Opinions

We need to redefine the concept of project management and embrace the future of work. It’s a future that is more social, personalized and empowering for workers at every level. This future will also require new solutions for promoting teamwork, encouraging participation, connecting remote teams and easing the burden on project managers.

You've probably heard about “paralysis by analysis” but relying on gut instinct to solve problems and make decisions also lead projects astray. Understanding the psychology of decision biases can help us become better decision-makers and project leaders. Ultimately, we must incorporate a balanced approach that uses both intuition and analysis.

Federal agencies are turning to Agile methods to lower costs, increase efficiencies and improve IT success rates, but entrenched cultural and operational realities are holding back meaningful change. Here’s a critical analysis of why Agile is stalling in the federal sector and what needs to be done to jump-start it.

We all know the benefits of positive thinking, but seeing the glass half-full does not make it full. The fact is, many failed projects overdose on optimism first. So whether it's called cynicism, skepticism or negativity, questioning rose-colored project assumptions and expectations is a healthy habit for all team members.

Teams, not individuals, drive performance. No one person, however talented, can match the power of a team’s combined skills. But managing teams, with their hidden politics and complex interplay of human differences, is very different from managing individuals. Here are eight insights on what a well-run team looks like.

The ubiquitous annual planning process is a trap. It is a barrier to high performance and it gets in the way of individuals and organization making things happen. We need to redefine a year. Here are three steps to achieve your goals, starting now, not later.

The war of words between some agile advocates and waterfall traditionalists shows no signs of ceasing, but growing numbers of project leaders and teams are choosing not to choose sides. Instead, they recognize value in both approaches, and they apply their techniques based on the needs and realities of each project.

High expectations for project managers are a good thing. Sometimes, though, it might be nice to be able to shed all of the emotional and intellectual equipment we wear to get our job done — to let others to get a little different perspective for who we are.

A widespread fallacy is that the ability to rapidly create business value by embracing change is not possible using methods outside the agile model. The fact is, successful projects are likely to incorporate some agile principles while rejecting others. Let’s quash three common Agile myths.

Starting with the expectation that all projects should succeed is misguided because it hinders risk-taking and creativity. True innovation is built first on failure. Still, risk management has an important role to play in every project.