Tuesday
Feb162010

The Weak Matrix in a Strong Project Culture

DateTuesday, February 16, 2010 at 9:21AM

I work in a matrix environment where the functional managers are the direct supervisors and the project manager has direct supervision over no one.  I have no control over who is assigned to my team.  I'm subject to the vagaries of functional management and support requirements. I guess officially we'd call this a "weak" matrix, but one thing works to my advantage. A strong project culture.

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Tuesday
Feb092010

All for Ten Bucks! - The Triple Constraint in Action

DateTuesday, February 9, 2010 at 12:00AM

Number one, they don't mention whether or not the food actually tastes good.  They make it very clear that the food is cheap.  But what you don't see is customers closing their eyes and moaning in ecstasy as a result of the chef's culinary expertise. It's a classic case of the triple constraint in action.

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Monday
Feb082010

Value in Project & Portfolio Management

DateMonday, February 8, 2010 at 9:07PM

The reason I'm writing this bonus post is that I attended our PMI chapter meeting tonight (Space Coast, Florida), and we had Rick Morris speaking to us.  Now Rick doesn't need my endorsement, he's doing quite well as an author, speaker, and consultant with no help from me.  But Rick is clearly a passionate individual and that passion carries right over into project management.

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Monday
Feb012010

The Right Way to Admit You've Done Wrong

DateMonday, February 1, 2010 at 12:00AM

Just a few days later, I got yet another letter signed by the Senior VP of Operations.  "We value every customer...high standards for customer service...very disappointing if we fall short" blah, blah, blah.  But surprise, surprise, the last sentence in the first paragraph...

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Sunday
Jan242010

Communication - Staying in Touch with Outliers

DateSunday, January 24, 2010 at 12:06PM

I don't know about you, but I don't speak with every stakeholder or team member every day.  In fact, some are so far on the periphery of the project that I don't have any reason to speak to them for weeks at a time. To help address this problem of lack of communication, I'm making a conscious effort to speak with someone each day who I don't normally come into contact with.

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Tuesday
Jan192010

The Future of Project Management circa 2025

DateTuesday, January 19, 2010 at 9:25PM

Robert Burns said, "There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing." It's just my unofficial crystal ball, but I see four trends right now that will have a significant impact on project management in 2025.

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Friday
Jan082010

Improve Your Performance (No, not Enzyte)

DateFriday, January 8, 2010 at 6:20PM

What is one thing you can do to improve every aspect of your job performance?  Don't worry.  I didn't know the answer either until it happened to me almost accidentally. I knew my end-of-year evaluation was coming up and someone tweeted an article about how you can take advantage of that review instead of just enduring it. Those two things combined at just the right time to motivate me to do my own self-assessment.

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Tuesday
Jan052010

Walking on Water? Or Dog-Paddling?

DateTuesday, January 5, 2010 at 8:00PM

I had never performed a serious self-assessment of my job performance before yesterday.  Sure, I'm always thinking about my job and trying to do the best I can.  And of course my wife always lets me know when I screw up.  So what happened yesterday?

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Wednesday
Dec232009

Stakeholder Communications Management: The Christmas Letter

DateWednesday, December 23, 2009 at 1:43PM

I tried to get out of writing the family Christmas letter again this year.  The entire conversation went kind of like this:

Wife: Have you written the Christmas letter yet?

Me: No.

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Sunday
Dec202009

One Critical Resource: Avoiding the Single Point of Failure

DateSunday, December 20, 2009 at 9:35PM

It all makes me wonder about this one critical resource:  If this project had taken place at a time when the admin wasn't going on vacation, would this issue have come up?

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