It’s about time for all of us to go on vacation and celebrate Independence Day here in the US. But before you go, engage your brain in these discussions and add your thoughts to the mix. You can even scream if you like. 🙂 Have a great week, don’t forget the sunblock and bug spray!Read… Read more »
It delights me every time I discover a way that the world of knowledge available to human kind is applicable across disciplines. Granted, the book Made to Stick is intended to apply as a guideline without any particular discipline in mind, only communication and retention of ideas in general. I’m working right now to makeRead… Read more »
For the week ending June 23, 2012 A combination of strategy and tactics posts and discussions graced the Govloop project management community this week, click through and catch up on what you’ve missed. Remember to start new discussions yourself by asking your most pressing questions here with the tag “project management” including the quotes. GainingRead… Read more »
Does your project have one leader? I hope not. “The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader.” – Derek Sivers A recent discussion Inside pmStudent e-Learning was about being a PM on a technical project when you have expertise. I remember very clearly a situation where I transitioned from a technicalRead… Read more »
Great White flashback to 1987 – Is he wearing a robe? To my wife’s dismay, this is not a post about the 80’s hair band, Great White. (Thank goodness!) This is about project communication and estimation. Mark had done his best. Being new to project teams, he tried to estimate his tasks as well asRead… Read more »
I’m going to make a very specific case today. Let’s review the Theory X / Theory Y models, knowing full well they are just models. There is no purely Theory X or Theory Y manager. Theory X Assumes project team members: are lazy by default will avoid work if they can inherently dislike work willRead… Read more »
I’m a Theory of Constraints (TOC) enthusiast. I use the concepts of project and feeder buffers to different degrees in my own projects. These are from Critical Chain, which is TOC applied to project management. The techniques really help you get a grip on Parkinson’s and Student syndrome and have early warning signals when thingsRead… Read more »
We all do it. Day after day we grind away at work, doing our jobs. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees anymore. Finding Inspiration Managing a project may seem mundane on a day-to-day basis, but I’ll bet you can find some pretty inspirational insights to share with your project teams when youRead… Read more »
I am dealing with some particularly frustrating bureaucracy and broken processes at the moment that I have no direct control over, so allow me to vent. This is what it feels like: Theory of Constraints, Save Me! Let’s see about a general approach to identifying waste and delays in trying to achieve a particular outcome,Read… Read more »
Steve recently posted the question the best employees are necessarily overworked. While I don’t think it’s necessarily so, it does tend to happen in my experience. I’ve been interviewed in the past about work/life balance and have some strong opinions on the topic. I’ll lay out some of my thoughts, and I hope you willRead… Read more »