Project Management Knowledge Corner

Project Manager at University: Linking to another speaker

Transition to Another Speaker

In a team presentation, it is necessary to transfer control between speakers.

The abrupt way to do this is to simply have one person stop talking, and then have the other person start talking. It is much smoother, however, to pass the verbal baton to the next speaker (X):

• To talk about our next topic, we have X …
• I’ll pass the microphone to X who will describe …
• To guide us through a demonstration of this, we have X …

Feel free to comment or add your phrase.

Previous comments are modified from http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-transitions/

Linking to another speaker
• Now X will tell you about…
• Now I will hand over to X, who will…

Feel free to comment or add your phrase.

Previous comments are modified from Alida Bedford www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015

Project Manager at University: Speaking Skills - Going from one point to another 

Whether writing or speaking to an audience you can use the following useful phrases in a presentation to go from one point to another.

Going from one point to another
• Secondly, thirdly…
• Next…
• The next point I would like to consider is…
• I’d like to move on to…

Feel free to comment or add your phrase.

All comments are modified from Alida Bedford www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015 to reflect project manager point of view.  This post is not intended to add anything new but to share great insights obtained from University Background that might be helpful to other Project Managers.

Project Manager at University: Speaking Skills - Beginning 

Whether writing or speaking to an audience you can use the following useful phrases in a presentation.

Beginning

• I would like to start by…
• First of all…
• I would like to introduce ... myself. I’m…
• I would like to introduce ... ... you to…

Feel free to comment or add your phrase.

All comments are modified from Alida Bedford www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015 to reflect project manager point of view.  This post is not intended to add anything new but to share great insights obtained from University Background that might be helpful to other Project Managers.

Project Manager at University: Organization and Time Management

For some people Organization and Time Management is an ongoing part of the independent learning skills developed prior to starting working as project manager; for others, it can feel like a big step-up from previous experience in prior learning.

"Self-discipline is definitely key at university as it can be extremely easy to fall into the role of student bum!"

"You may have several deadlines in a short amount of time… [this] requires you to organize your time effectively."

"It is not your Sponsor or your SME's who will remind you of deadlines or collect work from you… It is your responsibility to meet the deadline because no-one will chase your work for you."

As a Project Manager It is a really good idea to use a wall-planner (or a reliable electronic equivalent) to be constantly aware of multiple deadlines and work out in advance which bits of which tasks will be done at what times. Other task- and time-management skills, such as prioritizing projects and being able to break scope and tasks down into manageable pieces, are equally important.

"I think the most important thing to remember is that although project deadlines seem far away at university, your time flies by, and you don’t want to expect your schedule to be open up and controlled the night before your project end date."

"…if you need help in your project, you have to seek it. Help will not come and find you." Escalate whatever is needed"

All comments are modified from Martin Hampton www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015 to reflect project manager point of view.

Taking from the "MODULE: PMO Mission, Goals, and Objectives: Business Driven vs. Theory Driven PMOs" of PMUniversity.

1. Murphy’s Law:
2. Parkinson’s Law:
3. Student Syndrome:
4. Entropy:
5. Game Theory:
6. Pyrrhic Victory:
7. Winner’s Curse:
8. Mexican Stand-off:
9. Pavlov’s Law:
10. The Peter Principle:
11. Peter’s Corollary:
12. The Dilbert Principle:
13. Goodhart’s Law:
14. Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule):
15. Hanlon’s Razor:

a) Never attribute to intentional malice that which can be explained by sheer stupidity
b) Multiple opponents with weapons aimed at each other will not fire the first shot
c) If anything can go wrong, it will
d) An individual’s success in making choices depends on the choices of others (i.e., Nash Equilibrium, Prisoner’s Dilemma)
e) Work will expand to fill the time available for its completion
f) When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure
g) A victory with a devastating and perilous cost to the victor
h) People will only start to fully apply themselves to a task just before its deadline
i) It is a natural tendency to move from order to disorder
j) In an auction, the winner will tend to overpay
k) 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes
l) Repetitive event conditioning can trigger automatic prevent responses
m) In a hierarchical organization, employees will tend to rise to their own level of incompetence
n) Ineffective workers are moved to the place where they can do the least amount of damage
o) In time, every position tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to do the job