I find the great thing in this world is, not where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Writer I don’t know if the middle manager will disappear as many work gurus predict. But, I do know that things are changing for these folks. Someone or some group has to …
‘My way or the highway’ bosses are becoming an endangered species. Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator, calls project work ‘free agent work’ or ‘boss diversification.’ Adams says: “the worst risk you can face is to have one boss, somebody who can make your life miserable and then decide when it is time for you to go.” By …
I read a lot on project management and on leadership. I like new ideas and even try them on in our work. I like the model of today’s project manager being an orchestra conductor. The orchestra conductor is more often a project team leader and coach than an authoritarian manager. The conductor leads a group of …
I’ve project managed $100M projects. I’ve had some jobs come in on budget, in scope, and on schedule. I’ve also had a project fail miserably. I’ve had to kill projects. There are few things I’ve learned on why projects fail. I think I’ve made almost every project mistake. Here are some of them: Wrong project …
What does your boss want, need, require, and expect of you? Each of these is a little different. Know the difference. When I tell people that on ‘death march’ projects, I’ve worked 80 hour weeks, they’ll say ‘oh yeah.’ Impossible! You’re kidding! Well I wondered if I’m a minority. I talked with many people, self-employed professionals, …
I push in just one direction, not in every direction. Rita Levi-Montalcini, Scientist Some day, you’ll be the PM or a team member on a death march project. You have my sympathies. And, here are some thoughts on surviving. Ed Yourdon, writer and software guru, came up with the expression of the ‘death march’ …
I must not rust. Clara Barton, Founder – American Red Cross In a projectized organization, work is organized into project teams that form and disband when work is finished. Each person evolves into a project professional responsible for getting work done on time, on budget while satisfying stakeholders. Often there are no permanent job …
Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together. Robert Redford, Actor and Entrepreneur Managing by work projects is hot – blistering hot! The idea behind projectizing is to treat most work as integrated projects that can be completed on time and on budget while satisfying multiple stakeholders. Traditional management hierarchies and functional silos …
We’ve all seen pictures of pyramids. How did they get built? I’m sure that a bunch of folks didn’t get together and swap stories. There was some form of organization that erected these monuments. Project management was a geek tool until the last five years or so. Why? Especially, now much more has to be done …
If we believe work is project related then the earliest homo sapiens had a project approach to gathering food, hunting for food, building shelter, and propagating their clan. Each of these activities had a beginning and end with a specific life-driven purpose. Sounds like a project to me. Managing by projects is not new. Architectural, …