Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Charles E. Hummel’s classic 1967 essay “Tyranny of the urgent” starts with this fundamental question. As project managers all of us have been through times when the 24 hours in the day don’t seem enough. We wish for a few more hours to finish all the tasks, […]
Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent – Let the journey begin Read More »
A project manager plays several roles during the lifecycle of a project. They need to wear different hats to ensure that each and every situation has the best possible response under the given circumstances. Mr. Gary Hearkens in his brief case book entitled “Project Management”mentions four “four unofficial duties of a project manager” – babysitter,
The Unofficial Duties of a Project Manager Read More »
Project managers – novice and seasoned – continuously strive to manage the triple constraints of scope, time and cost to ensure project success. But no man is an island and neither are projects. These constraints cannot be kept in control unless the project manager fully understands the ecosystem in which he/she is operating and able
Project Management ecosystem – 5 key influencing elements Read More »
Our friend, Alex – the project manager got some stern looks from senior manager Martha for proposing a new feature beyond the agreed scope in a customer meeting. The new feature is going to take some time and effort to implement if the customer will decide to go for it. What Alex just did was
Say NO to Gold plating and YES to Innovation Read More »
Project management as a profession has been around for many years now. Organizations take so much effort and spend a lot in project manager certifications and training. Still there are few things that cannot be taught in a training room. Either you have them naturally or learn it in the school of hard knocks. Below
What makes a Great Project Manager? Read More »
In Outliers: The story of success, Malcolm Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success using examples from Canadian ice hockey players to Bill Gates and the Beatles. Throughout this book, he claims that the key to success in any field, is to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific
10000 hour rule of success – Does it apply to project managers? Read More »
In the Web 2.0 world, the traditional concepts of the workplace are changing. For some, jobs are still 9-5 but not for all. For many of us, connected via the blackberry and the IPhone , we carry work everywhere we go. A lot of thought process is going on recently if employees can be allowed
Project teams working from home – the ground rules Read More »
We live in an era where globalization has been deeply entrenched in all aspects of life – let alone the workspace. Corporations have become truly global and need to have presence in local markets across the globe to sell their products across geographies. Talent is spread across the world and its needed to go global
Virtual teams – Get the best out of them Read More »
