Are you Lazy enough?

The lazy project manager has taken it up a notch by introducing the new program on how you can become one. Check out and be lazy and twice as productive.

Be served with the science of productive laziness and get your work- life balance better for your and your team.

So why the online course- I ask Peter Taylor.

“I started the eLearning program because a number of people wanted more information about productive laziness. More beyond the book and more beyond the presentations I have delivered around the world on being ‘lazy’ and being a better project manager.
Since I do have a full time job with Siemens PLM heading up a PMO, and even taking in to account that I am incredibly productively lazy, I did not personally have the bandwidth to offer actual consultancy or classroom style training. The solution seemed to be eLearning.
With The Lazy Project Manager eLearning experience students get to learn more about being a ‘lazy’ project manager through audio visual lessons, get to complete some supporting workshops and even get to take a ‘productive lazy test’. All in the fun manner that you come to expect from The Lazy Project Manager.”

Sounds wonderful, so if this is what you like check out the site.


What are you learning from project management?

Self discipline processes, team building, logical thinking, more certifications and perhaps a little extra money.

Yep, we all learn that.

What are the things that you are un-learning by being in the profession?

•Risk taking- Obviously in your personal /professional life because we are so attuned to seeing them ahead of time and getting rid of it.

•Creativity- The logic, the process, the flow, the bugs and codes can take us far away from the creative self. Try writing a piece of prose that is not related to project management and notice if you have to think. Its different from what you think tied up in your PM chair every day. And it feels nice, doesn’t it?

•Not having fun- we always wait for the right moment, that’s how we trained ourselves- the right moment to inform the team, the right timing to convey it to stakeholders, the timeline and the deadlines run us. The stress and the phones and our validation through overflowing inboxes is what fun is for us. Remember- what did you want to be when you grow up? When was the last time you tried it?

•Working like machines- We love automation. The work we just do everyday- get the coffee, look at emails, write back and forth, browse through proposals, look into excel sheets and more emails and meetings and drive back home. Have you tried to change anything in the last 15 days or ways you been in automation? Are you mindful?

•Giving up- On everything you love to get that extra pat from your boss by overworking yourself and convincing yourself that I will have more time to be happy when I have this project in my bag.

•Being numb- even when you know it’s not the right thing to do. You come back from work to flop in front of the TV and just keep your mind numb, so you can tell your brain to stop thinking of the things that comes naturally to you. We shut them up, even when we know you should pay more attention to what you want.

•Need more, need better mindset- More projects, higher budgets, more certificates, PDU’s, more authority, better team- that’s we think. Less is more- is not very aptly though out concept for project managers. Do you think what you need or do you just need more because that’s what you are unconsciously being trained to ask for?

If you are a Project Manager and think out of the box or within the box- share your thoughts please.

The point being is be true to yourself and don't get trapped into the system. Watch this TED video for some mind numbing data.

P.S. I think only in bullet points these days- scary!

(Pic Courtesy)

How can you keep everyone happy?

May 24, 2010 | | 1 comments |
Chances are you cannot.

However with a few carefully thought out lists you can keep some of them happy:

•Ask questions- don’t assume anything in a project if you are not sure about it. Repeat what you understood to keep things clear.
•When doing any project documentation, maintain the versioning system and track all change requests. If you are responsible for keeping tracks, make sure you date them correctly and mention why a new version is being done. It solves a lot of disputes later.
•Keep your project manager in the loop, if you report to one. Don’t hand out final documents at the last moment and no have time to tweak anything.
•Stop giving excuses. It doesn’t help your credibility. Be accountable and just go head and do it.
•Speak up for yourself. Don’t be rude to your team, however don’t let anyone else take advantage of the fact that you never speak up. If someone else is blaming you for something you didn’t do, be polite, clarify and then offer to help.
•Be honest- it shows in your work and management gets it.
•Ask for advice, talk to people and then take your own decision. If you want a raise, promotion make sure you are not randomly talking about it and wasting someone s time. Getting ready for it takes time and make sure you out the effort. Keep an excel sheet of your contribution to the team, or time you have taken initiative and you were appreciated, brought in business or client liked your work. More the data, stronger your case. If possible, mention the dates, copies of emails along with or proof enough, so your boss doesn’t thing you are making it up.
•Show up with a smile and lot of positive attitude. Don’t always say- it cannot be done or it’s not time enough. If you think- the deadline doesn’t make sense, tell them you are trying your best and will keep them in the loop as the work progresses.
•Ask for help. Don’t be a slacker and get your work done by someone else. Just make sure don’t be shy if you need help with some calculation, need a peer review of your project or simply need to meet the deadline.
•Don’t be selfish- make sure your team gets the credit. They are the ones you spend 8 hours a day with. You downplay them or lie- it will come back to you the very next day.

Have a great Monday everyone!


Newbie Power- why you shouldn’t underestimate them?

May 21, 2010 | | 1 comments |
Newbies may be taken for granted and be the go to person to get your paperwork faxed, photocopied and the runner for your three o clock latte fix.

They are new but they are smart.

