Final thoughts for 2005

As the year comes to a close, I thought it would be a good time to review my professinal goals for 2005, which I posted here at the beginning of the year. They were:

1. Be a better listener
2. Apply the principles of Earned Value to more of my projects
3. Begin each project with the end (deliverables) in mind
4. Rely less on e-mail and more on face-to-face conversations
5. Be a better Project Leader
6. Accept the fact that criticism from others is part of the project life cycle
7. Be willing to accept failures and use them as learning experiences
8. Believe that most people on your project team are doing the best they can do
9. Be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive of others

I made good progress towards achieving some of the goals, but I need to work harder on some of the others. The only true measurement of my performance comes from my peers, management, and project stakeholders.

Looking back over 2005 I would sum up the year by saying it was at times frustrating, rewarding, confusing, challenging, but overall worth the time and effort. We probably all can agree that being a good project manager is difficult, however good is not enough. We must be great project managers is we are to be successful. The culture we work in will greatly impact just how good or great we will be, however we are ultimately the ones that determine our own success.

Have a Merry Christmas.