Project management insight by IIM-K Student

ITIL , formerly an acronym for  Information Technology Infrastructure Library , is a set of practices for  IT Service Management  (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. In its current form (known as ITIL 2011 edition), ITIL is published as a series of five core volumes, each of which covers a different ITSM lifecycle stage. Although ITIL underpins  ISO/IEC 20000  (previously BS15000), the International Service Management Standard for IT service management, there are some differences between the ISO 20000 standard and the ITIL framework. ITIL describes processes, procedures, tasks, and checklists which are not organization-specific, but can be applied by an organization for establishing integration with the organization's strategy, delivering value, and maintaining a minimum level of competency. It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure im

No best practice is best for every organization, and every situation will change as individuals find better ways to reach the end result. (Businessdictionary.com) Organizations define the term “best practice” differently. For some, best practice refers to a consistent way of doing something. For others, best practice is simply ensuring that everyone in the project management function uses the same templates and software. Most organizations have some best practice already in place; they just don’t know it because it was not developed by someone high up in the organization and rolled out through the organization. However, project managers have their way of doing things – even if those methods are not formal within the organization. This “way of doing things” can be considered a best practice. When organizations look at developing a best practice around the project management function, they usually mean one or more of the following: Standardized processes Standardized tools and te

Accurate  project estimation  is one of the most challenging aspects of a project.  Project estimation  becomes increasingly difficult as the project’s complexity and uncertainty increases. However, project estimates can be accurate. The powerful project estimation techniques that are explained in this article will quickly improve the accuracy of project estimates, even if you have no project estimation experience. Before Estimating Project Costs Before you begin project estimation, there needs to be an understanding of the scope of the project. If you don’t know what the project is trying to achieve, then there is little chance of being able to accurate estimate the effort required. The more detailed the scope of the project, the more detailed and accurate the project estimate will be . The size, complexity and stage of the project will impact greatly on the level of accuracy required, the amount of cost and time the business can commit to project estimation and the level of

1. Introduction This section of the Stakeholder Management Strategy should introduce and discuss the goals and objectives of the Stakeholder Management Strategy for the project. Effectively managing stakeholders is a key component of successful project management and should never be ignored. Proper stakeholder management can be used to gain support for a project and anticipate resistance, conflict, or competing objectives among the project’s stakeholders. 2. Identify Stakeholders This section of the Stakeholder Management Strategy should discuss the methodology the project team will use to identify stakeholders and how stakeholders are defined. It is imperative that all stakeholders are identified regardless of how major or minor they are. This is because they will be categorized after they’re identified. If stakeholders are omitted there is a likelihood that they may become evident at some point during the project’s lifecycle and introduce delays or other obstacles to the proj

PM Methodologies Methodologies contain guiding processes for those who are doing project management. The true definition is that methodologies are not tool specific, however in today's software-reliant world the reality is that the methodology and the organization's project management software tool are often heavily intertwined. Below are a few of the project management methodologies popular today.   Agile The Agile method tries to provide rapid, continuous delivery of product to the customer. Whereas traditional methodologies such as the Waterfall method or other linear processes require detailed requirements that are defined in the beginning where the end product is like what defined in the beginning. With Agile there is no clearly defined end product at the onset. In Agile there is still a disciplined prioritization process, but the non-static requirements, flexibility, constant change, and regular communication approach this a