“Facts” continue to dribble out regarding what went wrong with the Iowa Caucus. Depending on your newsfeed, you’ve seen plenty of blame tossed about. It’s fairly easy to adopt a “blame them all, and let God sort it out” perspective. My experiences lead me to a different, very specific, conclusion. You see, I have these…
It’s time again to update the boss on that project. Here’s how to stand out as a star! First, include three main sections: A Look Back, a Look Forward and Action Needed. The look back should be brief and tie to the look forward section of the last report. Spend most of your energy on…
The Problem By far, the most common project management “methodology” I come across is the “pick a date and we’ll figure it out” approach. Practitioners of this approach create lists of tasks and pin those tasks to dates. This is a project “worst practice.” This is a dartboard approach. When relatively simple practices can dramatically…
“You cannot predict the future, but you can prepare for it.” A recent post on LinkedIn posed this question “Why do 70% of projects fail to meet either cost, schedule or technical performance?” As of this writing there were 23 comments. They included such things as: Not using iterative methods Too much planning, not enough…
The weather was sunny and dry in New Mexico, but the seemingly daily storm clouds were already forming over the mountain peaks to the west. The teenager apprehensively looked up from the map and compass laying on the ground. “Isn’t there an app for this?” A crew of 10 youth and adults were preparing to…
We each see different things in the mirror. Sometimes we see what we wish to see. Other times we see things as they are.
A poorly run meeting sucks the energy from the room. Too many meetings are unfocused, meandering and inefficient. With the following tips, meetings can move work forward instead of wasting time. Here’s how to plan your meetings for success: Follow the PAL principle. Every meeting should have a clear Purpose, Agenda and Limits. Provide the…
It was January 9, a long time ago. Santa, just back from his two-week post-Christmas Sabbatical, was addressing his Elf staff. “I have great news! Next year, we’re going Global!” The elves gasped. Up until then, the Santa Claus operating environment had been localized. They hadn’t even tested a regional model. “Whoa,” said one elf.…
If you’re pondering a Project Manager hire, you fall into one of two camps: 1) Your people have been acting as part-time Project Managers and you’re considering your first hire, or, 2) Your firm has Project Manager as a job title and you’re looking to add another. In either case, here is a relatively new…
I’ve heard that VIDEO is the way to go nowadays, and that only dinosaurs ignore that fact. Seeing as dinos are all extinct and I have more of a forward-looking vision anyway, I’m happy to announce this new feature. It’ll look like this: You will be able to access it from the YouTube icon…