Project culture: the CEO’s role
“What is the CEO’s role in a project-based organization?” Recently a group of CEO’s who run SMB businesses (from $5M to $400M USD in annual revenues) asked me to address […]
Category Archives: Projects
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Transformation projects need early victories
Creating early victories is essential in transformation projects. Recently the Transformation Center asked me to run a workshop and some coaching for the current cohort of Oregon’s Clinical Innovation Fellows. […]
Agile outside of software
Agile can apply outside of the software development environment, too. My final example to the group illustrates how the City of Portland uses it to manage a sewer system! Several […]
Responding to a crisis
Agile techniques can also help government teams in short term crisis situations. Here’s the second example I gave. Tim Nolan is a senior applications manager for Collin County in Texas. […]
Agile in government
I work with several government agencies. Recently I was discussing Agile techniques with a group of government project managers. One person said that he’d heard that Agile does not work […]
How good is good enough?
Occasionally I speak to a master’s class working towards a Master of Science in Global Leadership degree. Recently I was asked to comment on a student’s analysis of his organization’s […]
Make your sausage behind closed doors
You may enjoy eating sausage, but probably less so after you watch the messy process of making it. Similarly, the week to week progress of even successful projects is filled […]
Uninformed sponsors
“Uninformed sponsors – sponsors in name only – are of little help to project managers when obstacles arise.” So says Eric Verzuh, one of my favorite authors on projects. Verzuh […]
Plan (enough). Flex (a lot).
Projects are in the middle of constant change. Without some degree of planning, they will get swallowed up in the resulting tumult. However, being able to flex and adapt to […]
Be a pragmatist rather than a purist
Be a pragmatist rather than a purist when it comes to management methodologies and frameworks. Such things are means to an end, not ends in themselves. I’ll happily mix and […]