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Availability

I am currently fully booked until the end of October 2008.

Please contact me if you have a project which needs to be delivered after then.

Welcome to the Blog

The articles here will help you to manage your IT projects effectively. Please feel free to comment and come back regularly for more.

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Sharing spreadsheets

Posted by Cathryn in : Project Management, Technology , 2 comments

What’s the most useful project management tool there is? It’s not MS Project, or your favourite all-singing, all-dancing planning tool that allows you to create Gantt charts, do Earned Value Analysis, Critical Paths or any of the other (admittedly useful) techniques around project schedules. (more…)

Why Do Service Level Agreements?

Posted by Cathryn in : Supplier Management , add a comment

I’ve been doing some procurement work lately, negotiating with a client’s supplier and putting a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place for a new service. This morning, I found myself having a conversation with a colleague about what the point of all this work was. (more…)

Engaging Consultancy Suppliers

Posted by Cathryn in : Project Management , add a comment

Most projects will need some external service or consultancy, whether that’s technical expertise you don’t have, extra staff because your own organisation is too stretched or (please!) someone to help you manage the project. Whether you’re engaging a major consulting firm or a one-person band, it is very important to make sure that they are given a clear understanding of what they’re expected to deliver, when its needed and your criteria for accepting their work. The easiest time to agree all this is at the beginning, before you’ve given them a purchase order and before they’ve committed a lot of time and effort.

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A Sense of Place

Posted by Cathryn in : Technology , add a comment

When I’m not being a project manager, I’m studying (slowly) for a degree in Earth Sciences at Birkbeck College. It’s a hobby, but at the back of my mind I wonder if I could ever use it professionally. That curiousity led me to the first meeting of the British Computer Society’s Geospatial Special Interest Group last night, where the speaker was Ed Parsons, CTO of the Ordnance Survey.

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The Best Laid Plans

Posted by Cathryn in : Project Management , add a comment

You’ve put your plan together, you have your resources and staff lined up, everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and you’re all ready to go. What could possibly go wrong?
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Planning for Hardware

Posted by Cathryn in : Project Management , add a comment

Setting up a new server or two to run the application you’ve been building for the last few months is a simple matter, of course! Ironically, its something that often goes wrong in smaller projects, rather than larger ones, because it is forgotten in the rush and stress of testing and preparing for installation and teams don’t necessarily have anyone responsible for this area of the work.

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Creating Focus

Posted by Cathryn in : Project Management , add a comment

Aside from the fundamental tools and techniques of Project Management, such as planning and controlling, one of the most important aspects of the project manager’s role is to create focus for the project within the organisation. (more…)