Project Management and Change Articles

Progressive Elaboration: Why Good Plans Become More Detailed Over Time

A plan that gains detail is working as intended. A plan that gains commitments is drifting. Telling the two apart in front of a board is most of the skill.

Parametric vs Analogous Estimating

One says this job is like the last one. The other says the work scales with a measurable driver. Both are quick, both are defensible, and both fail in specific ways.

Change Management Plan vs Change Control

One governs what the project will deliver. The other governs whether anybody uses it. Sharing a word has cost a great many projects their business case.

Benefits Management Plan: Who Owns Value After Delivery?

The project finishes and the benefit has not arrived yet. Somebody has to be holding it on the day the team disperses, and that somebody is named months earlier or not at all.

Work Performance Data vs Information vs Reports: What’s the Difference?

Raw numbers, numbers compared with an expectation, and a package built for somebody's decision. Most reporting problems are one of those stages being skipped.

Fixed-Price vs Cost-Reimbursable vs Time-and-Materials Contracts

Each type places the cost uncertainty somewhere. The question is not which is safest, but who is best placed to carry the thing that is actually uncertain.

Practical thinking for project professionals