Agile: Simple guide to creating a project burn-down chart
Over the last few posts, I have been covering the reporting challenges for a PMO when the Agile project methodology is being used. One of the popular ways of representing progress being the use of project burn-down charts. In this post I want to provide a simple guide to how you can build a…
Agile: Project Burn-Down Chart Overview
A popular method of reporting progress when using Agile Project Management is the use of burn-down charts. Wikipedia defines a burn-down chart as: “A burn down chart is a graphical representation of work left to do versus time. The outstanding work (or backlog) is often on the vertical axis, with time along the horizontal. This…
3 actions a PMO can take to help solve “double work agile”
In the post, PMO – the agile reporting challenge, I raised the problem a PMO faces when an organisation moves to agile, especially when there is a mix of waterfall and agile projects. Somehow there needs to be a way for the PMO to pull together a consolidated, harmonised view that can be used for…
PMO – the agile reporting challenge
If you have been involved in project management or change delivery even for a short time, you will probably have heard the reference to “agile” and “scrum” in respect of delivering change. This is in place of the traditional “waterfall” approach. Before going further, below are the definitions taken from Wikipedia: Waterfall Project Management “The…
Project Milestone Reporting Routine
The last couple of posts focused on how the correct use of project milestones can help tell the story of the project. This has the added benefit that the sponsor and stakeholders will have confidence that the correct progress is being made. Take a look at Project Milestones: Using Outcomes to Tell the Story and…
PMO Tip – make sure your numbers add up in your project management reports
This may sound like a strange statement, “make sure your numbers add up in your management report”. However, the fastest way that a PMO can lose credibility, is by publishing reports with mathematical errors. This is very frustrating as a small slip, taking your eye of the ball due to being busy and, a reputation…
How to improve the quality of project status reports
The last post, 5 ways to check the project status is correct, provided 5 steps that could help validate that a project status report was accurate. Following these should identify where there are areas of concern. However, the real goal is to continually improve the quality of the reports. This is much harder than it…
5 ways to check the project status is correct!
It is the duty of the project manager to provide regular and accurate status of their project. This is typically achieved through project reporting. It is very important that the reports are a true reflection of status so that sponsors and stakeholders can have confidence in the performance of the project (or take informed decisions…
PMO RAG status levels
It is expected that every project will report progress and status on a regular basis. The reason for this being that the sponsor and other stakeholders want the comfort of knowing they have visibility of progress. This helps ensure that there are no nasty surprises and, if the project is having challenges, it ensures that…
PMO RAG status for reporting
As mentioned many times before on this blog, reporting is one of the most important activities performed by a PMO. The PMO usually provides: Status reporting of projects Status reporting of programmes Status reporting of portfolios Within these, there is then reporting of: Milestones Scope Schedule / timeline Costs Benefits The Issue Given this diverse…
