Positive Leadership in Project Management - The OODA Loop By Frank P. Saladis, PMP
Much has been written about leadership and how to become an effective leader. There is so much material about leadership available that it can sometimes be difficult to decide what to read and, for me, what to write about. I recently entered the word “leadership” in Google and there were 155,000,000 results in less than a second. Near the top of the page was a link to www.nwlink.com. I decided to take a look at that link and I was brought to a page entitled “The Art and Science of Leadership – A complete Guide to Leadership.” The page included a rather comprehensive list of things associated with leadership. Things like direction, communication, motivation, character, change and growing a team. There were quite a few items to select from but, near the bottom of the list, was the selection shown as OODA. I had read about something called the “OODA Loop” and decided to take a closer look.
Read more: Positive Leadership in Project Management - The OODA Loop By Frank P. Saladis, PMP
Ask Harry: The Fundamentals of Survey Development and Analysis By Harry Rever, PMP - Director of Six Sigma
This article was originally published at the University of Texas at Dallas 4th Annual PM Conference and is reprinted with permission from the author.
What makes our company’s external customers happy? What makes them loyal? From a project perspective, what did our stakeholders like and dislike about how the project was managed? Are the recipients of our projects satisfied? How do you know? Are our internal employees happy, satisfied, and motivated? What do employees think of the effectiveness of leadership, the direction of the company, or what the barriers are to quality work? What is so critical to quality to our customers that if we don’t provide it, they will complain or just leave? What are the most important characteristics of a successful project manager? Most importantly, what are the drivers to overall satisfaction and what drives sales?
Are Program Managers on the Career Path to the C-Level? By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson
The debate on whether Program Managers would make effective senior executives is one that has gained attention in recent years. However, for this article we thought we would pose this question and contrast it with the muses of a well-respected Management Guru, Peter Drucker. Drucker, who is often referred to the as the “father of modern management”, signaled out eight characteristics of effective executives1:
Planning, Doing and Expecting By George Pitagorsky, PMP
Republished with the permission of Breakthrough Newsletter
For several months I have had this quote attributed to Einstein on my email signature.
"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
I thought it a good reminder that our chronic problems are often caused by repetitive behavior. Everything is caused by something. Chronic problems are caused by repetitive behavior.
Read more: Planning, Doing and Expecting By George Pitagorsky, PMP
Job Opening: Stakeholder Analysis and Management By Jacqueline Dennis, PMP
Today’s job market is a competitive one, no matter where you live. In our efforts to compete, we must separate ourselves from the masses, which may not be as simple as it sounds. Let’s play a child’s game and pretend that you are jobless and killing time, by searching the online job stores. You see a job posting, titled: “Job Opening: Stakeholder Analysis and Management,” that piques your interest. Would you know how to interview for the position? Would you know what steps should be taken to separate yourself from the masses and “Wow!” the interviewers, in this competitive market? You may respond with the typical project management answer, “It depends,” but does it? As we continue this imagination game, I will pretend I can read your thoughts and will document them, along with my observations, as you go through the process of planning to interview for the position.
Read more: Job Opening: Stakeholder Analysis and Management By Jacqueline Dennis, PMP
Effective Stakeholder Management Modeling By Sharon Brown, PMP, CBAP, MBB, BAPM
Stakeholder management includes identifying, documenting, verifying, and analyzing all of the people who will be impacted by a product, service, or process. Effective stakeholder identification involves uncovering as much detail as possible from various sources about potential stakeholders. Some of the sources to acquire this information include:
Read more: Effective Stakeholder Management Modeling By Sharon Brown, PMP, CBAP, MBB, BAPM
"Real life Stories of Unhappy Stakeholders" By Dr Deasún Ó Conchúir
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Our theme for this edition of allPM is “Balancing Stakeholder Needs – The Fine Art of Keeping your Stakeholders Happy”. In projects, the word “Stakeholders” is used to describe everybody who has an interest in the success of a project, whether:
- supportive or antagonistic
- active or passive
- internal or external
Read more: "Real life Stories of Unhappy Stakeholders" By Dr Deasún Ó Conchúir
Risk Doctor: Typical Risk Process Problems By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM
A recent Risk Doctor Briefing listed eight steps as essential components of a basic risk process.
These are:
- Getting started (risk process initiation)
- Finding risks (risk identification)
- Setting priorities (risk assessment)
- Deciding what to do (risk response planning)
- Taking action (risk response implementation)
- Telling others (risk reporting)
- Keeping up to date (risk reviews)
- Capturing lessons (risk lessons learned)
Read more: Risk Doctor: Typical Risk Process Problems By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM
The Black Belt Chronicles: Who Wants to Improve? Not Me! By Harry Rever, PMP - Director of Six Sigma
An internal Six Sigma Black Belt, Will, talks with a newly trained Six Sigma Green Belt, Lane, about the natural resistance to improving results. An interesting discussion ensues.
Ask Harry: Cross Cultural Virtual Teams: Key Suggestions for the Project Leader By Harry Rever, PMP - Director of Six Sigma
Virtual teams are not the exception; they are now the norm and they present a unique set of challenges compared to the traditional project team. I mean, after all, team members are located all over the place doing who knows what during your project. There’s a tremendous sense of loss of control; trust becomes an issue as does participation and dedication to the project. Cross-cultural virtual teams, also common in today’s business environment, are even more demanding on the project manager because now cultural differences have to be explored and understood.
More Articles...
- Positive Leadership In Project Management - The World Class Project Manager By Frank P. Saladis, PMP
- Program & Project Manager Power - What are your most important traits to achieve success By Jeff Hodgkinson, PMP, Gary Hamilton, PMP and Gareth Byatt, PgMP
- How to Identify the World Class Project Manager? By Amro Elakkad, PMP, M.Sc.
- The World Class Project Manager By Estelle Groult, MBA, MSc, PMP, Prince2 Practitioner
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