Time to Campaign!

A great way to establish a sense of urgency around the priority work and to produce a way to celebrate real wins is the use of campaigns.  Campaigns come in a variety of models; the most effective, in my view, are those designed similar to political campaigns – to win the hearts and minds of constituents.  Campaigns are an easy way to execute a corporate vision by consolidating the organization’s efforts into a theme and then communicating the victories.  What better campaign manager than the EPMO?  It makes total sense, as this is where all priority project information flows and it is a terrific way for the EPMO to enhance value to the organization – by looking outside the traditional PMO box. (more…)

Can You Hear Me?

Who says the PMO is only responsible for communicating project status reports or headlines when projects are in trouble?  Did you ever consider the opportunities for an Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) who coordinates and communicates business plan information across your organization?   How about informing staff on ALL business plan activities, so everyone has a solid understanding of what is important and how each staff member supports business plan success? (more…)

So, What’s the Plan?

The real power of a corporate vision is realized only when everyone in the organization clearly understands the vision and recognizes how everyone contributes to its success.  This is particularly true when project managers are assigned to successfully manage those projects that are most important to the company’s future success.  And yet, for most organizations, this is easier said than done.  In many cases, only a handful of people really understand the organization’s mission and how it translates to corporate objectives, and how the objectives realize priority projects.

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Now Apply Five Whys to Global Project Management

My last blog talked about applying Five Whys to elements within project management and specifically to human and team dynamics. The more challenging aspect is in attempting to apply the Five Whys on global projects where activities are performed in multiple countries and the team is typically comprised of members from more than one country. (more…)

Five Whys for Managing Project Dynamics

Five Whys provides a structured yet simple approach to solving problems as they occur during a project and can provide a framework for a team to work through complex problems. It is a simple process at its core.  (more…)

The Power of Memory in Project Management

In a recent project team meeting we were reviewing an Ishikawa diagram and root cause analysis as a means to determine the next appropriate steps on an issue we were addressing as a project team when a forgotten data point was brought forward be me of all people, the project manager. (more…)

Adaption By Fast Observation Of The Environment

In this final posting about the Fish Pond metaphor we will look under water to see what we can learn about how (project) organizations can adapt to change.

Fish do not simply float around in a tank. Although they once in a while bump into glass walls, they are able to find food, detect other fish and perform other cases of interacting with their environment. Fish in general can sense changes in the environment either by vision, by smell, sound and by the sensitivity of the skin (changes in water pressure, acidity and temperature). Yes, if fish want to communicate, they blow bubbles.

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