Project Smart's 10 Most Popular Articles of 2015

As we prepare to close the door on 2015, Project Smart looks at the most popular articles we published in the past 12 months.

1. How 20 Minutes Each Morning Can Transform Your Day as a Manager
   8 August | Sebastian Bos
   Sebastian secures our top spot for 2015 with his popular look at how to improve your personal time management skills, encouraging us to get up 20 minutes earlier and transform our day.
2. Seven Habits of Failing Managers
   8 August | Duncan Haughey
   This year's runner-up, Duncan identifies seven signs of a failing manager and, uncomfortable as it may be, asks whether you recognise any of these traits in yourself or your colleagues.
3. Estimating Project Work Gone Wrong
   21 March | Brad Egeland
   Brad's first of four appearances on the top 10 looks at five common issues related to estimates and introduces some solutions for creating better estimates.
4. Looking for a Good Project Manager: 5 Tips for Hiring the Right One
   10 September | Brad Egeland
   In this article, Brad offers five tips on how to hire the best project manager available for your team. According to Brad, hiring good staff is 'not luck,' but instead requires leadership, tech skills, passion and experience.
5. Strategy vs. Luck: Managing Projects in the Face of Uncertainty
   6 September | Kenneth Darter
   Rounding out the first half of the top 10, Kenneth says that whether you're playing a game involving luck or you're managing a project with unknown variables, always look ahead and plan for random elements.
6. Starting the Project with Both Feet on the Ground
   15 May | Brad Egeland
   Keeping us grounded in reality, Brad looks at how to get a project started properly by making sure both feet are firmly planted on the ground.
7. Soft Power for Success
   7 June | Mike Griffin
   In this article, Mike looks at the ability to influence the behaviour of others to get the outcome you want. He weighs the pros and cons of hard power versus soft power, and concludes that soft power rules!
8. How to Build a High-Performance Project Team
   25 July | Duncan Haughey
   In his second appearance in our top 10, Duncan outlines what makes a high-performing and winning project team, and the type of people you need to achieve project success.
9. Building a Project Management Office from Scratch
   8 November | Brad Egeland
   Brad's back (one last time) with his popular look at what is needed to build a Project Management Office from scratch, and he asks, 'is it worth it?'
10. Moving From Project to Programme
    25 July | Kenneth Darter
    Fittingly enough, in our final spot, Kenneth shows us what to do when projects grow and need to be transformed into a programme.

The top 10 articles focus on making improvements as a project manager, which isn't surprising given that businesses are becoming increasingly project-led, and as a consequence more of us are becoming project managers.

As the name suggests, the list of articles is limited to those published in 2015. Like many websites that have been online as long as Project Smart, some of our 'timeless' content was also very popular throughout the year. …

As always, we thank our tremendous contributing authors, who have provided us with many valuable insights during 2015.

We're delighted you visited us in 2015. Be sure to come back in 2016 for more original articles full of valuable insights and lessons from our authors.

Thank you for reading Project Smart in 2015. Happy holidays and best wishes for 2016! …