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Cognitive Science Insights into Decision Making
Those of you who know me understand how my company relies on cognition principles and experts to make our projects successful. Dr. Karen McGraw, the founder of Cognitive Technologies, has said on many...
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Project Manager Travel Guidance
I am sure there are people who enjoy traveling as part of their job, although I have not met any of them recently! Travel to current or potential customer sites, subcontractors, giving a conference...
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How to Help Management Make a Better IT Decision
Decisions that directly affect Information Technology (IT) projects or IT services within an organization are not always made in the IT (or Engineering) department. That is not bad thing; it is just...
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Go with your gut — cautiously
On the popular TV show NCIS, the team leader (Mark Harmon) is frequently heard exhorting his staff to “go with your gut” (for the women readers I guess you call this female intuition!). The lesson he...
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Dealing with a micromanaging boss or client
OK – How many of you have had to deal with a boss or client who is what we call a “micromanager”? There are successful techniques that you can apply to help deal with a boss/client that micromanages...
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Top ten signs you might not be a project manager
Congratulations! You finally received that much-coveted title of Project Manager — a position you really wanted and dutifully placed on your career planning job appraisal every year. Well I may have a...
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What if Project Managers had Mandatory Counseling?
I was watching a police drama show on TV as background noise the other night and someone in charge was telling an officer, “What you just experienced is stressful and carries potential long term...
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10 Guidelines for Making a User Interface People-Friendly
I am going to write on one of my big “pet peeves” this week. The harshest criticism of most delivered software comes from people frustrated by their interaction with the user interface. In my...
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Googled Knowledge vs Real Know how
Your new project has just been approved, and now you need to staff it. Whether you go to HR to get resumes of potential team members, or post available team positions on LinkedIn or Career Builder,...
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Why do Government Projects continue to fail?
I saw an interesting story on the news today. Jason Wheeler from my local TV station did a story on “Texas Taxpayers Paying Millions More Than Planned For Computer Upgrades.” Great story Jason! He...
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Integrity and the Project Manager
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”— Mark Twain I recently came across a post on leadership and integrity by Michal Ray Hopkin, who reminds readers that integrity is one of the...
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Trouble Remembering Names?
I have a secret – I am terrible with names! I can remember Earned Value formulas, map directions, and complicated architecture structures – just don’t ask me to remember names. Do you have that...
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New Year, New Job? What’s Your Plan for Success?
If you are like me, your new year coincided with a new job, CONGRATULATIONS! If again you are like me, you have probably hit the ground running. That’s the natural response. No doubt, there are many of...
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Is your project “Risky Business”?
Long time readers of FNP blog will remember that one of my favorite movies is “Risky Business” starring Tom Cruise. For those that might not know the plot, it is about a teenager looking to have fun...
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Maintaining Team Morale When Your Projects Get Tough
‘I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits the bottom.’-General George Patton Today I had a tough travel day – The Northeast US is snowed in by Winter...
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Top Ten Questions You Should Ask about Every Project You’re Managing
Have you ever been assigned to manage a project that seems like a shape shifter—you know, a character from a science fiction story that keeps appearing to different people in different shapes? You...
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What do the Olympics have in common with a Project?
If you are like me (and millions of others) you have been watching the SOCHI Winter Olympics. It is exhilarating to watch women and men, who have trained for years, put their skills to the test in...
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Communication: The Essential Ingredient for Good Project Management
You might expect that, as a Technology guy, I would say that tools are the essential ingredient (And I have certainly written plenty about tools!). Or as a certified PMP, you might have guessed that I...
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How do you celebrate birthdays? (celebrating team milestones)
OK- so I’ll admit that it’s my birthday. And acknowledging it made me think about milestones in general, and more specifically, for a project team. Birthdays are a great milestone that can—and...
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Do Project Managers have to Deal with Politics?
It has been quite a month for me – lots of turmoil, activities, tasks and yes, politics. I was talking with two peers at a local Washington DC PMI event and this topic came up. This is one city that...
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