5 Questions about Project Management
with Frank Blome

Before we leave the office for the weekend, we stop for a quick coffee talk with our project management colleagues to chat about their best practices. Well, not literally, but that's how we designed our interview series "5 questions about project management". To be fast, intense and refreshing like a good cup of coffee.

Today, we’ll remain among our own because many readers asked us what our answers to the weekly five questions were. So we handed the questions to our CEO and founder Frank Blome. He has several decades of experience as a project manager and he is also the master of our inhouse projects.

1. What is your favorite project management method?

I don’t use a specific official method. During the past years I have created my own individual method. It is a collection of my favorite elements of different approaches. There is the backlog of Scrum and the critical path of CPM. I add a little agile management and bake it in the oven at 180°C. Just kidding ;).

2. Do you use project management software for bigger projects? If so, which one?

Merlin Project, of course! But I do not only use the software for project management but also to create mindmaps for brainstorming sessions or to visualize structures in Gantt charts. I even do key account management in Merlin Project, however I do combine it with Evernote.

3. What is your favorite routine in a project?

That’s easy: team meetings. As we work remotely, I don’t see my colleagues very often. When we meet and work as a team, that’s always quite intense but also a lot of fun. Especially, when we spend the evenings together.

4. What is the most underestimated factor for project success?

I agree with Tom DeMarco: risk management. He once said joking: “Risk management is project management for adults” and there is truth to that. I think, there is not one day when I could not make use of a solid plan B. And it’s not always the big project crisis you should be prepared for. It’s the little things. In any case: Don’t leave the house without a good plan B in your pocket!

5. What is your biggest time waster?

Administrivia. Again, I refer to Tom DeMarco who invented this term as a combination of administration and trivialities. Whenever possible, I delegate these tasks.