Things Your PMO is Doing Wrong

APPENDIX A

An Earned Value Primer

Since earned value is such an integral part of advancing project management techniques, the project management office's personnel must be fluent in it. I recommend Gary Humphrey's courses ([e-mail]). For those who elect to read this book first, and then seek professional earned value training, this appendix will serve as a primer for earned value management systems.

What is Earned Value?

Put simply, earned value is a method for quantifying project performance. To assess the value of the work you have accomplished, multiply your percent complete by the total budget for the work. For example, if you have been offered $100 to paint a living room, and you are (verifiably) half done, you have earned $50. ...