It is a very special thrill to manage complex global initiatives and projects. Doing so gives you a sense of excitement, novelty, pride and accomplishment. It raises your awareness of all of those important global differences: time zones, stakeholders’ availability and engagement, local hierarchies, speed of execution, communications styles and about 100 other things you pick up as you go along. Global project management is a skillset that is becoming increasingly relevant for those of us who, up to now, have relied on single-culture communication skills and traditional Project Management methodology. And it’s not something you can master overnight. Understanding how to effectively manage virtual teams is about a third of your battle. As I’ve said in the past, the best virtual Project Managers assemble teams comprised of people with the three A's – assertiveness, accountability, and the ability to work independently. So you want to be a Global Project Manager? You've Continue Reading
What I learned about project failure – some lessons.
The phrase "armed and dangerous" is an idiom I apply to a pilot (aviator) with hazardous attitudes such as anti-authority ("Don't tell me "), invulnerability ("it won't happen to me") and macho ("I can do it"). These individuals fly by their rules in unpredictable and potentially dangerous ways, disregard established flight-safety practices, seem unconcerned for their own safety and others and appear a step away from an incident. "Attitude" of a Project Manager (PM) will most definitely have a negative impact a project or program. And there are many other lessons I learned. When you run a project, there are a lot of components that need to be managed together: information, people, time, as well as specific challenges and threats. Speaking of threats – even if you’re a seasoned professional with extensive experience, you’re never immune to the smaller or bigger dangers of project failure. If you browse blogs and online communities, as well as glance at the agenda of offline Continue Reading
Failed projects: 3 lessons I learned
I'm sure your resume highlights your project successes, but all experienced project managers have been part of a failed or troubled project at least once in their careers. The Standish Group 2018 Chaos Report indicated 72% of projects were either challenged or failed to obtain business goals. Project failures may have been marketed as successes, yet the project goals were impacted by reduced scope, a strategic "change in direction" resulting in a cancelled release, or just a large cash investment that failed to provide any real business value. Sound familiar? Go ahead and raise your hand — I know you're out there. I'll even raise my hand. When you're part of a failed project, it seems stressful and downright painful, but you have the opportunity to learn a lot of lessons that will help lead you to project successes. Below are my top three lessons from a failed project. 1. The project schedule is your friend A leading cause of project failures and missed dates is the lack Continue Reading
Happy New Year + Life lessons I learned as a pilot
Becoming a pilot changes who you are, even if you don’t realize it at first. Sure, there are the practical lessons about math, physics, and engineering you don’t encounter in everyday life. But as a recent trip through my logbook proved, aviation offers courses in the humanities as well as the hard sciences. I remember my first solo like it was yesterday. I looked at all of my gauges, flipped a few switches, and stared down the long runway ahead of me. I pushed the throttle and as I slowly lifted off the ground in a small single-engine Cessna, it suddenly hit me that I was the sole operator of an airplane. Though terrified at first, I ultimately welcomed the challenge and the freedom liberated me. After being a passenger in a general aviation aircraft a few times as a child, I was always fascinated by flight. Pilot training has been unlike any other endeavor I have ever experienced. Student pilots learn so much beyond the complex rules of airspace or thought-provoking Continue Reading
ERP and and Aviation: what do they have in common?
As many of you with whom I have worked know, I am an active pilot. To be a good pilot means much more than simply developing the skills to control the airplane. It means subscribing to and embracing a culture, processes and procedures that govern how you prepare for, conduct and learn from every flight. Over the years I've often drawn on the discipline that aviation requires and applied this to the work I do in ERP. The inspiration for this post came from a recent experience. A friend and I took our humble Piper Warrior aircraft out for the first time since installing a new avionics package. The Garmin GTN 750. This package combines GPS, COM and NAV functions with powerful multifunction capabilities; it would bring our little airplane up to 21st century standards enabling us to fly any GPS approach, receive real-time traffic alerts and see near-time weather information. There was a lot that went into that first flight. A week earlier, when I was onboard of a commercial flight, Continue Reading
Flying and airplane and disaster management: some insights from a pilot
There is no feeling in the world like flying an airplane. The famous naval aviator Jack R. Hunt said, “For most people, the sky is the limit. For those who love aviation, the sky is home.” “Final check, then apply full power,” says the instructor. I’m hunched over the controls of the Piper, my palms sweating and my head full of figures. The pilot of a 747 couldn’t be concentrating any harder. Final Check means a quick glance over the million dials in front of me to ensure that‘temperatures and pressures’ are normal. Then it’s the Big White Numbers check which means making sure the runway number given by air traffic control matches the huge numbers painted on the runway in front of me – thereby ensuring I’m on the correct runway and not about to meander in front of a 737 on its way to Zurich. Flying is all about logical planning, together with the training and flexibility to deal with any eventuality, which strikes me as the same set of skills you need for crisis management. Continue Reading
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