methodology

Kick-Off Planning Mini Transat Campaign

A little while ago, a sailing enthusiast, let’s call her ABC for simplicity’s sake, approached me about the Mini Transat. The reason and aim of the question were: A few years ago, I had supported a young sailor to cross the finish line of the Mini Transat. Could ABC do the same, meaning: finish the Mini Transat?

ABC was completely serious and had a big goal in mind, a seemingly overpowering goal. How, where and what to start with? And when? What do I have to think about? And can I afford it at all?

In this article, I explain how I was able to help ABC approach the dream of participating in a Mini Transat in a structured way and make a decision. And that with just a few steps.

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Optimise Project Duration

How can you optimise project duration to get back on track again?

There are supposed to be projects that do not go exactly according to plan. Since this happens so rarely (caution: slight understatement!) I have put together a few points to help the few unfortunate project managers whose project is affected by this to optimise and work on their project duration.

The project plan has been drawn up in detail, the people involved give their nod to the planning – and then real life happens. Employees fall ill, suppliers work imprecisely, misunderstandings work negatively on mood and motivation. The first delays occur in the work packages, the project seems to become more expensive, the target date is in danger and then you also discover the little monster “scope creep”.

How could this have happened?

There are quite a few things which could be twisted to improve this situation. In this article I aim to help you to optimise project duration for your project.

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The Critical Path Method

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a technique for identifying the time-critical activities of a project.

These identified activities are often (rightly) given a lot of attention. Be it to guarantee the timely completion of the project or to take corrective measures in case of a delay.

So much for the theory, but how do we get there and what do we do with it?

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What is a Requirements Engineer?

A requirements engineer is an expert who explicitly takes care of requirements. What does that mean?

To successfully implement projects and bring them to the finish line, many aspects are required. One of them is the knowledge of the requirements for the project and the project goal. And handling those requirements is the main task of a requirements engineer.

The requirements engineer therefore plays an extremely important role within a project. To answer the question of what the result should look like and how best to proceed to achieve it, it is essential to know exactly what the requirements for the result are.

What a requirements engineer is and what he does exactly, I explain in this article.

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What is and what does a Business Analyst do?

What does a business analyst do? What are his core tasks?

In a nutshell: Analyse and understand business processes and structures in detail and develop solution proposals and improvements for processes, IT systems and structures. Through appropriate communication, the business analyst establishes a result that works for all parties involved.

Thus he plays an important role in the (further) development process of companies.

What exactly a business analyst is, what his tasks are and why he is so important for companies, I will explain in this article.

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PMP Certification – is it worth it?

In April 2005, I passed the PMP exam. More than 17 years later I look back: What positives (or negatives) did the PMP certification bring me?

The Project Management Professional (PMP) is a certification of the Project Management Institute (PMI). There are thousands of pages on the web that list the advantages of the PMP; fortunately, some also look at the disadvantages – mostly neutrally.

I do not want to explain the PMP in general here, that has already been done enough by many other authors, project managers and consultants. Rather, I will describe the influence on and the change for me personally.

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