Max Wideman's PM Wisdom

Max Wideman has over half a century of practicing a variety of Project Management (PM). This site brings together a permanent record of the accumulated learning and experience which Max has gained in Project Management throughout this time.

It is for those with an interest in PM, have questions, or just want "how to" answers from our Issacons. This site has serious Papers by Max as well as knowledgeable Guest authors. The Musings often raise issues, with a little English humor for lighter reading. Just click one of these links and start from the bottom of the page!

If you:
     • have to learn PM in a hurry — go to our cartoon series PM 101;
     • want help with a lot of typical daily PM tasks — go to Issacons;
     • like reading serious ideas on how to conduct PM — go to Papers;
     • seek to know what other PM masters think — go to Guests;
     • need a good place to start — try the paper PM 1st Principles.
     
     • are interested in a book on PM — take a look at PM Framework;
     • require the meaning of different PM terms — go to the PM Glossary;
     • wish to see the whole scope of this site — go to the Site Map;
     • are looking for something specific — then use our search page.

New This Month — January 2022 
               !Happy New Year Everyone!

Guests: Payson Hall answers the question: Is a single-point estimate sufficient for practical purposes in project management estimating?

Musings: How to Hire the Right Staff in five steps.

Musings: Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez announces that The Harvard Business Review printed magazine has printed his article: "The Project Economy Has Arrived". In Antonio's view, this means that the business sector has finally recognized the importance of professional project managment in the realm of business management.

Project management tip of the month The Mencken complexity principle: For every complex question there is a simple answer –– and its's wrong!.

Recent

Papers: A 1985 PMI Brochure resurrected as a matter of historical interest and value.

Guests: 10 Tips to Better Public Speaking for Professionals Author Professor Morrison offers great tips from his work: The Book on Public Speaking, especially if you are going to address your team, your directors, or even the public.

Musings: Do you realize that what our world's collective population consumes is far more than the earth can sustain (i.e. Recover from)? This paradox can be measured by what is known as Ecological Footprint. Read about it here.

Papers: A book review of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (The PMBOK(R) Guide, 7th Edition published by the project management Institute. As noted last month, this is the second book in the combined publication. It has been completely rewritten, with much behavioral material added and most of the previous essential project management skill sets removed. While the contents may be useful, it is not consistent with the previous Guides to the PMBOK and, in our view, is misnamed.

Papers: A book review of The Standard for Project Management - ANSI/PMI 99-001-2021, the first of two books, in a single publication of this Standard and the PMBOK Guide seventh Edition. The contents elaborate considerable on what was Chapter 3 in previous editions of the PMBOK Guide. Readers seeking a standard content reflecting the project management profession, as we understand it, may be disappointed.

Guests: The Project Success Model™ - A Guide to Defining Project Success - Part 2. With the capabilities discussed in Part 1, author Henrico Dolfing now looks at project delivery success as applied to any project. In project management terms, the issue is achieving the classic triangle of scope (icluding required quality), time and budget targets. Part 2 of this paper deals with successful time and budget.

Guests: The Project Success Model™ - A Guide to Defining Project Success - Part 1 Author Henrico Dolfing claims that every organization can improve its ROI by implementing four essentials: Instituting effective portfolio management; Installing a competent Project Sponsor; Establishing clear success criteria; and Introducing relevant project management capabilities.

Classic: The original and only Project Management Body of Knowledge (dubbed "PMBOK") published by the Project Management Institute in 1987, is now available as a PDF document. Want a copy? See PMBOK-1987 Reborn under Other Areas and Interests. Contains valuable advice even today.

At-A-Glance

Issacons (Issues and Considerations) are sets of slides providing summary information for specific questions associated with particular PM topics. Designed to save hours of searching yet more detailed than a plain bulleted list.

PM Glossary version 5.5 is free on this site. The glossary shows how many project management terms mean different things to different people. However, for the latest version 6.1 see PM Glossary v6.1 choices.

Papers & Books are thought-provoking and valuable insights into project management and include numerous book reviews. You will also find information about books that I have written or co-authored from time to time.

Max's Musings are brief thoughts on various project management topics.

Guest Articles contain articles on particular PM topics contributed to this site by a wide range of other authors.

Click on the links above to see the most recent additions.

About Max is a brief biography outlining my professional career, some personal history, and even a little trivia about me.

P.Eng.
FCSCE, FEIC, FICE, FPMI, FCMI*

*What do these letters mean? See Recognition on this page.

Copyright — The contents of this site are protected by copyright and may not be used by commercial or non‑commercial organizations without written permission.

Disclaimer — The views expressed are those of the contributors and no responsibility is accepted for the accuracy or reliability of the content or the results of its application.

More, much more . . .

(Other areas and interests)

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