Growing up, I was surrounded by my dad’s books of classic science fiction. He had always had a fascination and interest in science, and the ‘hard’ science fiction of the Golden Age naturally attracted him. The cheap paperbacks and, much rarer, the hardbacks of that time still occupied many bookshelves in our house by the … Read more
There are three broad types of project manager – the Courier, the Facilitator, and the Thinker. The Courier is, I am afraid, the worst type of manager. He doesn’t actually add value to his team, and in fact often gets in the way. But what does he do? Well, the Courier just acts as the … Read more
Project management isn’t just about project managers. We are just part of a team that works on the project. Our job is to help the rest of the team to be successful at their job. So what are some of the signs of a project team that successfully works together? I’ve come up with ten … Read more
Communication is vital in project management. In fact, I’d say good communication skills are one of the most important qualities a project manager can possess. But is a project manager getting involved in the internal communication of the project team actually providing value? As a quick thought experiment, let’s imagine a team of five members. … Read more
Well, we’re heading into a long weekend over here in the UK, where hopefully we’ll all get to have some down time, a chance to let our brains catch up with our bodies for a bit. All of us are guilty at one time or another of letting ourselves get distracted from the important parts … Read more
Some projects are done entirely in-house. The business has all the tools and people it needs to get the final result that they want. Often, though, a project will need to bring in outside help – such as buying in equipment. I’ve worked on some projects which have had major procurements as part of them. … Read more
The G20 summit has just ended in London, with an agreement every representative there has signed up to. The leaders of the 19 leading countries in the world, and a representative of the EU, have agreed to collectively contribute $1 trillion dollars for various schemes designed to help the global economy, and to tighten up … Read more
Recently I’ve been looking through a few TED talks, thanks to the iPhone TED app. I came across this great talk by Barry Schwartz, and wanted to share it with you. What I think is very interesting for us as project managers is the recognition that sometimes rules don’t work, and incentives can skew behaviour … Read more
As project managers, we’ve all had times when our attention is being pulled from many different directions at once. As well as our day to day tasks, sometimes problems pop up that mean we need to firefight, stakeholders can demand new reports, and team members can seek new direction. All of this can happen despite … Read more
Today in the Project Management Guide we are looking at our day to day work, the real meat of what it means to be a project manager. This is where we really earn our keep. Not surprisingly, there is a lot to this, far more than be covered in one blog post! However, as part … Read more
