The quality of your work is stellar. You’ve completed the project on time and under budget, yet the client does not think that you have exceeded expectations. Why?

Often, from the client’s perspective, perception is reality and value is subjective. For better or worse, what they perceive is all too often the standard by which they make value assessments.

Think about the way you parent your children, or the way you yourself were parented. We have helicopter parents; we have permissive parents who are afraid to say “no;” we have authoritative parents who are afraid to say “yes.” We have those who lead by example and do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do types. You can’t parent two kids the same way and achieve the same results; it’s not possible. You can’t even parent the same kid the same way in every situation. You can apply the same lessons to consultants: while there are a variety of different styles, ultimately, the style that is most effective is the one that works for you and your client.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Proper planning prevents poor performance. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. You’ve heard them all; planning is important. But it is also complex, intensive, and requires a little finesse with a crystal ball. Of projects that experience schedule slippage, 60 percent use no planning tools or methods; another 30 percent used planning methodology but not tools. Who knows what happens to the other 10 percent, but the majority tracked slippage back to lack of proper planning. This is why many PMI methodology tools are designed to aid this crucial step. Let’s take a look at three tools that can help a project start on the right note.

When you are making personal investments, say for your retirement, you need a balanced portfolio. Your mother, and your financial advisor, always told you not to put all your eggs in one basket: you need to diversify, reduce risk, and maximize profitability when possible. If you expand this out, you have a good picture of project portfolio management. Executives need to diversify, spread out risk, and, always, obtain a return on their investment. Just as you would ask, “Is that stock going to help me retire to Tuscany?”; those managing project portfolios would ask, “Is that project going to help us further our business objectives and goals?” How do they make that determination?

In 2009, Alfresco executive Matt Asay said of SharePoint: “It is simultaneously the most interesting and dangerous Microsoft technology, and has caught its competitors napping.” While competition has intensified since, SharePoint remains incredibly popular. Companies like Telus, MillerCoors, Citibank, and (surprise) Microsoft, use SharePoint for training; others, like Procter and Gamble, Kroger, and Dell, use it to create websites to interact with the public; still others use the platform for project management. What benefits does it offer as a PM tool?