Project Management and the Art of Confrontation

I have been brushing up on my negotiation skills to ensure my sanity lately, and came across a fantastic presentation deck about confrontation that I am sure every Project Manager on the planet can benefit from. I have summarized in my own words the highlights below, including some personal thoughts regarding the conclusions and comments made. If you would like to review the entire deck, please access the following link: http://www.pmipr.org/html/presentaciones/confrontation%20skills.pdf In terms of background on this “tool”, there are a few different confrontational types of behavior: Aggressive; Non-Assertive & Assertive – the “preferred” method. Assertive behavior involves face-to-face, respectful... Read More»

Do you want to be a Project Ninja?

I have been reviewing many Job Descriptions that are out there for Project Managers, and I realized the other day that if I was really graded solely on what was written in mine, I would really be failing in the eyes of the company. We are so much more than tasks, dates and Project Plans aren’t we? In many ways I am very lucky, the VP that I report to and I, see many things the same way and are more flexible in terms of allowing team members to bend the rules and do what makes sense, than to follow... Read More»

What Really Is A Project Manager?

The longer I work in some form of a Project related role within any organization, the more I realize that the skills required to manage a Project to a successful outcome requires so much more than is encompassed in the PMBOK. I have also found that there are many Project Managers that don’t share that philosophy, insisting to stay “inside the lines” of what is outlined in the PMBOK – a “that’s not part of a PM’s job” mentality. I have seen again and again that ideal increasing risk, reducing the quality of deliverables, and costing money. The big one... Read More»

Black Friday the Project Management Way

Just like approximately 200+ million people each year, I am a Black Friday shopper. It has become a tradition. After the yearly Thanksgiving dinner with friends, a cross section of the women sit down with the flyers from the Thanksgiving edition of the paper, and map out the "plan of attack". This year we had a "Black Friday Virgin" decide to join the experience, and was stunned by the "Project Planning" process that I go through (once it was mentioned, it got everyone torturing me, as I apparently take Project Management to the extreme - is that even possible??). We’re... Read More»

Project Management, Methodologies, and Organizational Maturity

In my last few positions, I have spent time setting up the Project Management discipline in the organization, and ultimately creating a "PMO" in each . Now, whether you would agree with me or not, I believe that PMO's are created and customized to meet the organization needs at the time that the department and processes are set up, in other words, there are no "cookie cutter" implementations. Looking at each Project Management Office, or function (or even the Methodology that was implemented) was directly linked to what that organization's culture could handle, and what could be implemented successfully. In... Read More»

A Few Tips on Hiring for your PMO

As usual, it seems that I have been doing a large amount of interviewing lately, looking for that diamond in the rough, that “perfect fit” for the team and the environment. For those of you that are also responsible for staffing your PMO, you know how vicarious the process is, and how you never really know what you’re buying until after you’ve bought it. In some ways it feels as though you’re dating on a timeline, you have two dates with each candidate before you have to make a commitment and walking down the aisle. Sure, divorce is always an... Read More»

“We” versus “Us & Them”

Just this past weekend my team and I were up at 4am for the deployment of a Software Project that had been in development for quite a few months. The Project is one of those “typical” Projects where there was attempted scope creep at the 11th hour, pre-deployment panic, and the “crying wolf” syndrome where every tiny issue found was going to stop the world from turning on its axis. On Sunday, during the post implementation verification I found the team trying to solve some problems on the fly that was the result of incorrect, mismatched data, which we all... Read More»

Deliverables as Interview Tools

Many of my associates spend a lot of time looking at new ways of getting the best tools for their projects, and one day a few weeks ago I was sent a link on a new way of interviewing for selecting team members "Projects Are the New Job Interviews” http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2012/05/projects-are-the-new-job-inter.html?awid=4711429804570248879-3271 by Michael Schrage. I read it and it gave me some food for thought. I do understand the need to be confident that the candidate can do the job, but is forcing work product the right way to do it? I personally don't think that for PM/BA work, that's necessarily... Read More»

The Art of Parenting and Project Management

I recently took my twins in for their yearly checkup at the Pediatrician’s office, and for those of you with kids, you know that they send you home with a summary of your child’s growth statistics. Of course, part of the sheet has a section for “Parenting Tips”, which I read and realized that some were great fundamentals for Project Management! So, taking it a step further, I went out to see what types of expert Parenting wisdom I could find, and lo and behold, Time magazine posted an article “7 Rules for Parents”, dated May of 2004 that I... Read More»

Think Simple Whenever Possible

I recently went through the exercise of bringing on a contractor for a six month period to assist with an overload of analysis on various Project efforts. I am continuously surprised at how many different interpretations of “Agile” I get, and how often practitioners within the Project Management arena seem to feel that their value to the discipline is their ability to use tools. Although I agree that the ability and capacity to use tools is important, I don’t see that in the top three skills required to be a good/great Project Manager. I asked each candidate what the bare... Read More»