Innovation is not just about breakthroughs and high level thinking! It can – and must – be applied at the human level to increase personal effectiveness. Everyone says that the most important thing on the project, in the organization, or indeed in life is the people! That observation alone is enough motivation to apply innovative …
Some people think that all of the innovative thinking is up front, and that once a project is moving, there’s little more room for innovation. While there is a lot of innovative thinking up front, it is of a strategic or tactical nature. Once the project or initiative is underway and has some momentum, there …
Innovation is not just strategic or technology based, but rather can be very effectively applied at the tactical level. It requires accepting the strategic direction as a way to focus thinking. But once that is done, it takes the same out-of-the-box thinking that any other type of innovation requires. The focus on tactical innovation is …
When it comes to innovation, it’s not just about a major technology breakthrough or giant paradigm shift! More often than not, it’s about shifting mindset and performing sound strategic thinking. At the strategic level, it’s about taking a holistic and high level view and thinking about direction, and all the factors that influence direction. It’s …
It feels great when your presentation is beginning to come together and look…’presentable’. But it won’t be done until you have done some substantial rehearsal, going through all of the materials in order. You may find that certain parts don’t flow as well as you thought…and you need to make some changes. You may find …
PM and the Spirit of Giving: Someone Specific in Your Network Read More »
Think about your entire ecosystem for a moment – those that are deeply involved, and those that are involved in your project but more on the periphery. Often those on the periphery are vendors – not the biggest ones, but maybe smaller but not insignificant. What they do is often taken for granted; it is …
PM and the Spirit of Giving: Special Appreciation for a Vendor Read More »
As a project manager, you are probably in reasonably good touch with your customer’s business needs. The reality, though, is that some of these business needs will shift…and there are other needs you need to consider also. Customers are people too…and in fact are usually teams of people. Each person on the customer team has …
PM and the Spirit of Giving: An Extra Mile for the Customer Read More »
While the holidays are a time for giving – we usually express that spirit well with family, friends, and neighbors – we may often miss the opportunity to express that with a team member. As project managers, we so often move from team to team…and team members also move in and out of your team. …
PM and the Spirit of Giving: Focused Attention to a Team Member Read More »
It feels great when your presentation is beginning to come together and look…’presentable’. But it won’t be done until you have done some substantial rehearsal, going through all of the materials in order. You may find that certain parts don’t flow as well as you thought…and you need to make some changes. You may find …
Preparing for a Big Presentation: Rehearse and Build Flow and Confidence Read More »
As the title of this article, and of the series, implies, this is a BIG presentation. It needs to cover a variety of related topics, often explaining difficult and complex topics in simple and clear language, aided by accompanying visuals that also add clarity. Beyond the individual slides, which need to be honed until they …
Preparing for a Big Presentation: Allow Plenty of Time to Prepare Slides Read More »
There is no better way to ensure the success of your presentation than to involve all stakeholder groups as early as possible. The approach pays respect to the old adage of “no surprises" – as everyone will know what to expect. Ensure that everyone has some sense of ownership of the presentation – or at …
Preparing for a Big Presentation: Involve Stakeholders as Early as Possible Read More »
Preparing for a big presentation on your project is a critical and often daunting task. Initially, you may ask yourself, “Where do I begin?" From my experience, the tried and true approach of building an outline really is helpful to kick off the process. However, the key to doing that right is to review that …
Preparing for a Big Presentation: Determine the Key Topics to Be Covered Read More »
Having a Project Management Office (PMO) is not a solution; having an effective PMO is. Studies show that PMOs can be effective…but that an alarming number of PMOs are not effective and are failed efforts. In fact, some studies show that as many as 60% of PMOs fail, and often when they fail, they fail …
The Project Management Office: The One Thing That a PMO Must Do Read More »
There are many project management software products, and many of them support the operations of project management offices (PMO) and the project portfolio management (PPM) function. Every organization is unique in terms of size, industry, complexity, culture, types of projects, and more. This article explores the aspects of project management that map to the software …
The Project Management Office: What to Look for in PMO Software Read More »
Project Management Offices (PMOs) partner, control, or serve the organization by providing structure in the form of project management methodologies. However, it gets more complicated when there are different project types – and different approaches to managing them. It is especially complicated when some approaches emphasize local, decentralized management – and need to support it …
The Project Management Office: Waterfall, Agile, and Hybrid Methodologies Read More »
There are many flavors of PMOs, according to many experts, but this article breaks it down to three main types. They involve emphasis on partnering, controlling, and serving within the community. Partnering means the PMO provides standards and educates and assists project managers to help elevate the practice of PM throughout the organization. Controlling sets …
The Project Management Office: The Three Flavors of PMOs Read More »
One area of social media PM that can have tremendous benefits is that of mining knowledge. Most projects are in a practice area that has a vast library of knowledge out there on the web, thanks to social media. It’s up to the project team to take the initiative to leverage knowledge from social media …
Social Media PM: Leverage Knowledge from Social Media Read More »
There are a number of effective social media tools that can help the process of project management. Effective social media PM is all about identifying the right combination of tools that will efficiently and effectively move the project forward. Even if non-optimal tools are chosen but used effectively, the project will benefit, but ineffective use …
Many people cringe at the thought of social media. After all, for all the goodness of connecting people and providing and open platform for sharing and expression, it also can be a tremendous time waster! It can be the same on a project! I think it’s a matter of attitude and approach as it is …
When I think of ‘Social Media PM’, I naturally first think about collaboration. It’s all about sharing information, making information open and available, and providing people with the opportunity to participate in sharing ideas and providing feedback. Collaboration is actually quite compatible with agile, which advocates for teams being ‘self-managing’. The only way teams can …
