Projects Articles

Alex S. Brown, PMP IPMA-C

A Sad, Sad Day for Project Managers – PM SPAM

Thursday, 26 March 2009 by Alex Brown

The story of the first project management spam campaign.

“So You Want to Be an Independent Consultant” Speech Recording

Thursday, 22 January 2009 by Alex Brown

It is hard to get an independent consultant to be frank and forthcoming about their business. During this one-hour recording, you will get an insider’s view of what it is like to go from being an employee to an independent consultant. The audience had hard-hitting, personal questions, and they got full, open answers.

“Introducing Project Management In Your Organization” Recorded Speech

Tuesday, 30 December 2008 by Alex Brown

Introducing project management to an organization is hard work. By appealing to the strategists and the senior executives in your organization, it is possible to make project management grow and flourish.

“Strategic Project Management” Speech Recording

Wednesday, 24 December 2008 by Alex Brown

Hear one of my first speeches to put together strategic planning and project management. Hear the story of how a real company was able to implement its strategy through projects, and the unexpected benefits the company gained.

“The Charter: Selling Your Project” Speech Recording

Monday, 22 December 2008 by Alex Brown

This speech was delivered and recorded live for the PMI North America Congress on September 12, 2005. The entire 54-minute speech will play below, with slides synchronized to the audio, and it is also available as an audio or video podcast from this site.

Available as a four-contact hour, four PDU [...]

“Project Charters Bridge Cultures” Speech Recording

Wednesday, 17 December 2008 by Alex Brown

Learn how project charters successfully bridged cultural gaps when making decisions among a community of Japanese and U.S. executives. Establishing a clear chartering process was the key to project management’s success at the company. The presentation will include templates and overviews of the processes established.
This speech was delivered and recorded live for the PMI New [...]

Strategic Project Managers LinkedIn Group

Monday, 27 October 2008 by Alex Brown

The Strategic Project Managers LinkedIn Group is a group of project managers working on strategic goals for their organizations. We realize that cost, time, and budget are all important, but sometimes strategy is much more important than any tactical project goals.
Members of this group promise to

Think and act strategically
Cooperate with and help other strategic thinkers [...]

Getting Your Projects to Meet Strategic Goals

Monday, 20 October 2008 by Jennifer (Tharp) Russell and Alex Brown

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Animated strategic plan overview (GIF)

Introduction
Project management and organizational strategy should be natural partners in any business. Project managers can and should play a strong role in executing organizational strategy. They also should provide critical information to the executives who set organizational strategy. Unfortunately, many project managers still do not [...]

Strategic Risk Management

Tuesday, 14 October 2008 by Alex Brown

Risk management is a truly universal tool. It protects individuals, corporations, and investments from harm every day. Managing projects to meet strategic, organizational goals requires a broader view of risk management. Looking at project risk is not enough. Inventing new “project portfolio risk management” methods is not enough. Strategic views of risk require integrating risk [...]

Negotiating For a Project Charter

Thursday, 2 October 2008 by Alex Brown

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Sponsors rarely hand project managers a clear, well-defined charter. Project managers need to ask, negotiate, and sometimes demand in order to get a useful charter. The negotiations begin as soon as the sponsor asks the project manager to investigate the new project or idea.
The project charter may begin as a simple verbal request, [...]