Project testing is verifying the accuracy and completeness of project deliverables before they are released to the customer. It is an essential part of quality assurance and helps to ensure that the final product meets the customer’s expectations. There are generally four phases of testing in a project: unit testing,...
What is a stakeholder? Simply put, stakeholders are people who are interested in your project’s success. This includes anyone vested in the result, including customers, managers, friends, and family. The Stakeholder Cube is a tool for understanding how different statements can affect these various stakeholders and their respective levels of...
Maintaining the engagement of your agile team is essential, so experimenting with various end-of-sprint retrospective examples can add some excitement. Aim to make these sessions as enjoyable as possible. After all, we spend plenty of time being serious at work. The idea behind retrospection is to find out what went well,...
A sprint review is a scrum event in which the product backlog is reviewed, and stakeholders give feedback by providing transparency on the progress and performance of the product. This sprint is a set period, typically one to four weeks, during which the team works on specific tasks or objectives....
Resource planning templates help PMs get a head start on their planning. Using templates enables the PM to focus on a systematic resource plan to utilize a company’s resources better. A practical resource plan outlines a comprehensive agenda with information and assets required for any project. In addition, it will...
Maximize the effectiveness of your project management skills by using lessons-learned templates. A lessons-learned document is a simple breakdown, written by the project manager, of every potential and existing problem found within a project. An effective lessons-learned report will also propose solutions to these problems. We’ll focus on a template...
During updates, a release plan template is a time-saving tool for the Product Owner (PO). It enables the product team to compile all features of a large project, facilitating the creation of a clear roadmap. This roadmap outlines the schedule for bug fixes and future feature enhancements, indicating when specific...
Risk Acceptance is a risk response strategy whereby we, as the project team, decide to acknowledge the risk and not take any action unless the risk occurs (PMBOK®, 6th edition, Glossary). All risks should be assessed equally and documented in the risk register. Accepting risks should be done with caution, and...
Project tracking vs. crashing is two project management schedule compression techniques to speed up a project. Fast-tracking is when tasks planned to happen in sequence now happen in parallel. Crashing involves adding more resources to the functions to complete the work quicker. While fast-tracking and crashing can be helpful techniques,...
Each project task requires a resource that can follow the project budget and schedule. As the project progresses, unexpected events and challenges may force you to reconsider your resource allocation. In this case, you must adapt to ensure that project deliverables are unaffected. This is where resource leveling comes into...
Agile collaboration games are designed to encourage engagement in group agile activities such as estimating sprint work. We use planning poker. Agile collaboration is about working in increments towards a shared goal. Agile collaboration games are about working together as a team, and facilitators use various games like the one below to...
The Tuckman Ladder Model is a popular framework for understanding team dynamics. The model describes teams’ four stages as they work together: forming, storming, norming, and performing. This makes a team development process very important in project management, as it empowers individuals and teams to work together to achieve a...
To understand the skills and tools in Agile Project Management software processes, you first need to learn about the basics. Agile project management is a type of project management that works in short iterations rather than creating one big plan in traditional project management. Because of these short cycles, there...
A risk category is a classification of risks based on the organization’s business activities. It gives a systematic overview of their underlying and possible risks and potential risk sources. Individual project risks can be grouped into risk categories for evaluating and responding to them. Risk can be defined as an...
Bottom-up estimating is an essential project management technique. It is used to estimate the project cost, duration, or resources. It starts by gathering the details at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure and estimating work for each work package. The estimate of the entire project is the sum...
Being a successful project manager requires the ability to wear many hats. From planning and budgeting to dealing with stakeholders and keeping the project on track, a lot goes into it. However, effective project planning is one of the most important aspects of a successful project manager. Planning a project can...