Rebel’s Guide to PM

JULY 20, 2023

In this article we’ll look at the types of artifacts in project management, typical documents for each type. There’s also a checklist of project artifacts by phase at the end, which you can use as an aide-memoire for creating your own documentation. What is an artifact? An artifact is something you create. In project management, artifacts relate to documents, templates, outputs or a specific deliverable.

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PMI Risk Management PMO Planning 247

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JUNE 4, 2023

I get asked about project success criteria a lot – in fact, it’s one of the most searched terms on this site. So I thought it was about time that I pooled all my resources into one definitive guide to project success criteria. If you’re looking for how to define success criteria, how to document and measure them and what to do after a project finishes, then read on!

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Defining Software Review Budget Initiating 308

Rebel’s Guide to PM

MAY 2, 2023

Do you get to the end of the week and wonder what you’ve spent the days on? Your To Do list on a Friday might not look that much different to how it did on Monday, and yet you’ve barely had time to grab a coffee because you just haven’t stopped. You’ve got so many balls in the air. However, juggling will only get you so far. There are strategies you can use to help you streamline your projects and combine work across stakeholders and teams.

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Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 19, 2023

Do you need to earn PDUs to maintain your PMI certification? You’re in the right place! In this article, we’ll cover what you need to know about the different categories of PDUs and how many you need to get, plus some simple and free ways to earn PDUs in 2023. There are also some further suggestions that take a bit more effort but are equally worthwhile in case you’ve got more time and energy to spare for your professional development.

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PMI 2023 Certification Agile 423

Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 10, 2023

Keeping track of problems on projects is really important if you want to come across as a professional project manager. Nothing makes you look less credible than saying, “Oh really? I don’t know what’s happening about that,” when someone asks you about an issue. I use an issues log (it’s an Excel spreadsheet) to make sure I record, remember and manage all the issues on my projects.

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Risk Management Technical Review Budget Risk 383

Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 9, 2023

The highly anticipated shortlist for The Business Book Awards in partnership with Pathway Group 2023 has been announced for top business books published in 2022. Authors, publishers, and business figures gathered in London last month for the shortlist reveal party to celebrate the incredible breadth, diversity and quality of business books published last year.

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2023 2022 Process 400

Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 7, 2023

Are you considering taking a course on Coursera ? I’ve done a few, some were better than others! Professional learning is so important and there are some fantastic courses available on Coursera, which is a really good online learning platform. The interface makes learning very easy as a student… you just have to make sure that you are investing time in the right courses that will help you develop professionally as a project manager.

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SCRUM Software Review Certification Agile 437

Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 5, 2023

Imagine my delight at being selected to participate in an invitation-only event about management methods. However, a condition of entry is that each participant is expected to address their colleagues using a twenty minute TED talk format, which seems to be the rite of passage in certain quarters. The actual TED talk principles are refreshingly simple and make me think of those that accompany the Agile Manifesto like, ‘Simplicity – the art of maximizing the work not done – is essential.

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Leadership Agile 2015 Defining 388

Rebel’s Guide to PM

APRIL 2, 2023

There’s only one thing worse than being told bad news, and that is being told about bad news late. When a program is failing, you should define the problem and potential solutions, and alert stakeholders at the first sign of trouble, according to LeRoy Ward, Executive VP at ESI. His ‘Managing and Saving Programs in a Changing World’ webinar covers 5 steps for project recovery.

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Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review Defining Risk Management 400

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JANUARY 27, 2023

Here’s the TL;DR: the best PMP exam simulator is the PM Exam Simulator from the team at the Project Management PrepCast. I have used it and can vouch for it, and that’s what I’d buy if I were you. If you want to know why that’s my top choice, and check out some other options, read on for my independent reviews! Table of Contents Cost and plans Product features Understanding the ITTOs with BrainBOK Take A Quiz Study Flashcards PMP Mock Exam Questions Mastery Mode Pros and cons Pros Cons Who is Br

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PMI Software Review 2023 Certification 317

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JANUARY 27, 2023

Category: Training for students preparing for Project Management Professional ( PMP )® and Certified Associates in Project Management ( CAPM )®: BrainBOK review. BrainBOK is an online, reasonably-priced project management training program and toolkit for students preparing for PMP ® and CAPM ® exams. I’ve reviewed the product in depth so I can confidently recommend it.

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Technical Review Software Review 2023 PMI 341

Rebel’s Guide to PM

DECEMBER 13, 2022

It’s not uncommon for people in management positions to feel like they’re always playing catch-up. I know I do. I want to do my projects to the best of my ability, but there’s so much to do and so little time to do it that it can be difficult to stay on top of everything, let alone have a chance to think about the bigger picture. But if you want to enjoy this career and be successful in project management, one habit to get used to is reflection.

