Secret Sauce Ingredients: Judgement, Experience and Confidence
The website dictionary.com defines judgement as “the ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely, especially in matters affecting action”. I believe one of the most important attributes of a good PM is the ability to apply sound judgement at key times. (In fact, this is probably true of good managers in general.) Projects require thousands of decisions, small and large, over their life cycle. All participants are required to make them and...
Read MoreAre You Working Hard?
I’m mentioned in several prior posts that I love sports and the many lessons from the sporting world that can be applied to everyday life, including business. Recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed a former star back into the fold after several decades of estrangement. Dave Keon, a four-time Stanley Cup champion shared a comment with current Leaf coach Mike Babcock that someone had shared with him early in his career. “Are you working hard or do you think you are working...
Read MoreEstablishing Ownership of Deliverables
The fundamental elements of value that a project provides to its stakeholders are sometimes known as deliverables. Attempting to articulate a project’s deliverables at the beginning of a project is a good way to define what the project sponsors are expecting to gain upon successful completion of the project. Deliverables can range from the very complex (a large new software system) to the relatively simpler (a high level written assessment by a third party of an existing business...
Read MoreThe Mask
Most of my working life, I have found that people in the workplace come in two flavours: those that wear a mask and those that don’t. Those that don’t wear a mask are the classic “what you see is what you get”. I believe these are in the small minority. I believe most of us do wear some form of mask. I’m certainly in this latter camp. We put on our work mask before we enter our place of work because there are elements of our personalities that we either...
Read MoreBecause That’s Where the Money Is
Legend has it that Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, replied “because that’s where the money is.” Alas, like many famous one-liners, he never said it. In an interview in his later years, he admits he wished he’d said it. However, I like his real answer almost as much. And that answer? “Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my...
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