Although there are a few methodologies, such as Agile and Six Sigma, that have their own topic areas, this area is devoted to exploring the many different project management methodologies that are utilized by project managers all around the world. In addition, this is a place where PM experts can “talk shop” and express their opinions on why they believe some strategies work and others don’t. We’ll cover Waterall Methodology, PRINCE2 and much more.
Culture within an organization, like differences among people, is characterized in large part by personality. This article reviews several personality types, how they can characterize an organization’s culture and how personality fits among other factors influencing organization culture.
While it is important to have values at the core of an organization’s culture, they must truly speak to who the organization is and wants to be – now and into the future. This article examines the potential shortcomings of focusing on only the most popular values in the present.
Many organizations build their cultures around the strength of certain functions within their organizations. These dominant drivers can often show up at the core of the organization’s culture. This article examines the influence of business function or organizational culture.
Values must be something that will enable the organization to be successful, to those they serve, to those that work there, to those that own it and to the communities where it exists. In other words, it needs to seek out enduring values that will stand the test of time.
Today we are bombarded with more distractions than ever. We must reconcile with the fact that lots of folks are completing for our eyeballs, our time and our attention. And it’s not just others. A simple phrase such as “stuff not fluff” can help us to get back on track.
Adversity is a fact of life. We never quite know when it will come but we know that eventually it will. As project managers, we can monitor risks but there may also come a risk situation where we need to plough through with all the ingenuity, skills, and determination that we have.
In his book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” Malcolm Gladwell beautifully illustrates how success comes in spurts. Indeed, whether moving a large rock or popping popcorn or making money, consistent effort is critical – but we should not expect consistent results.
Minor changes in thinking can go a long way – and so it is with the idea of having a bias for action. The idea of this article is to keep moving, to always be acting. In the face of decisions and uncertainty, the victor is always the one who is moving in some way.
Having choices is both good and bad – and therein we find the challenge for a PM to differentiate between the two sides of choice and guide things forward accordingly. So how is it that a PM can manage the plethora of choices on a project and deal with the paradox of choice?
The skill of persuasion is a key tool in a project manager’s tool belt. Learn a counterintuitive trick – uncomfortable to put into practice and yet proven and very powerful!
There is a flipside to respecting authority. If ignored, it can provide a perilous blind spot in our thinking and lead to potentially harmful decisions. We need to temper the goodness of respecting authority with the perils of putting our projects at risk by overreliance on authority.
People rely on project managers to fix problems and keep things on track. As a result, they are action oriented, anticipating problems and acting proactively. This is admirable, responsible and accountable behavior, but there is a risk.
Working in teams has become part of the daily fabric of work in professional environments today. Does the effect of social loafing mean that we are doomed to decreasing efficiency, or is there a better way to manage teams with due respect to the social loafing effect?
Experience bias involves overextending the lessons learned from our experiences.This article focuses on how to most effectively apply and how to avoid misapplying our experience-based knowledge.
Many things motivate people, but we often think of financial motivators first. However, the opportunity to do something that matters, to help people and to grow as a person motivates people. Indeed, there is a whole spectrum of motivators for every situation.
In a world awash with information, it is a challenge to distinguish between the useful and useless, the relevant and irrelevant, the complete picture and the incomplete picture. Learn how to best avoid negative effects and make sure you have good data to make a sound decision.
There is a common thread between Donald Trump and Barack Obama, or between Mahatma Gandhi and Jeff Bezos; between Mother Theresa and Al Capone. Learn the one thing that all of the most effective leaders have in common.
Sometimes we are doing all the right things, but things are just not clicking. Leaders bump into this situation: the proverbial brick wall. What can you do as a leader when you are bumping into that wall?
What does it take to be an effective leader? I learned three essentials in an “aha!” moment when someone distilled it down to the simplest terms that could be communicated in seconds. This is where the rubber meets the road!
What is your leadership style? This is a personal question – and not one that has a right or wrong answer. Learn about the four top leadership styles and how you can leverage the best – and avoid the worst – from each.
