Randall Englund - UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

I have been writing and speaking for a number of years about the need to create an environment for successful projects. It’s heartwarming to find a “student” who personifies this approach. Here is a summary of postings by Vickie M in a UC Extension course on management, leadership, and team building in the project environment: [...]

In a recent discussion about additional costs being added to my home build project, I made a comment to our builder that “I don’t want to play that game.”  He took offense at that comment.  I believe he thought I was trivializing the situation and not honoring standard industry practices.  The conversation did not go [...]

As youngsters, we knew we had to fall a few times to master any new skill. But as we got older, we started to perceive making mistakes as a bad thing, rather than an essential ingredient in achieving our goal. Mike Schlappi helped change thinking through his highly inspirational keynote address at the 2010 PMI [...]

In our discussions and writings about what it takes to be a complete project manager, co-author Alfonso Bucero and I believe personal skills are an important element in building a potent “molecule”. Complete project managers want the satisfaction of knowing they are making the most of their potential. Successful project managers usually have a winning [...]

A discussion forum in an online management, leadership, and team building course asks: Knowing that teams need to go through each stage from forming to performing, how do you accelerate the process? Consider what role personal, team, and organizational values and vision play in team development and how incentives and rewards affect the process. It [...]

This week I posted several blogs focusing on the complete project manager. This is a concept covered in our new book of the same title whose premise is:  successful projects are done by skilled project managers and teams, supported by effective project sponsors; it is the integration of a spectrum of skills that enables certain [...]

Despite many [repeated] attempts to create it within organizations, there is no one organizational structure that fits all situations, nor is there ever a perfect organization. There will always be trade-offs and differences of opinion about how to structure any organization for the tasks ahead. Much of the literature in this area tries to help [...]

Personal skills are those vital competencies so necessary when dealing with colleagues, team members, upper managers, clients, and others. The complete project manager possesses the aptitude, attitude, and networking skills to interact with people and achieve results. Project managers need to be able to motivate and sustain people. Project team members look to the project [...]

In a previous assignment, I was assigned as a program manager to coordinate a massive proposal for a major account to update their systems and OEM computers using us instead of a competitor. We gathered lots of information from the customer engineering manager about technical requirements, including custom modifications that would be necessary. Normally, our [...]

Knowing that all teams need to go through each stage from forming to storming before getting to norming and performing, a question I ask in the classroom and in seminars is, how do you accelerate the process? Consider these facets: 1. Based on your own experience, which do you think works better–competition or collaboration? Why? [...]

When he does not get the results he desires, the singer of a classic song asks the question, “What kind of fool am I?”  Or when entering an unfamiliar structure or organization, a person may ask, “What kind of place is this?”  Both questions move the questioner into a new stage of learning or development. [...]

The “secret” code to success and advancement in any organization is to make yourself more valuable, align with organizational goals, attract like-minded individuals who want to make a difference, and take the initiative. Several recent indicators support this path. Testimonials from graduates of advanced project management programs state that as they apply the concepts and [...]

Success in the market place is the usual source of positive cash flow. Successful projects bring vitality into an organization.  As a key contributor to these outcomes, project managers are well advised to be aware of what is happening in the market and make appropriate decisions that positively influence the cash flow resulting from project [...]

Project leaders do not like change any more than followers do unless, of course, it is their idea.  Change is hard for everyone. You cannot move forward and stay the same at the same time.  People resist change for several reasons: People resist change because of personal loss.  A key obligation of a project manager [...]

Know that you are continuously in sales cycles throughout project life cycles. Be not a victim of lost sales or opportunities.  Embrace the sales process as the means to secure necessary commitments in a genuine manner worthy of a complete project manager. The classic sales approach, applicable to almost any environment, is to cover features, [...]

Complete project managers are a very special breed of people, requiring a complete set of skills.  However, they are not immune from conflict. Sometimes they may even welcome it, for it shows that people are engaged.  A lesson I learned about handling issues and especially risky ones came from working as a young man at [...]

Embracing a complete project management mindset goes beyond techniques to complete projects on time, scope, and budget.  Improving organizational performance depends upon getting more accomplished through projects.  Just what gets accomplished and how comes under the purview of power and politics.  Organizations by their nature are political.  The political process is always at work in [...]

The results delivered by projects depend upon what you negotiate.  Everything is negotiable, both at work and in everyday lives. It is in your best interest, and for your team and organization, that you embrace negotiating as a requisite skill…and implement it dutifully. Right up front in every project is the necessity to negotiate a [...]

A complete project manager realizes the organization is the place where all work happens and has an indelible impact on how work progresses. Seek alignment among strategy, execution, structure, cultures, and the portfolio of projects. An imperative facing complete project managers in all organizations is not only to embark on a quest to manage project [...]

More systemic and widespread progress is possible than in any other area when complete project managers focus attention on creating project-friendly environmental conditions. The same approaches applied by equally talented managers may have quite different outcomes depending upon the culture, operating principles, structure, customs, procedures, and values in place. I refer not to the physical [...]

Complete project managers build upon the foundation established by PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.  A needed contribution is to add insights and examples as aids for complete project managers in their quest to make sense of and apply the PMBOK®. While this guide provides a basic structure for projects, the rest [...]