Chapter 10: Project Wizardry 101

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What follows are some considerations that project leaders should be aware of when managing any effort. There are some painful lessons learned along the way during the career of Project Managers, and there is little need to repeat those painful experiences. Lessons and techniques presented in this chapter are based on many years of project management experience. This information should be taken as a subjective point of view from someone who has been there and done that.

10.1 External Factors That Dictate Success

There are many reasons for a project to fail. At every turn, throughout the project’s life cycle, issues crop up that can stop the show. Good project management skills are fundamental when working in today’s harried business environment. Pressures from many points in the organization—such as sales staff complaining about contact management software, revenue booking procedures, customer support procedures, and so on—all provide pressures on an in-progress project. There are expectations from each of these organizations as to how this project will solve their problems and make life better. Underlying these expectations is the assumption that you, as manager of the project, will fix everything that impedes complete success, right? The next few sections, will present some techniques to help you achieve the level of success that the business needs to obtain from your project implementations.

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