Who are you following?

Does it matter?

It does, most of the times. Last year while travelling from India to London for the first time, after landing in Heathrow I was trying to find my way to get my luggage.

The guy sitting next to me in the flight was zigzagging through the airport, so I assumed he was familiar with the airport, so I just followed him, knowing that he will have to pick up the luggage as well.

Turned out, I followed him to the men’s restroom. I stopped, turned around and laughed at myself. What was I thinking?

This is what happens when you follow someone without thinking. Make sure you know what you are doing and why?

(Pic courtesy)

Be informed

Todays post is a melting pot of some of the best articles:

• PMI Global Congress 2010 Summary
• Motivation over Talent
• Clients who ignore you: How to handle them 
• Preparing your exit strategy
• How to motivate your team during difficult times
• The Customer life cycle and the Project life cycle
• The Return of Listening
• Technically useful for the PMP exams
• Top 5 reasons why people fail the PMP exams
• Tackling the issues of cross broder projects
• Monitoring how to mentor and be mentored

If you are looking for mentors who can help you take the next step, try  SIPM, there are no charges for membership and you get to meet PM's from all over the world who will take the time to help you for your next move. 

Interview with Valerie Thorn

I have always believed that Project Managers given their interest in running a business can do it really well.


Today’s interview is with Valerie Thorn BSc, FRSA- CEO and founder of AND Technology Research Ltd (UK) who personally has a 30 year practical experience in software and embedded engineering runs a company successfully. 


That’s not all, she started her business when she was only 25! 


Keep reading for inspiration, lessons learnt and what you should know if you are planning your own business.

Hi Valerie, please tell us something about your organization and how you started it.
We are AND Technology Research Ltd, a small private company – currently 10 staff situated in a small village between London and Cambridge in the UK. I started the company in 1980 when I was 25. I saw great potential in the use of distributed computing power within businesses, for communications and control. I began with some funding of my own and practical support of my parents and sister.

Since you have been managing a company and also running projects, which do you think is more challenging and why?
Running the company is in some ways just the same as running a project so both are challenging; however there are some differences Projects have an intensity and significant time pressures. For instance if you don’t start a project on time, then you shouldn’t be surprised if you don’t finish on time; running a company in which you have a long term interest does not normally suffer from this sort of intensity. However overall I would say that the number of variables and the effects that your decisions have on people’s lives makes running a company more challenging.

How important are mistakes in trying to run a company?
If you don’t make mistakes then you don’t learn, what’s most important is how you deal them. The main thing to remember is that mistakes have to be managed or corrected for the best interest of the company, not for the best interest of the manager/owner. Personal conflict can inevitably occur but handling the conflict should add to the learning. So mistakes are important, you have to learn to recognise when mistakes occur, accept them, deal with them and not get hung up on them.

Do you think a good project manager can also be successful business person?
Yes I do, in fact they can make excellent business people, but they have to be able to cope with uncertainty. Project managers have to engage with a variety of project stakeholders and manipulate resources and time to make to project work. A good business person needs to be able to do this; however business people also need generally to cope with uncertain situations where either the resources or the time are just not as they would like them to be. They have to be a little more creative and inventive and be prepared to take the responsibility for risk.

Three important qualities that both project managers and entrepreneurs should have?

• Vision and focus for what is to be achieved.
• Organisational skills which allow them to stay focused but include enough flexibility to accommodate change
• Ability to inspire others and to carry the message of the vision forward.

One thing you wish you knew when you started out.
The importance of the supply chain to a business. By this I mean, not just where your market is but how to navigate supply chains within the market in order to maximise business potential.

So, when organizations like you hire newbies- what are you looking for?
People who, given a necessary skill level, then demonstrate the potential to learn and to adapt to change, plus an ability to laugh.

Valerie is also an active participant in a number of creative and electronic industry organisations. Her career has involved creating digital and electronics based solutions for consumer, industrial and telecommunications products. AND has received numerous awards for innovation over its 30 year life-span and Valerie’s achievements in small business management have also been recognised. Valerie’s expertise lies in embedded software and the role played by software as Intellectual Property. She is engaged in research into technology management and innovation. 


To know more about AND visit their website here.


(Pic Courtesy: Valerie Thorn)

Dear Sr. Project Managers/PMO Directors

Dear Senior Project Managers/PMO Directors,
I have built my own door for someone to come knocking (Hint: If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door -Milton Berle). And I need your help. 

I know you are busy- with meetings, stakeholder communications, more charts and graphs, keeping up with your coffee addiction and running PMO’s. 

I’ll cut it short and say- I am looking for my next job/project/assignment. I'm diligent, smart and have positive review of my projects and client handling, it led to clients coming back for other projects as well.

So, I know what I am doing and where I want to go after I finish building the door. I like challenges, learning new skills, techniques and just when you think it is impossible- I will change your mind. 

I take risks and listen to my inner voice. I deal with clients and team members as other human beings and love what I do so much that I don’t want to give it up. 

I’m looking for an organization/PMO preferably in and around Chicago but don’t mind relocating within States or outside as long as I get to do what I love- more projects.

If you don’t have an empty chair in sight, feel free to forward this to someone else who might.

