Do You Know Where Your Sponsor Is?
Q: I am an architect in an architectural firm with the title of project manager. I can only assume that the “sponsor” would be my immediate supervisor/boss who is to keep me up-to-date on critical project information, time lines, etc. The thing I am looking for is how to get project information out of my boss. I classify him as the Project Sponsor since he does the marketing, meeting with the clients to gather information–both the initial meeting and the progressive meetings. At one point early after my promotion, I was attending meetings with the clients, but that has fallen by the wayside. I have tried scheduling lunch meetings and other meetings where my boss and I can get together, and that worked for a few weeks, but we cannot seem to stay on track.
A: Your situation is unique and represents a very specific challenge so let me try to provide some suggestions. (more…)
Posted by:
Randall Englund at 22 Sep 2008 under Leadership, Communications, Implementing project management
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In my many years in the technology industry, I’ve spent thousands of hours in meetings, most of them as boring as all get-out. During this time I’ve seen many interesting changes. I’ve seen meeting presentation technology evolve from flip charts and story boards, to overheads, to video projectors, and most recently, to laptops in front of each participant. I’ve seen virtual meetings evolve from a rarity to a common occurence. But, one thing that has persisted in all the years is people not paying attention. 
In this final part of my series on communications in virtual teams, I will discuss the most important medium to evolve so far during the computer revolution: e-mail. Pretty much everyone has an e-mail address these days, and many of us have several. E-mail is the primary information channel in corporations across the globe. It allows us to send everything from short text messages to detailed project proposals with product specifications to anyone, anywhere on the planet, at any time. It is a non-real-time mode of communication as messages are queued up in one’s inbox for reading when convenient. 
In part one of this series I talked about the problems with speakerphones in virtual teams. In this installment, I’ll discuss the problems with another type of phone, the Cell.
We all know that effective communication is critical to every well-executed project. Everyone involved in getting that next product to market must constantly exchange bits of information with many people. Everything from project proposals to release-to-manufacturing documents must be created, discussed, edited, reviewed, approved and distributed. All of these information exchanges require clear communication for the outcome to be a good one. 
“My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.”