Helping companies and project owners bridge the gaps between their projects and operations. Find everything you need to achieve change fast through positive action.
One of the people I’ve connected
with through Twitter is Bas de Baar.
He’s The Project Shrink and in his
own words he makes ‘complex people stuff
less complex’. I like the way Bas writes and I particularly like the way he
uses hand drawn images to simplify difficult problems without trivialising
their importance. In a recent post The
Project Story Circle. Talking About Transitions he’s used a simple yet
very effective drawing. A circle as the cycle of a project and through the
centre of it a horizontal line representing the project itself. The two halves can
then be viewed as project and non-project time. Read his post
for all the details because here I’m picking up on one particular bullet
point he makes:
This will focus attention on the
transitions organization-project
and project-organization.
What Bas suggests is that the shape
can be used when discussing projects and where in the circle people join,
become active, and where they expect problems to occur. As a delivery
specialist I see companies and their people struggle repeatedly with transition from project to organisation and believe the struggle can be simplified
by using this drawing. Let’s take a look at an approach to change
management and transition that most will be familiar with then see how this simple drawing could help.
Christmas is that
time of year when there is lots to do and no time in which to do it. Even so
it's important to say thank you so I would like to
take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks for your support over the
course of 2011. It is genuinely appreciated. I wish you and your organisation a very Merry Christmas and look forward to helping you achieve continued success throughout
2012.
I've mentioned #PMChat before in an earlier blog post but for those of you yet to participate Project Management Chat (#PMChat) is a weekly Twitter chat hosted by Robert Kelly and Rob Prinzo where topics focus on Project Management, Leadership techniques, and best practices etc. The two Rob's have been named in the Top 10 Up and Coming Project Managers on Twitter and their partnership offers nearly 30 years of diverse experience to the #PMChat participants.
How does #PMChat work?
Each Friday at 11.30am (EST), that's 4.30pm GMT or 5.30pm CET, #PMChat kicks off with the #PMChat Pre-Game show. Using BlogTalkRadio the Pre-Game show is appropriately described as a 15-minute power session that adds tremendous value to your day. The Rob's invite thought leaders from a range of project management and leadership arenas to discuss the topic of the week. All Pre-Game shows are recorded live and can be replayed on demand.
Then from 12noon-1pm (EST), that's 5-6pm GMT or 6-7pm CET, participants use the hashtag #PMChat to continue the discussion on Twitter. Knowledge, experience, learnings and opinions are shared as the Rob's prompt interaction through a series of questions. As well as the obvious benefits that come with learning from a knowledgable and geographically-spread peer group, PMP’s are eligible to earn PDU's. A welcome bonus from an hour that's both useful and fun.
Last week I had the honour of being the guest on #PMChat. The topic of discussion - Expectations. First up was a guest blog post entitled "A Mantra - Never Confuse Sales With Implementation", quickly followed by a live appearance on the Pre-Game Show. After a few early technical difficulties the content of the show has subsequently been described as 'awesome', 'great', 'everything resonated' and 'excellent'.
Before you listen to the replay I'd like to say a special thank you to the hosts Robert and Rob for without their initiative there would be no #PMChat.
People are projects and Williams shows this time and again as he provides real-life examples of project problems and how-to resolve them. Having spent his career dealing primarily with red projects, his experience is palpable and his knowledge extensive. Reading his book is like being paired with the best mentor around and I read it like I do good fiction; totally absorbed. Drawn in by his experiences, and seeing the parallels to my own, I consolidated what I already know and practise while learning more from those 260 pages of text than I thought possible.
