Psychology and Project Management
Posted by Lindsay Scott on Jun 18, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off
At last week’s Association for Project Management’s (APM) annual conference there was a definite feel of human behaviour and psychology in the air. With two keynote speakers focusing on human behaviour there was a lot of food for thought. We’ll be looking at the subject of psychology and project management in this month’s newsletter – due out this Thursday ( you can sign up on the website ) and I’ll cover the two main speakers there. One of the speakers Professor Richard Wiseman gave a great keynote speech on luck – are we lucky or unlucky? Does luck even exist? The presentation was all about our own attitudes – if we’re generally more positive in life we tend to spot opportunities that will work out well for us. If we’re a glass half empty we’ll tend to see the negative in most situations – failing to see what’s right under our noses.
Read MoreIt’s harsh but so much is true.. graduate project managers take note
Posted by Lindsay Scott on Jun 13, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off
A new slideshare just out this month… Congratulations Graduate! Eleven Reasons Why I Will Never Hire You. Congratulations Graduate! Eleven Reasons Why I Will Never Hire You. from Mark O’Toole photo credit: x-ray delta one via photopin cc Related Posts Monday Morning Links – 26th October Graduate Opportunities in Project Management Live Q&A – Project Management Careers (December) Graduates in Project Management Five Ways to Use Us: Part II Convincing The Recruiter: Looking Professional in Your Job Search Online Dependency? Standing Out in a Project Management Meerkat Zemanta
Read MoreScope is Quality
Posted by Simon Harris on Jun 12, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off
Confusing words often show us where there are poorly understood concepts lurking below the surface. One such area is scope and quality (yes one area). Problems with both the labels ‘scope’ and ‘quality’ are grounded in the same simple fact: they have two parallel equally valid but different definitions. Both the titles are the same element of project management described twice and neither is the insightful label that “acceptance criteria” would be. Two Definitions of Scope FIRST: Everything that must be delivered (Product/ Outcome/ Result). A customer oriented view of the impact any project must make to avoid a threat to business as usual or pursue an opportunity for return. ALTERNATE: Everything that must be done (task/ activity/ work-package) to deliver products/ Outcomes/ Results
Read MoreBook Review: The Agile PMO
Posted by Ken Burrell on Jun 10, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off
Book Review: The Agile PMO Leading the Effective, Value Driven, Project Management Office. Michael Nir Self-published by the Author as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.com > available here 46 pages (estimated, 10,400 words) £2.05 RRP (review copy supplied free of charge) Rating: **** This book leads with a single central principle – that a PMO’s sole reason for existence is the creation of value for the organisation, and that the single most effective way it can do that is by managing the allocation of resources to projects. Of course, tools, methodology and processes are all good things to have, but identifying how to deploy resources for the best return on that investment is where a PMO really comes into its own. I initially found such a forceful statement a little hard to swallow, but the book shows (using example scenarios drawn from the author’s consulting experience) several ways how the PMO can fail if it chooses to focus its efforts in other directions. If a PMO fails to establish the necessary authority and credibility with the Project Manager (PM) community at a sufficiently early stage, it becomes relegated to performing only supportive, administrative work. This is so time-consuming that there is no time to develop more useful services, value delivery is limited and the PMO will be cut as soon as funding decreases. If a PMO focuses on methodology, the PMs may superficially complete templates and processes just to keep the PMO quiet, but the completed templates and processes may bear little relation to reality
Read MoreProject Management Rowing Boat Challenging UK Government
Posted by John Thorpe on Jun 5, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off
Having reviewed the first annual report from the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority (MPA) I am left with a distinct feeling that we have a rowing boat (MPA) trying to take a super tanker (Government + Civil Service) onto a new course and direction! At the highest level it is great to see David Pitchford (Executive Director, MPA) and his team at the MPA looking to shed some light on the challenges that the UK Government have in delivering “major projects” (a mere £353.7 Billion worth in the GMP Portfolio of 191 currently being considered). The fact that this is a “proactive” activity which gives a high level heads up and thus hopefully raises the bar in terms of the need for accountability, it strikes me as something we all should welcome; although reading around the web and the press the point seems to have been lost by many politicians & commentators and it is instead being used for politicking and a stick to beat up the Government of the day for their poor execution record! Taking the politics out of the discussion, delivery of projects and complex projects has long been an issue for UK Governments of every colour and belief whether that be through lack of scope, poor procurement, poor planning and execution etc…; so it strikes me as a good initiative to be more open whilst the projects are in progress rather than having to wait for the National Audit Office to come picking at the bones with the benefit of hindsight long after the damage has been done. Looking at the RAG report and analysis is in many ways pointless as they are 6+ months old and every department will have a defence of their position and how things have been improved since the audit was carried out. A result in itself? The fact that they have been challenged and either had to correct or defend a position is surely a healthy position and part of a solid philosophy when delivering projects with any level of complexity. The more interesting/scary part of the report for me comes under the section “ Progress to date: facts and figures ” where the subject of leadership is discussed specifically senior responsible offices (SROs) and project directors (PDs). Whilst any organisation has to cope with an element of turnover, the lack of appropriate numbers of SROs and PDs can only exaggerate this issue and substantially increase the associated risk profile.
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