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.
Project people everywhere are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve or add additional value to their projects. Twitter is one resource being used and recently a new Twitter hash-tag (hash-tags allow the user to directly participate in a specific topic of conversation) was created for Project Management Chat (#PMChat). A weekly discussion hosted by Robert Kelly and Rob Prinzo each Friday from 6-7pm (CET), its topics focus on Project Management and Leadership techniques, best practices, and so on.
But this isn’t a blog post about #PMChat. No, this post picks up on a response to one of the questions posed during Friday 30 Sept’s #PMChat topic: Project Closure and Lessons Learned. The question was…
Q2 – How can you assure that lessons learned are actually ‘learned’?
Good question. Why? Because the lessons learned exercise forms a key part of the project management process. But just doing the process alone won’t stop problems repeating. There must be action.
When a project is past its use-by date or looks unlikely to deliver the desired benefits in the agreed timeframe, tough decisions need to be made. Often a company will push on determined to see this thing through, following the kind of philosophy as described in Dead Horse Management. But throwing more money at it or changing the people involved doesn’t always work.
To end or not to end, that is the question but what on earth is the answer? The answer is, quite simply, to do what is best for your organisation and that could be to Stop It, Now!
Let’s take a look at a common example many of you will recognise…
I’ve just finished reading Chapter 14 of William Tate’s book “The Search for Leadership– An Organisational Perspective”. As the phone hacking scandal at News of the World was exposed and continues to explode across all forms of media, my timing couldn’t have been better. You see Chapter 14 focuses on Leadership and Accountability and as more and more details come out about News of the World and News International the more William Tate’s writings make sense.
If you want your IT project to be embraced as business as usual operations you must go through a transition process. But you can't be random about it and still expect great results. You need to consistently apply some logical and proven principles.
Read on to discover the principles that give project owners the knowledge to transition their projects with less difficulty and disruption. Or register now for instructions on how to download the full "Principles for Intelligent Transition" guide.
IPMA Young Crew has opened nominations for the 2011 IPMA Young Project Manager Award.
Unlike Before is thrilled to be participating, for the 2nd year running as a member of the esteemed award jury assisting to select the finalists for this award.
“This is an excellent opportunity for Project Leaders to gain acknowledgement and recognition for their successes to-date”, says Deanne Earle, Director of Unlike Before Ltd. “We’re certain the candidates will be stronger than ever and are thrilled to be involved once again.”
Introduced in 2006 at the IPMA Young Crew conference in Shanghai, China, the IPMA Young Project Manager Award recognises rising talent in the project and program management industries by honouring young project managers for their accomplishments early in their careers. These honourees have demonstrated invaluable impact to both their profession and their companies, and are on the fast track to becoming influential project leaders on an international scale.
Initial applications for the 2011 IPMA Young Project Manager Award will be accepted until midnight, June 17, 2011 EST. If you know someone whose expertise and contribution are worthy of recognition why not encourage them to submit an application. The application process for this year's award can be found here. Better still, if you meet the criteria why not apply yourself?
The full press announcement has been published on the PM Forum blog and can be accessed here.
About IPMA Young Crew: IPMA Young Crew is a key component of IPMA’s growth and development of the leaders of tomorrow. We are an active network of young project management professionals and students aged 25 to 35 who believe in community and the building of a worldwide young professional project management family. With over 20 member countries, IPMA Young Crew strives to provide experiential learning through interaction and information exchange with young project managers.
Remember the days of typewriters and memo’s, internal mail deliveries and the excitement that came with the introduction of word processors? Your desk had a work space, an in- and an out-tray, and your secretary would make sure the out-tray was emptied regularly in line with internal mail and the in-tray was organised with post-it instructions like ‘sign here’, ‘urgent’, or ‘for your attention’. You had time to ‘do’ work.
Is email managing you or are you managing your email? Meetings used to take up every spare minute of the day and now there's email to contend with before, during and after all those meetings. The amount of time we spend in front of our computers has taken the personal out of almost all our interactions and we're probably still not getting any real work done.
Here are 5 Rules or suggestions on how to take control back and liberate yourself from the burden of email, bring some personal back into play and become the IT Managers new best friend.
“We empower our employees.” The sentiment and intent of this statement reverberates through the air and bounces off walls. Commendable as it may sound, how often it really happens and to what extent is questionable.
This post sets about challenging the hype and supposed rocket science that seems to embody the process of empowering others. When will all leaders be prepared to achieve more by simply getting out of the way?
