Conflict comes into the picture when the interest, needs, or goals of one party are incompatible with the other. In other words conflict, is due to difference in opinion, difference in priorities and/or goals to two teams or individuals. You can succeed in avoiding unwanted and unpleasant storm of ego and personality clashes at workplace by good management skills. Consider an example –Suppose you were assigned a very critical project and you have announced the project team very recently. Next day one of the most talented and key team member walks to your workstation, as your door is always open […]

As per PMBOK(Project Management Body Of Knowledge) there are many types of cost estimates like parametric, analogous, bottom-up estimating, expert judgement, reserve analysis, three-point estimating, cost of quality and vendor bid analysis. It highly depends on the Project and the resources, material, man days, machine and intellectual property it is going to consume. If your actuals are good and reliable they are as good as parametric or expert judgment. People generally use “actuals” which they can validate against the SOW (Statement Of Work) and execution. Characteristics of a good estimate:  Must be supported by the assumptions made by the estimators.

The importance of any meeting is when it involves updates on reporting from all project managers thus generating a comprehensive view of the performance of the business group. Good coordination and discussion on the meeting reviews and reports is helpful to decide what preventative actions needs to be undertaken.` Generally the Project Manager conducts a project update meeting for discussing the following three parameters with the team: Priorities – Which tasks do we need to focus on first? Who has assigned it? Risks – What things could block completion of the priority tasks? What can we do to keep these from

Rewards and recognition plays a very important role in the life of every individual. It is the primary responsibility of every project manager to keep motivating his team in any form. Even thanking each and every team member individually, is also a form of reward and motivation. The rewards need not to be monetary always. If you have a highly result oriented team that generally meets the deadlines or the team has started performing on its own then, ensure that the team continue with the same enthusiasm and energy throughout the project. You can also reward them by giving a

As per thought leaders a human brain can handle about 7 tasks at a time. Some tasks can be simply set and forget once the technology is put in motion. Some believe that there is no such thing as true multitasking, but few people can do context-switching very effectively. Depending on the nature of work, it is good if multitasking can involve different types of activities as that is likely to result in greater creativity. Not everyone can switch contexts so easily, but if it has to be done, then you need a better planning. Spend some time to prioritize

At times managers tell their resources, to add a buffer of x hours while calculating the time so as to cover up for any unforeseen situation. This is incorrect anything not known is called unknown risk and it is always good to keep a certain amount of time for risk mitigation and workaround. Moreover it throws off project metrics. At the end of the day the manager needs to know where the team is, even if they are not on track. It is always recommended to encourage your resources to report the actual effort spent. But there might be some contractual

All workers have trouble with distractions in the workplace to a certain degree. Distraction level varies from person to person, those with less concentration are distracted easily while others take time. So it is necessary that everyone must ensure few proactive measures to avoid or reduce these distractions. Distractions range from external distractions like loud phone calls, heated discussions in common area, or celebrations within a certain group to self-distractions such as Whatsapp, Facebook, sms or email. At times the working style or habit can also cause real distraction and resulting in unproductive tasks like spending your day checking and answering