Why Project Kickoffs Matter

A friend of mine said something this morning that inspired me the minute he said it: Teamwork in random teams has to start with you. Most people don't inherently work together unless you say something. Yes, he's a gaming friend, and he was referring to fragging noobs in battlegrounds rather than any sort of project work. (We talk about this sort of thing on Friday mornings. It's OK, though; geek is cool now.) Battlegrounds aside, his offhand remark struck me as the sort of profound conventional wisdom that has to become a blog post. Whether you're talking about orcs vs... Read More»

Now Why Would They Do That?

At a recent workshop one of the attendees had a question about pipe specifications. The majority of facilities have company specific pipe specifications and this engineer worked for a large oil company. Apparently a consultant working on one of his projects wanted the facility to have a company engineer stamp the pipe specifications. This was an unusual request as the pipe specifications are not pulled out of thin air. Within the oil companies there are typically a group of engineers who oversee the pipe specifications for the company worldwide and update the specifications as needed. This process is typical for... Read More»

Scrum Master-Project Manager without the Bureaucratic Fat

Being completely absorbed in an organizational transition from waterfall to scrum, I spend a significant amount of time reviewing material related to the comparison of the traditional Project Manager role to that of the Scrum Master. Naturally, making such a transition has a lot of project managers in the organization concerned about their role in the scrum world. I recently read an article comparing the two roles that left me at a Titanic-resting-level depth below impressed, to say the least. I would've paid it little attention, except that it was found on a very credible institute's site; alas, several will... Read More»

Are you stressed as a project manager?

We are living difficult times where budget and money are on the mind of most Executives in organizations. On the other hand more and more project managers are fired in European countries. Project managers that still work for a company are asked to manage more activities and more and more projects with budget reduction, and at the same time some of those project managers are getting their salaries reduced too. Because of the financial crisis more and more companies need to renew and reinvent different ways to run their business more effectively and efficiently. All those factors are generating some... Read More»

Why we're behind before we start...and what we can do about it.

Have you ever thought to yourself, "wow - we haven't even started this thing yet, and we're already behind the 8-ball!"? I heard a colleague express that he was having that feeling yet again this week, and it seemed that that happens more often than not. Everyone in the conversation agreed - both that the project at hand was behind before it had even started, and that it seems to happen more often than any of us care to admit. So why are we behind before we start? And what can we do about it? I'm suggesting a couple of... Read More»

Think and Work Differently

For any of you that have ever read anything that I have posted in the past, you know that I always lean towards doing what makes sense rather than what is written in some book. Each organization, culture, team, and Project is different, so why assume that anything and everything is cookie-cutter? With all of the specific steps in many of the methodologies, to follow them to the letter would make Projects so process heavy that you would never get anything done. Sure, documentation and process are required to avoid total chaos, but isn’t our role as Project Managers primarily... Read More»

Human Quality Considerations

In our personal lives, we review reports and conduct research to determine product quality, durability and other measures. For professional services, such as medical care, we ensure our providers have the necessary credentials and experience. We also know that quality is important in our professional lives, but seem to be more willing to make substitutions when it comes to acquiring human resources to fulfill our projects. Would you want someone without the necessary credentials and experience performing a high-risk medical procedure? The same thoroughness and requirements should be applied to our projects and organizations. Read More»

He Know's What He's Doing!

At a recent workshop I was going over the Work Breakdown Structure and the need break the scope down into more manageable packages. One of the attendees had a question about one of his projects. He was managing a small project that was upgrading some instrumentation at four separate locations. The design work was supposed to be the same at all four locations. When he got the project it was bundled into one package. The question was, since the work was the same, it did not appear to be any big deal to have one package so, was it necessary... Read More»