Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Excel as a Project Team
Categories:
Teams
Categories: Teams
| What makes projects move and people excel? In my opinion, there are three characteristics that are consistently found in great project practitioners: 1. Urgency 2. Persistence 3. Desire Executing projects with a sense of urgency means you and your team must really apply yourselves. Every day has to be productive. Tools must be properly utilized. The work needs to be completed with quality and according to the requirements. Don't look at the future as a way to fix the mistakes you might make today. Address items immediately and effectively so that you don't make them again. Persistence means not giving in or giving up. Nor should we quit when things get tough. Don't let it slide when you feel less productive: You and your team should encourage each other to be in motion at all times. After all, we are hired to perform a specific job. The more we stick to being professional and complete in the work we do, the higher level we will reach in our daily execution of project tasks. Finally, have the desire to be great. That means don't settle for second best or for a "good enough" result. You should want to outdo yourself, to be more effective than in the past. Strive to complete more work through effectiveness and with higher quality than you think you can. It's the only way to improve yourself. When the entire team is aligned to such a work ethic and mindset, it no longer is a job for a project manager. It becomes a game and a challenge that everyone on the team takes on and is excited to be part of. Together aligned we achieve more, have fun, constantly grow and become better at what we do. What do you do on a project team to add value to the team effort with your own individual effort? |
Build a Business Case for Lessons Learned
Categories:
Lessons Learned
Categories: Lessons Learned
| If you are not having project reviews and meetings to address lessons learned, it may be that your project sponsors do not count these as valuable activities. You know better, but how do you make a convincing argument to have project reviews? You must take the discussion with your project sponsor to a different level. It's not "we just need to know what happened." It's "we want to take action and get better results the next time around." The lessons learned meeting could make you aware of changes that may be needed to turn business from being bleak to being more successful. Give your sponsors succinct reasons to pursue assessing projects to make improvements. Consider these tips to influence your supporters: Gather statistics and determine what you need to measure. If your company is concerned about quality, chart examples of projects where quality was lacking. If ROI for projects has not been good, share those examples. Share success stories. Bring up achievements that occurred because of the attention on improvement. Discuss the situations that will make a difference to the bottom line. Make a plan. As a project manager, you already know that planning is important. Prepare a well thought-out plan for gathering and presenting the lessons learned. Then use the newly acquired knowledge. How have you built a business case for lessons learned and project reviews? |
Why Getting Mad Can Benefit Your Projects
Categories:
Human Aspects of PM
Categories: Human Aspects of PM
| "Get mad, then get over it." --Gen. Colin Powell, USA (Ret.) Generally, people consider anger to be a negative emotion. But it doesn't have to be. Let's review the positive side of anger: Anger can benefit relationships. Many of us are told to hide our anger, but doing so could be detrimental to your relationships. For example, if you're angry because of a mistake that a project team member has made and you don't speak up, he won't know that he has done something wrong. He will probably keep doing it and enter into a vicious cycle. On the other hand -- if justifiable and aimed at finding a solution --expressing dissatisfaction can strengthen relationships. Such honest communication can help solve problems among stakeholders and build cohesiveness into your team. Anger can motivate. Anger can prove to be a powerful motivation force, helping you "go the extra mile" and keep working despite problems or barriers. For example, if you're criticized for your work, you may feel further motivated to do better because you are angry and want to prove that you can improve your level of performance. In project management, if we are able to produce what is called "positive anger" in our team, they will be more motivated to achieve results. But don't make a team member mad just for the sake of it. Find the right words to push them in the right direction. Anger can indicate an optimistic personality. Ironically, happy people have something in common with angry people. Both tend to be optimistic. Take the study of risk management, for example. Dr. J.S. Lerner, professor of public policy and management at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, found that angry people expressed optimistic risk estimates. Estimates of angry people more closely resemble those of happy people than those of fearful people. It's okay to get mad, but always behave professionally and treat people respectfully. Don't let wrong behavior undercut a right message. At the end of the day, we're all human. We all have feelings, one of which is getting mad. Use positive anger when you can. Above all, be able to communicate when you're angry in a way that doesn't undercut your message. Have you ever used anger in a positive way in your projects? Read more from Jorge. |
