PMcrunch

Many professionals are either “knowledge seeking” or “problem solving” - but, to their detriment, not both. You can create a one-two punch for professional effectiveness by combining “knowledge seeking” and “problem solving”. Let me show you what I mean by looking at some details of some popular bodies of knowledge today.

[Read more →]

I have worked on all kinds of projects.  I’m well aware that project requirements will pit you against limitations of all sorts.  Indeed, we all recognize that we operate in a world of constraints; however, sometimes WE are the biggest constraint of all.   This leads me to the question, “Is your project bigger than yourself?”

[Read more →]

“Managing an IT project is like juggling chunks of Jell-O: It’s neither easy nor pretty.” So it says in an excellent article on IT Project Management is CIO magazine. The article goes on to say, very accurately I think, that “Information technology is especially slippery because it’s always moving, changing, adapting and challenging business as we know it.”

[Read more →]

In thinking about shareholder management or investor management, especially in today’s volatile environment, I see a big parallel with stakeholder management.  In essence stakeholders are the investors in our projects.  Stakeholders hold a “stake” in our projects.  Stakeholders, just like investors, have different levels of investment or interest in our projects.  We must think of […]

[Read more →]

As a program or project manager, one must keep an eye on both the near term and long term.  Today, under tough economic conditions, we typically turn to more near-term thinking because the focus needs to be first on survival before considering future plans.  We need to be careful however to not take this near-term thinking too […]

[Read more →]

Networking has always been an important activity for everyone - especially professionals on the move. The fact is, no matter where you want to go, you can probably get there faster, and more efficiently, if you have a good network. Networking can also be a great deal of fun.

[Read more →]

Both technology and the environment have always fascinated me.  Together they make quite an interesting combination.  Add financial viability to this cocktail and you have a real winner!  That is what clean technology is all about!

[Read more →]

What is Project Leadership all about? What constitutes leadership, and how can we measure it? Why is it important to us? These are some questions that arise for me when I think about what I call the “Menund’r'm Conundrum”.

[Read more →]

Depending on your environment, you may have some team members that seem like non-contributors, and in some ways actually get in the way. While I have never experienced this - or at least not for long - on the smaller more critical projects I have managed, I do see this on larger more matrix-oriented projects. The question is, “How can I handle this?”

[Read more →]

There is always something going on that we can “take advantage of”. When we are in school, we can take advantage of the opportunity to learn new things in a free thinking environment. When we are on vacation, we can take advantage of the opportunity to sit back, relax and have a good time. When the weekend comes, we can take advantage of the opportunity to get some extra things done around the house, or to see to some friends. Now, we find ourselves in a recession. So, the natural question is, “What can we do to take advantage of the recession?”

[Read more →]