I suppose one lesson learned that I wish that I had known or learned earlier in my career would be make sure you try to have everybody on your side when starting a project. I have experienced divisions occurring within a project over the most trivial reasons or even when false information is spread about a person in order to undermine their authority. I now deal with issues before they escalate and become an all out war. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
See below my top 5.
1. Document everything.
2. Communicate sufficiently, and even more.
3. Do not think of managing projects from behind a desk.
4. Team members are individuals with a life outside the project. Spend time to get to know them.
5. Keep an eye on the business case throughout the project life cycle.
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1 reply by Stephen Buck
Sep 12, 2019 9:57 PM
Stephen Buck
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Best answer I’ve seen in here! I would add that though some of the people in your project team may be “temporary”, you likely will work with the same people (and stakeholders for this matter) over and over again. You only get one first impression. You only get a few opportunities to build trust. Don’t do anything that would have shade either of those. It might be 10 years down the road, but they will remember. Build trust early, and often thereafter. Most importantly, don’t try to win people over. They will see you are a fraud. Be open, caring, and this means to call a spade a spade! There are influencers everywhere, try to be a positive one!
Assess the organizational culture as best you can. Stay away from those that have bad or chaotic culture. My trick is to observe the employees. If they aren't smiling, it's a problem. Saving Changes...
Diane Okun-OkhaleSocial and Behaviour Change Specialist| UNICEFLivingston, United Kingdom
Apr 11, 2018 12:20 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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John -
Focus on people first, then on processes and tools. There's enough of the latter in our profession that it's easy to obsess about those and forget that it's talented, motivated team members and engaged stakeholders which result in successful projects.
Kiron
Kiron, I already like you!
I can tell your teams always deliver value and enjoy working with you.
This advice is golden. Thank you. Saving Changes...
1. Document everything.
2. Communicate sufficiently, and even more.
3. Do not think of managing projects from behind a desk.
4. Team members are individuals with a life outside the project. Spend time to get to know them.
5. Keep an eye on the business case throughout the project life cycle.
Best answer I’ve seen in here! I would add that though some of the people in your project team may be “temporary”, you likely will work with the same people (and stakeholders for this matter) over and over again. You only get one first impression. You only get a few opportunities to build trust. Don’t do anything that would have shade either of those. It might be 10 years down the road, but they will remember. Build trust early, and often thereafter. Most importantly, don’t try to win people over. They will see you are a fraud. Be open, caring, and this means to call a spade a spade! There are influencers everywhere, try to be a positive one! Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Richard Carlson's "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff". Saving Changes...
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