Close your eyes. Imagine a castle. Picture it in your mind. What does it look like? What is it made of? Now think of the towers. Are they square? Round? Tall? Short? Do they have windows? I have a point, I promise you. The thing is, you could have imagined a variety of designs. Castle … Read more
We are a tool using species. It is one of our defining characteristics, and one of the ways we have been able to be as successful as we are. But there is another side to this – first we shape our tools, and then our tools shape us. We all know this, and it is … Read more
If you ask a project manager what their job is, they’ll usually tell you about planning, scheduling, risk management, and stakeholder engagement. These are the right answers – they’re the things on the certification exam, the things that appear in the job description, the things that a good project manager genuinely does. They are not, … Read more
Ask five people what digital sovereignty means and you’ll probably get seven different answers. The definitions vary by industry, by sector, by geography, and by if the person you ask is trying to sell you their own version of it. So here’s what I mean by it, and why I think this is a useful … Read more
Ask most project managers what they think of governance and you’ll get a weary answer. Governance means meetings that go on too long. Governance means reports that nobody reads. Governance means a steering group that last met six months ago and can’t remember what the project is trying to do. That cynicism is understandable, because … Read more
Earlier this year, I watched a demonstration of an AI tool aimed at project managers. In about two minutes, it generated a complete business case from a bare bones brief, a risk register with multiple items assigned to project team members, and a benefits map. The outputs looked professional. They were formatted correctly, used the … Read more
Most projects don’t fail suddenly. They fail gradually, then all at once. By the time a project appears on the board’s risk register as Red, the conditions that made it Red have usually been present for months. The warning signs were there, visible to anyone who knew what to look for, often being quietly ignored … Read more
It has been a while. The last post on this blog went up in 2012. I remember writing it, roughly. I was running my own consultancy, delivering projects across Greater Manchester, genuinely busy. And then the writing stopped — not with any announcement, not with a plan to return, just the gradual drift of someone … Read more
Last time, I wondered if the time of project managers has been and gone. You’ll be glad to know the short answer is ‘no’. The longer answer, though, is a bit more complicated… As George said in the comments to the last article, the truth is, and always has been, somewhat more nuanced than I … Read more
Why do we still have project managers? Hasn’t their time been and gone? That’s not to say that project management isn’t important, but do we really need a specific role for it anymore? Projects are Business As Usual For many organisations, continual projects are the new normal. Often the same team will carry on from … Read more
