Lessons Learned

If you’ve ever been inside of a tin of sardines you will have a pretty good idea of what it’s like to ride the subways of Tokyo during rush hour – only in the subway the sardines are still alive.  Even though we are packed together with greater intimacy than most sexual encounters, my inscrutable [...]

One of my CEOs recently mentioned that the recession is forcing him to rethink all aspects of his business, including how many employees it takes to do a job.  (Six people to change a light bulb?)
He remarked that he is in the business of clearing out the deadwood and is glad for the excuse to [...]

Image via WikipediaThere are only three days left in 2008. December is a month of looking back as well as forward. Though we are just moving from one month, December, to the next, January (as we do the whole year), it always seems a giant stride. In these tough economic times, it seems we cannot [...]

Accidental Project Manager Series
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6
Part 3 of the Accidental Project Manger series talked about making sure you are working on a project that is important to your organization (and to your next promotion) by documenting benefits in a business case.
Another [...]

Accidental Project Manager Series
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6
Part 2 of the Accidental Project Manger series talked about key reasons that you are attracted to project management. So now that you are a project manager, what lessons can you learn from other project managers? [...]

Accidental Project Manager Series
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6
Part 1 of the Accidental Project Manger series talked about some of the disastrous consequences of not having a formal onboarding process for new project managers.  Next, I want to ask you, why did you accepts [...]

Lessons Learned are the nuggets of knowledge derived from past experience and outcomes to promote the reoccurence of desirable results or prevent the reoccurence of undesirable outcomes.  It’s about figuring out what went wrong and what was right.  So. why keep your lessons a secret?

Technorati Tags: Lessons Learned

Kimberly Wiefling had an article on Projects@Work (www.projectsatwork.com) giving us a taste of some hard-learned lessons when dealing with project sponsors.
I’ve always loved Kimberly’s sense of humor and highly recommend just about anything she’s written. This is a great example of education a la entertainment. Check out her book too, I own it and can [...]

Back in the very old days (early 80’s), I was on a team (of 24, I think) that delivered a successful software system on time, on budget, and with every feature the customer had requested.  The schedule had been tight, 18 months from inception to use, as I recall. 
This happened right in the middle of [...]

So.  It’s the end of the week and I’ve shown you mine, now let’s take a look at yours!   Is your toolbox a treasure chest full of bright, shiny, valuable tools or is it more like Pandora’s Box, full of unreliable, outdated, more-trouble-than-they’re-worth tools?   Lowe’s Home Improvement has some good advice on the question: “If [...]

The international adventures and pitfalls of a global project manager can make great storytelling for your team campfire. Then why is it that most team members would prefer that you put out the flame? Why not keep the fire burning? When the team has celebrated the successful conclusion of the project, they’re ready to head [...]

There is no shortage of project management books. How they apply to your project reality is, well, another story. At ProjectsAtWork.com this month, we’re asking people to name the book or books that have proved most valuable in doing their jobs. You’re welcome to participate, too, at http://www.projectsatwork.com/survey/survey.cfm?ID=95.
We’ve also been interviewing authors of recent books [...]

My blogging was interrupted Sunday night by a power outage at home.  A neighbor’s huge oak tree had fallen, totally blocking the street and taking out some important power lines (as well as part of a house, slightly injuring the owner, and scaring the bejeezus out of her young daughter who had been sleeping in [...]

Project failure is the subject of this article in the August 2007 edition of PM Network. The article presents some good common-sense points about how to deal with project failure and learn from it. The standard wisdom of finding problems early when they are small, and applying lessons learned are put forth. [...]

Here’s one of those really good (and at the same time really irritating) questions to ask yourself – why is it that I know so much more than I actually do when I want to be successful at something?  This time of year always reminds me that even though I know the plan for just [...]

Why are questions so powerful?  Because the beginnings of change are in the questions we ask, and the best thing we can ask is often “What is the question I should be asking?”

Technorati Tags: change, communication, koans, Leadership, Lessons Learned, questions, Retrospectives

Am I weird or what?  The way I lead my life and my project management practices are so intertwined that it’s sometimes hard to tell whose legs I’m dancing on!   Cross-pollination of work and life outside of work (different from work-life balance) is a fact: are you leveraging it or letting it leverage you?

Technorati Tags: [...]

After years and years of Project Management it finally became obvious to me there was someone or something I wasn’t addressing. No, I’m not talking about all the usual people project management challenges all those references mention, or even some they don’t mention.

Technorati Tags: Accountability, appreciation, best-practices, communication, Emotions, Environment, Leadership, [...]

A friend of mine once told me about a technique for keeping track of lessons learned.  She keeps a file labeled “DNDTA.”  That stands for “Do Not Do This Again.” 
The idea is to write a note to yourself describing something you did that would not be such a good idea to do ever again, then [...]

 
If you read the business news you must be aware of the intense rivalry between the European Airbus Consortium and The Boeing Company dueling to capture the future commercial aircraft market. Both of these companies are in the final stages of major programs to deliver new generation airliners.
These are huge projects worth billions of dollars in both development costs [...]

One of our guest bloggers, Cinda Voegtli, is the CEO of ProjectConnections.com Cinda’s running a contest, and the prize is a copy of my new book “Scrappy Project Management.” We hope you will play along! Details below. – Kimberly Wiefling, Author, Scrappy Project Management.

Tell us your scariest project horror story and how [...]