allPM Today October 2008, Issue 104, Judy Umlas and Frank P. Saladis, Co-Publishers

October 2008, Issue 104, Judy Umlas and Frank P. Saladis, Co-Publishers

In this Issue:

*allPM Co-publisher's Letter, Judy Umlas

*From the Co-publisher's Desk, Frank Saladis, PMP

*allPM September Poll Results and New Poll Question

*Theme of the Month: Managing Difficult People
By Frank Ryle, PMP

*Does Your Organization Have Enough Conflict?
By Rita Callahan

*How to Manage the “Bad Apple”
By George Bridges, Senior Consultant/Trainer

*The Project Manager in Support of a Sales-Driven Organization
By Kathleen Bies

*Powerful Project Management: A Balanced Blend of Art and Science
By Matt Klein

*Event Chain Methodology in Project Management
By Lev Virine, Ph.D.

*Parenting and Project Management: Parallel Wisdom
By Tresia D. Eaves

*Risk Doctor: Using Risk Metalanguage To Identify Risks
By Dr David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

*Customizing Visual Reports with Microsoft Project Professional 2007
By John Kenneth White, MA, PMP, MCTS

*PM Crossword Connections™: You’re So Difficult - Types of difficult people found in the workplace By Frank Saladis, PMP

Past Issues- Archives

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From the Co-publisher's Desk— Judy Umlas

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Managing Difficult People – don’t you love the challenge of it? I am taking the liberty of using a submission to my blog (www.thepowerofacknowledgment.com) by Trudy Patterson, PMP to illustrate this theme of the month on allPM Today. Here is a demonstration of the ultimate mastery of managing a challenging person on a team. Her eloquence and honesty are a role model for us all. She writes:

Read more >>

From the Co-publisher's Desk— Frank P. Saladis, PMP

Project managers face many challenges during the daily activities of managing their projects. Beside the typical issues such as lack of resources, the occasional missed completion date, unexpected changes in requirements, and other “normal” incidents and issues, the project manager must continually deal with a formidable obstacle: the “difficult” person. Certainly not everyone should be classified as a difficult person but I think it is fair to say that everyone has been difficult to deal with at one time or another.

Read more >>

September Poll Results

What do you think is the MOST widespread reason projects become “troubled”?

a) Issues and risks not managed effectively - 20.74 %
b) Change not managed effectively - 17.96 %
c) Stakeholders not managed effectively - 15.17 %
d) Schedule, Scope and cost not managed effectively - 28.48 %
e) Estimates not managed effectively - 2.79 %
f) Quality not managed effectively - 2.79 %
g) Factors outside the project manager’s control - 12.07 %

The October poll question is:

In General, who are the MOST difficult people in a project?

a) Team members
b) Functional managers
c) Vendors
d) Users and clients
e) Senior management
f) Others

If you have not already done so, please stop by allPM.com and add your opinion today.

Theme of the Month: Managing Difficult People
By Frank Ryle, PMP

I was once threatened with my life on a large project by an angry team member who fortunately happened to be in another country at the time. Things were stressful on the project (extreme winter, local mafia, hard deadlines, falling currencies and expensive lawyers - the usual kind of project stuff that we all deal with from time to time) and quick action was required by my group. The situation got considerably worse when Bob (not his real name of course) decided to get on a flight and make good on his promise…

Does Your Organization Have Enough Conflict?
By Rita Callahan

Most managers spend at least 30% of their time dealing with conflict ¹. These conflicts are the everyday, emotional, escalating conflicts that require skill, time and energy to manage well. They never stop. Most managers are tempted to reduce these conflicts, and somehow remove the people who cause them, so they can get their real work done.

How to Manage the “Bad Apple”
By George Bridges, Senior Consultant/Trainer

Every fall my family and I plan a trip to visit one of the many apple orchards in Southeast Michigan. Our day is spent on a tractor, going to the many fields of trees to pick some of the finest apples in the world. We fill our basket full of good fresh apples. In choosing our apples, we generally will pick the best looking apples.

© 2008 allPM.com

The Project Manager in Support of a Sales-Driven Organization
By Kathleen Bies

Traditionally, Project Managers are hired to manage projects such as IT driven initiatives, building projects, and other business-driven projects. A project by definition has a clear beginning and end. Within a sales-driven organization the needs of the sales force for a project manager are not always as clearly identified.

© 2008 allPM.com

Read more >>

Powerful Project Management: A Balanced Blend of Art and Science
By Matt Klein

The purpose of project management is to provide a structured framework to an endeavor to ensure that goals are realized. It is a discipline with its roots in ancient times. From the construction of the pyramids to a NASA shuttle launch, project management skills have been employed. But powerful new techniques and tools have been developed in just the last 50 years to refine the process (Verzuh 1).

© 2008 allPM.com

Read more >>

Event Chain Methodology in Project Management
By Lev Virine, Ph.D.

You spent a lot of time and effort creating a well-balanced project schedule and thought that you had taken into account almost every possible scenario and risk. However, as soon as you started implementing your project plan something happened and your schedule became obsolete.

Parenting and Project Management: Parallel Wisdom
By Tresia D. Eaves

Did you win the “parent” lottery? Randy Pausche did and he describes his winnings in his treasure of a book, “The Last Lecture” which is about a computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon who delivers an amazing “last lecture” to a packed house of 400 students, faculty, friends, and family.

Risk Doctor: Using Risk Metalanguage To Identify Risks
By Dr David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

Unambiguous risk descriptions are clearly essential if we are to manage risks effectively. One helpful tool for describing risks is risk metalanguag, which separates the risk from its causes and effects using a three-part sentence. The risk metalanguage format can be written like this: “Because of <cause(s)>, <risk> might occur, which would lead to <effect(s)>.”

Customizing Visual Reports with Microsoft Project Professional 2007
By John Kenneth White, MA, PMP, MCTS

Okay, so you are currently managing all of your projects in Microsoft Office Project 2007 and everything is going well… until you have to give an impromptu status report on your projects to Senior Leadership who are requesting to see specific project information. The Problem: None of the out-of-the-box Visual Reports really match what your Senior Leadership are looking for!!! What do you do???

PM Crossword Connections™: You’re So Difficult - Types of difficult people found in the workplace
By Frank Saladis, PMP

(Click here or the image above for a crossword in a new window. )

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