Give Your Project a Home
Have you ever been on a project where the team members and the project manager resemble migratory birds? This nomadic existence does not lend itself well to fostering project cohesion and direction. And without a cohesive project team, project performance can suffer.
In my experience, one of the more effective ways to produce cohesion and focus on a project is to have a central location that serves as its geographic and social home. To create such a home, project managers should build and operate a “project control room.” The project control room is a gathering spot for a team to …read more
A Hollywood-Style Move From PM to Scrum Master
“As your mother tells you, and my mother certainly told me, it is important, she always used to say, always to try new things.”— Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Cinephiles and regular movie-goers know who Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is. Sir Anthony is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television, considered to be one of the greatest living actors.
Your journey as a project management practitioner may be similar to Sir Anthony’s journey as an actor. You may have to play different roles in projects and might gained recognition for your …read more
To Have and To Hold
In one of my previous posts, I suggested ways to maintain documentation. And as you know, documentation is very important — it’s the essence of knowledge transfer. The beauty of documentation is that it allows us to avoid the pains of reinventing a series of events that may only reside in a person’s mind as a singular experience. It can also lead us to extract some aspect that may move our project from uncertainty and unknowns to more useful information.
So, once we have taken the precautions I mentioned in my previous post for generating clear and valid documentation, …read more
Leading With Integrity
A few months ago, I wrote about the essential principles of leadership, and one seemed to have really struck a chord with readers. That principle is integrity. And, as I prepared to write some thoughts on the role of integrity in leadership, several examples of why integrity is so important jumped to mind.
Take the case of the United States senator accused of plagiarizing his college thesis paper, or the seemingly lenient penalty that the National Football League commissioner laid down on one of the league’s stars over a domestic violence incident, when other comparable infractions have …read more
Bloggers Sound Off: Congress Takeaways
By Voices Team
In this Voices on Project Management roundtable, two bloggers discuss their top takeaway from PMI® Global Congress — from the perspective of an attendee and a presenter.
Attendee
Every time I attend a PMI Global Congress, I am ready to discover exciting learning opportunities. Congress gives me the opportunity to interact with peers, discuss best practices, common issues and the latest trends in project management. But my biggest takeaway is the networking.
But networking opportunities do not start at the congress — you can start contacting attendees in advance and use the congress as a venue to …read more
Project Management: The Vessel for Innovation
Innovation seems to be the new mantra for companies — even though it has affected and shaped all aspects of our lives. And innovation covers not only the creation of a product, but also includes the process to produce it, how it’s delivered to customers and even how value is generated, both for the company and the customer.
Some argue that processes and policies are barriers to innovation. These people confuse innovation with creativity and believe that trying to implement a well-thought-out, standardized process to manage innovation will constrain the results. But the opposite is true: A method for innovation sets …read more
The Fairest Metric of All
We often rely on a number of different metrics to help create insights into our true project progress. These can range from discrete indicators, such as schedule performance index, to more subjective measures, such as forecasting completion dates based on prior experience on similar projects.
I am asked on regular basis which project progress metrics is my favorite. In other words: If I were marooned on an island with a project status report with only one project metric, which one would I pick?
After careful consideration (and I hope I have more supplies than just a status …read more
Translation Series: “World-Class Lessons from World Cup Coaches”
By Voices Team
To reach a global audience of project professionals, Voices on Project Management presents a blog post every month translated into Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
This month’s post by Kevin Korterud explores four lessons learned from great leaders: World Cup coaches.
Read it in your language of preference and share your thoughts in the comments box below.
Lições dos Treinadores da Copa do Mundo de 2014
来自世界杯主教练的国际级管理经验
Lecciones Magistrales de Los Entrenadores de la Copa Mundial
…read more
Eliminate the Fear Factor
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) and most modern management texts emphasize leadership and motivation over directive control.
Yet if employee surveys are to be believed, around 70 percent of managers still operate in command-and-control mode. These managers rely on authority, discipline and fear to drive performance. And their team’s commitment to the organization and performance suffer accordingly.
It’s simply futile to tell people they must come up with a bright idea within the next 30 minutes or sanctions will be applied! Fear damages creativity and destroys openness; frightened people cannot work effectively in a …read more
Are Portfolio Managers the Next Chief Strategy Officers?
A relatively new but increasingly important role is emerging: the chief strategy officer (CSO). From Starbucks to Siemens, many organizations now have a designated CSO.
A CSO can be defined as an executive responsible for assisting the CEO with identifying, communicating, executing and sustaining strategic initiatives — basically, what a portfolio manager does.
And I would argue that the next CSOs will come through the portfolio management ranks.
Strategy itself is about renewal, and renewal is achieved through transformation. Therefore, a key part of strategy is innovation. That’s not just technical or product innovation. It’s also managerial, organizational and process innovation implemented …read more