Project Management Advice

Is it “National Clear Your Desk Week” or something? My social media timelines are full of IT project management friends and acquaintances announcing new positions. On LinkedIn resumés are being refreshed and updated, meanwhile Instagram and Facebook are full of photos of leaving dos (I’m even in some of them) and leaving gifts and “Good Luck” cards! And cardboard box makers must be rubbing their hands together with the amount of pot plants and “You Don’t Have to Be Mad To Work Here, But It Helps” signs that are on the move! TREND-SPOTTING At Stoneseed, we provide IT Project resources via an on-demand model. Sometimes they’re long term and sometimes short, sometimes proactive (planned and booked way ahead) and other times reactive (it’s your PM that’s posting photos of flowers, balloons and Moonpig cards and you need a replacement now); sometimes it’s a full team and end to end PMO and other times just a single project manager or business analyst.

“No. We don’t have a Business Analyst, with budgets as they are, we can’t afford one.” If I had a pound for every time, I hear something like this, I could buy EVERYONE a Business Analyst!! What can’t you afford? A requirement gathering guru? A risk management master? A quality assurance authority? A change management and adaptability artist? A communication connoisseur? A cost controlling crackerjack? All rolled into one superstar!? Given that budgets are tight, I’d suggest IT Projects can’t afford not to have a Business Analyst!

It’s in our Project Management DNA! When we’re on the ropes, we come out fighting and often end up punching way above our weight! Problems, challenges, dilemmas, even apparent failure all inspire us to think at a higher level and come up with solutions that we would never have conceived had everything been plain sailing. I can’t wait to hear what innovative response is triggered by your current challenges. It’s amazing how many great innovations, that we take for granted, were a response to a problem or a challenge. Just looking around where I’m sat writing this: I have Dropbox open on my laptop, which was a response to someone forgetting a flash drive; my wallet is on my desk with crisp banknotes fresh from the ATM, the ATM being a response by John Shepherd-Barron to the problem of forgetting to withdraw cash during banking hours (he was in the bath – he had a true eureka moment!!!); even the Dyson vacuum in the corner of my office was a response to the issue of a vacuum clogging and James Dyson having to bend down to pick things up.

The right project management methodology (PMM) lays the foundations for a successful IT Project, it's that simple. The correct methodology creates structure and governance, defines communications and documentation, and establishes principles that guide the team and help them stay on track, on the same page and on time.   But … how do you know what’s right? Right? This is a question that keeps popping up in conversations with new and existing customers alike – WHAT’S THE BEST IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY? IT’S KINDA THE WRONG QUESTION.

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David writes blogs based on his many years in Project Management and also on ideas from the team here at Stoneseed. Light-hearted, insightful and funny, David's blog cover all things Project Management, Leadership, Best Practice, PMO, Business Analysis and of course Project Management as a Service.

Still buoyed by my fortune cookie, and for fun, I’ve donned my virtual apron, mixed up a bowl of flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil and knocked up a batch of six other fortune cookies that IT Project teams might find useful reminders. Enjoy!!

Many organisations are unknowingly compromising their strategic business and IT Project effectiveness through information overload?