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Do Project Managers have control of their projects?

In the January 2005 issue of PM Network (the professional magazine of the Project Management Institute - PMI), PMI published a chart that shows, "Which Project Control Functions Need the Most Improvement" (by percentage of organizations).

The results for needing the most improvement were:

Estimating Project Costs - 20.8%

Managing Issues, Risks, Changes - 20.8%

Educating Project Teams - 20.8%

Developing Schedules and WBS - 13.2%

   (WBS = work breakdown structure)

Managing Critical Paths - 9.4%

Tracking/Analyzing Project Costs - 9.4%

Documenting Project Status - 3.8%

Facilitating Plan/Control Sessions - 1.9%

[Original source was: "Project Control Functions: A Benchmark of Current Business Practices", Center for Business Practices, 2004.

The name of this article in PM Network magazine is:  "Control Issues - Project managers may not have the time to control projects adequately".

News Updates

Controlling Project Costs

What is the most difficult aspect of controlling project costs?

The following answers reflect the percentage of Project Management Institute (PMI) members choices:

Scope Creep - 78%

Predicting labor costs - 8%

Cost Accounting Processes - 8%

Establishing overhead costs - 6%

Source:  "Hot Button", Survey conducted by PMI and published in the October 2004 issue of PM Network.