Here’s why you might want to re-think:

•They lack the experience but boy they know how to communicate! Phone, twitter, gadgets they have it all and use it very successfully.
•They are fiercely competitive and know to market themselves
•If they seem lazy and not being upto the job, chances are you bore them and they have been secretly texting their friends about how their new office sucks.
•They are the decision makers- about their career. You control the project but if they don’t like what they see, they quit .
•Chances are they are a brand and know how to build one better than anyone else.
•They have age on their side- you don’t know what they will be 5 years later. So treat everyone the way you would like to be treated.

Interview with Jason Westland

May 17, 2010 | | 0 comments |
I interview Jason Westland and how he started with the sites- his inspiration, insight and how one can know that your calling is to be a project manager.

Why did you decide to become a Project Manager?
After university, I secured a great job as a Project Manager for one of our leading banks. I've always enjoyed leading teams and I love the pressure of having an impossible deadline, so Project Management was perfect for me. I really like managing people, suppliers, equipment and customers to bring a project together. It's always a great challenge and very rewarding when you get it right.

Any experiences you might remember when you first started out and want to share here.
Sure. My first project was managing an IT deployment throughout the country. It was using leading edge technologies and was high risk. The first server we installed failed miserably, putting us off track. The suppliers didn’t know what they were doing and we were short on resource. The only way to delvier the project on time was to massively reduce the scope. So I presented to the Company Board (a group of really scary fellas at the time) and managed to get their approval. From there, I learned that you have to communicate with the Board constantly throughout the project, to get their support. With their support, you can achieve anything. We delivered the project on time and then kicked off another project to complete the remaining elements.

I've learned throughout the years, that the top 5 things you need to do to deliver a project successfully are 1) Spec it our properly at the outset; 2) Spend good quality time planning and don’t start execution until you know exactly what you're doing; 3) Monitor progress every week and keep the team informed as you go; 4) Communication among the project team is key and; 5) Always keep your Customer and Sponsor on side - get to know them and their business needs well. If you take those 5 tips, then you'll boost your chances of success.

How did the idea of starting these websites emerge?
I got tired of not having the right tools to manage projects. Firstly, I was always creating documents from scratch. So I built Method123. As I managed bigger projects I realized that everyone in my team needed to work in a more structured way, following a methodology as they went. So we built www.MPMM.com. Project tracking is critical to success and there were no tools available on the market that I was confident in, so we built www.ProjectManager.com. And finally, I needed MS Project for lots of users and it was way too expensive, therefore we built www.ProjectPlan.com. Basically every product came from a common problem that I know all project managers share.

Talk to me about the your site MPMM - how do you think it will help Project Managers?
Good question. Great Projet Managers use the same formula for success for every project they undertake. They manage projects in the same way every time, because they know that if they use the same process for delivering projects, then it will generate the same results. And that’s what MPM gives you. It offers you a proven, step-by-step process for delivering projects. It's aligned with Worldwide Standards PMI and Prince2 and hundreds of thousands of project managers have used it to help deliver projects on time.

If you follow the process that's included, then you'll improve your chances of success. It's that simple. Also, great Project Managers never start from scratch. They always use templates to get ahead. MPMM includes all of the templates you need to manage projects, and it comes with a suite of examples so you know exactly what you have to do to create project documents quickly and easily.

What’s your advice to newbies who are stepping into Project Management?
If you love to take on a challenge, you love managing people and you're goal orientated by nature, then Project Management is definitely for you. It will always keep you on your toes. It can be stressful at times, but the most important thing is every project will come down to your ability to coordinate and motivate a team of people, to achieve the desired results. It's people that really matter.

So learn everything you can about project management. Don’t get caught up in things like the technicalities of Critical Path Analysis or EVA, instead focus on the basics. Plan your projects well at the outset. Hire the most talented team you can find - I always try and hire smarter people than myself! - and then motivate them towards achieving the results. Monitor their progress carefully and tackle issues head on as soon as they arise. Keep your customer informed along the way and get their support and buy in. If you keep to these basics, then you'll be well on the road to success.

Stress at work has become such a major factor these days, so do you think by using your software's, the PMs will be able to do things more efficiently and save more time?
Yes definitely. The world is changing. Everything is going online and people are using the internet to connect and communicate more. By using online tools, people these days are able to share and collaborate to get things done. Everyone knows what's happening on the project because the dashboard and reports are right there in front of them, real time. There is no more waiting until the weekly or monthly reports have been produced, only to get an outdated view because something else came up in the meantime.

By using tools online, Project Managers and teams know what's happening as it happens. It's pretty exciting. These tools are evolving fast and adapting to the ways that people manage projects. The old days of using MS Project to plan the project and then nothing to track real progress are gone. Online tools these days allow you to track progress as you go, raise risks, issues and changes when they occur and collaborate to resolve them. People still use tools like Outlook and Skype to communicate, but in the next couple of years, these will all be integrated within online project management tools, so that you only need to go to one place to manage your day. It's an exciting world! To see what I mean, check out www.ProjectManager.com

Wow, that is exciting- a Project Manager turned entrepreneur! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

The best part is you get 2 licenses free from http://mpmm.com/, you can tweet at @Soma_b or email and let me know why you think Project Management is important to you. Your email, tweets should reach me by May 23. Winners will be announced in the blog.