Project Management

Gaining Momentum

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

Momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It directly relates to Newton’s first law of motion: An object in motion stays in motion unless a force acts upon it. It follows that a large object, say a bus or train, takes a great amount force to be moved, but it also takes a great amount of force to be stopped because it has a lot of momentum.

In the execution of projects, there is a certain momentum gained by everyone working together and moving forward through a plan. How can that momentum help or hurt you as a project manager, and how can you stay ahead of it so they are not squashed by the bus or the train?

Top of the Curve
A roller coaster moves very slowly to the top of the first ramp; at that top point, there is a split second where everything balances carefully, and if a chain were not pulling the roller coaster cars, then the car could go either way--backward or forward.

The top of the curve in a project is that point where things can go forward or slip backward. This could be when the organization’s executives make the decision to approve the project, or it could be when the key resources are brought onto the project. It could even be when the client decides on the direction of the project. The project manager should work to make sure that the top of the curve is not a dangerous place and the project can move forward on the right…


Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.

ADVERTISEMENT

Continue reading...

Log In
OR
Sign Up
ADVERTISEMENTS

"The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts--the less you know, the hotter you get."

- Bertrand Russell

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors