|
Opinions
Perspectives, Passions & Peeves
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 next>
Unlearning PM: Who’s Managing Whom?
- by
David Schmaltz
(May 8)
|
|
However you might define project control, you should question its purpose before attempting to accomplish it. Otherwise, you may default to a control strategy poorly matched to your intentions and your project’s purpose. There’s considerable evidence that individuals, not managers, PMOs or progress reports, exert the most meaningful control over successful projects, and that external controls compromise this inherent capability.
[more]
|
Staking It All On You
- by
Elizabeth Harrin
(April 17)
|
|
As project managers, we spend a lot of time on stakeholder analysis and management, and well we should. We need to identify all the people who can help (or hinder) the project, work out their level of interest and influence, and find the best way to communicate to them. But one stakeholder often goes missing in this process: you![more]
|
Unlearning PM: Don't Task, Don't Tell
- by
David Schmaltz
(April 10)
|
|
Can projects managers better serve their teams and achieve more valuable results by not getting involved in task-level planning? Yes, because the real-time judgment of those who are executing the tasks will probably be more constructive and insightful than a detailed plan created before work even began. It’s not abandoning the plan, but using it more as hypothesis than directive.[more]
|
Unlearning PM: Seeing Different
- by
David Schmaltz
(March 27)
|
|
Most project managers are introduced to a way of seeing projects that is more reductive than holistic — more focused on work breakdown than flow and value creation; more metrics-measured than self-regulating. In Part Two of the series, the author explains why an emphasis on inputs, outputs and certain processes might hinder performance and, ultimately, project value.[more]
|
(Projects) Made In China
- by
Janet Carmosky and William Carl
(March 13)
|
|
The guoqing (national character) of Chinese project management stresses instincts over methodology. With an education system that churns out resourceful engineers, projects are ready to deliver at the task level. It all falls apart or comes together where project leaders must intuitively translate mission into objectives, and that’s tricky when directives are based more on political criteria than commercial principles.[more]
|
In Defense of Frameworks
- by
Glen Alleman
(March 6)
|
|
The Project Management Institute does not claim the PMP certifies skill or experience, nor should any credible interviewer make this assumption. But experience requires a framework in which to compare its relevance. The real issue is: “How to interview and select good project managers.”[more]
|
The Unlearning Principle
- by
David Schmaltz
(February 28)
|
|
Fact is, most organizations want professionally certified project managers, never mind whether certification actually prepares anyone for the hard realities and fuzzy ambiguities most projects encounter. Of course, once the certified project manager is on board, something more than perfect recall of multiple-choice answers is required. And a huge dose of ‘unlearning’ begins.[more]
|
Suretification
- by
David Schmaltz
(February 14)
|
|
Organizations face a real challenge to qualify people to engage in project work, and the almost universally accepted solution is certification. But certification doesn’t guarantee ability. In fact, it doesn’t even certify knowledge when so many of the “right” answers on these exams are actually wrong in the context of real-world project management.[more]
|
Time Is On Your Side
- by
Terry Doerscher
(January 31)
|
|
The modern knowledge worker cringes at the mere mention of time-reporting. And the ephemeral nature of project work does make it difficult to measure effort and progress precisely. But without some mechanism to granularly track these things, it is nearly impossible to establish accountability, identify inefficiencies, refine estimates, adjust plans and improve productivity.[more]
|
Counting the Uncountable
- by
David Schmaltz
(January 10)
|
|
Assembly-line procedures have vastly improved the efficiency of explicit work, but they tangle the machinery when applied to implicit work. Managers and knowledge workers don’t punch a time clock because their work value is not productively measured by the hour. So why are projects? And what are the realistic alternatives?[more]
|
Sponsored Announcements and Special Offers
|
You need instant access to all project information any time, anywhere? You want all your planning, progress tracking and controlling data stored in a single, secure place? Onepoint Project is flexible, fast to deploy, easy to use, with ROI usually well below 12 months. Get your free trial version now.
"How to be an Effective Team Leader". Join Projects @ Work and Stanford University Professor Pamela Hinds on May 13th to learn new insights and skills that will enable you to collaborate more effectively with teams. Learn about the challenges, opportunities, and best practices for managing distributed teams. FOR MORE INFORMATION TODAY!
Training Solutions for the Project Management Professional
Get world-class PM training from University of California, Irvine Extension--a PMI-Registered Education Provider. Master the PM Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide; earn PDUs; prepare for PMP certification; earn transfer credit toward a master's degree at our partner university. Learn More.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
