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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Successful Projects Bring No Recognition

When projects are successful, often nobody notices. Possibly the best measure of project success is that the project manager implements without fanfare or notoriety.

Success is the reward for lots of practice






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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Apollo 11 Lauch Video - I was there!

40 years ago today, as a member of my local Boy Scout troop, I was at Cape Kennedy (Canaveral) in Florida to witness the launch of Apollo 11.

What a project that must have been to work on!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Collaborate = Conflict?

When people collaborate there will sometimes be disagreement. Disagreement doesn't have to be a bad thing, and in many instances constructive disagreement can lead to a better solution. With that in mind, it is important for all participants in the conversation to recoginize when productive disagreement becomes destructive. When collaborating with others, a project manager has to be an expert negotiator to ensure that project communications are kept open, civil, and productive. While comprimising isn't the right answer when collaboarting, sometimes it is the only answer when consensus can't be reached.

Don't allow your project communications to deteriorate into pitty bickering and fighting. As the project manager it is up to you to keep project communications civil and productive. Be respectful of others and demand respect in return.

When managing conflict remember to:

Understand when a conflict is out of hand

Help to defuse emotions

Focus on questions that ask why, how, and what

Search for solutions together

Evalutate solutions that make sense and are agreeable