IT Management Life

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

Managing yourself and others
2007-01-27 16:00:18
All managers have a team to manage but all managers have themelves to manage too. It’s tough being a manager. You need to get through the day getting your own work done and looking out for your team. As managers move further up the ladder, they receive less mentoring and training. There are of course those instinctive managers who do better than others and they happen to have led a life which has helped them develop key management skills, not just in work, but in general life too. But most people aren’t that lucky and tend to rely on a PMI or PRINCE2 course and read a few books. But even that’s not enough. This blog was never intended to regurgitate what you can pick up from a PMI or PRINCE2 course. It’s intended to cover things that most managers are never taught. Which brings me on to a great new CD which Harvard Business has just released to cover some of the challenges that a manager faces in their day to day life. I’ve mentioned the topics below ...
More About: Other , Yourself , Others , Self , Your

100 Rules for NASA PMs
2007-01-27 16:00:18
These have been floating around the net for quite a few years and I happened to stumble across them again and thought I should share them with you. All credit goes to Jerry Madden at NASA for this compilation. None of it is rocket science but they’re all good reminders for anyone in management. I know it’s a long list and I thought of separating them into easily digested bite sized chunks. But then I thought not, so here they are for your travel reading or for pasting on the walls of the office. Project Managers Rule number 1 A project manager should visit everyone who is building anything for his project at least once, should know all the managers on his project (both government and contractor), and know the integration team members. People like to know that the project manager is interested in their work and the best proof is for the manager to visit them and see first hand what they are doing. Rule number 2 A project manager must know what motivates the project contr...
More About: Rules , Nasa

Flogging dead horses
2007-01-26 21:58:08
We all see the statistics associated with project failure. For instance, according to a study by Gartner, almost 40% percent of IT projects fail or are abandoned before completion. Most project managers are afraid of being labeled as quitters or failures. Perhaps it takes more courage to admit that your project is a failure than to accept it (with no choice) when you finally walk over the cliff’s edge. Let’s be frank, continuing with a hopeless project is like flogging a dead horse …and wasting huge amounts of money in the process. It doesn’t make very smart business sense does it. (more…)
More About: Horses , Dead , Horse

62 tips for consulting success
2007-01-26 09:58:02
If you’re an independent consultant, you constantly need to have your ear to the ground and know how to market yourself. Having a skill to sell is simply not enough. I’ve always enjoyed the marketing challenge, and learning new ways to sell myself and in fact I had a sales and marketing career before entering the IT world. (more…)
More About: Consulting , Tips , Success , Cons , Irritating

Work-life balance
2007-01-26 09:58:02
If you’re one of the many whose narrowed view of life consists primarily of work and sleep, perhaps it’s time to step back, take a good look at yourself and ‘get a life’. I find it very sad when I see people devoting virtually all their time to the company they work at. Come on, what sort of life is that? Is that really a life? (more…)
More About: Life , Work , Balance , Alan , Lance

Risk management culture
2007-01-26 09:58:02
Most well run organisations will have risk managed at four distinct levels which are; Corporate/Strategic, Programme, Project and Operational. To do this effectively, a framework for managing risk needs to be designed and implemented to address the following: (more…)
More About: Culture , Management , Risk Management , Cult , Men

Managing yourself and others
2007-01-26 09:58:02
All managers have a team to manage but all managers have themelves to manage too. It?s tough being a manager. You need to get through the day getting your own work done and looking out for your team. As managers move further up the ladder, they receive less mentoring and training. (more…)
More About: Other , Yourself , Others , Self , Your

How?s your CV looking?
2007-01-26 09:58:02
I’ve been recruiting quite a few PMs for a couple of clients recently and so I’ve had literally hundreds of PM CVs pour in. Now some of these CVs are very good indeed, but note I say ’some’. If anyone is looking for a change in career, a shift up gear, in a current or new organisation, they need to spend time (real time) on creating a CV that will make them stand out amongst the others, because in the job market the CV is the sales brochure. (more…)
More About: Your , King , Look

100 Rules for NASA PMs
2007-01-26 09:58:02
These have been floating around the net for quite a few years and I happened to stumble across them again and thought I should share them with you. All credit goes to Jerry Madden at NASA for this compilation. None of it is rocket science but they?re all good reminders for anyone in management. I know it?s a long list and I thought of separating them into easily digested bite sized chunks. But then I thought not, so here they are for your travel reading or for pasting on the walls of the office. (more…)
More About: Rules , Nasa , Rule

Share what you know
2007-01-26 09:58:02
We should always try to mentor people around us who know less than us. They don’t have to know that much less and you don’t need to know that much more. But if you share what you know with others, that can only be a good thing. (more…)
More About: What , Hat , Share , Know

Why govern a programme?
2007-01-26 09:58:02
One of the authors of the Gower Handbook of Prog ramme Management is Paul Rayner and just over two years ago, he conducted a survey which showed that whilst the world was moving closer to a common theory about what Program me Governance is all about in theory, the reality was very different. (more…)
More About: Over , Gramme , Programme

Cost of living overseas
2007-01-26 09:58:02
Just over a month ago I wrote about the cost of living and included a survey from 50 cities. Today’s post is similar except that it looks at 144 cities and includes more information. I was intreviewed yesterday by a writer for the PMI magazine in the US about things to consider when looking at overseas opportunities. Cost of living is certainly one of them and this data is especially useful for those considering their first or next role in a new country. (more…)
More About: Living , Cost of living , Over , Verse

Being an independent consultant
2007-01-26 09:58:02
A consultant is an independent contractor who sells professional expertise in a particular area of specialisation. The consultant performs work for a fee within an agreed time frame with his customer. Note that I?m not talking about consultants who are employed by a consulting firm. I?m talking about people who stand on their own two feet and are independent consultants in their own right, who run their own business. (more…)
More About: Consultant , Sultan , Independent , Bein , Being

80-Year-Old Enrolls in Engineering Class [Digg]
2007-01-14 14:48:00
"I'm a little late in the game", he says.
More About: Engineering , Digg , Class , Year , Erin