How can you manage project scope, time, and budget more effectively with project management frameworks?

First of all, don't buy into the myth of the impossible triangle. Delivering on time, on budget to scope is only possible to do the second maybe third time. It isn't possible for truly innovative projects. One must also ask whether delivering on time to budget to scope is what you wish to do or whether value creation is your goal!

I find the following to be very helpful - Develop project management templates for project plan, budget - Utilize tools such as Primavera for scheduling to track critical path - Store all standard documentation, processes and templates on SharePoint for all within the company to access - Train employees and vendors on processes and documentation at the beginning of the project or part of onboarding - Update templates to accommodate the current project - Review and update templates with best practices 1-2 times a year

Managing project scope, time, and budget is a challenging aspect of project management. Here are some practical tips: Define the project scope, goals, and objectives. Break down the project into smaller tasks and deliverables. Estimate the time and resources needed for each task and deliverable. Develop a project schedule and budget. Monitor and control project progress and performance. Manage changes to the project scope, time, and budget. Project management frameworks can help manage project scope, time, and budget more effectively. Additionally, breaking down the project into smaller tasks and deliverables, estimating the time and resources needed for each job.

Great point @stephanie chamberlain. In my experience too many people overlook business value for the sake of finding a quick win. Take some time to evaluate what this means to either your customers or you company…. Don’t just look at delivery times.

Project management frameworks provide structure and tools to deliver a project, but it is important to remember that they are frameworks, not a hard set of rules. Some organizations have their own flavour of project management frameworks, based on or adapted from popular frameworks. These frameworks take into consideration the organization's environment and constraints. Ultimately, organizations should work with a project management framework that suits their specific needs.

Project management frameworks provide structured methodologies and guidelines, enhancing project efficiency by defining scope, schedules, and responsibilities. They streamline processes, promote communication, and facilitate monitoring, ensuring successful project delivery within budget and timeline constraints.

Project management frameworks offer a structured and systematic approach to managing projects, which can lead to improved project outcomes, reduced risks, and better communication among team members and stakeholders.

You should use Project management frameworks because the frameworks increase the chances of you achieving your goals by providing a structure that guides you to: Identify what you are trying to achieve and why. Identify the risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies associated with achieving your goal. Break down your goal into smaller, more manageable components. Create a plan for achieving your goal, taking into account your constraints, such as quality, budget and time. Ultimately, using a project management framework increases the chances of you achieving your goal by providing a structured approach that guides you from the idea to the delivery of the tangible outcome

You want to use frameworks, because oftentime you will come across questions in your project which they will help you find the answer. You do not have to reinvent the wheel just check what many professionals used before. On the same hand your experience will be needed to determine if the framework fits to your project environment.

It's crucial to recognize that there isn't a one-size-fits-all project management framework. Instead, there are frameworks that are well-suited or ill-suited for a particular project. For instance, in a dynamic company aiming to establish a new digital innovation platform, opting for an agile framework might be a sensible choice. Conversely, in a bridge construction project, a more traditional waterfall method is likely the preferred approach. So always think about the environment in which the project is operating and how much the plans might change within the project.

The Waterfall project management framework is one of the popular ones. Here the project is delivered in linear sequential stages. One phase has to finish before the next phase starts. Waterfall Project phases typically include Initiation Planning Execution Testing Deployment Maintenance Testing is near the end of the project and the end user only gets the products at the end of the project Thus it's difficult to get feedback from the end user earlier in the project, which can lead to problems later on. Waterfall is good for simple projects where the project is well defined, the requirements are well known, the environment is familiar as well as for projects that have a fixed sequence of dependencies, like building a house.

Implementing a project management framework involves several steps to ensure a structured and successful adoption within your organization. Assessment and Planning: Assess Current Practices: Begin by assessing your organization’s current project management practices. Identify strengths and weaknesses to understand what needs improvement. Set Objectives: Define clear objectives for implementing the framework. What specific goals do you want to achieve with it? This could be improving project delivery times, reducing risks, or enhancing collaboration. Select the Framework: Choose a project management framework that aligns with your organization’s goals and needs. Common frameworks include Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, PRINCE2, and PMBOK.

You must communicate clearly and frequently the ways of working within the framework. Teammembers need to accept it and live by it. Stakeholders must respect it.

Apart from hands on experience, and educating yourself, one more way to improve your project management framework skills is to write and speak about them. Write articles or blog posts, contribute to forums, create social media videos, speak at events. By writing and speaking about project management frameworks, You will be forced to clearly articulate your understanding of the framework. You will have to think about how to explain the framework to others, which will help you to better understand it yourself. You will build your reputation as a knowledgeable and experienced project manager.

In addition, it's important to emphasize that while valuable courses are beneficial, they cannot substitute for hands-on experience. It's crucial to venture out and gain practical experience, bearing in mind that the real-world often demands a tailored approach, adapting a framework to suit the specific circumstances of a project.

I would generally recommend to be knowledgable of various competing frameworks, to understand the jargon and use it as a creative reference point. Use the certifications primarily to test yourself, not as resume fodder. Experiment as you're able, but not at the risk of project failure. As you gain experience, you'll ideally move from a dogmatic approach (where you followed a specific BoK) to a creative approach, using hybrid frameworks and even fully custom ones. I think that's where it gets fun. Consider working in different cultures. Startups teach you something very different than working for the government. Small businesses vs large enterprises. Etc.

The Agile project management framework is another popular approach. Agile is good for navigating complexity as it focuses on a transparent & adaptive approach that involves the end user throughout the process. In Agile Scrum, Projects are broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks called sprints that last for one month or less. The focus of each sprint is to deliver a product increment that is releasable and provides value to the end user As part of each sprint, the end user gets to see the product in progress, review it, and provide feedback. This feedback is used to improve the product in the next sprint Product increments can be released for use as soon as they are ready, so that they can start generating commercial results

Project Management framework is important to structured our way of working in the project. It will help us to aligned our ideas into the scope of work into more detailed using one of the framework. However, as a project manager, we need to keep in mind that the framework will not be effective if we could not execute it properly. One of the skills that is needed to have a good communication skill so that we can transmits our project methodology properly to the project team members. Hopefully all of the team members hace the same perspective on how to conduct the project using the chosen project management framework.