If you would like to know more click here or I can connect with you on Linkedin. 

If you really want to know how I work, feel free to contact my co-workers or fellow bloggers independently who have known me for years now, that way you don’t have to worry about me taking them out to expensive lunches to make sure they give good reviews.  They know me well enough to talk about my work, ideas, implementation skills, teamwork, independent thinking capability, decision making and completion of sucessful projects.

If you need an updated resume email me (steppingintopm@gmail.com)please.


Yours sincerely,
Soma Bhattacharya.

Interview with Raj Menon

He is honest, insightful and encouraging. If you havent met him, you should. Meet Raj Menon who writes about leadership, he thinks "My job is to make it easier for you to meet your goals by giving you confidence, direction and guidance.” You can also find him in twitter 


Your blog is in Alltop and that says a lot about the quality of your posts- tell us something about your blog.
Thanks Soma. Alltop included my site a long time ago under the leadership category, back when 13apples.com was lap31.com. I am not certain if my site is still listed as one of the upcoming and promising leadership blogs. That was a proud moment for me and I still cherish every win I have ever had.
The origin of the 13apples Blog started with a simple question I asked myself when I turned 30yrs old - am I ready to lead? You can say I was a bit paranoid. I looked back into what I had achieved in life and tried to figure out where I was headed. My writing was a way for me to find my path forward. I considered the site to be a pit stop for me. I was in a race called life and like any race driver I was in the pit stop to refuel, change tires, tune up, and zoom out to race another lap. As you can tell, I am a big F1 (Formula 1) racing fan, which is also where the original name for the site "lap31.com" came from as I was on my 31st lap in a race called life.

Why did you choose to write about leadership?
I believe that there is a leader in every one of us. As I was reflecting on my leadership lessons through my writing and life experiences, I thought of giving back to the world by exploring the mindset of leaders in every walk of life and thus provide every one who visits my site with the opportunity to awaken the leader in them, to share their leadership stories, to collaborate. Eventually it led to the site slogan "where leaders collaborate".

What are the qualities of a real leader, do you have a favorite?
It's tough to encapsulate all the qualities of a real leader in a few words or sentences. It's like asking "What makes a person good?". There are so many things - characteristic, environmental, situational, personal, professional, etc - to consider before summing it all up. To best answer this question, let me share with you what I believe are Leadership Mantras that everyone is inherently born with but needs to develop or fine tune:

• Leadership is about people. We lead by creating an environment of trust, transparency, openness, empowerment and support; where failure is an opportunity to learn, where success stories are celebrated.
• Leaders are social beings. They create collaborative teams beyond boundaries and borders, bridging cultural divides, in a globally diverse workspace.
• Leaders inspire themselves by learning and listening so they can in turn inspire others by sharing and collaborating. 

How did you end up being in project management? Is this something you always wanted to do?
Project Management was never a goal for me, at least not when I started out in the IT field 11 years ago. I was an ASP developer, moved on to PHP and to Java development before I was promoted to a Lead role to manage the company's first dot net project overseas. I continued to wear multiple hats, that of a developer and a lead for another 2 years till I realized that I needed to be a full time lead if I am going to be held accountable for the project. During 2004-05 I was doing Project Leadership full time which gradually helped me go up the ranks to a Project Manager and now Program Manager. In short, I worked my way to project/program management.

I know you are part of toastmasters, so do you also read a lot? What are the last 3 books you read?
Yes, I have been part of toastmasters since 2008. I spoke about my foray into toastmasters and the journey in a speech last year, which you can find at this link here . I do read a lot, especially these days.
I am glad you asked me about book coz I read 3 very insightful books recently. The interesting part is that each author led me to the next book.

• Who's Got Your Back? by Keith Ferrazzi
• Get It Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More by Steve Robbins
• The Go-Givers by Bob Burg & John David Mann (I am currently reading their 2nd book The Go-Givers Sell More)

Any new plans for your blog?
I have so many plans but I am taking it one step at a time. With my salaried job, toastmasters, family life and networking, I struggle to find time to put my 13apples plans into supersonic speed. But someday I will when my life permits.

Some immediate plans are to increase my subscription base. I have around 30 amazing subscribers now but I want to grow that as rapidly as possible. I will also continue to have 1 post per week emailed to my subscribers. I am also working on an eBook that I will be distributing freely to my subscribers, around a new concept I am working on called the Circle of Influence. These are the plans in action right now.

By the way, congratulations on your PMP- how much do you think preparation time one needs to go for it?
Thank You! Frankly, I spent a year of ad-hoc studying which was mainly listening to the PMPrepcast (which you are promoting on your website as well). Ad-hoc studying will not really get you through the test. What made a difference for me was the 1 week I took off from work and put my brain and body into overdrive to piece it all together. However, that is not the method I would recommend. Instead, I would advice any PMP aspirant to put in 3 months of effort (2 hours per weekday) and a dedicated review time 2 weeks prior to the exam, mainly to attempt sample tests.

Three qualities you think every aspiring project manager should have?
1. Be Confident in Yourself
2. Respect People especially your Team
3. Be Accountable for your actions and Never Give Up

Thank you for your time Raj.
Thank You!!