Oops! Not Again!

Lest I seem to be judgmental, let’s start out with a professional revelation: I probably make hundreds of mistakes a year. In fact, it is possible I picked my career—one where mistakes are so intrinsic we call them “bugs” instead —because of a summer day when I was around ten, tossing a game of catch in a narrow NYC street. You see, I observed the dense proximity of windows all around and wondered how it was I hadn’t broken one yet. Within 5 minutes of that very thought, an errant throw of mine went through a neighbor’s window.  Oops! I knew then and there I was going to make plenty of mistakes.

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The Blame Game

into-the-woodsOne of my favorite Broadway musicals is Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Near the end of this retelling of fairy tales—when many things have gone wrong and people have died—the remaining characters gather around and have a conversation (in song, of course) about whose fault it is. One by one, Jack (of beanstalk fame), the Baker, the Witch, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood defend themselves and refuse to take the blame fostered on them by the rest of the group. The song ends with all of them singing to each other:

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10 Project Manager Resolutions for Every New Year

lego PMEvery new year means New Year Resolutions! I see evidence of this each year at my gym, which gets very crowded during the month of January. Many people focus on their personal lives, resolving to eat better, exercise more, and improve their relationships with others. And that’s all very good. However, if you are a project manager or the owner of a project-centric business, the start of a new year is but one time to resolve to improve your work life.

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Stop Already

emailI had been planning to write something really technical and boring about scalability, but then I read in Dorothy’s blog last week about ⅓ of our time being wasted (my word) looking for our lost things. Wow. That’s really sad.

Then I heard that one of our newest clients was asking at the end of each training session “we can still use email, right?”  (And the trainer would sigh and reply: “Yes, of course”). It is a good thing they don’t let me near those classes, because I would feel obligated to add “but only if you are a fool.”

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