Are you working from an Estimate, or a Budget? These two get confused quite a bit. They seem to be the same, and one usually derives from the other, but they’re not the same. An estimate is an approximation of what your project (or piece of it) will cost. The budget...

A big area of confusion in the world of project management involves the terms framework, methodology, and process. Unfortunately these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. That’s incorrect, and creates most of the confusion. So let’s look a the difference – One...

In the original Ghostbusters film, Bill Murray tells Sigourney Weaver that he never sleeps with possessed women. She then gives him a kiss at which he says “Actually, it’s more of a guideline than a rule”. It’s my favorite definition of the difference between a...

We’ve all heard it the old joke “how do you eat an elephant?” “One bite at a time.” One of the more common questions we see from newer Project Managers is “where do I start? I have a project, I know the scope, but I’m not sure what the next step is.” The next step is...

The list of things that can go wrong with an NGO project is fairly broad – people often cite natural disasters, conflict, political interference and a long list of etcetera’s. Without doubt, NGO Project Managers do work in difficult circumstances – no question. We...

LINGOs began to work with a group of international NGOs in 2007 to collectively define agreed upon principles and best practices in project management in the development sector. That early group received some funding from PMIEF and included Catholic Relief Services,...

When I met Jeanne in a small café in Hackney, I was immediately thrown off balance. I had expected beads and hippy braids; I was met instead by a small, neat woman, formidable in her efficiency as she secured us a table by the window. Jeanne is freelance project...