Author Archives: Susanne Madsen

I often come across project managers who ask me what the correct way is to say no to scope changes. They have been taught that changes to scope are dangerous as they worry it might morph into scope creep. When we talk about scope creep it implies that changes are uncontrolled and that scope grows and grows without anyone explicitly agreeing to it. That’s obviously an undesirable situation, which should ...

Consider the most successful team you have been part of or that you know of, and what the characteristics were of that team. How many members did it have? How did the team members communicate with one another and what was the feeling you had when you interacted with the team? Many of us know instinctively what it feels like to be part of a great team – we feel ...

Many project managers have experienced it – and transitioned through it. They have worked on a series of smaller or medium-sized projects for a couple of years and are now getting involved in bigger projects. The new challenge is exciting, but also daunting, especially when they don’t have a host of experienced projects managers or mentors to lean on. In this post we look at the implicit challenges of stepping ...

There are many reasons why you might at some point in your career feel out of depth on a project. Most project managers have been there. It can happen either as a result of a serious underlying problem on your project, which you don’t know how to resolve, or because you for any other reason lose confidence if your ability to lead the project and feel unsure about the way ...

Let me first stress that I find project managers pretty remarkable and courageous people. Being a project manager isn’t an easy job. Projects need to be delivered on time, to cost, to the required quality AND deliver the expected benefits. During the course of the project, PMs have to be mindful of the big picture and at the same time keep an eye on the detail – without micromanaging anyone. ...

What are the top human needs that drive people in your team? You are probably familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which is one of the most widely referenced motivational theories. In this post I have drawn from several resources and models to compose an overview of the biggest needs that drive us all. When met, these needs have the potential to create high performance and fulfillment in ourselves and ...

Although risk management is a classic discipline and part of a standard curriculum on most project management courses, it doesn’t mean that the average project manager knows everything there is to know about it or that they are doing it really well. Unfortunately! Far too many of us make basic mistakes that negatively impact the outcomes of the project. We carry out the risk assessment on our own without involving ...

The purpose of all projects is to implement change and to help an organisation move from a current state (how things are done today) to a desired future state (with new processes, systems, organisation structures or job roles). Whilst project management is about delivering the project’s requirements, change management focuses on the people impacted by the change and helps individuals to make a successful personal transition to the new state. As change management is all about ...