AIPM supports submarine project, warns of past failure

The AIPM supports the Federal Government’s decision to award the contract to build Australia’s 12 new submarines to France’s state-controlled naval contractor DCNS.

Knowledge management is more than lessons learnt

At best, lessons learnt are explicit knowledge, readily articulated, codified, stored, accessed and transmitted to others—but this is not knowledge management, writes Dr Lynda Bourne. So what is?

Identifying the warning signs of project failure

Reasons for project failure have not changed, so organisations now focus less on the causes of failure and more on early warning signs and response mechanisms, writes Jacob Silver.

How to deal with project mistakes

The project shuddered to a standstill. He’d made a million-dollar mistake. He offered his resignation. The project manager refused. Editor Adeline Teoh on how project mistakes should be handled.

Reflection on project reform—Jacob Silver

Reflection on project reform
With reasons for project failure remaining unchanged since Harvard Business School first published the common causes, organisations are faced with situations where the focus is less about what the causes of failure are but rather what the early warning signs are and what are the response mechanisms. It’s imperative that as project managers we put in place tools to recognise the early warning signs of project failure and implement strong processes to reform projects that are on the path to failure.

This paper examines the process of change that a large and complex relocation project went through during the early stages of project failure. The paper discusses several failed attempts at change and the eventual process that got the project back on track and allowed the team to achieve immediate and ongoing success. The tools used to improve success include critical reflections, the discovery of common themes through the use of affinity diagrams and the use of personality traits to assign roles. The key lessons learnt were shared and this allowed the team to continue its success and ultimately restore faith with their client and secure future business.

Author: Jacob Silver
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

How to use agile in your project

Agile environments promote a value-driven, collaborative approach to software design and development but they are not for every project, writers Craig Beveridge. Here’s when and how to use it.

8 questions to process project risks

What should a good risk management process cover? Any project manager undertaking a risky or important venture should ask themselves these eight simple questions, advises Risk Doctor David Hillson.

Lessons in remembrance

As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, which Australians and New Zealanders commemorate as Anzac Day, Adeline Teoh tries to explain how examining the past can help us shape the future.