The Executive's Role in Project Success

Project failure is rampant in nearly every industry. In the US alone, the cost are huge with estimates running as high as a trillion dollars a year. In most cases, the project manager and his or her team are blamed. The project, however, is only the symptom with the source of the failure imbedded in the organization. Project pressure stresses the weak links in the organization causing them to snap.

Marketing is difficult for any company. However, in small companies, where many people wear multiple hats, it is even worse. There is a vicious cycle between all-work/no-marketing and all-marketing/no-work. There are ways to address this problem but if takes planning and discipline.

The Plight of Marketing provides the audience with tried and true methods of balancing marketing and uses a case study of one company’s success. It identifies a variety of proven tools from conventional print to social media. The key points are:

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Presentations, Classes and Book Signings

Following are the upcoming presentations, classes and book signings:

• IMA REST 2012: Presenting "People or Process, Which Improves Success Rates The Most"
  February 09, 2012 (All Day)
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  People or Process, Which Improves Success Rates The Most

   

  Why do we rely on process so much when people do the work? We know process helps, but when people get involved, life becomes difficult. People or Process, as the name implies, looks directly at...

  
  REST 2012 Coordinator Bill Blair: (503) 730-0899
• NASA Project Management Challenge 2012 Presenting: People, Process, and Project Success
  February 22, 2012(8:00 am) - February 23, 2012 (8:00 am)
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  This year the theme of NASA Project Management (PM) Challenge is Evolve and Excel. NASA PM Challenge 2012 will be held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center, Orlando, Florida on February 22-23, 2012.
  
  NASA PM Challenge provides the forum...

  
  This event is open to the public all are welcome to register and attend For questions please contact: Lesley Young | 301-286-5694
• AtTask Webinar: "Tearing Down Project Barriers Between Business and IT "
  February 29, 2012 (10:00 am - 11:00 am)
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  Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:00 am Pacific Standard Time

  About: "Tearing Down Project Barriers Between Business and IT"

  With the current rate of project failures, estimated anywhere from thirty to seventy percent, improving project success rates...

  
  Please use the URL to register, if you have any trouble please let us know.
• ASQ Vancouver Spring Quality Conference: "Project Inception"
  April 12, 2012 (All Day)
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  With the current rate of project failures, estimated anywhere from thirty to seventy percent, improving project success rates must be one of every project manager’s primary goals.  However, there are no silver bullets. Therefore, reversing the tide of...

  
  Josef Pfister
• IT Financial Management Association: Presenting: People, Process, and Estimation
  April 16, 2012 (8:00 am - 12:00 - noon)
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  Todd C. Williams will be giving a 4 hour presentation at the IT Financial Management Association 25th Anniversary Celebration.

  More details can be found in the brochure or by visiting the ITFMA website.

   

  About the presentation - People Process and...

  
  ITFMA (805) 687-7390
• Instructor at PSU "Understanding, Identifying, and Managing Project Risk"
  April 19, 2012 (8:30 am - 4:30 pm)
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  Course Description

  This course identifies types of risks on projects and ways to lessen their effects. The course is highly participatory, looks at examples from actual projects, and is targeted for all levels of project managers.

  What You...

The ability to deliver initiatives that make breakthroughs in the business is the differentiator of a truly successful IT department.  However, the project success rates are very poor.  Failure rate estimates range from 40-75% of project are over budget, late, or fail to deliver the required functionality.

Failing projects are prevalent in all industries and, although the actual failure rates are very subjective, the incidence of troubled projects is easily more than half of all projects. Finding the Gold in Red Projects looks at the value in performing a formal recovery on a red projects.  It uses current and historical data, case studies, and the presenters twenty-five years experience of recovering projects to illustrate the process.

People or Process, as the name implies, looks directly at the role of people versus process in a project’s success or failure. The focus on process is a needed component, but does not obviate the need to manage people.  Unfortunately, the trend over the last fifteen years has been to focus on process and reduce the project to a checklist of tasks.  This has created a culture that neglects the value of a manager with people skills.

People often fail to realize how many actions in life are negotiation based. This is no different for in our work life.  From managing projects to negotiating a raise, we do some form of negotiation daily. Implementing a process around negotiation is key in maximizing success. A process ensures collecting the correct information for preparing and proposing the new idea.

This presentation covers:

eCameron provides a variety of keynotes and seminars for your company or organization. They are broken into two groups—the Back From Red^TM and the Business Advancement Series. The former, the Back From Red Series, focuses on topics that are directly associated with properly running projects in any organization. The latter, the Business Advancement Series, addresses topics that are broader in reach than a project. These topics can be combined or customized to meet your group's needs.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email or call us at 1-360-834-7361.

Below is a partial list of the organizations that have or will be presented to (Conferences in red, Keynotes in blue, others in Black):

Most organizations have only one methodology that they use for running projects. However, many organizations perform a variety of projects—deploying hardware, developing new products, deploying off-the-shelf software, and upgrading existing tools. Some methodologies are much better for specific styles of projects. Therefore, organizations need a portfolio of processes that matches their portfolio of projects. Phasing, Critical Chain and Agile methodologies all have valuable attributes that can be applied in specific areas.

This presentation covers:

Experience with red projects has more value than recovering them—avoiding them is the real objective. This presentation focuses on a number of techniques learned while recovering projects that greatly improve the chances for success. It introduces the concept of a Guidance Team that gets involved with the project at the customer inception stage and follows the project and team through to the project completion.

The presentation covers:

Whether you are a project or a functional manager, estimates are a daily part of your life.  Team members need to make estimates for a variety of reasons, these include:

• The amount of time for a task.
• The cost for resources.
• The cost of software, hardware and other materials.
• The time required to finish a task.

However, there are many problems with estimates.  This presentation focuses on the sociological and psychological aspects of doing estimates.