It is difficult for project managers to know, at times, who our customer actually is. Is someone a customer just because they are a stakeholder? Or, worse, is someone a customer just because they want to have a say in what your project does and how it is delivered? One hopes—if only for our sanity—that this isn’t the case.
Managing Virtually, or Virtually Managing? Personal Connection at a Distance
Technology, mobility and the sheer expense of office real estate has taken distance working from daring and uncertain trend to fully embraced reality. What this has mostly produced is a state of affairs where many of our most meaningful professional interactions are mediated by technology, rather than face to face–and that’s where the danger lies.
‘I Am Not A Stakeholder, And I Don’t Need Managing!’
Project managers have a stakeholder management problem. Or, to be more precise, they have a problem with a lot of stakeholders who endlessly resist being managed. So why the gap? Where did it come from? How did it all get this ugly? And what’s to be done about it?
Can Project Management Save the World?
Saving the world is a heavy undertaking. That’s probably why many of us leave it to the superheroes of cartoon and screen to take on. Or the men and women of the armed forces, taking on the impossible while wearing blue berets. Whatever your preferred form of superhero, real or imagined, it probably isn’t you. But maybe it’s time to go get a cape…
Big Data & Project Management: Is There a Point?
Inevitably, the intersection of big data and the idea of the quantified self (the hot movement of the moment) is going to show up in project management. Think of it as the “quantified project” where just about everything about a project can be measured, reported on and managed. Arguably, someone may be trying to invent this very thing right now. But should they?
Jekyll & Hyde PM: Managing Project Shifts
The most significant challenge for any project manager is when projects shift modes. The shift from startup to execution, and the shift from execution to closeout, requires a change in mindset. Each shift needs the PM to adjust their focus and emphasis–and a corresponding change to how they deal with people.