The new reboot  Fantastic Four  movie is just out, and running parallel to the release is the controversy with Josh Trank, the director stepping back from the final product due to issues with Fox studios interference in the project. As a director of the movie, Josh Trank plays the same role a any project manager. He is responsible for the final product and steers the project in the right direction. A movie is a major project that has all the moving parts that needs a firm leadership to ensure it's final product is a major success. Some interesting point can be gleaned from this as a guidance for any project success. 1. Agree upfront on the requirements and scope of the project Each project should start with the list of requirements that all the stakeholders want to be present in the final product. These should be agreed upon upfront and be specifically called out. In this case, for example, 3 major action scenes were specified. 2. Key stakeholders should have ...

We all can remember that classic moment from the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy sets up the ball for Charlie Brown and pulls it away at the last moment when Charlie Brown goes to kick it.  I recently recalled this moment, when after almost completing an organization change process, the process was removed. I completely understand that there are times where due to the overall organizational needs, there is some tightening of the belts and areas of operations will get adjusted. Change is inevitable in any organization. The question here is, if the change becomes detrimental to the organization in the long run, the short term gains may not be as beneficial as it seems. If what you are expecting and working towards keeps getting moved, then after a while, exhaustion will set in and moving to that goal will no longer be a viable action for the person. Not all of us will be like Charlie Brown, and keep getting Lucy to hold the ball and trying to kick i...

As we saw in Part 1, knowledge is power. So we should really examine what does proactive and reactive mean ? Proactive is when you action on an issue before the issue becomes an issue. Reactive is when the issue occurs and you are playing catch up. So I think you would agree that Proactive will be the better option for a successful project. Knowledge does not necessary to be from yourself only. A good project manager knows how to form his team so that he has the appropriate knowledge at hand to consult if you require. It is easier to leverage on the knowledge gained by others then to try to obtain all the knowledge yourself. So the second skill or power the Project Manager will need is to be able to build a good balance team with the appropriate balance of skills and knowledge as all as the personality to be able to work together.  

To be a project manager there are 2 paths you can take. The proactive path or the reactive path. Just as you do in your personal life, the path you wish to take is individual to each person and is depends on several factors. To be proactive means that you need information. The lack of information will normally cause a project manager to be reactive. To have the knowledge for example the amount of development time required to resolve the issue, what resource is available, what viable alternative options are available etc will enable a project manager to be more proactive rather then reactive. Knowledge is the key. The more knowledge you have, the more proactive you can be as you will be able to join all the pieces together to get the bigger picture to see the big picture. The less knowledge you have, the more reactive you become, since you will not know what you do not know until something happens.

To be a project manager there are 2 paths you can take. The proactive path or the reactive path. Just as you do in your personal life, the path you wish to take is individual to each person and is depends on several factors. To be proactive means that you need information. The lack of information will normally cause a project manager to be reactive. To have the knowledge for example the amount of development time required to resolve the issue, what resource is available, what viable alternative options are available etc will enable a project manager to be more proactive rather then reactive. Knowledge is the key. The more knowledge you have, the more proactive you can be as you will be able to join all the pieces together to get the bigger picture to see the big picture. The less knowledge you have, the more reactive you become, since you will not know what you do not know until something happens.

2012 begins and today is the first day of work for most people in this new year. If you have a project that is still ongoing and carried forward from 2011 then you may or may not have had a good holiday at the year end. Depending on where you are at in the project, you enjoyment of the year end holidays may be inversely propotionate to the issues that you are facing in the project. With the new year dawning, revisit these with fresh eyes and a new energy. Every issue is just an opportunity to make your project better. Wishing you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and a GREAT year ahead !

Defects are all part of any project. How you manage them will determine how successful the project is perceived to be. You may have many defects but managed well, you can still give your customers / partners a perception that the project is going well. Why do I use the word perception ? Because inherently people's view on how things are going are based on perceptions. This may or may not be anchored on the reality of the situation. Part of the skill of a good project manager is marketing the situation at hand. With good marketing skills, a good project manager can create an illusion that the project is going well while sorting out issues in the background. More on this in later postings. Defects are essentially tasks that were not in the original project plan due to oversight or lack of planning. So instead of tasks to be done earlier in the project, these will need to be inserted into the plan later on in the project life cycle or even in post implementation phase. How ...