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Ronald B. Smith, MBA, PMP
Master of Project91Articles published
About Ronald B. Smith, MBA, PMP
Ronald Smith has over four decades of experience as Senior PM/Program Manager. He retired from IBM having written four books and over one hundred articles on project management, and the systems development life cycle (SDLC). He’s been a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) since 1998, which has a membership of about 3 million professionals worldwide. From 2011 - 2017, Ronald had been an Adjunct Professor for a Master of Science in Technology and taught PM courses at the University of Houston’s College of Technology. Teaching from his own book, Project Management Tools and Techniques – A Practical Guide, Ronald offers a unique perspective on project management that reflects his many years of experience. Besides writing, he swims five times a week to keep in shape. Lastly in the Houston area, he has started up two Toastmasters clubs and does voluntary work at various food banks to help people facing hunger.
Articles by Ronald B. Smith, MBA, PMP
91 posts
LatestThe Influence of a Mentor
Mentoring is the sharing of one’s knowledge, skills, expertise, experience, etc. for the benefit of another. Mentors can play a crucial role in a person’s career. They can offer advice […]
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Chess and Project Management: Part 2
A previous article, Chess and Project Management, explored the similarities between the game of chess and project management. A professional chess player who is also a PMP found the first […]
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Sharing Resources Across Multiple Projects
A resource pool can help you see how resources (i.e., work or materials) are used across multiple projects, so you will be able to track costs per plan, as well […]
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The Missing Column
How many times have you hidden a column in your MS Project plan that you think you might need in the future or don’t have space for when printing and […]
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Avoiding Root Causes of Troubled Projects
Prevention measures should be considered to reduce or contain the root causes of troubled projects, thereby improving project quality, profitability, and customer satisfaction. This article is not intended to be […]
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How to Create and Customize Filters
In MS Project, filtering is a way to see or highlight only the task or resource information that meets the criteria you choose. Filtering does not change any underlying data […]
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Who’s in Charge: Obtaining Third Party Services and What Questions to Ask for Success
In my early years as a project manager (PM) for IBM, I worked on several assignments where third party vendor or sub-contractors (usually with a specialized skill to perform) were […]
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Projects are a People Thing: What if Success or Failure is not Based on Technology?
Running a project is akin to reading a book. You have a beginning (otherwise known as the project charter) and an ending (the project closeout). A book consists of many […]
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Chess and Project Management
Many kids learn to play chess in school or after school. I was a member of my school’s chess club when I was in the 7th and 8th grades. I […]
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Project Take-Over Checklist
Looking for Red Flags Periodically during my career at IBM, a live project would be thrown “over the fence,” and, inevitably, hit me on the head while I was working […]
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Communication Wake-Up
In my 40 plus years of project management, I have found most new project managers (PMs) lack skills around giving presentations, conducting meetings, and listening. This gap in communication can […]
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Projecting Project Success
Success or Failure of a Project is a People Thing Although technology and software development tools are essential for most projects, it’s the leadership of a project that makes the […]
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