For me, one of the best lessons learned was earlier in my project management career. When analyzing stakeholder requirements for an infrastructure rollout, we left out one of the obscure vendors who had been contracted to maintain a small but crucial desktop app. Rolling out the desktops and app meant that we had violated their T&C so the app could not be supported anymore, even though the app still worked, and we had to buy and install all new apps. Something that could have been avoided if we had communicated with this tiny obscure vendor. Lesson: identify and communicate with ALL stakeholders. Saving Changes...
The biggest lesson was maintaining a risk item for organisational changes - especially for customer organisations.
My biggest fall in a project was in one where there was a rampant change in the customer personnel in the project org structure. (That wasn't the biggest contributor to the project failing, I must admit.)
The impact was massive. Overnight, the project objectives were trashed, all the bridges built and the battles fought were forgotten, and we had to restart the project midway in the first gear again.
Now, this is a perennial low-level risk in my internal risk-register, with the probability increasing dramatically when the customer's compensation cycle is around the corner.
...
1 reply by Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Mar 14, 2018 1:12 AM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
...
Interesting Karan. People (not just money) make the world go around, and projects too. Sounds like that was a massive human resource shakeup.
The biggest lesson was maintaining a risk item for organisational changes - especially for customer organisations.
My biggest fall in a project was in one where there was a rampant change in the customer personnel in the project org structure. (That wasn't the biggest contributor to the project failing, I must admit.)
The impact was massive. Overnight, the project objectives were trashed, all the bridges built and the battles fought were forgotten, and we had to restart the project midway in the first gear again.
Now, this is a perennial low-level risk in my internal risk-register, with the probability increasing dramatically when the customer's compensation cycle is around the corner.
Interesting Karan. People (not just money) make the world go around, and projects too. Sounds like that was a massive human resource shakeup. Saving Changes...
Just because a stakeholder is quiet, doesn't mean they support your project!
Kiron
The calm before the storm stakeholder. Saving Changes...
Nico SchusterManagig Director / CEO| Tecpal Ltd. Hong KongFrankfurt, Hesse, Germany
My biggest lesson - trust your gut.
That does not mean to just make decision purely based on gut feelings.
It means for me if I have the "feeling" something is missing, someone is honest, something is going sideways or just something is odd and does not add up - take the time to investigate what causes that feeling. You can review your documents to see if there is a gap or something missing, talk to the team etc.. whatever you do will still be better than just ignoring your gut feeling.
...
2 replies by Jim Branden and Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Mar 14, 2018 9:30 AM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
...
Trusting your instincts is a good lesson Nico. Once we have obtained a certain level of experience, knowledge and competence, we should not second-guess our judgement.
Mar 15, 2018 3:09 PM
Jim Branden
...
Nico, part of your guts 'wisdom' should come from developing emotional intelligence to 'read' people. Another tool I use: listen for what people don't say, or topics they avoid discussing. Jim
My biggest lesson - trust your gut.
That does not mean to just make decision purely based on gut feelings.
It means for me if I have the "feeling" something is missing, someone is honest, something is going sideways or just something is odd and does not add up - take the time to investigate what causes that feeling. You can review your documents to see if there is a gap or something missing, talk to the team etc.. whatever you do will still be better than just ignoring your gut feeling.
Trusting your instincts is a good lesson Nico. Once we have obtained a certain level of experience, knowledge and competence, we should not second-guess our judgement. Saving Changes...
True Vincent, there's nothing more annoying than having to sit around for ages at the end of the project when everyone wants to move on to other things, and then do all the lessons learned.
True Vincent, there's nothing more annoying than having to sit around for ages at the end of the project when everyone wants to move on to other things, and then do all the lessons learned. Saving Changes...
Jim BrandenSenior Project Manager| Retired from UNC Charlotte - IT Services - PPMOCharlotte, Nc, United States
Don't believe the Sponsor when they say, "That's the budget and not a 'farthing' (or your lowest denomination coin) more!"
The Sponsor will add money and or time to a project when the PM convinces the Sponsor that the increase is in the Sponsor's best interest and that the PM has little to gain from the change. Jim
...
1 reply by Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Mar 15, 2018 5:30 PM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
...
Jim, there is usually a battle of sorts between the "no more money" and the "I need more money" events. And you're right, the PM needs to be able to justify their stance.
Saving Changes...
Jim BrandenSenior Project Manager| Retired from UNC Charlotte - IT Services - PPMOCharlotte, Nc, United States
Mar 14, 2018 7:23 AM
Replying to Nico Schuster
...
My biggest lesson - trust your gut.
That does not mean to just make decision purely based on gut feelings.
It means for me if I have the "feeling" something is missing, someone is honest, something is going sideways or just something is odd and does not add up - take the time to investigate what causes that feeling. You can review your documents to see if there is a gap or something missing, talk to the team etc.. whatever you do will still be better than just ignoring your gut feeling.
Nico, part of your guts 'wisdom' should come from developing emotional intelligence to 'read' people. Another tool I use: listen for what people don't say, or topics they avoid discussing. Jim
...
1 reply by Nico Schuster
Apr 05, 2018 8:54 AM
Nico Schuster
...
Sorry for the late reply Jim. I agree, EQ plays a vital part in project management. Maybe even more so than in a lot of other professions as we as PMs need to deal with so many different functions and levels - from the C-level exec to the production line workers - we need to understand their point of view, their thinking and, as you said, also understand what they do not say... which might often be more important than actual spoken words.
