The increasing advocacy for a new and better way of managing projects is very much rooted in dissatisfaction with the current environments. This article makes the argument that whether an agile or structured approach to project management is adopted, project results are unlikely to change significantly until organizational leaders recognize and step up to their role in overseeing projects.

There is a collective belief that systems projects have a problem in being managed effectively: that they deliver late, over budget and rarely provide what they were supposed to in the first place. While this is a reasonably well founded assertion, it doesn’t have to be that way. This article explores why.

While typical approaches to calculating ROI explore the perspective of both the process taken and the tools used, there is another angle to IT justification that bears consideration. If we look at the types of IT investments we make and the rationale that underlies each, ROI provides a clear basis for analyzing some benefits – but it may not be the best form of decision making for all of them. This article explores why.

Business cases for IT projects experience a high level of mistrust and suspicion. Executives and senior managers often question whether the benefits being claimed can actually be realized, or even if the costs are actually in line. This article takes a look at what is necessary to make a successful business case.

What makes a great project manager? What are the attributes that define project management excellence, and what should we need to look for in hiring project managers or—more importantly—recognizing and developing our internal staff capabilities?

One of the greatest challenges for most Project Management Offices today is being able to actually demonstrate their value and relevance to the organizations they support. One of the big challenges is how to measure success. This article offers a framework for effectively measuring PMOs.

For most organizations that flirt with the concept of project portfolio management, the concept of formal numerical or measured assessments for project prioritization and selection is usually one that is quickly tried and just as soon rejected as being inflexible, time consuming or just plain wrong. This article discusses the challenges associated with creating and using an objective prioritization and selection framework, and defines an approach that has been practically implemented in several organizations and proven to produce meaningful and relevant results.

The Organizational Project Management Baseline Study has been helping organizations to understand the processes and capabilities by which they manage their projects. The 2002 Organizational Project Management Baseline Study is the fifth annual study of organizational project management practice conducted by Interthink Consulting Incorporated. This article explores some of the key findings.

There has been a lot written about the idea of project management maturity, yet there persist a number of challenges, half-truths and misunderstandings about how they work and what they are used for. This article attempts to shed some light on an important construct.

This article provides an overview of maturity models, how they are often misunderstood, and the role they can play and significance they can contribute to improving organizational project management practices.