Competence and Complacency: A Project Manager’s Friend and Foe

In this week's blog, I'd like to deliver on a promise I made last week, to offer a breakthrough in thought leadership for project management. This is a piece of advice that is often overlooked and frequently endangers projects - do not get complacent. It sounds simple, but it isn't. What I share here is based on 40 years of PM experience. I've been lucky enough to serve as a project manager on great teams at places like IBM and with the consulting companies I've owned. I have reviewed hundreds of troubled projects. Some projects were huge, worth millions, and... Read More»

What Is The One Thing That Best Determines Project Success?

In my voluminous spare time, I have been polling my network of project managers. My poll question is this: What is the single most important determinant of project success? Each time I have asked this question, I first encounter a long pause. Then, the person responds with something like, "There are numerous success factors: access to expert users, active sponsor support, clear project goals, blah, blah, blah. I don't think I can pick just one." I understand that but if you had to pick just one, what would it be? This generates a much longer pause. I coax a bit,... Read More»

The Project Manager Vision

You can seize only what you can see. A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. Every Project Manager should manage his/her career as a project, or we may say like a program. We must manage many projects in our life and one of them is our professional developement as a project manager. To grow up personally and professionally should be a project manager obligation. It needs time, effort, passion, persistence and patience. To get a handle on vision and how it comes to be a part of a good leader's life, understand these things:... Read More»

Seeing Clearly with Scope

Upon starting a recent project, my team and our clients gathered for discussion. We wanted to talk about this new project and collaborate about scope. For the clients, we were simply having our first project kickoff meeting. For me, this was the most valuable time of project initiation. As they expressed their wants and needs, their expectations for the project, I was able to gather facts and see the scope. Once my team and I returned from our meeting, we were able to discuss in depth the needs of the client and define our scope. It's a fact! Without defining... Read More»

Let's All Have Great "Corporate Maturity"

For many of us, the principals of Project Management are how we structure our work life, the ethical standards that PMI has all of us PMP's sign governs the way that we do (and don't do) our jobs. I agree that these are a great start to assist us in defining the boundaries that we want to avoid crossing, but I have been running into an additional barrier that many "corporate citizens" seem unable to pass, something that I want to call "Corporate Immaturity". It is akin to the concept of self-actualization that Abraham Maslow created in his hierarchy of... Read More»

Project Manager Responsibility

Project success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility. The one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility. I strongly believe that a project leader can give up anything except responsibility. On the other hand project leaders must lead by example, and transmit to their people that the sense of responsibility is fundamental for team and project success. Good project leaders never embrace a victim mentality. They recognize that who and where they are remain their responsibility. They never complain. During years I have observed some characteristics of project leaders who embrace... Read More»

Professional Gratitude, Recognition & Growth

While I always try to reflect on events as they occur; I realized this month that I could do more to "live in the moment" and reflect on professional lessons more regularly. Being so rushed and driven can certainly mean getting more done, but it can also result in glossing over some rich and meaningful encounters and the corresponding growth. While we may not always look at our professional interactions as something to be grateful for, we should. The people, projects and experiences we have in our professions shape our future, allow us to grow and allow us to shape... Read More»

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

You can't make this stuff up. On my way home from work this evening my wife called me on my cell phone. I dutifully pulled over to the side of road to have my cell phone conversation. This, by the way is stuff you can make up. "Do you know why we would have cows walking on our driveway?" She asked. For those of you who live in midtown Manhattan (New York, not Kansas) this would seem like an extremely odd question. For me, it was just another day in the paradise I call rural Iowa. "No" I said "I... Read More»

Project Manager or Super Hero?

A discussion panel of executive sponsors from within several Fortune-500 companies recently shared the following characteristics of what they believed differentiate the great project managers from the rest. They described the top project managers as strong leaders of people with the ability to predict the future, plenty of thick skin, and a passion for learning. It sounds almost over the top, doesn't it? I'm picturing a superhero with an invincible outer shell, an oversized brain with a sponge-like gadget to soak up new stuff, a super power that allows the future to be clearly visible, and the voice of a... Read More»

It's a New World

I am thrilled to report my affiliation with a new professional association, and I am quite excited to finally share it with you. Yes, and I think you will find this one to be both compelling and a breath of fresh air. What began as the idea for an independent PMO association has grown into something that I believe is much more interesting and valuable. Imagine having the chance to create rather than just join a group; there is still plenty of opportunity for you to become actively involved in shaping what this organization will be and what it will... Read More»