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Reflections on the development of AuditSystem/2

South African chartered accountant Trevor Stewart (pictured) recently sat down with The Project Manager in New York City to reflect on managing the development of AuditSystem/2, Deloitte’s integrated audit support system used by tens of thousands of professionals worldwide in serving the clients of the firm’s $12-billion audit practice.

Fudging the small stuff now means sweating profusely over it later

Okay, so perhaps you have the large projects nailed in Microsoft Project, but what about the smaller ones that, in reality, make up the bulk of your portfolio? Are you simply “winging” those, using status e-mails and Excel spreadsheets to manage them? If so, you could be making a great mistake.

Lessons learnt from the volcano that proved a mouthful and a headache all in one

Why has everyone started talking about volcanoes and trying to pronounce the name Eyjafjallajökul? I have just returned to England from a business trip to the United States, which was eight days longer than planned because the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name erupted on 14 April, sending tonnes of volcanic ash into the sky. As a result, the aviation authorities across much of northern Europe grounded all commercial planes, stranding about five million passengers across the globe who wanted to fly into or out of affected airports. Chaos followed, with European airspace being closed for eight days. Toward the end of this period, the authorities were widely criticised for having overreacted by prohibiting flights unnecessarily.

As the Earth becomes a change management laboratory, South Africa has yet to define its methodology

Question: what is project management?

Answer: it depends on who is asking and in which context. A context in which all known life forms are currently inextricably embedded is the Third Rock from the Sun – the solar system’s densest planet and the one on which we live, move and have our being.

Gone are the days when a rail link was simply a question of laying tracks from A to B

The Project Manager spoke to Jack van der Merwe, chief executive officer of the Gautrain Management Agency.

TPM: The Gautrain project began as a vision to get commuters from Johannesburg to Pretoria and from Oliver Tambo airport to the Johannesburg or Pretoria CBDs fast and in comfort. To what extent have projects such as the 2010 World Cup or Gauteng highway improvement tweaked that original vision?