UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

As a Project Manager, it is going to be necessary to pave the way through obstacles that come up as the project progresses. Some say that this is the main responsibility of a Project Manager, and I tend to agree. It is up to the Project Manager to ensure that obstacles are dealt with and mitigated before they affect the project team and the project itself. Generally, there are three different kinds of obstacles that projects face: Technical, Political, and Emotional.

Project Management is a very difficult line of work to describe in terms that every person can understand. The quickest answer I can usually come up with is “I get all of the work done on projects without doing any of the actual work”, which is the best description I have of what I do.

In the first post we discovered how color can be a contributor on how a team functions. The proper mix of colors will make the difference between a functional and non-functional tam. There are many theories around personality types and a derth of information around daily interactions that create a highly functional team. In this [...]

IBM’s Global CEO Survey, entitled Capitalizing on Complexity, provides insights from over 1500 CEOs worldwide.  Inside this survey come some startling observations.  Just a couple of years prior, CEOs complained of an inability to see the change that was coming to their market, creating real difficulties in determining how to respond.  The problem seems to [...]

Program managers, used synonymously with Project Managers here, are often the most consistent face of the organization to the customer base.  Program managers (PM) deal with customers on a daily basis.  PMs are forced to interact with them constantly to resolve issues, communicate progress, sell new products and services and build a healthy long-term relationship [...]

This is the second part of a three part article discussing “how does a project manager intelligently handle delays?”

Last article we focused on acknowledging the natural flow of a project which includes periodic speed bumps and roadblocks. In today’s article we’ll focus on using critical path analysis to assist with project management. Diagramming the critical paths of a project accomplishes several things:

This is the second part of a three part article discussing “how does a project manager intelligently handle delays in a project?”

Last article we focused on acknowledging the natual flow of a project which includes periodic speed bumps and roadblocks. In today’s article we’ll focus on using recovery protocol plans to assist with project management.

Not even close! Don’t take my word for it. I’m educated as a scientist, and I do everything I can to make fact-based decisions based on data, so here’s some data for ya . . . According to the 2011 Catalyst Census:Fortune 500 Women Board Directors, Executive Officers and Top Earners and prior Catalyst Censuses, women have made no [...]

Here’s another personal musing promoted by what I’ve come to call the “alcoholidays”. This time of year my mind wanders to gratitude. I’m grateful for the incredibly talented colleagues who have made this year’s relentless stream of work border on enjoyable. And I’m thankful for friends who have made life’s normal burdens lighter through their [...]

In the first and second blog posts of this series we talked about heavy stuff. I shared some thoughts about disappointment and forgiveness, two key human conditions that I’ve observed in my practice that consistently drain and distract people from reaching their full potential (and enjoyment) in the workplace. Now I’d like to shift gears and to [...]