A Project Management Christmas Carol

In the spirit of Christmas, we at the ILX Group were inspired by the classic tale A Christmas Carol for our latest blog. As many of you will know, in the story Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet-to-Come, to warn him of a miserable fate if he refuses to change his ways. With the risk of exaggerating, all project managers consider the failure of a project to be quite a similar fate. Fortunately, you can strive for project success through assessing past performances and present resources, in line with those all-important business objectives.

Ghost of Projects Past – Lessons Logs via PRINCE2

All projects come with an element of risk, and it’s safe to assume that mistakes will be made. Hindsight cannot undo past mistakes but project managers can commit to learning from them.

PRINCE2’s Lessons Log helps managers to record mistakes from their most recent project. Ask your colleagues and stakeholders for their opinion on what went well, and what could be improved on. The Lessons Log can be tailored to your individual project needs, as long as the information within it is accessible to everyone in your team. Remember that successful project teamwork is sharing individual experiences and skills for the benefit of everyone.

Ghost of Projects Present – How PMP helps you retain control over your project scope

Successful project management is about making decisions in the present, based on past results and future objectives. The project management plan should clearly define the scope of your project based on your business’s resources. However, it is often that the scope of a project is forced to expand in unforeseen circumstances, and you must adjust your resources accordingly. PMP calls this ‘scope creep.’

If your project is susceptible to scope creep, and you are concerned you are deviating from your expected project trajectory, you can seize control by doing a variance analysis. This article on preparing for the PMP Certificati