IAPM Essentials #76 - News from the project management world

What was eventful last week? What has happened in project management? Here you can find articles worth reading and links to videos or podcasts that we warmly recommend.

To put it briefly: Essentials from the world of project management.

Enjoy reading!
Logo of IAPM Essentials number 76.

IAPM Essentials October 19, 2021

This week, these three articles were particularly inspiring:

Five Differences Between A Project Manager And A Project Leader
At first glance, project manager and project leader seem to be the same person. However, if you take a closer look, there are differences between these two roles. While project managers tend to coordinate, organise and try to prevent problems in the project process, the project leaders look at the big picture, motivate the team and provide a vision to get the best version of the team. While both roles try to accomplish milestones, project leaders additionally set goals for the team, the achievement of which should ensure high motivation and a good working atmosphere. So, you can see that one role is more operational and the other tends to be more strategic. It is therefore an advantage for the project's success if these two complementary roles are carried out by suitable people.
Click here to read the original article.

What Is A RACI Chart? Everything You Need To Know About This Project Management Tool
A RACI matrix is a tool to define roles, responsibilities and tasks. The "R" stands for "Responsible". This person, or team, is in charge of carrying out the assigned task. "Accountable" are decision-makers. This person delegates tasks and ensures that they are finished in the allotted time. Typically, managers or senior executives are assigned this responsibility. The letter "C" stands for "Consulted" and often refers to the stakeholders. They are consulted to provide input before a decision is made. Not every task needs a "Consulted", but the project manager should consider all possible people when creating the RACI table. "Informed" are informed about important processes, as they could influence their work. However, they have no decision-making power. Whether the table is used or not is dependent on preference. Typically, however, it is a good idea to use it in large-scaled projects with many responsibilities. In small projects, the cost-benefit ratio is not always given. If you do not consider the roles suitable for your project, you will find alternatives to the RACI table in the original article, which all follow the same scheme.
Click here to read the original article.

Farewell to SMART goals: The GUT method as an alternative for communication and social work - German language
In social projects, "GUT" could replace "SMART". While both goal criteria may sound the same on paper, they differ in one important respect. "GUT" stands for Accurate, Achievable and Timed (in German: Genau, Umsetzbar, Terminiert), so it actually includes all the points of the "SMART" target criteria except measurable. This is the advantage of "GUT". In social projects, numbers or figures are often not meaningful, not possible to grasp or too time-consuming to gather. In addition, figures in NGOs or charities, for example, do not usually cause people to jump for joy. Two questions are formulated for each letter of "GUT". G - What is the goal and what is to be achieved? U - How do we achieve it and how do we recognize progress? T - When is the goal to be achieved and how important is the time of achievement? You can find a practical example in the original article. It is certainly possible to force these questions into "SMART" as well, but probably not goal-oriented. That's why your next project might also be GUT.
Click here to read the original article.
 

Further articles worth reading and podcasts worth listening, you should not miss:

6 Thesen zur Zukunft Sozialer Arbeit
(en.: 6 theories on the future of social work)
Click here to read the original article.

Estimates Are Useful, Just Ditch the Numbers
Click here to read the original article.

Heute schon Agilität simuliert?
(en.: Have you already simulated agility today?)
Click here to read the original article.

How Big Tech Runs Tech Projects and the Curious Absence of Scrum
Click here to read the original article.

How to Create a Kanban Board: A Practical Guide
Click here to read the original article.

Ideenfindung leicht gemacht: 5 praktische Tipps für bessere Mindmaps
(en.: Idea generation made easy: 5 practical tips for better mind maps)
Click here to read the original article.

Kamishibai zum Nachhören
(en.: Kamishibai to listen to)
Click here to read the original article.

Product Owner No Gos
Click here to read the original article.

Product Owners - Stakeholders Are People
Click here to read the original article.

The Colossal Danger inherent in Velocity
Click here to read the original article.

Wenn die Methode zum Problem wird
(en.: When the method becomes a problem)
Click here to read the original article.

Author: IAPM internal 

Keywords: IAPM Essentials, Links, News

The IAPM certification

The certification can be taken via a reputable online examination procedure. The costs are based on the gross domestic product of your country of origin.

From the IAPM Blog

Become a Network Official

Do you want to get involved in project management in your environment and contribute to the further development of project management? Then become active as an IAPM Network Official or as a Network Official of the IAPM Network University. 


For better readability, we usually only use the generic masculine form in our texts. Nevertheless, the expressions refer to members of all genders.