28.08.2011
Analysis, Commentary
Peter Reefman loves his job – and he loves a challenge. He’s been a Project Manager for over ten years, and says that it’s precisely the satisfaction gained from overcoming challenges that makes being a PM such a great career.
Challenges such as resistance to change… Or being expected to manage a project with no control of finances nor any management of the vendor… Technology issues that could not be adequately addressed by a vendor but being told to use it anyway… Or even trying to deliver an effective solution when the solution had been picked before the requirements had been defined… Do these sound familiar to you?
Meeting such challenges and resolving conflicts have gained Peter many accolades from happy, indeed grateful customers. Part of the key to success is in achieving the right equilibrium between senior management and their vision, and the team members and their efficiencies, and Peter’s experiences in the world of PM have enabled him to shed new light on the often debated ‘Top Down v Bottom Up’ approaches.
Recently, Peter’s article, “Project Management – Top Down or Bottom Up” appeared in AIPM’s Project Manager magazine. In it, Peter presented some thoughts on these approaches to planning from a Project Manager’s perspective, and provided ideas and strategies that have helped create a better balance for all those involved.
Read a plain text PDF version of Peter’s article.
Click here to read the PDF version of the original article as it appeared in ‘Project Manager’ (The article was first published in the December/January 2011 issue of Project Manager, magazine of the AIPM (www.aipm.com.au).
In the meantime, Peter continues to love his job.
And his advice to others?
- Engage with your stakeholders!
- Listen to them.
- Try to get into their skin.
- Work at understanding their business drivers.
01.04.2011
Analysis, Commentary, Culture, Synopsis
Hi,
Change. Yes, it’s time to discuss this frequently used term that can cause grown PMs to run for cover. I prepared a presentation for a client to use with their management team (and yes, I slipped a couple of slides in there about RNC) to help explain and support the need to do things differently. Their challenge is that they continue with group training, team building exercises, culture surveys, etc, and yet projects and business, as usual, struggle… and change is stymied.
The presentation clarified why the old approach doesn’t work and that you can’t cause change unless the individual feels okay about it. It was a resounding success and we are now all focussing on the key building block of the organisation – the individual.
View my CHANGE presentation here.
24.03.2011
Analysis, Commentary
Hi, I recently rediscovered this article which I wrote nearly a decade ago, in 2002. It seems like yesterday, but of course, life and times were very different. We were on the cusp of a number of major political, financial, technological and environmental shifts. What were the challenges facing PMs in 2002? And today? Has the PM environment moved with the times? Let me know your thoughts too…. read more
17.03.2011
Conferences, Synopsis
Hi,
I thought it would be a good idea to present some insight and overview on the conferences I attended last week.
I chose to attend the first – the International Conference of Global Studies -because it focused on global management – overall management not just related to projects. I was invited to speak, but I wanted to give you a bit of a brief on what I heard and learned.
read more
16.03.2011
Commentary, Conferences
Hi again,
I know I promised this yesterday but instead I spent the time debating with myself about what to say. You see, in recent times I haven’t been going to project management conferences, preferring instead to go to the conferences where the people who ‘use’ project managers hang out. (And just for clarity please note that my use of the terms project and program, manager and director are interchangeable for these purposes – the people other people look to, to get things done).
However, I agreed to speak at the PMI Pharmaceutical project management conference in the US last week and was hopeful that things had changed. That perhaps the conversation would be around delivery rather than process and outcomes rather than tracking, reporting and analysis? read more