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Many project managers are expanding the scope of their skills into program management, which offers career advancement and new opportunities in a competitive job market. Here, a certified PMP explains how he has benefited from a U.K.-based program management credential, and why he chose it instead of the PgMP certification offered by PMI.

In a world constrained by reality, identifying the right features needed at the right time for the right cost is somewhat of an art. Finding the balance of schedule, scope and costs--and getting buy-in from the key stakeholders to support the release plan--is hard. Here we look at best practices of effective release planning.

Much of the unwanted drama we face as project managers comes from people not understanding their roles and responsibilities. When people don’t know what is expected of them, they rarely perform well. It’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen. But first, we must understand our role — and why we really want it.

Many large work initiatives run as projects would be more successful managed as programs. Such misdiagnosed projects include dimensions of size, complexity and duration that challenge the project perspective and lead to a higher likelihood of failure. A different methodology is called for, one that recognizes the difference between a program and a project and adopts the right set of skills to the task.

Best practices help businesses become more efficient, effective and competitive. They provide you with insights on how leading organizations perform. Then, you can identify the performance gaps and learn ways to improve your business. This is true whether you are executing an e-commerce project or implementing minor adjustments or major reengineering in your processes.

The more you specify exactly what your team must do and how it must do it, the less team members will seek to understand the thinking behind what they’re doing. High-performing teams start with a firm grasp of the goals of the project — the "why" — and then actively participate in achieving its success.

A new guide addresses unique aspects of project management within the pharmaceutical industry, including regulatory context, integrated validation and risk management.

It's easy to get lost in the Cloud if you are unsure who the major players are out there. This overview will examine several Cloud frameworks and identify the who's who of the big-league Cloud riders.

How mature is your organization, and how mature does it need to be? There are many ways to define maturity. Here is an overview of the major maturity models and how they might relate to the projects, programs and portfolios that you're working with.

Project managers avoid drama and unnecessary stress by understanding the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved, starting with their own. In Part 1 of this series, we outlined the reasons why we run projects and why defined roles are so important. Now let’s dive deeper into the “what and how” of the project manager role.

Despite this global recession, the competitive landscape keeps becoming more urgent and faster paced. You will be expected to keep managing new projects to keep your organization competitive--but will do so with less (and exhausted) resources, tight budgets and more scrutiny for success. How does one meet such challenges and succeed? One of the agile practices tailor made for such an environment is the Lean method.

RFPs are a double-edged sword for many vendors. In the first article, we looked at the challenges with layout and content. In this second installment, we look at the challenges vendors experience in the process from the point they are made aware of the RFP to the submission of the bid.

Do you manage your projects with ITIL? Here’s some insight on how PM and ITIL can best work together in an IT organization--and what that means for PMs. (Hint: It may not be what you think!)

There’s no patented formula for creating the right PM practice. But here are five steps that your organization can take to improve on what it has (or had) and hopefully rise from the ashes with something that will work better than the last iteration.

What does the future hold for project management? What trends and concepts will shape project management tools, methods and practices in 2012 and beyond? For one writer, the answer seems clear. Here, we look at the environment that will influence projects, and the three takeaways we should be aware of heading into the new year.

When it comes down to it, does the “rock” of domain experience really beat the “paper” of project management skills?

Adult children. Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. I’m sure you recognize these expressions as oxymorons — self-contradictory phrases, often with an ironic meaning. Should we add “agile requirements” to the list? Does agile development fit in with traditional requirements practices? And if so, how?

Agile team dynamics are crucial, but most people don't have the time they want or need to read about and practice these topics. Luckily, this list of the Top 10 Team Practices will remind you of some of the basic points.

Recent appointments, promotions, openings and awards in the world of project management.

In his latest course, an experienced project management trainer makes the case for a durable but resilient schedule model that accounts for requirements, dependencies and uncertainties as fully as possible.

Let’s assume that we’re all new PMs or new to project management. What do we do with this thing that has been dropped in our lap? It’s all about exuding confidence and following best practices.

