3rd Sector Skills

Why projects fail

blog — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:15:43 +0000

Why do projects fail? And how on earth can you make sure that your project don’t fail? Simple answer – you can’t. But you can improve your chances of success dramatically, by considering some of the reasons that projects go wrong, and avoiding them – easy! I know this sounds like a bit of back-to-front thinking, but trust me, it does make sense.

Projects fail for many reasons, and the weird thing is that no matter how big or complex they are, the most ‘popular’ reasons tend to be the same; and the top five are…..

• Project team unsure of project objectives;
• Project team unsure of project deliverables;
• At the end of the project, the objectives were only partially met;
• The planned schedule tended to run late;
• The budget was exceeded.

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Stuart’s mean beef stew (or effort vs duration)

blog — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 16:02:58 +0000

One of the little wrinkles in project planning is the difference between the duration of a task, and the effort required.Stuart’s mean beef stew is a great illustration.To make it you take a small pile of stewing steak, chop it up and shove it in a casserole with some beer. Leave it to cook for a few hours, then chop some onions, add tomato puree and bits and bobs, stir it into the mixture, and Bob’s your auntie. It’s stunningly tasty, and dead easy to make, and it doesn’t matter much if you vary the ingredients a bit.The duration of the task is about 4 hours, because you can use cheap cuts of beef which take ages to cook. The effort is about 30 minutes, because for most of the time you are in the garden with a beer waiting for the beef to cook.When you’re thinking about your project and worrying about effort & duration, just remember the beef stew, and all will be well.If you want to try the recipe, there’s a link in the box on the right hand side of the home page, under the title “Project Management”. Enjoy!

I’ve updated the main web site

blog — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:15:18 +0000

It’s been a while coming, but I’ve now added a proper resources page to the main website. You can go there and see where to get cheap (legal) software and links to buy some of the books I talk about on the course. It was entertaining fighting with the web design software to get the links embedded. It just shows that if you use software you really really need to know what you’re doing - this applies to any software, not just project management stuff.

Format of this blog

blog — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:51:12 +0000

When I started this blog, I thought “Keep It Simple, Stupid” and I stuck with WordPress’ default template. I’ve looked at others to make it look a bit flashier, but some of them are really hard to read. So with you, dear reader, in mind I have decided to keep it clean and simple at the risk of looking boring. (The marketing lot are going to be mad, but never mind)

A new venture for 3rd Sector Skills

blog — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:20:50 +0000

Greetings.

One of the more successful courses offered by 3rd Sector Skills is about project management, geared towards the charitable and voluntary sectors.

It occurred to me that folk who practice the black art of project management might get value from a blog dedicated to the subject.

I plan to start with a series of bits and pieces, and hope that our previous students might chip in and add their experiences. Perhaps a question might get asked and answered - who knows?

It’s a ‘try it out and see what happens’ type of project

So, my first question to anyone who might look in is “what do you reckon my objectives for the blog project are?”

Answers on a post please…. (Sorry, dreadful puns WILL be a feature of this blog)