Important Skills of Successful Project Managers
Decision Making Process For Making Decisions Quick
Program and project managers have to master the skill of decision making. Typically PMs are expected to not only make, but to justify, their decisions. In this post I share the process I use when making a decision, formulated some time ago by studying theory, best practices and observing the processes of others.
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - 2 commentsLearning Project Management Skills From John Cleese
Weather you call it soccer or football, like it or don’t like it, consider yourself an American football fan or a soccer fan, as a project manager you can learn several tricks from John Cleese’s rant video – tricks to improve upon the effectiveness of key communication skills, and to become a better team builder and motivator. Read more…
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - 1 commentProgram vs. Project Management in Program Manager Position
The other day my friend asked me about differences between program management and project management in a software company such as Microsoft. After our conversation I thought about sending her links to articles that discuss the topic in detail. To my surprise, all the articles I was able to find were just discussing theoretical definitions as provided by the PMI in their PMBOK Guide. Perhaps in some companies program managers perform activities as described by PMI, but I have yet to learn about any such company in the software industry. The role of the program manager and PM responsibilities in software development can be more simply defined and differentiated. So, I have decided to summarize the differences between program and project management, based on what I have learned from experience. Read more…
Posted in Program Management, Program Manager's Snacks, Project Management - 6 commentsProgram Manager Skills that Bad PMs Lack
Several interesting observations are in Perry Wilson’s post in which she compares good PMs to bad PMs who achieve success by way of luck. It prompt me to share my thoughts on this topic in this post. Read more…
Posted in Project Management - 2 commentsInvest in learning from successes, focus less on mistakes
Have you ever asked yourself how much, exactly, you have learned from a failure? And did you ever compare the amount of knowledge gained from a failure with the amount of expertise gained from a success? I believe lessons learned from mistakes are not as helpful to us as the knowledge developed from success. Read more…
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - No commentStart Effective Email With Catchy Subject Line
If you are interested in your email being noticed by recipients, you must use a catchy email subject line. Especially when using email to attract the attention of people whom you have never met. Forming a good subject line that catches readers’ attention is simple if you follow the three rules listed in this post. Read more…
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - 2 commentsFour questions to help you demonstrate effective communication in your emails
Every day at work we communicate with many people. Have you ever asked yourself whether your email is an effective form of communication? How would you measure the effectiveness of your email? I believe there are four questions you can ask yourself when crafting an email to evaluate its effectiveness. Read more…
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - No commentNegotiating With Difficult People Without Giving In
Negotiation is a task that Program Managers and Project Managers have to perform often with a project team member, a stakeholder or a sponsor. Listed in this post are several general principles of effective communication that can help you to quickly find a compromise and preserve, if not improve, your relationship with that person. Read more…
Posted in Program Manager's Snacks - No comment