We’ve all heard the expression – “one bad apple can ruin the bunch”, and while that’s easy to imagine and see with team members that just don’t integrate well with the others, the problem becomes ten-fold worse (or more) when that “bad apple” happens to be the leader of the team.
As Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain) said: There are three kinds of lies; – lies, – damned lies, and – statistics. Statistical analysis is a powerful tool to make sense out of an otherwise overwhelming amount of data, but care must be taken because that same analysis can skew the results in some cases to make powerful (and… Read More »
I’ve come to realize that while I’m a huge fan of MBWA (management by walking around) – it really only works when you’ve already established a culture of speaking truth to power.
Many of us receive regular emails from various recruiters, as well as groups and associations that we belong to, with the latest opportunity, offer or scuttlebutt from the gang. Thank goodness that email is largely paperless; I often worry that my ancient Celt ancestors were right about worshiping trees, and I’m going to be held accountable to the… Read More »
A recent encounter at a client site with one of their leaders who was struggling with promotion to a second tier manager reminded me again of the days of training young officers and NCOs in the military and how the challenge of “leading leaders” isn’t the same as simply leading a bigger team. It is, in fact, one… Read More »
So there you are, scanning through the myriad of endless emails in your inbox, as you do each and every morning. And as fate would have it, there they are waiting amongst the email onslaught. Much like young children waiting behind fortified snow hills, snowballs prepared in advance for the unsuspecting character to wander by: the often dreaded… Read More »
I’ll admit it; I was notoriously bad for not writing up minutes or records of decision after meetings (I’ll leave the distraction between the two for a future article). I’ve gotten much better in recent years – due in part to using the actual original meeting invitation (assuming you issued one electronically) as part of the solution/quick fix.… Read More »
What are the core Project Management tools/templates and processes? I realize we already have a wonderful “body of knowledge”, with its 42 processes in 5 process groups and 9 knowledge areas, but I’m really talking about the “core” essentials. What do you need, as a minimum, to “manage” a moderately challenging project? Of course the phrase “moderately challenging”… Read More »
This is a continuation of the discussions from our Blog Talk radio show – Soapbox #12 where we asked: What are the post-PMP®/ongoing professional development requirements of a Project Manager (PM)? The original podcast can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mentisor/2010/11/29/soapbox-12. Now, for the record, we were referring to ongoing professional development activities within an organization or pursued… Read More »
Every time I hear someone lament about how their computer couldn’t possibly be working correctly, or it is somehow making their life more difficult because “it” should be here to “do that” (whatever the ubiquitous “that” happens to be), I enjoy handing them a hammer and nails and telling them they now have the tools to build their… Read More »