Your Projects Aren’t Failing Because You Didn’t Plan. It’s Because of How You Planned.
Projects rarely fail because planning was skipped. Five project planning mistakes that turn signed-off plans into overruns, and what to do instead.
Category: Project Management
The Real Reason Your Margins Are Eroding on Project Work
The estimate looked healthy. The team delivered. The customer was happy. Somehow, the P&L came in lower than it should have. Again. Every delivery leader I work with has watched this pattern play out. The project estimate looks healthy at the start. The team executes reasonably well. The customer is satisfied at the end. And Read more about The Real Reason Your Margins Are Eroding on Project Work[…]
The Reports Nobody Trusts: Why Manual Status Updates Are Killing Executive Confidence
When status reports are stitched together by hand from six different sources, two things happen. They’re always late, and nobody believes them. I’ve sat in a lot of executive meetings in the last seventeen years. The pattern that comes up more than any other has nothing to do with strategy or budgets. It’s this: An Read more about The Reports Nobody Trusts: Why Manual Status Updates Are Killing Executive Confidence[…]
What a Great Project Manager Actually Looks Like in 2026 – And Why Most Job Descriptions Get It Wrong
Most project manager job descriptions read like a checklist of certifications. PMP required. Five to seven years of experience. Proficiency in Microsoft Project. Familiarity with Agile and Waterfall methodologies. These things are not unimportant. But in seventeen years of placing project management professionals, we have learned that the checklist almost never identifies the people who Read more about What a Great Project Manager Actually Looks Like in 2026 – And Why Most Job Descriptions Get It Wrong[…]
Project Online Is Retiring in September. Here Is What You Should Be Doing Right Now.
If your organization is running on Microsoft Project Online, you already know the date: September 30, 2026. That is when Microsoft officially retires Project Online as a standalone service. What you may not know is how much time the decision-making process actually takes and how many organizations are going to feel that crunch in August Read more about Project Online Is Retiring in September. Here Is What You Should Be Doing Right Now.[…]
Project Delivery Is Broken at Most Firms – And a New Tool Isn’t the Answer
When delivery breaks down, the instinct is almost always the same: we need better software. In seventeen years of working inside project-driven organizations, EPMA has learned that the tool is rarely the root cause, and buying a new one without addressing what’s actually broken rarely fixes it. The organizations that come out stronger are the Read more about Project Delivery Is Broken at Most Firms – And a New Tool Isn’t the Answer[…]
Where Are Your Projects Actually Living?
Most organizations have an official project management system. They just don’t actually manage projects in it. That’s not a criticism, it’s a pattern seventeen years and dozens of organizations have made impossible to ignore. The Pattern Nobody Talks About Out Loud A system gets implemented; Project Online, or a financial platform with a project management Read more about Where Are Your Projects Actually Living?[…]
Why Most Project Online Replacements Fail in Year One
I’ve spent the better part of 10 years helping organizations implement, optimize, and sometimes rescue their project management environments. I’ve watched companies invest heavily in the right technology, and still struggle to make it stick. And now, as Project Online’s September 30, 2026 retirement date gets closer, I’m watching a familiar pattern play out again. Read more about Why Most Project Online Replacements Fail in Year One[…]