Jim Hannon has an extensive background in Agile coaching and project management with diversified experience across the information technology and financial services industries.  He is currently an Agile Coach and Director of the Agile Transformation Office at Fidelity Investments. Hannon is also a subject matter expert for Skye Learning’s Agile Team Challenges and Integrating Agile and Waterfall.

Project managers have a number of options when considering the use of Agile project management practices. They can adopt an Agile methodology, such as Scrum, and use it "full-strength" throughout the project, or they can take a blended approach and pick-and-choose Agile tools and techniques to incorporate into a traditional project framework. Understanding the differences between an Agile approach and a traditional project management approach can help you decide if Agile should be used for your next project. Check out our latest infographic to learn more.

Project managers have a number of options when considering the use of Agile project management practices. They can adopt an Agile methodology, such as Scrum, and use it "full-strength" throughout the project, or they can take a blended approach and pick-and-choose Agile tools and techniques to incorporate into a traditional project framework. Understanding the similarities between an Agile approach and a traditional project management approach can help project managers successfully employ Agile practices in their next project. Check out our latest infographic to learn more.

This week, Skye Learning would like to spotlight Rich Maltzman, PMP^®, a subject matter expert who has contributed to numerous Skye courses, including our PMP^® Exam Prep Course, CAPM^®  Exam Prep Course, and Six Sigma Black Belt Exam Prep Course.

Maltzman is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP)^® with decades of experience in project management. He is the Learning and Professional Advancement Leader at a major telecom supplier and the Co-founder and Principal of EarthPM, LLC. Maltzman also contributed to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)^® Guide, 4^th Edition, and authored the book Green Project Management, published in 2010.

Once you’ve assembled your team, it’s important to focus on building a positive team environment. As a project manager, you will be responsible for dealing with both the good and the bad. Positive team morale can eliminate project setbacks, issues, and miscommunication. Check out our latest infographic which covers ten tips for building a positive team environment.

One of the biggest mistakes a project manager can make? Management consultant Johanna Rothman says it’s the tendency to get involved in the project work itself. “As soon as you get stuck doing the work on the project, your project is doomed because you're not taking a look at the entire context of the project,” she says.  Check out our latest Skye Learning video for more of her words of wisdom. 

Scrum is one of the most popular methods of agile project management, and it comes with its own specialized language: it's a universe filled with sprints and sashimi, scrum masters and product owners and user stories .Our latest Skye Learning video explains it all for you.

One of the most important, and most complex, tasks for any team leader or project manager is effectively managing the people assigned to the project. Experienced project leaders know that successful projects are not the culmination of elaborate procedures, complicated tools, or elaborate techniques; they succeed because the people involved are integrated, organized, and empowered, which then frees them to put their skills to use in the most effective way possible.

For businesses looking to optimize their efficiency, Organizational Project Management (OPM) offers a clear path forward. By aligning projects, programs, portfolios, and operations within a strategic framework, OPM allows leaders to allocate resources and effort in a way that meets the needs of clients, teams, and stakeholders. Our latest Skye Learning video explains how:

Imagine you’re working hard on a project you believe in, and you are really enjoying the work. But the project reaches a critical inflection point, and you realize that it’s completely over budget, off schedule, and in danger of being branded a failure. Most of us have been there, and it is often unclear exactly what went wrong. That project was likely suffering from bad-project-management-itis, a very common phenomenon.