15.06.2018 - Stakeholder management is still one of the most important methods in project management today. The origin of the method is unclear, but it is clear that stakeholder management is an important component of the training courses for all certifications for project managers, including those of the IAPM training partners. Stakeholder management is defined as the handling and analysis of the various needs and interests of all project participants. The various interest groups include not only customers, donors and investors, but also politicians, neighbours, local residents, the press, nature conservation associations, associations or other groups of people who are affected by the project in any way and who could have an influence on the project. Read more »

05.06.2018 - Nicole Basel is Digital Director and reports on impulse.de about her experiences with digitisation as well as her views on this topic and on the reasons why companies fail because of digitisation. Nicole Basel knows the typical mistakes that are made time and again in the various digitisation processes and wants to prevent companies from repeating these mistakes with her article. In the following we summarize her text for you: Concentrating solely on technology is a typical mistake that many companies make. The impulse is understandable: there is a new computer program that suddenly offers new, great possibilities that inspire all employees. Even the decision-makers sometimes get so carried away by amazing software solutions that they buy a software that is truly remarkable. Read more »

22.05.2018 - Project managers are ambitious in pursuing their goals, continue to develop plans and navigate the often unstable waters of their projects with determination. But despite all the targeted work and pre-planning, project managers should also always have a plan B in hand, because any problems that may arise when pursuing the project goals must not be ignored. A good project manager must therefore always work with foresight – and that means having alternatives to the preferred route up his sleeve. In politics you hear again and again about decisions without alternatives – some people interpret this as comfort, others find it consistent or even heroic. But in project management it is always necessary to take alternative paths. And the task of a good project manager is always to know a viable alternative. Read more »

07.05.2018 - Increasing project complexity has been a development in project management for many years. Project managers must therefore be able to deal with highly complex contexts and complex projects. Energy-saving concepts, environmentally friendly technologies and increased demands on project performance make a competent project manager irreplaceable, especially since increased complexity naturally goes hand in hand with more responsibility and tasks. While experts, architects and customers only have to look at the area of a project assigned to them, the project manager is entrusted with keeping an overview and keeping an eye on all aspects. This is not an easy task. The degree of complexity of a project increases uncertainty. The larger and more complex the project, the longer the list of risks and things that may go wrong. In addition, all these risks have numerous influences and effects on other project areas. Read more »

26.04.2018 - Oliver Schonschek is an IT journalist and technology consultant. Together with Dr. Andreas Bergler, he thought about IT security in an article for the "IT Business" website. He poses the question of whether and to what extent digitization represents a security risk for IT. Digitalization has many advantages and is, of course, unstoppable. In some areas it is progressing at a rapid pace, in others at a leisurely pace, and in some cases is developing in unexpected directions. In many areas, digitization reduces production and wage costs, while productivity increases and new products and services continue to conquer the market. Thanks to digitization, new markets can be opened up and sales increased. Digitisation also brings with it some challenges. IT specialists must be trained and further educated, because hardly any sector develops faster than the IT sector, which has long penetrated all other sectors. Read more »

18.04.2018 - Digitisation is THE subject in all industries and almost everyone notices its effects in their workplace directly and indirectly. Especially in an industry like project management you have to adapt to new technologies and digital gadgets almost monthly. A modern project manager is expected to be familiar with the latest methods and technical tools. The effects of digitization are manifold. People, society and the environment often feel changes delayed and not immediately, because digitization is progressing slowly and step by step, so that it is often only in retrospect that everything that has changed in recent years can really be recorded. Anyone who calls a hotline, for example, no longer expects to hear a human voice. Long (more or less) intelligent software has taken over here. Read more »

12.04.2018 - Jürgen Lampe works as a consultant in the IT department of Agon Solutions GmbH in Frankfurt and has more than 15 years of experience in implementing software solutions in banks. His article "Correctly prioritizing in software projects" on the Jaxenter.de website deals with priorities in software projects and describes the dilemma of selecting the most urgent project and making objective decisions in everyday project work. Jürgen Lampe describes the situation known to all project managers to prioritize under time pressure. Often not all the data and facts are available that would actually be necessary to make a well-founded decision - but time is running out and an important decision must be made immediately. Read more »

29.03.2018 - Two professors from the Technical University of Berlin conducted a study in which they investigated trends in project management. Future trends up to 2025, i.e. for the coming years, were observed and analysed. Among the 14 different trends identified was also the statement that there was a tendency for more and more women to discover the professional field of project management. Employment statistics show that more and more female project managers have been found in recent years and it looks as if this development is set to continue. This is probably mainly due to the fact that the trend may indeed intensify significantly, because we are still far from seeing as many women as men flock to this field of employment. But why is that and how will this trend continue? Read more »

22.03.2018 - Networking is a term that has become increasingly important in the professional environment and in project management in recent years. Networking itself has changed dramatically with the emergence of individual social media of different orientation. However, the term networking basically means managing all relationships that exist in the professional environment, not only on social platforms, but especially personally. Networking competence and relationship management are among the soft skills expected of a successful project manager, because they are often crucial for the success of projects. Relationships must be established, maintained and cultivated in order to be able to benefit from them for oneself, one's own career and one's projects. Read more »

13.03.2018 - Particularly at a time when projects are becoming more and more complex, when project managers have to achieve goals that cannot be achieved by conventional means and which in many areas require a high degree of creativity and flexibility, good management is important and crucial for success. Customers are pushing for the shortest possible project duration and rapid results. At the same time, frequent changes during the project within the framework of agile management also challenge experienced project managers. In addition to the continuous adaptation of project progress and project goals, project managers indicate outdated plans, misunderstandings in the project team and problems that are recognised too late as frequent sources of error. Read more »