(updated version) As I work with small- to mid-size businesses on planning, I find that many don’t undertake effective, annual business planning. They may complete a high-level ...

(updated version) Most major corporations are spending a couple of months building the plan for next year. The irony of this rite of summer cannot escape comment.  ...

As many of my longtime newsletter readers know, CompanySmith started five years ago with a premise of working with business leaders to identify and mitigate project risks. As those readers also ...

What stories does your team tell about its projects? Often it’s easy to poke fun at the surprises and failures and how individuals have struggled. But do those stories help?  ...

It's a problem of seed corn. You have to save the seeds to plant for the next crop. In the case of your business, you need to build career paths for ...

…when their great ideas trap you Setting the Trap Do you believe what you read about showcase projects, turnarounds, quality methods, strategic deployment, and other ...

Consensus is a cornerstone of contemporary management practices. It is not only essential in transitioning from hierarchical or matrix organizations to network organizations, but it is the basis for employee involvement, ...

To the business leaders that use ROI -- or its variants of NPV, DCF, or other alphabet soup -- as the pillar of their business investment process, I say you are ...

Here are five practices that leading edge teams use to turn successful projects into exceptional projects. There are many base competencies that are critical to successful projects, including clear requirements, realistic ...

Sometimes, You Just Have to Stop... It is very hard to stop a project at any time, but especially after there are people committed to working on it. ...

Brevity Helps At the earliest stages of a project, the definition should be short and to the point. Marketing glitz should be second in importance to clarity of ...