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 — October 2021
Papers: A book review of The Standard for Project Management - ANSI/PMI 99-001-2021. This is the first of two books presented in a single publication. The second book is A PMBOK Guide seventh Edition, which will be reviewed the following month. The content of The Standard elaborates 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.
Musings:
How to Make Things Happen is a good list of ten items to consider when things don't seem to be going quite the way they should. How to Leave your job gracefully is a set of 10 essential steps to take when vacating your existing employment. Keep these lists handy for when you need them!
Project management tip of the month
The identical committees principle:
If you have two committees for two different purposes, but with identical memberships, then combine their agendas and abolish one committee. This will save you a lot of time and some paperwork.
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Recent
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.
Musings: The Biggest Project of All - Revisited. This is an update of a June 2001 Musings and where are we two decades later? We are in the middle of a world-wide covid-19 pandemic with massive restrictions on our commercial and daily life activities. Max has learned four important lessons. First: the stock market has not only survived, but grown significantly; Second: Don't panic [please!] Third: Governments are able to turn their backs on democracy and manage by fear mongering; and Fourth: In the absence of other forms of entertainment, the population continues to grow.
Papers: Max reviews Antonio Nieto Rodriguez's recent book Leading Successful Projects. This is a "Must Read" for CEOs and their direct reports in organizations responsible for leading successful projects. Antonio has assembled the contents of this book based on his many years of practical project experience on a wide variety of large project endeavors. As such, this book is pact full of sound advice, much of which is also condensed into ten essential principles of project success.
Musings: Lisa M. Shepherd joins us to explain How to Write a Motivation Letter to Your Project Team. Lisa advocates for six logical steps, each of which are briefly described. She concludes with the sort of reactions that you should expect from your team as a result.
Guests: Managing an IT project is more than just dealing with hardware and software, it means dealing with people — and for that you need a well-laidout plan. Blogger Jessica Fender provides a total of 16 tips for writing a successful content plan for your IT Project.
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.
(Other areas and interests)
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