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In this edition of the Guerrilla Project Management podcast, I interview Deanne Earle author of the Change Thru Action blog. Deanne is known to her followers on Twitter as @UnlikeBefore.
Deanne is an expert at initiating, leading, and delivering change projects. She helps clients [...]
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Interview with Deanne Earle, author of UnlikeBefore.com
“Scope Seep” or what happens if you give a mouse a cookie
Most of us by now know about the consequences of “Scope Creep”
But there is a much more dangerous problem that we Project Managers get ourselves into. It is called “Scope Seep”
“Scope Seep” is a term coined by Alan Weiss and refers to situations when you, the project manager, not the customer, allow extra features, tasks, [...]
The risks of road rage on your project
As Project Managers, we have to remember that our number one priority is to create an environment where our team members can do their great work and feel safe to speak up and express their ideas, no matter how silly or contrarian others might find them.
We all know that bullying and intimidation take place every [...]
Turning “Pro” and redefining the meaning of success
In project management, turning “Pro” to me means reaching the point in your career when you can still feel successful, even when we end up delivering a failed project.
I believe this requires 3 things:
Unlearning what we have been taught, since the beginning of our careers, as the definition of a successful project manager.
Separating the definition [...]
Do you make these 7 test planning mistakes?
There is a very good discussion on PMStudent.com about an article by Jennifer Bedell titled “Do testers goldplate too?”.
Jennifer says in her post:
Goldplating by a tester can occur when a tester goes beyond the stated requirements in an effort to produce a “quality” product. A tester may feel that their suggestion would improve the customer experience [...]
Being respectful does not mean being a doormat
Kareem Shaker wrote a very good blog post about RED Leadership, a term he coined for his 3 leadership pillars: Respect, Empathize, and Develop.
I particularly liked what he said about respect:
“Do not expect people to respect you because you are higher in position, even though they may try to show respect whenever they see you, [...]
What software projects and battlefields have in common
Stephen Cohen wrote a wonderful blog post on 10 analogies for managing software projects. One analogy that really resonated with me is # 7 “Battlefield management”.
He wrote:
While I don’t mean to in any way belittle the heroic efforts and significant risk to those in real battlefield situations; software, particularly large complex solutions, required a level [...]
Let’s say “No” to groupthink and stop quoting the Chaos Report
A project manager asked on LinkedIn:
We know that IT projects are almost always failures in the sense that we never hit our dates nor budget. Are there metrics that prove PMPs do a better job?
Here is my response to this question:
We need to be able to examine the underlying data and measurements methods used as [...]
How not to be intimidated by Project Audits
It is extremely frustrating for us Project Managers when auditing and quality assurance folks forget that quality actually has a cost. And in projects, unlike in normal operations, this cost has to be accounted for in the project’s budget and schedule from the start of the project.
There is nothing worse than to be asked to [...]
There is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received about managing projects?
For me, the best advice is:
“There is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization, because every organization is perfectly aligned to achieve the results it gets”.
This quote is from the book “the Practice of Adaptive Leadership” by Ron Heifetz, which I highly [...]
