Since 2007, Ricardo Vargas has been publishing the 5 Minutes Podcast, where he addresses in a quick and practical way the main topics on project management, business agility, risk and crisis management, among other topics.
In this podcast Ricardo talks about the project objective, he explains that many people think that only the name is enough to understand the project, but the objective is important to write and explain "what is" the project, within time and estimated costs. Ricardo also says that the objective should be a sentence that explains exactly what you want to do.
In this first podcast of a series of two, Ricardo talks about how an executive status report must be submitted, showing condensed information relevant to the sponsor and key project stakeholders. He explains that visual information is of great importance and that the report needs to have a pattern, without necessarily being presented in only a page.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the project quality requirements, he explains that sometimes the quality requirements are set when the project is near the end, and sometimes the project manager does not involve the customer early in the project and the requirements are made in the light of their understanding. Ricardo also explains that the quality requirements need to be tangible and relevant.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the advantages that the Microsoft Certified Technical (Technology) Specialist certification for Project 2010 bring forth to the project manager's career when combined with other certifications such as CAPM or PMP from PMI. He explains that a professional who has both qualifications has more chances of success in the field for he knows how to apply the technical theory using a PM tool.
In this second podcast of the series, Ricardo gives some tips on how to prepare an excellent status report. He explains that the great secret of the report is the ability to condense informations into a small and precise report, which usually can be 6 to 10 pages, trying to present visual data, colors, larger letters and graphics with performance information.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the stakeholder analysis and the types of interest they may have in the project. He explains that stakeholders will have a positive interest or negative interest in the project. Under this approach, he talks of levels of interest, showing who the people are more interested in and how the manager should involve them in the project.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about how appropriate the amounts allocated to the project management activities in the project. He explains that there is no an international standard to define the values, but there are good practices. Ricardo also explains that the percentage for the costs of project management is variable in relation to the total project cost, will be less on projects that cost more and more expensive in lower-cost projects.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the time that the project kick-off meeting should be performed. He explains that as the size of the project, the kick-off meeting does not necessarily have to be just one but many. Ricardo shows that we can have a kick-off meeting early in the project where the WBS is still wider, and we can have another kick-off meeting once the plan is ready.
In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the relationship between suppliers and customers, the process of procurement management and claims. He explains that often the claim generates a discomfort between the parties and that the best way to avoid this problem is to plan the project in the best possible way, defining in detail the scope and trying to document all the changes during the project.
In this podcast, Ricardo explains that the degree of risk exposure is the composition of the impact and severity of risk and that the definition of degree as high, medium or low involves the experience, culture, fears and emotions of those who are evaluating. He gives some tips on how to assess risk in an impartial manner.
Read Ricardo's reviews of some of the best technical books published.
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