Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The Project Manager as Intel Processor
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| The Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor is one heck of a piece of technology. It has six physical cores. Its base clock speed is 3.33 GHz. It supports three channels of DDR3-1066 memory and has 12 threads for your application to work with. It also has 12MB of L3 cache shared across all six cores. I'm not sure I understand all of that but here's something I understand perfectly: To become the proud owner of one of these will set me back US$999. I also understand perfectly that if I were to drop US$999 for one, I will have wasted my money. That processor, out of the box, is utterly useless. Unwrap it and set it on your desk. There it will sit. It will accomplish nothing. In practice, it will be completely indistinguishable from a stone of roughly the same proportions. Let's look at what it will take to get our US$999 worth out of this little jewel. First, it needs to be directly connected to a source of power, something that will bring it to life and keep it alive. It also needs to be connected to and communicate with memory and storage, with a keyboard, a mouse, a display, speakers and a printer. It requires software, too, of course. And even then, it can't really do anything. The real power of that processor can only fully be realized when the computer it runs in is connected to a network of computers. Power. Contacts. Connections. Input. Output. Software. Communications. A network. You, the project manager, are that processor. As necessary and valuable as your technical and project management skills may be, they're not enough to ensure project or career success. It's impossible for you or the stakeholders on your projects and in your career to realize the value you bring unless you are well and fully connected, playing a central role in your stakeholder networks. We increase the value we bring to our stakeholders by increasing the number and quality of our contacts, by developing strong connections, by creating input/output channels and cultivating communication skills, and by being connected to sources of power and influence. To the extent that we can increase our own value proposition, we can make ourselves more valuable to our stakeholders and in the marketplace. |
Risk Simulation
Categories:
Risk Management
Categories: Risk Management
| When we prepare our risk management plan, we believe it will work. The irony is that its effectiveness is only revealed when the risk actually occurs. But have you ever thought of simulating the risk? Let's start with two very basic risks that can occur with any IT project: 1. Critical project worker goes on emergency leave 2. Database server goes down one week before the release How would you simulate and manage those risks? In the first scenario, the best option could be just asking the worker to go on leave and see how you manage the work and team. Ask your team members to take leave on alternate schedules so you can measure the impact of each one of them. In the second situation, ask your team to shut down the server and verify your mitigation plan. It may seem foolish, but this is best way you can determine the effectiveness of your mitigation plan if the risk actually occurs. What do you say? |
Lessons Learned About Lessons Learned
Categories:
Agile
Categories: Agile
| Many teams benefit from reflecting on their process after they complete their project. Any errors in the process, however, have already had their impact. Agile software development includes ways we can improve our lessons learned - not just for software, but for any project. These lessons from agile projects may help your projects too. Lesson 1: Perform lessons learned sessions during the project. This lets you benefit from your ideas in time to make a difference. Lesson 2: Smaller, more frequent meetings flow better. There aren't as many items to discuss and it becomes easier to focus on observations. Lesson 3: Don't whine, refine. Avoid spending a lot of time digging into why problems happened. There won't be enough time to plan for positive changes. Lesson 4: Follow the cadence of change. Sometimes we forget the team will be busy with work. Try limiting the changes to two actions. But nail those actions! And don't start new process improvements until the other ideas have been deployed. Lesson 5: Changes should be by the team, for the team. Lessons learned should not be viewed as a scorecard -- it will make all the metrics climb to suspiciously good levels. Management should have visibility into the process used and some lessons learned, and anonymous examples of triggers that led to their discovery. But the retrospective itself has to be a judgment-free zone where all problems can be discussed. If you're using scrum or another agile method, this might sound familiar. Lessons learned or retrospectives are built into your iteration cycle. How do these tips fit with your project's life cycle model? |
PMBOK® Guide for the Trenches, Part 6: Quality
Categories:
ROI
Categories: ROI
| We hear a lot about how quality can make a project management world full of butterflies and rainbows. But I have a bone to pick with quality. C.F. Martin has making guitars since 1833. The company's quality is legendary -- and so is its price. It was Martin that developed the Dreadnought body style, so called because its size was increased dramatically to boost volume and bass response. The resulting models, the D-18 and D-28, became the standard by which all other acoustic guitars are measured. Sir Paul McCartney played a D-28 at his recent White House performance. Elvis Presley started off with a D-18 and moved up to the D-28 as soon as he could afford to. And from the time I started playing acoustic guitar, I wanted one. I finally scraped together enough for a D-28, and my obsession started before I even left the store. The custom cases are so precisely made that you can't leave the strap on the guitar. So, I bought a quick-disconnect device for it. Then, my salesman informed me that Martin's lifetime guarantee doesn't cover cracks for guitars because of low humidity. In my home state of New Mexico, that's a problem. So, I bought an advanced humidifier and after-market insurance. And, of course, I needed new strings. (One does not put medium-grade strings on a D-28.) The beginning of my enslavement to this highest of high-quality musical instruments had begun. The first time I used it in public, I was aware of a certain sense of dread. I realized that I was walking around with US$2,300 worth of fragile wood strapped to my torso. Microphone booms, chairs and other instruments loomed dangerously close by. My proximity bubble -- that area around your person where you're not comfortable with others -- had just grown significantly. In past writings I've been a tad harsh on the quality fanatics, primarily because they can (and often do) place project managers in a position of being vulnerable to cost and schedule variances should high standards prove elusive. Those project managers should take heart: The ultimate consumers of your projects are held hostage to these same high standards, as I have come to realize. I tried playing my other guitars, but it's too late. I have been spoiled. I have also reached the conclusion that quality has a distinct downside. |
Clearing Your Team's Blind Spots
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Consider a team in which all members are performing at the optimal level. You would see them engaging internal and external staff members only when necessary. They would deliver on requirements without having to consult you every step of the way, allowing you to be the chief who oversees a big project from a higher level rather than micromanages. When team members aren't performing at their optimal level they are often constrained by blind spots. These are the internal roadblocks specific to each team member that we often label as communication issues, team dynamics, management style, and cultural and organizational biases. Having a blind spot means not being able to see the complete picture. When we can't see the complete picture, we make up what is hidden by using context such as our knowledge, experience, goals and motivation. Blind spots limit us because we lack the runway length required to let our ideas take off; we impose constraints that prevent us from understanding the goal, coming up with solutions and choosing the one that works best. To expand your runway requires a well-integrated framework of communication and teamwork based on two main principles: clearing those blind spots by empowering the team to help each other and owning your enterprise. In part two, I will expand on the power of ownership and how to tie these principles together. Can you think of the blind spots that you were faced with in any of your previous or current projects? What was your way of dealing with them, and what was the impact on the results you produced? |