Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Viewing Posts by Dmitri Ivanenko PMP ITIL
Project Off Track? Regroup, Reengage, Reset
| Elements of the project are falling apart, whether with the team, with the supplier or in your project management domain. Now is the time to regroup, reengage and reset everyone back in the direction of the project goal -- before it's too late. To regroup, conduct a structured session with the core project team to capture the status of everyone's tasks. The regroup can be in the form of a meeting, brainstorming session or workshop. This way, no one on the team is invalidated for elements that went wrong, and you can show your appreciation for everyone's input. Allow for a discussion of their concerns. To reengage, work with the team to align with the original goal, requirements and project deliverables. Then, reset the expectations of each team member, as well as your responsibilities as the project manager. Finally, implement any changes required for the successful delivery of the project. Separate failure to perform from a lack of teamwork within the group. This action allows you to focus on how to achieve the expected results of the project, with buy-in from the entire team. What do you when your projects are off track? |
Do You Schedule Time to Stay on Top of Project Plans?
Categories:
Scheduling
Categories: Scheduling
| Scheduling time to execute your work is one thing. But project managers should also schedule time for scheduling. Setting aside a block of time each week lets you review your project plan, timelines and pre-requisites. It also lets you gauge whether you're still on track with deliverables and if you must make any necessary tweaks to your plan. I review all of the planned activities at least a week out and make sure everything is aligned to execute those activities. I recommend creating a two-month view of the project, no matter what the size. With that in place, it's a matter of confirming that you're still on target. At the end of each day, schedule an additional 15 to 20 minutes to look at the next day's schedule. I make sure all the meetings and activities that my team is managing are well-planned, scheduled and confirmed. It may seem tedious but spending time on scheduling will help ensure you stay on top of your plan and know that it's on track. Do you schedule time for your planning? Is it worth it? |
Creating the Right Atmosphere for Teams to Succeed
| Whether I'm the project manager or a team member, I am completely in control of the way in which I interact with people on my team. I regard my team members as powerful individuals, regardless of their knowledge, experience or personality. With this as the context for my interactions, they can achieve results, complete work on time, support their teammates and share their knowledge. To foster this kind of environment, I ground myself in the project goal. I determine what's required to achieve results efficiently and with great collaborative effort. Then I translate that to find a way I can help the team by being supportive, open, connected, appreciative, or being someone who consistently celebrates the success of others. Have you worked with someone closely and over time, and found you could support each other and contribute to each other's work, without doubts, worries or concerns? That's what happens when I create an environment that allows me to be with people that way right from the start. How do you elevate your team to the next level of performance? |
Finding the Shortest Path to Project Success
Categories:
Teams
Categories: Teams
| What's the shortest possible path from project initiation to completion? You might say it depends on the size of the project or the work involved. But there's always a shorter path than the one you have in mind -- even for larger projects. There's always a solution that makes better use of resources while providing faster delivery times. It's like when you play Scrabble® and come up with a word combination that uses the fewest letters and still gives you the highest point value. Say you walked into a job interview, for example, and you were hired on the spot. Although it seems impossible to get hired just by walking into the room, it's the ability to recognize the possibility that allows you to open yourself up to ideas that you'd otherwise discount. So what's wrong with the way you currently manage a project from initiation to completion? Maybe nothing. But what if you could get there faster? Try asking these questions to help you create the space in which actions towards the shortest path will arise:
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Successful Project Review Meetings
| I recently attended one of the most focused and efficient project review meetings I've ever been to. It was conducted as a workshop to review the project recommendations proposed to the team. I wanted to share why I thought it worked so well. Picture this: There was a workshop organizer, who facilitated the meeting. We sat in a large room that could seat about 10-12 people. There were representatives from various suppliers. It was quiet and we were the only ones generating conversations in that space. No cell phones were allowed. The rules for the review, which were developed and distributed beforehand by the organizer, outlined how we would share our ideas, record decisions and deal with issues that arose outside of the agenda. All participants were reminded that on-the-spot decision-making was required. The purpose and the goal of the review were clarified. All participants had to either agree or disagree with each decision. If there was a disagreement, a discussion took place to clarify the requirements and bridge the gap to reach a final decision. Having senior decision-makers present allowed us to get through all the points with velocity. We were able to not only review the proposed changes, but also make policy decisions on the spot and discuss relevant details without doubts or assumptions. We recorded anything that needed further work, like the identified gaps, as actions. Project teams spend many hours in project meetings, especially when teams are not well connected in purpose, goals and operating as a group. As a result, these teams end up having multiple meetings before generating decisions. When sub teams within a project have their own meetings to work out their portion of a solution in a vacuum, for example, it's easy to spend a portion of a project time unproductively, without reaching important decisions. In general, I find that many meetings are often not as productive as they could ultimately be. They take place more frequently than this type of a focused workshop. What can you take away from this? Before the meeting or workshop consider setting expectations, be clear on the rules and format, and have each participant agree on how the meeting or workshop is going to be structured and what is expected from each and every one of the participants. What do you think is essential for a successful project solution or review meeting? Editor's Note: Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy, Daniel Poneman, also discusses a successful approach to project review meetings in the final portion of his February 2011 podcast for PM Network® magazine. |