I was inspired by a recent Facebook post by a friend who asked, in a status update, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Within minutes, dozens of replies appeared, all along the lines of “You OK hun?” or “How can I help?”. She’s fine by the way, just wondering why despite best efforts, […]
Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good Projects? Read More »
Originally published on CIO.com We record ‘lessons learnt’ as part of the project management process but do we actually learn from them? Recent experience and the number of projects that fail to deliver suggest we could probably all do better at learning from lessons learnt. It is worth considering this for a moment … Do
IT Projects. Do We Actually Ever Learn Lessons Learnt? Read More »
In IT Projects, when something unexpected happens, I get better results when I respond, than when I react. You may have sussed this for yourself ages ago but my epiphany, strangely, came when I met a St John Ambulance community first responder. He was telling me about a traffic accident that he’d attended. He was
Managing IT Projects: Respond Don’t React Read More »
I was reminded of an old Monty Python sketch today. Did you ever see Life of Brian? One of the characters Reg, played by John Cleese, asks “What have the Romans ever done for us?” One by one, other characters pipe up with loads of suggestions … medicine … roads … public order … Eventually,
Have you ever taken on an IT Project, only to find that a major challenge either wasn’t mentioned in the handover from the departing Project Manager or, if it was, it was implicit – not explicit. It’s like those horror movies where a family buys a house only to find out, after they move in,
How to deal with what wasn’t in the IT project handover Read More »
With the success of my first eBook, I am delighted to publish Volume II. The book covers a wealth of topics from Stonseed’s Project Management as a Service and our IT services, to an array Project and Programme Management issues. Volume II of Straight Talk on Project Management is now available for download as an
Straight Talk on Project Management VOLUME II – Free E-Book Read More »
Originally published on CIO.com “As IT Project Managers we’ve managed some change over the years,” one of my oldest IT Project Management friends said in an email this week. “Now it’s us facing a great change and if we don’t we’ll become increasingly irrelevant.” In spite of this seemingly negative line, the theme of his
Are the greatest IT Change Managers now facing the greatest change? Read More »
Need an alternative to IT project apps? The Project Management app market seems to be saturated, each promising that theirs is the definitive solution. It’s like diets and self-help books! If each is so great why do we need so many? It does make choosing the right one very hard. Of course, no two IT
Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? Read More »
This journey started with sprouts. Run with me. My epiphany came last Christmas when I asked a family member why, having peeled the sprouts, she was now cutting a little cross into the base of each one. Her answer was, “I don’t know, it’s just what my Mum always did.” We Googled it and it
7 Dysfunctional Beliefs of IT Project Management Read More »
Originally published on CIO.com Traditionally a project is judged complete when it is transitioned into service. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate this endpoint. A CIO asked me this recently because his team was expressing an interest in extending their role so that they could assess their project ‘from the other side’. Traditionally, as a PM
Where does an IT Project Manager’s job end? Read More »
