GBMC Autumn 2025 Newsletter

GBMC is a leading provider of project, program and portfolio management consulting and training to organizations who want to excel in these domains. We operate in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific regions. For more information contact us at [email protected]

We have accumulated many learnings from recent projects and we would like to share a few (not written in any particular order of importance).

Understand client requirements before engineering design. Spend quality time in design to minimise changes especially in projects that are done in waterfall approach – example construction. Problems occur when there is a poor understanding on the designer’s part, or lack of properly defined requirements by the client. Changing requirements during construction may create as many problems as the change is intended to solve. Consider changes that really matter – those that add real value to the expected project outcomes.
If you are using agile approach, make sure that the user stories are well written by the Product Owner. User stories without well defined acceptance criteria would mean poor software outcomes and delays defeating the benefits of using agile.
When a deliverable does not perform as per requirements, do a thorough analysis to identify the causes of the variance. Once you resolve the causes of the variance through root cause analysis ensure that your organization is fully aware of what went wrong. Remember lessons relearned is frustrating for the project team as well as, to the internal and external stakeholders.
A good review process would involve making a timeline of events, plotting where the problems occurred, applying critical thinking to find an optimal solution and a record of the people who participated in the discussions and in decisions making. During troubleshooting discussions be objective and focus on facts rather than the personalities involved.
Do not assume that management understands the details of your project. The less understanding of technology and project processes by management the more explanations and reporting needs to be done by the Project Manager. Use simple language and re-explain things if needed. Don’t confuse management with details unless they ask for these.
Make sure that you have checked the accuracy of the information that you provide in your reports – physically verify progress (do not rely 100% on pictures sent – they do not tell the whole story. In a recent project the pictures looked all good but the process of getting to the final result was poorly planned and executed as a result material and time were wasted.
During project execution deviation from baselines are early warning signals – do not ignore these. Expect deviations to the plan if your estimates are made at a high level – remember the 80 hour rule for granularity. Also, frequent variations in estimates would probably mean poor estimation processes used. Using experts and spending time in estimating costs money but at the end you become a more reliable business partner.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control roles should support the project teams and behave in a manner that helps the organisation improve – remember you are on the same side of the team!
Ensure that your plans have a glossary of terms. Creating a jargon of terms may look fancy but in reality, jargons create communication barriers and misunderstandings.
SMART is a great way of working but we often forget the meaning of A – Achievable. An objective can be Specific, Measurable, Time Bound but not achievable nor results oriented.
Create with the project team a Team Charter (describing expected Team and individual behaviors) at the beginning of the project and make it visible throughout the project. Remind project team members what they signed off for in all your meetings. When new team members join the project make sure that they understand what has been agreed to.

I hope you enjoyed reading the above. If you’d like to comment on the above please drop us a line at [email protected]

GBMC Autumn 2025 Newsletter

Tips and Tricks for Project Managers