Project types may vary, but risks tend to be categorized in a fashion similar to brainstorming. Since generally brainstorming is random, this may not be a workable approach.

Your project will be successful in some degree by identifying, planning for, and avoiding risk. Once an initial plan is made, carrying it out is fairly mechanical. But risks are the gremlins waiting along way to your eventual project completion.

Brainstorming is one initial approach to identifying risk. Having a free flowing discussion allows these risks to be captured for later analysis. And in every meeting, there is the possibility that a new risk comes to surface. Capturing and communicating these risks is important, especially since not everyone attends each meeting.

Communication is always important in project management, and this is true for handling risks. And face-to-face communication, via discussion, is a key method of analysis that can often be overlooked. Our brains process information in both a linear and a non-linear fashion. In person discussion allows both methods to be used to advance an idea that simply writing (via status) or via email threads does not handle well.

At the base of project risk management, there is the need to track risks over time. Risks can rise or fall in importance or in the ways they can be managed. There is an old saying that a problem identified is a problem that is half solved. This applies in concept to risks, in that once a risk is captured, described, and communicated, the impact of the potential damage is significantly reduced.

(part 2 of this write-up will further the risk management presentation)

Okay, so you have the job, and you’re taking courses to improve your management skills. Then reality hits. You’re a little shocked.

“There is something else I need to learn.”

But it’s not in the courses, not really. It’s described in cartoons such as Dilbert, but you think it’s not real.

1. No one really minds your meetings, if you make their attending worthwhile: attention to them, compliments, entertainment, or brain growth. Meetings are social events, which is something that our biology is designed to enjoy. Keep the meeting pace and content relevant, and greet people who attend, and show real interest in them.

2. No project plan lasts through the first hour of real work. Same for your WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), etc. You cannot foresee all events that affect your plans. Get used to it, but…

3. You have to act like your plans are set in stone. This is especially helpful when you have to ask some other group or person to change their plans.

4. Your team loves you. You help give them additional purpose in their day/life/career, and this is what most people crave. The sense of purpose, even if you’re just passing the purpose on down from above.

5. Your team hates you. You give them priorities that don’t make sense. Especially if you’re passing the priority on down from above! They want you to stick up for them and their individual constraints, in spite of what may need to be down in the larger scheme of things.

6. Every project is unique. This is great, since your brain will enjoy growing new knowledge, which keeps you sharp all your days. If something seems similar from a past project to the one you have now, don’t get too comfortable with that…

7. You have to always be looking for what can go wrong. Great management relies on not stopping your worry circuits from working constantly. It’s a habit once you do it often enough, and it’s a helpful habit to improve. Look for the negative possibilities, but…

8. You will do better if you are an optimist. What has gone wrong is past, what will go wrong is perhaps fixable, but you will have better ideas if you maintain a positive outlook.

9. Be comfortable with estimates that are not accurate at first. People will throw out a number, like “10″, when they know they only have 9 to give you. Or they just like round numbers. Assume everything is an estimate, and keep refining.

10. (see #9).

Services such as Basecamp (from 37 Signals) or Planbox offer collaborative project tools online. These fall into the overall Saas (Software As A Service) category of providers. The benefit is scalable services, at a cost comparable to desktop-based products. They also allow collaboration while offering data security (online storage is a given) and platform independence (only a browser is needed).

If you have any suggestions on project management-as-a-service type of providers, or other related areas for the post, leave them below.

The video is about 8 1/2 minutes long.

• Linear or waterfall
• Spiral development
• Product development

All three of these types of methodologies can be related to process management in some way or another.

Linear or Waterfall Project Management Methodology — This methodology is sometimes referred to as the Life cycle, and is the best known of all project management methodologies. This methodology centers around a sequential process which is oriented toward computer software and other similar applications. Unfortunately, this methodology tends to also prohibit development on a parallel level.

Spiral Development Project Management Methodology — This approach on the other hand, is based on the idea that the development process is naturally very evolutionary, which means that you can design a program initially, and then constantly revise the program in order to add additional work phases or to enhance specific features.

Product Development Project Management Methodology — This methodology approach combines elements from the other two methodologies that were mentioned, but with an added nuance. This methodology uses product orientation as the mane base for the entire product development process.

- A project management methodology should define all of the stages of work. These stages of work may vary based on how an organization wants to chunk out the work, but should define all five “W”s. These five are: Who, What, Where, When and Why, and they should all be established. In order for you to be able to define the direction of your project you must be able to synchronize all of the work responsibilities and relationships between all of the different steps in the methodology. The definitions should have all of the following characteristics:

a – They should be measurable. You should be able to evaluate each stage of work in terms of how long it is going to take for you to perform You should also provide criteria which will substantiate the completion of deliverables, allowing you to essentially ensure that a quality product will be delivered.

b – They should be independent of techniques and tools. These techniques and tools may be deployed as they are required, but they should be independent of the project management methodology.

c – They should be independent of other aspects of project management. These methodologies can exist with project management systems or even without them.

If your methodology does not match the criteria listed above, then the odds are that it is not really a methodology, but rather is a specific technique or a tool.

There are three types of project management methodologies, which will be covered in part 3 of the methologies series.

Project management methodology is absolutely critical in determining the failure or the success of a specific development environment, meaning that it is absolutely imperative that you can truly differentiate between the concept of a methodology, a technique or a tool. There are some properties that are generic to all project management methodologies, which will be detailed in part 2 of this methodologies series.