Common Language is the Key to Project Management
Imagine being asked to work on a project, only you don’t speak the language in the country in which it will be conducted. You wouldn’t get very far, and you’d most likely experience a lot of raised eyebrows because all you could do is point and smile. Sharing a common language is not the same [...] Read more »
PM Lectures - Project Management Training
I recently went through a course from PMLectures called “Dealing with Difficult People” by Margaret Meloni. I’m earning some PDU’s with it but I also learned a lot of techniques to help me deal better with people I work with every day.
In short, the video presentation goes through Read more »
Practice Project Management at home
As a Mom, it is important to know exactly where everyone is at any given time, how long they are going to be there, and what they are doing while they are there. Other than that, it’s pretty simple.
As a Project Manager, it is important to know exactly what task each project resource is working on at any given time, how long they will be working on that task , what they are doing and why they are doing it. Other than that, it’s pretty simple. Read more »
Let Them Fail
I listened to one of my favorite podcasts yesterday, EconTalk. The episode was a discussion about credit default swaps and more generally about the financial woes we have gotten ourselves into. Then this morning, I read this article in the New York Times, “U.S. Shifts Focus in Credit Bailout to the Consumer”.
[Editor: Digressing so early in the post?] (don’t worry, I’ll tie this into project management at some point)! Read more »
Irrational Loss Aversion
Recent events allowed me to catch up on some reading and I found myself going through “Sway - The Irreresitable Pull of Irrational Behavior” by Ori and Rom Brafman. The book is a generally enjoyable light read, but it delved into one topic I found very fascinating: irrational loss aversion. Read more »
Making status meetings fun is possible - yes, I promise!
Regular status meetings are boring: everyone goes around the table and rehashes what they did in the last week or month. No one really cares. If the project dates are slipping, the team wants the meeting to be over with so they can get back to doing something useful.
But status meetings can be fun! Read more »
The Need for a New Knowledge Area
So I’m doing some PMP sample test questions today and ran into one where at the end, additional things were added and the customer is very happy. According to the answer, this project was unsuccessful because the additional features were “gold plating” which wastes time and probably cost. I got this wrong because I read “the project has added [this and that]” as the [this and that] = intended product of the project.
But there’s a deeper insight here. Read more »
Successful Projects: It’s Not Rocket Science
There is often a misconception that managing an IT project is difficult. Avoiding the common pitfalls of IT project management is not rocket science, it is simply a case of taking some sensible measures. This article identifies 5 killer mistakes of project management and their solutions. Read more »
Avoid the Same Old Mistakes by Focusing on Lessons Learned
It’s said there are no new project management sins, just old ones repeated. It’s also said that we don’t learn the lessons from past projects and this must be true, otherwise why would we keep making the same old mistakes? Read more »
Personality type for to-be Project Managers
By Soma
Like many others, I am an aspiring Project Manager.
Apart from all the hard core techniques, certifications, networking and trying to motivate your team- the asset of a project manager more than often is his or her own personal soft skill set.
Ever thought about the personality type you belong to and how it can contribute towards your effort in becoming a PM? Read more »
Stepping into Emotional Pressure
Courtesy of connectleadership.com, this video does a wonderful job of illustrating a soft skill technique you can use in your daily work to deal with difficult situations. Read more »
It’s Time for PMs to “Take the Bull By the Horn”
We are in the midst of tough times economically. Troubled times remind leaders of the need to take responsibility. Tom Watson, founder of IBM once said something like this: “It’s not the tough times I worry about, it’s the good times.” Mr. Watson was undoubtedly referring to the observation that in good times we tend to get sloppy, whereas we tend to be at our sharpest during bad times. Read more »
Preparing for and Dealing with Layoffs
I have been laid off myself a total of 5 times since 2001, and have learned a great deal from those experiences. The first time, I had a very hard time dealing with the emotions involved, and trying to get by without having prepared for this risk financially. Please, if you don’t feel prepared for this risk should it happen, check out this resource for your own benefit. Read more »
Project Change Management
“My boss read in a magazine that developers using ‘___’ programming language are twice as productive, so he bought us a copy and cut our schedule in half.”
Project Change Management: Why developers need a project manager who can also manage change well, and get buy-in from the team before forcing a change on them. Read more »
Help Your People Escape Meeting Hell
“I spend half my days in meeting about how to get more work done (instead of working).”
Next up, this troubled project team member is riddled with meetings that do not seem to add any value, and he feels he could get more work done if people just left him alone. How can a project manager help? Read more »
