The Critical Path

In celebration of our March 16, 2015 Open House Event, we're giving away the farm! No, just kidding. We're just giving away copies of Dave Garrett's book (pictured left).

Three lucky winners will receive an autographed, hard copy of Dave Garrett's (co-founder of ProjectManagement.com) book Project Pain Reliever: A Just-In-Time Handbook for Anyone Managing Projects.

Dave's book is so awesome it's even being used in an MBA class at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Of course, Dave also makes all of his team members read the book as a condition of employment.

How to Enter

1. Entering is easy! To enter, log in to the Rafflecopter widget below with either your Facebook account or with your name and email address.
2. You must leave a blog comment to enter and all entries must be received through the Rafflecopter widget.
3. The more entries you complete, the greater your chances for winning become.

Giveaway starts on Monday, March 16th at 12:00 am and ends on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT. Sorry, but it's open to U.S. residents only (it's a legal thing). Please read the legal Terms and Conditions contained in the widget below. Winner(s) have seven (7) days to claim their prize before they will be disqualified and a new winner is chosen. Good luck!

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Whether project manager or not, everyone can appreciate the need to hone our skills to become more effective and productive. Often, we get so used to doing things "our way" we don't realize that there may be a better - or more effective - way. I'm definitley guilty of this. 

I recently had the opportunity to read project professional Michael Stratton's new release, The Effective Project Manager.  Mr. Stratton provided me with a free digital copy for this review.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book - I loved the conversational tone and down-to-earth approach. It's a quick read, which is especially nice. I put the book down knowing that I konw have a few more tools in my toolbox to start producing the kind of work that really matters - and in the most efficient, effective way possible.

After reading the book, I had a few burning questions for Michael:

Q:  How did you get involved in project management?

A:  I reported to a gifted and talented manager who was brilliant at keeping her employees engaged with work that interested them. I was working as an IT business analyst and she recognized the potential and opportunity for me to work in a project management role. Why? Because she saw me doing it naturally and without effort. She asked me to begin leading efforts as both an IT business analyst as well as a project manager. Ever since then I have brought an analyst mind to project management and in the right organization it can be a very powerful toolset. Thanks to her, I was able to write about the importance of this specific skill in my book.

Q:  What inspired you to write the book? Why did you write it?

A:  At its core, I wrote The Effective Project Manager to bring awareness to the business world that project management professionals are critical to project success. An effective project manager can not only move the work that needs to be moved but also fill a role of deliverable creator and executive advisor.

Secondarily, I wrote the book after I truly felt sustained inner peace of being both productive and effective both at home and in my professional endeavors. I was finally able to wade through all the extraneous organizational and process “stuff” and come out clean with a strong vision of what project management means to me. After 15 years of following other people’s project processes, I found the perfect little process that works for me and my project teams every time. I am a visual person - and arguably not a typical Gantt head. I find that I can be twice as productive and truly effective through my daily use of mind maps, Evernote and online visualization tools such as Lucidchart. These are not typical project management tools and I want to share these tools to other project management professionals so that the profession as a whole can realize the same benefits I have realized. 

Q:  What is one thing you wished you'd known when you first started out in project management?

A:  I wish I had read Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson way before I actually read it. I regularly refer to this book. Project management is bursting with give and take and you need to be able to understand both sides of the negotiating table and recognize your next move at all times. Negotiation is about people and understanding motivations. Project Management is also about people and understanding motivations. These two art forms are a perfect match!  

Q:  It's Friday at 4 pm and your boss just told you that you've been assigned to work on a project - on a different continent! You leave 9 am tomorrow. What are the next five (5) things that you do?

A:  

1. Negotiate a week of vacation or a one-time stipend in return for the utterly late notice on this assignment (thank you Roger!).
2. Request a full project debrief that includes travel itinerary, success criteria of the project, personality profiles of the team I will be working with, research running routes and sushi restaurants in the city where I will be working. Save all of this information in Evernote.
3. Call my mom (it’s the right thing to do).
4. Beg my barber for an emergency haircut.
5. Review the music and books on my iPad to ensure I have plenty of reading material for the trip. Must include: Sonny & The Sunsets, The Dirty Heads, Beirut, Port O’Brien, Blind Pilot, Iron & Wine, Talking Heads, Wilco, Grouplove, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, Cypress Hill, Cake, Beastie Boys, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Parliament, Bootsy Collins, Ohio Players, The Bar-Kays, and Rage Against The Machine. For reading: My Dad is Fat, Jim Gaffigan, Platform, Michael Hyatt, The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber, The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss

Michaels' book is available for purchase on Amazon.com and on effectivepmbook.com and retails for $9.99.

Or, you can try your luck and enter to win our giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a digital copy of Michael's book, The Effective Project Manager. To enter, please fill out the form in the widget below and read the Terms and Conditions. Sorry, open to U.S. legal residents only (it's a legal thing).

Giveaway starts on Monday, March 16th, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT and ends on  Saturday, March 21st, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT. Winner will be notified by email and announced (by first name, last initial only) in the widget below. Winner has 7 days to claim their prize before a new winner will be selected.  Good luck!

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Are you looking for feedback from other project managers on a project you are working on? Would you like real-time advice on an issue that you are facing?

You can quickly and easily ask a question and get answers from experienced project managers right here on projectmanagement.com!

There are a few different ways to ask a question on projectmanagement.com:

• If you have a question that pertains to a specific practice area, you can navigate to the practice area and simply type your question into the Ask a Question section at the bottom of the page.

• You can also navigate to the Discussions page by selecting Discussions under the Connections drop down menu. From there you can access several popular forums or click on List all discussions to view all possible forums for your question.

Be sure to take part in the conversation! Browse the discussion forums to find other questions and help out your fellow project managers by leaving answers to their questions. Also, share your knowledge by commenting on articles, blogs or other content that you find interesting!

As you're settling into our new community, you may be wondering what Influence is and how to go about obtaining it. The information below will tell you just that!

Just remember, the more you participate, the more influence you can earn. Make sure you start connecting with others, commenting on content, and even creating content of your own and you'll soon be on your way to gaining influence!

Project Manager? Aspiring to be one? Then you need to be wearing this super cool T-Shirt!.

To celebrate our Open House Event, we're doing a series of awesome giveaways (sorry, open to U.S. residents only - it's a legal thing).

This giveaway is for one ProjectManagement.com "Leadership is Influence" / "Success doesn't have to be boring" cotton T-shirt (pictured above) in black or white and size of your choosing (S through 2XL). Our T-Shirt is 100% pre-shrunk cotton and sports a classic cut. With a seamless collar, the stitching is double-needed throughout making it durable. Approximate retail value is $9.99.

We're kicking off this giveaway today, March 10, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT and running it through Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT.  Fifty (50) winners will be randomly selected on Monday, March 23, 2015 and notified by email.

We will announce the winners in this blog post on Monday, March 23, 2015. Winners' will also be listed in the widget below but only identified by last name, first initial (e.g. "Sarah B."). Please note winners have seven (7) days to claim their prize before another winner will be selected in their place, so keep an eye out!

How to Enter

1. Entering is easy! To enter,Log in to the Rafflecopter widget below with either your Facebook account or with your name and email address.
2. You must leave a blog comment to enter and all entries must be received through the Rafflecopter widget.
3. The more entries you complete, the greater your chances for winning become.

Remember, ends on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 12:00 am EDT. Make sure you read the legal Terms and Conditions in the widget below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway