(This post contains affiliate hyperlinks. Please read my full disclosure.
If you have just stumbled upon this blog, I celebrated 15 years blogging about project management in 2021.
It was time to reflect back on the best articles over the years. Here are the top 15 articles, year by year.
2006
I covered the Gypsy Moth IV project, which involved the restoration of an historic yacht. The project was in desperate need of cash at the time.
Gipsy Moth IV made her round-the-world trip and continues to operate, taking groups on breathtaking sea journeys.
2007
A guide on why projects fail was published in September 2007. It covered the most common reasons for project failures, such as poor sponsorship. But it also addressed how we define failure in projects.
It’s still something I don’t think we do enough of. Key success criteria and, in contrast to, what failure looks like are still areas where miscommunication leads, even if you deliver as promised, to unhappy stakeholders.
2008
2008 was a busy year for me as I lived and worked in Paris, France. This involved many office moves. I wrote about what every project manager should have in her office survival kit. These items were things that I carried from office to office, and not work-related paperwork.
By the way, although I call La Defense crummy in this article I have come to appreciate the arch, architecture, and the small cafes that are hidden between the offices. The massive shopping mall.
2009
I declared 2009 the Year of the Office Goddess, and wrote a series about how to excel at work.
This was one of my favorite posts: it’s about Pareto and the 80/20 Rule and how some things just need to be done.
This was back before I had brand guidelines that dictated how my blog should look. We’ve updated quite some things since then!
2010
Derek Huether was inspired by my project alphabet, which was a very popular post in 2010. He also wrote a book on managing zombie projects.
(Don’t know what that means? Here’s the scoop about zombie projects and how you can kill them.
2011
Five Project Management Apps You’ve Never Seen Before was one of the most-read articles this year.
Today’s check-in with the companies listed revealed that three of them are still in business, one appears to have been taken over and the website for the last one is no longer functional. Check out my complete list for more software reviews.
2012
It was the top post of 2012, and I didn’t realize it. The article was re-written recently and I still consider it a great piece of writing. (It wasn’t my writing, by the way.
2013
Google Analytics informs me that 6 Things You Didn’t Know about Being a PM was my top post in 2013.
This one was a long time since I last read it. All of this is still true to me.
2014
This article on 10 Killer Interview Questions For Project Managers is one of the most popular articles. It has been reprinted elsewhere, and is still being read today.
I was responsible for hiring back then (I don’t have a PM team today), so I was sharing my personal experiences.
2015
This was the year that I created the definitive guide to project management success criteria. This article is probably my most popular. I have tried to expand it over these 12 months to make it even better.
It was also the first article to include a free item. It currently has a list with 20 sample success criteria that have been prepared for you so that they are easy to remember.
2016
We are now in the 11th anniversary of the first year. The most popular article this year was my guide to project management conferences.
This article was so important to people. I didn’t know it would be this important. I will do it next year. It’s a good idea to sum up the best and largest events.