (PI) is a critical step in the project management process. An inadequate PI effort can put the project in a hole from which it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to escape. Poor PI leads to poor … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Risk Management | Tagged | Leave a comment

When Risks Must Be Treated As Issues

Posted on July 12, 2013 by donmcalister

Conventional Project Management wisdom is that risks are unfavorable things that could happen, but have not yet happened, whereas issues are unfavorable things that have occurred. Yet, in the real world of managing complex projects, thinking that there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Risk Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment