Elizabeth Harrin

Dear Elizabeth:  I work on a project team for a manufacturing company. For the last year, we’ve been using ranged estimates to build out our schedules. For the most part, our customers love it. We have one customer who is putting up a fight, saying they want a hard deadline. How do we convince them...

If you use project management software and think of it as just that tool you use to do your planning, then you’re really missing out. Because this everyday tool can enhance your career in a number of ways. Yes, project management software is something you use to create a schedule; it helps you get your...

Dear Elizabeth: I’m project managing 100 projects (seriously), and struggling. The main thing is deadlines – we have a fixed project deadline, but it’s largely in the control of our customers as we require information/feedback from them during the project. How can I set a deadline so that I can see the original due date...

It’s easy to think of project management software as the tool you use to take care of business. It’s what you use for logging, tracking, and monitoring. You use it for scheduling, budgeting, and reporting—the “hard” skills of project management. But behind the resource allocation status graphs and project plan are real people. Even if...

Dear Elizabeth: I have a boss who makes a habit of overcommitting my team to projects that require more resources than I have and deadlines that aren’t reasonable. I’m always told to just “make it happen.” I manage the team and do my best to keep morale up when people have to work overtime, etc....

In case you missed it last month, we started a monthly advice column that addresses the hard and tricky business of managing projects. Our advice-giver is one of the best PM coaches and consultants in the biz: Elizabeth Harrin, known for The Girl’s Guide to Project Management blog. This week, she takes on the struggles...

We have something new this month: a monthly advice column that addresses the hard and tricky business of managing projects—whether you’re an official Project Manager  or someone who is charged with  leading a project to its successful delivery. Our advice-giver is one of the best PM coaches in the biz: Elizabeth Harrin, known for The...

In project management a lot of what we do is looking forward. We look into the future and try to predict what risk is going to hit tomorrow, and what is going to stop us from hitting the budget targets and deadlines that have been set. We do look backwards—when we get a moment—through project...

People often ask me what my top tips are for new project managers. Even those old hands with lots of practice want to know the secrets to success (not my personal success, by the way—just project success generally!). The secret is that there aren’t any secrets. Whether you’re running a project for the first time...

Recently I’ve been managing a couple of projects with a large technical element. I’ve been lucky to work with experienced and knowledgeable colleagues who have managed to work out what needs to be done and then take action—with very little guidance from me. However, getting the balance right when you’re working with a remote IT...