APM Blogs

In 1995, Martin Cobb, the CIO of the Secretariat of the Treasury Board of Canada, said: “We know why projects fail, we know how to prevent their failure – so why do they still fail?” This became known as Cobb’s Paradox, and while we could argue that this absolutist statement is not completely true, there is no doubt that we have a lot of knowledge about how to run projects and more seem to fail than should be the case.

While 2022 has ushered in opportunities to connect with people in person at conferences and meetings, it has also exposed us to tedious presentations, pitches and rambling hosts.

Whenever I speak about the differences between management and leadership, I always emphasise that the differentiating factor isn’t the level of cognitive ability or technical skill that someone has.

When approaching agile project management for the first time, it becomes apparent that there are two trains of thought.

You’ve been in project management for a few years with some good achievements under your belt.

The reopening of the world has brought with it various considerations for individuals, and despite vaccinations and scientists putting their best foot forward, we may always be mindful of the risk of infection, wary of shaking hands, close contact and enclosed spaces.

When delivering large scale infrastructure projects, we need to consider how to deliver a legacy to help the government’s levelling up agenda which may not be realised until long after the project is finished.

Ah, summer is rolling in and everyone’s schedule gets busier and busier.

There seems to be a common view that project management is very simple – you know where you want to get to, you think you know the intermediate steps, then it’s just a matter of lining up the sequence, drawing up the Gantt chart, nailing the critical path and master budget – and charging ahead! If it really was that simple, there would be no need for APM.

It’s a wet morning in 2023 and you’re comfortably seated in two chairs at once.