DUE DILIGENCE

At a recent workshop I was stressing the importance of due diligence and safety on projects. Due diligence “ is the level of judgement, care, prudence, determination, and activity that a person would reasonably be expected to do under particular circumstances”. Due diligence is demonstrated by your actions before an incident occurs, not after the fact. A simple example of due diligence is your company’s safety program where everyone is required to take a safety orientation and sign off or take a test to prove they have read and understood the information. If there is ever an accident, the company... Read More»

7 Things a Project Manager Should NOT Be Doing

There is no shortage of information on the activity, processes, and tasks that project managers should be performing. It is more difficult to find information on those activities project managers should not be doing. Add value by NOT doing these 7 things. Read More»

Was This Project A Success or Not?

Working The Markets In this article I want to tell you about a project I managed that, depending on your viewpoint, was either a success or a failure. The project was to build a medium density fiberboard (MDF) plant using scrap lumber. If you think of building a house, there all manner of small waste pieces of 2 x 4's etc, that go to landfill or some other use. This is the scrap we were looking for. This meant the plant had to be near a large population area. The background of the owners of the plant was all financial.... Read More»

Managing Up Part II - What Motivates Your Boss?

It goes without saying that managing up involves understanding how your boss gets paid and what business objectives are most important to them. But do you know what really motivates them? What they fear? Do you know what they really want from you? Managing up is the art of answering these questions. The last time I discussed managing my boss' tendency to "think out loud," and the churn it could cause. Today I want to bring a couple "drivers" into focus. I worked for a VP in one company that really didn't want to know what I was doing day... Read More»

Managing Up

We all know doing a great job is rarely enough to be successful as a manager. Sometimes, understanding the nuances of your boss' personality is a lot more important than how you actually perform on the job. I had a VP at one company that enjoyed yelling, "Jump!" and seeing how quickly everybody would comply. He wasn't malevolent; he just really enjoyed having a staff that waited on him. His admin waited on his every word. We joked that she removed people from his favourite stall when he needed to go to the restroom. But his style made everybody say,... Read More»

The Criticality of Common, Concrete Language

I have recently joined a company that is in its Project Management infancy, and I have come on board to assist in creating a PMO with all of the bells and whistles that will work for the organization. The company works in providing online software programs, and has been experiencing explosive growth over the last few years, which has opened up the need for structured Project Management within the organization. Putting in this structure offers a huge opportunity for improvement, but realistically is an uphill battle climbing a very steep mountain. I am always glad to see when an organization... Read More»

Avoiding Fumbles

A number of years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles played against the New York Giants in a game remembered for a fumble. The Giants had the ball, leading 17-12 with 31 seconds to go. The Eagles had used all their timeouts, and New York simply had to run one more play to win. For nearly all such situations, the quarterback will take the snap and fall to one knee - a safe call to avoid any handoffs. But this time, the offensive coordinator called for a running play. The handoff from the quarterback to the running back was fumbled. The Eagles'... Read More»

"Manage That Pipeline!"

OK, so for those of you that manage the Project pipeline, I'm sure that many if not most of you have experienced those Charters that don't get approved, or die. The documentation gets completed, it goes to the powers that be, but somehow even though it doesn't get an OK2GO, it doesn't die either. It seems to perpetually stay on hold, but it keeps on getting brought up during the Steering Committee meetings, and six months or a year after its initial pitch, it is decided that the documentation should be reviewed, updated and reviewed again by the team for... Read More»

When Are We a Team?

Most of the time, we're only a team because we report to the same boss. We help the boss achieve their objectives but we work on different things. How can you make your team more of a team? The key is finding a way to make everybody depend upon each other for completing the job. In one position, I broke product management into a few co-dependent functions. Core product managers owned product requirements. Alliance managers sought out partners to plug functional holes in our solutions. A third function was communicating core solution value/messages, schedules, etc. to constituents outside the group.... Read More»

Empathic Project Management

Empathy is the ability to put one's self in the shoes of another and to identify with what the other person is feeling. Meaningful human relationships are based on empathy, which is built through demonstrating vulnerability. By empathizing with another individual you are demonstrating your willingness to connect with someone on a basic human level. Perhaps more than any other, the act of showing empathy for another person in the workplace has the power to transform interpersonal relationships and increase understanding. The reality of today's workplace does not necessarily make it easy for managers to practice empathy. A significant amount... Read More»