group-process

Hi, It’s my time to blog again – and this is my birthday week – so I am going to take advantage of it and have some fun.
Just to let you know:  I am currently teaching at Keller School of Management.  Teaching several MBA courses which include Leadership & Organizational Development, Business Planning, and International [...]

The first thing I see when I open my toolbox is the inside of the lid, so here’s where I post reminders of the things that will have the most overall effect on my work: my project management principles and mantra.  The project management principles define how my values are implemented on the job.  I [...]

40 years ago this December, something extraordinary was offered to us. It became known as the “mother of all demos” (MOAD): Douglas Engelbart showed the world what collaboration could look like in this new world empowered by the technology that can connect each of us. He had not only seen the future decades before everyone [...]

Much as he did earlier in his career, Proman was now at another crossroad. The large program had just concluded. What’s next? He noticed how engaged he’d felt during the process. Each day he threw himself into the proceedings with renewed vigor and seemed to know instinctively what to do. [...]

The escalation process worked! As work on the program drifted past the scheduled completion date, Proman sensed the pressure coming from across the organization. Managers wanted their engineers back to work on product development, not on solving broad reaching technical issues. But the impasse was real. Development could not continue (or [...]

Does your team seem to be allergic to process?  Have you been trying to implement project management best practices and meeting resistance? 
If so, have you addressed your team’s inherent questions, like “How will this make my life better?” and “Is that improvement enough to merit the hassle of changing?”  Have you explained how this will [...]

A German colleague once commented (during a lager-filled post-project celebration) about how different German and US project management looked to her. She said, “We often wonder in Germany how you Americans successfully got to the moon.” As the Germans nodded, the Americans (being so articulate in our own language) retorted, “Whaaaat?”
Basically, she saw American managers [...]

Hi everyone, this is the end of my tour of duty as guest blogger.  I wanted to end with some thoughts about the importance of the relationships we develop with peers, bosses, customers, vendors, team members and anyone else with whom we have contact.  It’s all about how people feel they are being treated by [...]