The Dysfunctionals

When you go to meetings, pretend to listen then walk away and criticize those you just met with, that is dysfunction

When you pretend to trust others, but look for ways to poke holes in their beliefs, that is dysfunction

When you reward mediocrity…dysfunction

When you create something that has questionable value yet hold it up as something awesome….hyper-dysfunction

When you support and encourage weak "leaders" that cause upheaval and mayhem …you have dysfunction

When enterprise standards and processes are ignored…you guessed it…dysfunction

When commitments are made than ignored…yep…more dysfunction

When the people in ivory towers refuse to sit down with the commoners... dysfunction

When you reward your team for winning the silent “us vs. them” war… dysfunction is the winner (guess who is the loser)

When you allow a rogue manager to steamroll others inside and outside your department…you have dysfunction

When you treat your staff like mushrooms (leaving them in the dark)…you again have dysfunction

In closing…be real, be relevant, be a team player, and most of all be trustworthy. Nobody respects a talking head. You have to be visible, engaged and respected to be effective and relevant.

Remember, if you aren't visibile you aren't relevant and if you aren't relevant you aren't needed.

Visibility and Relevancy

A good project manager must always rise above petty political partisanship and keep fighting for what is right and best for their project, the project sponsor and the funding organization.

More free advice and personal thoughts...

Never use fabrications, slander, and distortions to sell the value of your project

Never tear down another organization (or person) to build yours (yourself) up

If you aren't visible you aren't relevant. If you aren't relevant you aren't needed

Never pretend to be something that you are not. You can only fool another fool

Never be so cocky as to believe you have nothing to learn from others

If you haven’t learned from the mistakes of the past you are probably already repeating them

If you are not honest, ethical, and trustworthy you can’t be effective at anything except politics

Taking others people's ideas and repackaging them as your own is pathetic, dishonest, and just plain sad

The value of your project’s product can only be judged by end-users, not you

Your reputation is determined by others, not you

Product bells and whistles rarely add value. They usually end up in a product because the designer was lazy and without imagination.

Surround and marginalize your critics. Don't let them define who you are.

Beware of Project Snakes and Sharks. They can wear pants or skirts.

Paradox of Our Time Reposted

I cited the wrong author in a previous post.  This was written Dr. Bob Moorehead.
Geoge Carlin didn't write this and wasn't impressed when he read it.  I like it!

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints.  We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.  We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.  We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.  We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.  We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.  We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.

We conquered outer space but not inner space.  We've done larger things, but not better things.  We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.  We write more, but learn less.  We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait.  We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.  These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.  These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. 

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom."

Dr. Bob Moorehead, former pastor of Seattle's Overlake Christian Church