Hi,
A great opportunity for aspiring project professionals has opened up with the launch of AIPM A.C.T. Chapter’s new special interest group – Young & Emerging Project Professionals (YEPP).
Initiatives such as this bring people and minds together, forging relationships that can last a lifetime.
read more
… It only takes moments and it won’t hurt a bit.
A few years ago, a meticulous research study of 860 Project Managers (whittled down from 5,258 PMs) and 4,398 of their stakeholders was undertaken. Called ‘The Alpha Study’, and led by Georgia-based Project Manager and author Andy Crowe, one of the aims of this landmark study was to try to define the qualities that made an ‘Alpha’ Project Manager more effective than any other. Crowe published the findings in his book, ‘Alpha Project Managers (what the top 2% know that everyone else doesn’t)’, which challenged many of the assumptions in the profession of project management today.
Essentially, the assumptions of the PMs were tested against those of their stakeholders, and perhaps not surprisingly, it turned out that most of us are making incorrect assumptions about what our stakeholders want and how we should relate to them. Interesting too was that only 18 (2%) of the study group were identified as Alphas – 6 female and 12 male, a close approximation of the gender split across the whole study group.
Crowe discovered that Alpha PMs were the ones who consistently delivered projects that met the project goals, managed stakeholder expectation, and kept the customer, the team and the organisation in harmony. And whilst it might appear obvious that naturally, an elite PM would be achieving results like these, the reality is that most PMs find it simply impossible.
‘Alpha Project Managers’ is interesting, and has attracted discussion from all sides. But importantly, it encourages you to think about how you manage your own projects. I’ve extracted some quotes for you to read, but if you’d like to read more, it’s available from Amazon in either hard copy or ebook format.
Which one would YOU buy?
OR …
When considering a PM, clients look to see what we’ve done to improve ourselves over the years and what we’ve done to keep up. Are we up to date with the latest thinking (even if we think it’s rubbish)? Have we delivered the same project over and over, or are we fresh in our approach and broadening our thinking and value? Are we doing what worked years ago and trying to make today fit into yesterday ? Basically, can we deliver in the reality of today’s corporate environment?
Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen
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.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.
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
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.
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
Hi,
On Monday 28th February I presented a paper at the 2011 International Conference of the Association of Global Management Studies, which has just concluded in Las Vegas. The conference provided opportunities for networking and collaboration amongst scholars from academia, industry and government, and encouraged papers on any aspect of management and business. read more