The Project Coach

In our last post, Susan discussed the top project management stories of 2010, and in that article concluded that risk planning was one of the major take away lessons of the year. When we look to past news-worthy project stories such as the BP oil spill disaster, the Carnival cruise ship Splendor nightmare, or the delays of the Broadway production of Spiderman, risk management emerges time and again as a leading factor for better outcomes. So why don’t more projects and organizations embrace it? › Continue reading…

Sunday, March 14^th marks the premier of the third season of Celebrity Apprentice on NBC at 8:00 PM CST.  The only show on television, scripted or unscripted, about the discipline of project management, it is fascinating for those of us who toil in the trenches of the triple constraint.  The celebrity quotient just makes it that much more addictive. 

Because the show offers so many real-life lessons for project managers (despite the fact that the tasks are being carried out by decidedly surreal celebrity PMs), Cindy and I have decided to analyze each episode in our blog for the next several weeks.  We will also be Twittering during the show each Sunday night.  Join us on Twitter by searching for #celebrityPM if you’d like to chat with us about the drama as it unfolds! Then, each Wednesday, we’ll post a recap of the episode and blog about the lessons we can learn from the show.    › Continue reading…

By Cindy Vandersleen, PMP

One of the most common practices in many project team meetings is the classic “go around the room and collect status” from each team member.   This works quite well for the project manager because everyone is collected together and in an efficient hour’s time he/she can collect the information needed for the weekly status report.  The problem with that is that for everyone else in the room, once they have their 2-5 minutes of fame reporting their status, the rest of the time is usually irrelevant to them, so they tend to zone out, talk amongst themselves, do email, or yes, even yawn off.  › Continue reading…