One of the fundamental questions everyone wants answered is, “When will this all end?” There aren’t any clear pathways forward, nor are there any hard answers about how or when the current pandemic will conclude. There are maybes and possibilities. This week’s article starts a multi-part series about how things might play out. It starts with exploring, in a bit more detail, how we think about the future.
Our Tools Get In The Way, Too
Not that we need any help on this front. We get in our own way just fine. But then we add tools to the mix, and that complicates things unnecessarily. For those who have a fetish for office supplies and time management solutions (you know who you are) it can be awfully tempting to look at shiny new software with covetous desire. My usual advice is, “If what you are doing now is working for you, then keep doing it.” Which is great, until you realize that it isn’t working. This is what happened to me.
Taking The Time To Plan When You Are Too Busy Doing
You know the feeling. You’ve got a mountain of work in front of you. Projects that are critical are falling by the wayside to make room for the latest dumpster-fire of urgency that landed on your desk. The merely important projects mock you from the depths of notebooks that go back years, reminding you of […]
What’s The Point Of Planning?
Planning is supposed to be virtuous. Good for us. And yet, plans usually change. To-dos don’t get done. Life gets in the way. And our planning systems don’t keep up. So just what’s the point?
Webinar – Embracing Uncertainty: Managing Complex Change
Project management is all about planning and control. Plan the work, and work the plan. The problem is, this only works well when you know exactly what you are producing, and can fully define the process of getting there. While this is possible for many projects, it is not possible for all. This is not […]
De-emphasizing The Past; Emphasizing The Future
It’s not the tools we use that are bad, so much as how we use them. We spend too much time explaining the past, and not enough time contemplating the future. Even when we do, we consider the future far too certain and predictable.