The command-and-control approach is out of vogue, and, as it turns out, also detrimental to human nature. Whether you’re an IT manager locking down access and permissions to IT-business collaboration tools, or a micromanager who forces a process on her employees to get work done, you may be negatively affecting business productivity.Historically, leaders have controlled employees rather than connecting with them. According...
In this this two-part post, we’ll highlight three of the most common goal-setting methodologies present in organizations today and will discuss the pros and cons of each.Management by Objectives (MBO)If you’ve worked in an American organization in the last several decades, you probably have experience with the MBO approach to goal setting.While the American corporation was in its formative stages, journalist Peter Drucker w...
When choosing companies with which to do business, today’s customers look for a blend of traditional service traits and newer ones that have arisen with technology advances.We are now closer to 2020 than 2010. Whether you are a business owner or one employee out of thousands, and whether your job title is IT director or call center specialist, everyone today is in customer service. Here are eight mandates of modern customer...
The best of the best project managers are part people-master and part data-head.Over at the American Management Association, Tom Kendrick, author of 101 Project Management Problems and How to Solve Them, asked readers how to assess if they have what it takes to be successful project managers. We’ve been talking a lot about certification here, but Tom approached the issue from another angle: what qualities do the best PMs mo...
The New Horizons Pluto mission took so long its destination planet was reclassified. For the project managers, it was the ultimate marathon.In 2001, a team led by NASA principal investigator Alan Stern crafted the proposal for the New Horizons mission. Five years later in 2006, NASA launched an unmanned probe, a spacecraft weighing over 1,000 pounds, on the first-ever route to Pluto.Less than a year later, the International...
What does a funnel have to do with revenue? If you’ve ever wondered what your process teams were going on about, you’ve come to the right place.You know the feeling. You’re meeting with someone from sales or marketing and you’re listening attentively as they passionately describe their project. You want to understand what they’re talking about, but you don’t have an MBA and some of the vocabulary is just lost on you. Howeve...
Gartner has predicted that the swarm will be the future of teams, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of such an arrangement?Mid-century work teams will be temporary in addition to virtual. The growth of contract work and the specialization of organizations will spell the end for stable groups that work together a long time. Teamwork will still be valued and rewarded, but the teams themselves will form and disband...
“The basic building blocks for digital services and products … have become so evolved, inexpensive, and ubiquitous, that they can be easily combined and recombined.” — The Economist, January 2014As the data age marches on, IT and business become even further intertwined. Where do project managers fit in the radically new IT ecosystem that will be a reality by 2020? On his recent Project Management in 2020 webinar, Gartner r...
The next phase of manufacturing will be all about information technology. Which of these trends will have the most profound impact on your work?Industry 4.0 is the brainchild of the German government and describes the next phase in manufacturing, known as the post information revolution. I came across a great primer from Boston Consulting Group that neatly describes the nine pillars of technological advancement that underpi...
You may be conscientious, but are you productive? They’re two different things.When I take work personality tests, I’m off the charts on conscientiousness. Conscientious people tend to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement. We display planned rather than spontaneous behavior and are generally organized and dependable.This all sounds great, of course. But conscientiousness and productivity are not the...