Blog

My company rolled out a re-org this week, and it included some surprising layoffs of people I’m very close to. Among those of us still at the company, the changes affect everyone, but they happen to affect me more than most.

My boss has been very kind, supportive, and flexible as I’ve...

Recently I heard a coworker use the phrase, “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

I definitely resonated with this idea the first time I heard it, because I love planning and I love good boundaries. But over time I’ve come to realize its...

Some project managers are lucky enough to be handed a thorough project charter document when they’re first assigned to a project, complete with all the information they need to get the project started.

But for many of us, the process is more organic: when a sponsor brings us a project, only...

Projects regularly have setbacks, problems, or need some other type of update or regroup. When that happens, how often do people come to you with this information, or how often do you need to find the disconnect on your own by digging through project software, records, etc.?

As project managers,...

The job of a project manager can be described in many ways. One of those ways is “problem solver,” as we are constantly solving problems on multiple levels. In the course of monitoring the progress of our projects, we solve problems to keep them moving. In the course of developing...

Do you encounter naysayers who resist the idea of taking time to develop a plan before starting a project?

One challenge is that often resistance to planning isn’t direct. It tends to come in the form of people just trying to get project work started, either ignoring our requests as project...

Recently, a project manager on my team and I both received phone calls from an upset team member.

We both run our projects in such a way that minimizes how often this type of interaction happens, but even the best project manager can’t prevent all conflict or all situations that might make...

Ah, deadlines.

In one sense, a great project manager rises above deadlines and keeps everyone focused on what meets project goals under current circumstances, even if that means original deadlines shift or fall by the wayside.

But in another sense, project schedules DO matter, and meeting a...

A lot of project management is getting other people to make decisions.

As project managers, some decisions lie with us, especially when it comes to choosing the right tools to use to move a project forward. The decisions that lie with the project manager can vary depending on how this role is...

This blog was inspired by this post on Reddit, and is an expansion on the comment I wrote in response.

How clearly do you understand the status of each of your projects?

The real status—not just the status your software is telling you.

There are plenty of robust project management...