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Rebel’s Guide to PM

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Welcome to my Mplaza PRINCE2 Foundation review! I owe a lot of my confidence as a project manager to the PRINCE2 course I took many years ago. It gave me all the basics, the jargon and ability to plan and manage a project. BUT… it’s hugely important to choose a good quality course. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have had bad experiences with PRINCE2 training providers… and that’s a lot of wasted money.

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Prince2 2023 2022 Planning 348

Rebel’s Guide to PM

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Are you looking at the Mplaza PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator? The right exam simulator can boost your confidence on test day and help you focus your study time on the topics where you need the most revision. I’ve spent several hours reviewing the exam simulator from Management Plaza (MPlaza) and I can confidently say that it’s great. In this PRINCE2 Practitioner Mplaza exam simulator review, I’ll tell you: Whether the software is worth the hype (spoiler: definitely!).

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Prince2 Software Review Software Agile 377

Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

Looking for Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® training for your PMI certification? You’re probably checking out a lot of training options and you’re here because you want to know if Brain Sensei is right for you. It might be… I’ve been through the course and I’ve got opinions about Brain Sensei! In this review of Brain Sensei’s CAPM training , I’ll share who the course is most appropriate for, what to expect, the cost, the pros and cons and all the features you get included.

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Software Review 2023 PMI Certification 390

Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

Are you looking for a creative way to motivate yourself to study for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam? I get it: finding the time to sit in front of your screen is tough but there are so many benefits to getting certified that you can’t put it off any longer. In this Brain Sensei review, I’ll share who Brain Sensei training is most appropriate for, what to expect, the cost, the pros and cons and all the features you get included.

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Software Review PMI 2023 Certification 360

Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

Have you ever started a project and thought: how is all this going to come together? It’s a question I get asked a lot by the project managers I mentor, because frankly, the beginning of a project is an unsettling time. You don’t know enough to pull it all together. But it does all come together in the end. The reason a project comes together is because of project integration management: this is what you do as a project manager all day, every day, even if you don’t know it.

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Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Digital transformation is on the rise. Microsoft predicts that every company will become a tech company. PMI predicts that nearly half of companies will be using AI by 2026. Many organizations are looking for ways to digitally enable their businesses – often through new technologies – in order to improve performance or gain a competitive advantage. As a project manager, you will likely find yourself working on one of such projects such as implementing a new CRM system, upgrading to a cloud-based

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Agile Defining Planning PMI 345

Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Could you be a citizen developer? I use low-code and no-code tools for various different automations and data processing at work, and while I’m no expert, the low-code revolution is going to make it easier for us all to do a whole lot of stuff without input from IT. The more robotic process automation tools out there, the easier it is to use drag-and-drop platforms and APIs to create our own multi-system interfaces (and more).

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PMI Software Review Technical Review Risk Management 373

Rebel’s Guide to PM

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

PRINCE2 was the first project management certification that I got. I had some project experience by that point, but I was still pretty overwhelmed by the volume of material I had to learn, the jargon , the processes, and the weird structure of the exam. Fortunately, I had the support of a decent trainer and a manager who gave me time to do the pre-work and homework, so I was ready for the test.

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Prince2 PMI Agile Certification 357

Rebel’s Guide to PM

OCTOBER 29, 2022

What is the future of project management? Let’s look ahead and see what the next 10 years will bring for project management software, jobs, and the role itself. Does Project Management Have a Future? There’s a trend towards more and more knowledge work being run in a projectized way, which means more and more people doing project management as part of their day job.

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2023 PMO PMI Agile 476

Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

The definition of a program. What is a program in project management terms? Here’s a definition. A program is a set of related projects and activities, managed in a coordinated fashion and under a structure that allows for the delivery of outcomes and benefits. In other words, it’s a bunch of projects being managed together. What’s the point of a program in project management?

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Budget Software Review Leadership Software 396

Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

In this video Elizabeth Harrin discusses how merging engagement and gamification creates engagification, a methodology to help people take action on projects. Watch the video to listen (about 30 minutes). If you prefer to read, there are closed captions in the video or there’s also a transcript underneath the video. Transcript. Hello, everybody. My name is Elizabeth Harrin.

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PMO Influencer Process Planning 413

Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

First we should start with a definition of program management. What is a program? A program is a collection of related individual projects, all with similar aims, objectives and resources that together deliver a common outcome and/or significant change; for example, moving the company to being a paperless office would be a program with a number of projects like: Choosing and implementing an electronic document management system for Head Office Designing a paperless sales process for use in the c

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PMO Risk Management Technical Review Leadership 284

Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Do you wish that your project stakeholders were a bit more involved, or that you knew what they were thinking? You can find out – you just have to ask them. One technique I use is to ask project stakeholders (whom I call customers, as they are the customers of the project management process) how they think the project is going. I ask them the same questions each month, and ask them to sum up by giving me and the project a score out of 10.

