Portfolio Management: Lamborghini Body on a Plymouth Horizon Chassis

Having attempted rolling out project portfolio management at several organizations I can state with confidence that the portfolio management process fails to deliver on its promise to streamline an organization’s project pipeline and provide high value. However, it is not the fault of the portfolio management process. Rather, I have found that the fault resides primarily with how organizations are structured (refer to a prior blog post titled Portfolio Management: Is Modern Management Practice Compatible?). Another major issue is a lack of education and understanding of portfolio, program, and project management at the upper management level (think C-suite). It’s easy... Read More»

A quick reminder: Agendas are important

Sometimes, I'll admit, I get a little lazy. No, "lazy" isn't the right word...it's more like I get a little too "comfortable." I'm comfortable with my project team; I'm comfortable with the work being done; I'm comfortable with our interactions; I'm comfortable with where we're headed; I'm comfortable with my own understanding of what's coming up and what we're supposed to be focused on; and I'm comfortable with my own ability to shoot from the hip. So sometimes, when I'm "comfortable," I come into meetings with an agenda in my mind, rather than published ahead of time. But just recently,... Read More»

Managing Key Talent

Every manager with more than 3 direct reports can identify somebody on their team as "key talent." These are the employees that know what is and isn't working in the group, help guide the junior employees and take a lot of critical work upon themselves to ensure it gets done right. If you haven't identified key talent, you should. And if you have, here are some tips for keeping them interested and on your side. I hired a guy to manage a product for me several years ago and quickly realized that he was special. He knew our technology space... Read More»

Managing People in Projects

"Experience is knowledge, everything else is just information" A. Einstein Managing People in Projects goes far beyond controlling the constraints of time, quality and cost but also requires managing the less tangible aspects that make up a project-influencing stakeholders, negotiating the middle ground to achieve win-win scenarios, resolving conflicts, and aligning decisions to the strategic imperatives of the business. There are no hard and fast rules to managing people aspects. Experience is an effective means to get better at managing people, but sometimes the bitter outcomes create long-lasting negative overtones. We know the source for developing good judgment often derives... Read More»

Managing the Administrivia

Sometimes the paperwork and administrative tasks required by an organization are daunting, especially at review time. And as managers, there are so many more important things to do than all that paperwork, right? Wrong! One of the key things you do as a manager is keep ahead of company processes, do what you can to ensure they make sense, and, sensible or not, keep your team in the know and their paperwork up-to-date. I had a manager that was on the road a lot and didn't prioritize the administrative functions of his job. The bulk of our commission check came... 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»

They Won't Always Like You

Dear new and emerging project leaders, I have some very important news for you. I need you to stop for a moment and consider what I am about to say. Many of you have been very well trained through formal classes and study, and access to tools and techniques. Several of you have been taught by experience in other disciplines or other fields. A handful of you are lucky enough to have a mentor to help you on your way. You're no doubt filled with optimism and confidence, ready to take on the world of project management. Sure of your... 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»