Team Leadership

By Ronald Brown • May 11th, 2012

Global commoditization and complexity make innovation an urgent priority for firms of all sizes. And to promote innovation in a meaningful way, individual development teams must be the focal point of your strategy. Culture and vision are extremely important components, and developing them properly takes time and effort, but innovation improvement is mainly an organic, [...]

A decision calendar? You’re already drowning in calendars, I know. You maintain your project milestones calendar, your team’s meeting calendar, product launch calendars, the meeting and milestones calendar for every project you support, your own Outlook or Gmail calendar, and that’s just for work. Yet, projects still feel chaotic, and you wonder whether your team [...]

Enhancing PMP with Business Process Excellence Part III (Final Part of Series) Viable Lean Six Sigma Solutions to Validate Project Timelines and Increase KPI Linkage for PMP leaders Dr. Shree Nanguneri and Mr. Gustav Toppenberg   Meandering in a World Swayed by Certification: In Part I, we addressed the vitality of the linkage of a [...]

Enhancing PMP with Business Process Excellence Part II (of an III Part Series) Validating Project Timelines against Expected Changes in Customer Requirements Dr. Shree Nanguneri and Mr. Gustav Toppenberg Background for “Changes in Customer Requirement:” In Part I we initiated discussions on how the KPI needs to link with the business goals and objectives.  In [...]

On a closely related topic to my last post, I would like to relate a recent experience I had with a consumer product that illustrates one very important aspect of consumer products that is often not given enough importance in the product development priority list: User Interface Speed. We have been satisfied owners of a [...]

You have all heard the old saying, “Time is money”. Well, obviously, this one is very true. Especially in our modern, fast-paced world of rapid product development cycles and short time-to-market windows, every second lost in a product development cycle means lost customers, lost sales, or even business failure. So, what are you as a [...]

Wouldn’t it be nice to value our manual performance just as much as our computers’ operation? Below are some simple steps to keep our career running smoothly.

We’ve all heard the phrase “Live it up!” in regards to a particular event or party. But what I am suggesting here is to LIVE UP — take your life to your next higher self or level. Gracefully clear away anything or one that is slowing you down.

This series cover three methods of charting and logging your work product estimations:

Iterative charting to improve accuracy
Charting for effective communications
Charting for a streamlining process example

Time is just a form of measurement. It’s a tool for our convenience. One of the uses for “time” is to synchronize pieces of a project: to schedule the various work products and integrate into a quality product, service or event. Inaccurate estimating skills slow down the entire team and builds resentment in those required to pick-up the slack.

Time is just a form of measurement. It’s a tool for our convenience. One of the uses for “time” is to synchronize pieces of a project: to schedule the various work products and integrate into a quality product, service or event. Inaccurate estimating skills slow down the entire team and builds resentment in those required to pick-up the slack.

We all know the saying Time flies when you’re having fun. Are you helping your team’s time fly?

Many of the things that go wrong in projects will be wholly and completely out of your control, but can have a massive affect on your project. You will need to find a way to support your team while they work through whatever issues they may be dealing with.

Think about a person that you would follow regardless of where they were going. What makes them a leader worth following? In terms of the business world, a leader doesn’t necessarily make decisions, and a leader doesn’t necessarily have the highest ranking title. A true leader is someone that has earned the trust and respect of their team; and as a result, that team will follow that person in whatever direction they take.

Last post we discovered how Green and Blue personalities add to the value of a team. In this post we will take a look at the last two types: Red and Yellow. These two colors round out a truly high performance team as long as the team leader is able to understand their needs and [...]

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 [...]

Most of us have worked on a team whether it is for work, leisure or other pursuits. It is inevitable that some personalities tend to take over the group and assert their influence even if it is not warranted. I have seen teams fall apart on the basis that the mix of members has not [...]

About one generation ago, management styles focused on the concept of a “happy worker is a good worker.”  Organizations focused on providing employees the amenities they needed to feel valued, in hopes of it leading to higher productivity.  The Hawthorne experiments by Elton Mayo found that changes in the workplace were welcomed and improved morale.  [...]

When things are not going our way, we need to stop and evaluate; because things are supposed to work smoothly together. So, when we find any type of resistance, chances are something isn’t matching. Either the rules or the people involved are not aligned. Once again – no one is doing anything wrong. It’s just not a perfect match, yet.

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:

Last week I was taping a series of lectures for the Sequel Server World Wide User Group (SSWUG.org), and I was asked “how does a project manager handle items that causes us to miss deadlines?”

This is an interesting question, because every project will have speed bumps. A good project manager expects speed-bumps and actually plans for the unexpected. So – how does one do this intelligently to synchronize with the final delivery dates?