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Monitoring Process 411

Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

Do you think that your project should have a ‘launch’ event? In this extract from The Science of Growth, Sean Ammirati shows that a single, formal big launch isn’t always what kickstarts a company (or a project) into the big league. What really works might surprise you – it’s definitely something to work on when you are thinking about positive project risk!

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Rebel’s Guide to PM

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

I’ve spent a fair amount of time sitting in meetings where the topics discussed aren’t relevant to me. Sometimes in team meetings I’m even listening to discussions about projects that I’m not working on. And I confess to checking my emails and even Facebook during the boring bits. As a meeting organizer, how do you make your meetings relevant to everyone who attends?

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Technical Review 364

Rebel’s Guide to PM

AUGUST 25, 2022

Every project needs a sponsor. In this article, we’ll look at why that is and how you can work with a project sponsor as a project manager. You’ll learn tips and techniques for engaging senior leaders in the role so you can build effective working relationships and act as a team. What is a project sponsor? A project sponsor is someone who champions the project, providing resources and support.

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Underperforming Technical Team Risk Management PMO Executing 305

Rebel’s Guide to PM

AUGUST 6, 2022

Who on your project will have the authority to make decisions at the most senior level? Who will get you access to the resources you require? Who will unblock problems and sign off the extra money the project needs? These are all functions of a project board (or steering group). Strong leadership in projects is important for success, so getting your project board and/or project steering group set up as soon as you can is a good start.

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Risk Management Governance Government PMO 353

Rebel’s Guide to PM

AUGUST 2, 2022

A note from Elizabeth: At the moment, there is an AppSumo lifetime deal on Preceden, which is how I bought my license. Buying through AppSumo means no recurring fees and a long refund period if you try the tool and don’t like it. There’s very little risk, and at only $59, it’s worth giving Preceden a try! I’m glad I did. Sample project showing dates that are approximate.

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Software Review Software Risk Management Controlling 381

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JULY 14, 2022

Jordan Melson. This is a guest post by Jordan Melson from Technology Advice. We all have a pretty good mental picture of what the workplace looks like when an important project flies right off the tracks. Phones ringing, notes tacked everywhere, people darting to and from cubicles and offices… The image isn’t a pretty one, and probably causes some amount of stress just imagining it.

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Software Review Technical Review Software 2014 420

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JULY 13, 2022

Stories create engagement on projects, as I’ve written about before. But knowing that as fact and being able to use them on your projects are two different things. Dr Jo Griffin from Northeastern University’s Master’s in Project Management program gave some concrete examples of how you can actually use stories as part of your project communications plan at the 2015 PMI Global Congress EMEA.

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PMI 2015 Estimate Planning 444

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JULY 10, 2022

If you are like many Project Management Professional ( PMP )® certification holders, you might be finding it hard to source enough quality learning materials for your Power Skills PDUs. Panic no more, I have all the details you need below. In this article we’ll look at what Power Skills PDUs are and how many you need, and what activities count towards your PDU total in the Power Skills category.

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PMI 2022 Certification Leadership 432

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JULY 11, 2022

Listing projects on your resume helps make your job application stand out. You can draw a recruiter’s attention to your skills, teamwork, leadership, and achievements. Here’s how to showcase your projects on your CV (as we call a resume here in the UK, and I’ll use both terms interchangeably in this article) to make it clear what you are capable of.

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Budget Software Review Risk Management Prince2 421

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JUNE 29, 2022

Dave Gordon. This is a guest post by Dave Gordon. One of the most common causes for IT projects to slip into “troubled” status is missed requirements. In many cases, this is because the subject matter experts don’t think of all at the functional requirements at the beginning of the design stage. In other cases, technical requirements may be “discovered” during the execution stage, when the team starts to build the system that will deliver on the functional requirements.

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Controlling Budget 2014 Software 339

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JUNE 24, 2022

In 2012, I went to Las Vegas for the Pink Elephant ITSM conference. I took some time out of the conference to meet Dave Gordon, author and the project management expert behind The Practicing IT Project Manager website, which has sadly since been taken offline as I believe Dave has now retired. We discussed IT project management, the challenges for project managers working on Software as a Service projects and the cartoon laws of physics.

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Software 2012 Engineering Agile 400

Rebel’s Guide to PM

JUNE 22, 2022

I’ve put together my top list of the best books on collaboration, with a few communication skills books thrown in too. These are the books that I turn to time and time again. They are perfect for anyone working in a project environment, but if you are managing teams of any kind you’ll find something useful in here. I’ve met managers who think that project teams communicate and collaborate by default.

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Prince2 Underperforming Technical Team PMO Influencer 401