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Curriculum for a Consulting Project Manager 101 Class
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has many different Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in order to meet the needs of its 250,000 members. PMI has asked the question: What should be the curriculum if we had a Consulting Project Manager 101 Class? Here are my thoughts: The book “Flawless Consulting” by Peter Block should be a…
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Are team building exercises bad for introverts?
Here’s an interesting discussion from Tech Republic about the value of team building exercises. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=119 Several self-described nerds wrote in to say that they find the team building exercises that have been designed by extroverts to be truly horrific for introverts. One contributer, who calls herself Server Queen, said I find that kind of thing…
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Meetings are not Deliverables
When I ask my project management students to develop their first work breakdown structure, there are inevitably a few meetings listed as deliverables. I feel strongly that a meeting itself should never be considered a deliverable. Meetings are held in order to achieve an objective. Therefore, we can list the desired outcome of the meeting…
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Involve Your Customers
First and foremost, this means listening to your customers. Early on in the project, your team must spend time with customers and end users. Make sure the project team understands the requirements from the users’ point of view. As you move from planning into project development, try to create prototypes of the end product. If…
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Inspirational Thoughts on Leadership
My friend, Jack Perron, sent me this excerpt from a sweet book called The Willows and Beyond by William Horwood. The book is a sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. For best comic effect, take a moment to read these inspirational words on leadership out loud. In this scene, Toad (who has…
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Having a Vision
Your team has a good project, one you believe in and which will help your organization to achieve its goals. The next step is to write a good vision statement. You may think that everyone understands where the project is going, but folks are probably more confused than you think. Here’s Scott Berkun on the…
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On Being a Change Agent
When I introduce project management to my students, I always tell them that my goal in the course is not just to teach them how to do project management. My goal is to change their lives. In part, this is because learning project management is about becoming empowered. No longer will you feel that you…