Thomas Juli
Compromising in ailing projects – or – the acceptance of mediocrity
We are being taught that compromising is a good thing, rather than fighting for one position over another. But is this always true? I claim that in a situation of an ailing project, compromising paves the way to mediocrity if not even doom. Take the…
Book recommendations on Introduction to Project Management
There are countless books on project management available these days. How do you pick the right one to start with? At the end of the day it is your call. Still, I can recommend the following books: Eric Verzuh: The Fast Forward MBA in Project…
Team-Building as a Means to Re-Align a Project
The next PMI Global Congress EMEA held in Amsterdam May 18-20, 2009 is approaching. This year I will be conducting two 3-hour workshops on project recovery. The workshop is entitled, „Yes We Can: Team-Building as a Means to Re-Align a Project.“ Project recovery missions are…
Lack of Project Leadership: Asking for Multiple Project Plans for a Single Project
It may sound like a simple, maybe even simplistic question: how many project plans should you have for your project? Well, “one, of course”, you may answer. And you are right. 1 project -> 1 project plan. This is simple and basic project management knowledge….
Remember Lee Iacocca
A good friend of mine, James Bowman, Ph.D, MSEd, Director and Founder of MOTIVATE2B, has forwarded me this excellent read. Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He’s now 82 years old and has a new book, ‚Where Have…
Lessons Learned – Effective Leaders Encourage Feedback Sharing
Conducting Lessons Learned workshop can be very valuable. Not just after a project finish, but during the course of a project. When conducting such a workshop, collect and sort the feedback of the team AND let the team prioritize its feedback. Experience shows that it…
Dealing with fools with tools: Have them document it
Following up a previous post on “fools with tools” I was recently asked what I would do if a team member does not want to use a standard tool or template, let it be, for example, a change request form or an issue table in…
Sacking a non-performing team member – this, too, can be a sign of leadership
I have recently worked on a project which consisted of several sub-projects. Most of them were running smoothly, i.e., milestones were met, deliverables were generally of good quality. Unfortunately, there was one project which continually was running late. The project objectives were clearly defined, there…
PMI Global Congress EMEA 2009 in Amsterdam: I will be there!
I will be conducting 2 3-hour sessions at the PMI Global Congress – EMEA 2009 held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 18-20, 2009. The session is entitled, „Yes We Can: Team-Building as a Means to Re-Align a Project„. My own time slots will be Tuesday May…
My own contribution to an upcoming book
As mentioned in my post of earlier this week I got the chance and honor to having contributed to a forthcoming book. The title is „Corporate Bold: What Every Corporate Professional Must Know“. Information about this book can be found at http://www.corporatebold.com/cb. From the official…