Why do PMOs have such a high failure rate? It's time to take a look at the top 10 PMO worst practices--and advice on how to avoid them.

Part 1 of this two-part series introduces the agile engineering principles and practices that, when implemented, enable some teams and their respective organizations to build high-quality software very quickly that will please customers. Organizations embracing these practices--when used in conjunction with agile and lean management practices--can gain delivery advantages on their competitors while managing lower maintenance and support costs in the long term.

Organizations and teams must come to understand why they need agile before choosing a methodology or tool to implement it. A mandate alone will not work. It is the overarching goals, values and principles of Agile that must ultimately guide teams in the adoption and adaptation of its practices.

On a project to create a multi-site commerce platform, collaboration is crucial because so many different stakeholders representing various areas of the company are involved. A communications map prepared in conjunction with the project plan can help ensure that the necessary interactions take place.

It’s time that we face up to a fundamental reality: organizations grapple with making project management work successfully on a consistent basis. Yes, there are exceptions--and some notable ones--but on the whole they simply prove the rule. It's time for a different approach.

What is workforce management? How is it better than just keeping tabs on all your employees? Part two of this two-part article will explain the advantages and benefits of workforce management. Also included are ways to maximize the workforce management and technical suggestions.

Presented as an Information Systems Track at PMI«2000 in Houston in September.

Project management is becoming recognized on an international scale. In support of this, there are a number of efforts underway to promote a global view of how we think about, discuss and practice project management. But to what extent is project management a universal language? To what extent can it be? Or are we all simply sowing confusion as we use the same words to mean very different things?

With an unprecedented 96 percent project success rate, Dell Services’ Healthcare and Life Sciences team wins the 2011 Project Management Office of the Year award.

Agile methods are powerful approaches that bring many benefits to how we undertake project work. However, they are not immune to misuse or failure. The following list of five common pitfalls is often seen in organizations switching to agile.

The e-business revolution has changed the face of working and management. Are you getting the level of productivity from your employees that e-business and Internet speed requires? This two-part article can give you the details on the revolution and the changes in workforce, as well as suggests ways to tackle the challenges of e-business.

Presented as an Information Systems Track at PMI«2000 in Houston in September.

As we enter 2011, it's time for a refresher--it's the perfect time to explore the cross section of views and perspectives about PMOs. It's the perfect time to see what others are thinking regarding the state of PMOs, and this article will focus on starting a PMO, avoiding PMO failure, trends and the future of the PMO.

What can the IT Infrastructure Library--and certification--do for you? Read on to find out.

While Web and e-commerce methodologies have supported tremendous changes to business, they have also strengthened branding for companies. More than just smiling faces, snappy catchphrases and enticing logos, these tactics are an investment in market growth and not just a casual business expense.

The idea of mobile commerce seems so promising, but it needs a business model that will really get it off the ground. The best bet looks to be online gaming and gambling, but will that be enough?

How can an organization tell whether its management of risk is good enough? This framework describes four levels of capability based on four attributes: culture, process, experience and application.

What are hyper-productive teams doing differently to achieve such extraordinary results? This article introduces you to the key practices used by Scrum teams around the world to achieve hyper-productive results--practices your team can apply right now.

Just calling a practice “best” does not make it so. But for many PM practitioners, the term “best practice” appears to represent the business practice equivalent of a “get out of jail free” card--wave it around enough, and critical thinking seems to be banished. It's time for a new outlook on this misused term and concept.

As agile methods continue to gain in popularity and Project Management Institute events offer more and more agile content, the demand for agile-related offerings has increased substantially. Is this new certification offering a good idea, and what does it mean for you?

There is a huge difference between using Agile practices and being Agile. Here, a chief engineer discusses his organization’s strides in creating an Agile mindset and a customized approach to producing high-quality work in short time frames. The journey offers practical advice and techniques to those getting started or struggling with Agile transformation.