Craft "High-Quality" Requirements
Categories:
Project Planning
Categories: Project Planning
| Project requirements derive from concrete business needs or business-use cases and constitute the foundation for the project work. Without requirements, projects cannot exist. Incomplete and unclear requirements may result in project failure. Moreover a significant part of project rework is attributable to problems with the project requirements. On the other hand, requirements that are clear, complete and understood by all the parties are of "high quality." They build a solid foundation for the project work. Collecting high quality requirements can be a challenging endeavor for several reasons: • Stakeholders often don't speak the same language (business vs. technical) • Stakeholders have different understandings and views of the product • Stakeholders have different backgrounds and expertise on the matter It may not be the project manager's role to collect, qualify and write requirements. But he or she is often the one planning the framework and determining or approving the guidelines by which requirements are elicited, qualified and accepted. The following guidelines should help in collecting high-quality project requirements: 1. No requirements without a use case Usually, requirements can be linked to concrete business cases, which are generally task- and user-centric. Use cases help understanding the requirements' context and purpose. 2. Requirements language Pay attention to the wording. Avoid ambiguous words. Use words and terms consistently. You might consider using a glossary of terms to ensure common understanding. Avoid words that have subjective meaning (nice, substantial, safe, simple) and that enforce direction weakly or that undermine commitment (often, always, partially, usually). Use "shall" or "must" instead of "should" or "might." Remove any room for interpretation. Avoid the usage of "and/or" together or "including but not limited to." 3. Requirements characteristics checklist Build a checklist of requirements characteristics that are relevant to your project's quality standards. Evaluate each requirement against the checklist. Here are 10 characteristics that I successfully use to evaluate the quality of requirements: Atomic: Is this a single requirement or multiple requirements in one? Complete: Is this comprehensive enough to start working on it? Traceable: Is this related to a use-case or need? Logical and Clear: Does it make sense? Does it leave no room for interpretation? Consistent: Is this consistent with the project objectives and other related requirements? Measurable: Is this measurable once a solution is delivered? Compliant: Is this aligned to the current product features, system architecture and legal framework? Feasible: Is this realistic and doable given the complexity and the project context and constraints? Necessary: Is this really required given the project objectives and constraints? Or is it more of a want than a need? Prioritized: What are its criticality, urgency and priority? What best practices do you use to ensure that project requirements are of high quality? |
Inspire Your Multigenerational Team
Categories:
Generational PM
Categories: Generational PM
| Although the multigenerational team has always existed, project performance can be affected by the project manager's leadership style. The project manager must inspire the members of different generations while recognizing and reconciling generation gaps to develop a healthy environment within the team. To do so, you must: 1. Win the team members' trust and loyalty Successful leaders need people around them who share the same mission and vision, and are enthusiastic about it. As a project manager, you must win the trust of the people you are leading. Your experience as project manager and confidence in your ability to succeed will inspire and make people believe in your capacities as project manager, regardless of what generation they are part of. 2. Do things differently Think about new and different ways to approach a project or project tasks. Get feedback from your team members and peers to use different approaches, tools and techniques when addressing project tasks. This will motivate your team members to take a more active role in the project. 3. Thank those who help your project to succeed Project success depends on how well the project team performs. Great leaders know that showing appreciation is a great way to show people they are valued, which everyone appreciates. Say "thank you" and recognize publicly those who helped the project to succeed. Define and communicate to the project team a recognition system and, from time to time, let them know how much you value their efforts and how much they mean to your organization. As a project manager, what are you doing to enhance your leadership skills? How do you lead and inspire multigenerational project team members? Read more about acknowledgement. |