One 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:
Category Archives: Project Management
Motivating through Gameplay
I think most people who are responsible for gathering and capturing data will tell you it is a pain to do. And costly. Therefore, it is generally recognized that the job is easier if you can make the work into a game or competition that motivates people to help out, sort of how Tom Sawyer motivated others to paint his fence.
Risky Business
When starting a new project, everything looks shiny, bright and new. Everyone is focused on the end goal. However, it is the project manager’s job to look deeper into the project and identify the possible risks—not what will go wrong (because at this stage we all believe nothing will), but what could possibly go wrong. Without identifying risks, the project manager is not able to plan how to address any of these possible risks or prevent any risks.
When It’s Broke
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” — an English proverb credited to Bert Lance (1931-2013) in 1977.
I stick with this motto when it comes to almost everything, but most assuredly when it relates to the technology I use while doing business day-to-day. Do you want to see my productivity go down the toilet? Then change something that impacts my routine!
TweetThe One Constant is Change
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Finally, after all the training and effort, your company is running like a well-tuned machine. Finally your Project Managers have grasped that Accounting needs details in order to keep track of the project’s expenses. And your Accountants have accepted that the Project Managers will never give them all the details, so they will need to double check the account codes before they post. Everything is perfect, and then…