How to Manage Project Quality (Without a Quality Plan)
None of my projects have a quality plan, but my teams still deliver quality projects. You don’t need them either when you follow this advice.
Author: Elizabeth Harrin
Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.
Villanova Friday, Week 8: 3 Steps to Build Resiliency in Project Teams
It’s the last week of the Maximising IT/IS Team Effectiveness course that I am taking with Villanova University. The focus this week has been on managing others and establishing an environment that moves others through change. One of the lectures was on creating resiliency in your project team. Why do we need resiliency? IT projects…
Project Management, Women, and India
This is a guest post by Soma Bhattacharya, the project manager behind Stepping into Project Management. I returned home to India to find it very different from what I had left behind 6 years ago. India is growing everyday and considered the hub of outsourcing for IT and other domains. I grew up in a…
Villanova Friday, Week 7: Damage Control
This week on the Maximizing IT/IS Team Effectiveness course I am taking with Villanova University we looked at managing expectations. There was a whole lecture on damage control, which could have been subtitled When Project Managers Lie About Progress. I once worked with a contract project manager who routinely reported that all his tasks were…
Research shows female project managers earn less (but we might get more maternity pay)
The Arras People 2011 Benchmark Report is out – and the study shows some interesting facts about pay. Pay for female project professionals peaks at the £30k to £40k salary band. Salaries for women over £65k are rare, and only 15% of women earn over £50k. Male salaries plateau between £30k and £50k with 47%…
Villanova Friday, Week 6: Team Productivity
This week I had two weeks of lectures to listen to on the Maximizing IS/IT Team Effectiveness course I am taking with Villanova University. Given a busy day job, this was a challenge. So much for my week off last week. This week it has been all about managing teams in the most effective way….
Women manage the cheap, small projects: new research on International Women’s Day
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Today, people all over the world are celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. And they are also eating pancakes, as this year IWD falls on the same day as Shrove Tuesday. Women have an important part to play in…
PMI Launches Agile Certification
Agile techniques are increasingly important to project managers and the organizations they serve, and PMI® hasn’t been blind to this fact. There was enough publicity about Agile at the Global Congress in Washington, D.C. last year that I don’t think it is much of a surprise the PMI has chosen to embrace agile practices and…
Villanova Friday, Week 5: Holiday
I’m on holiday this week and have done no studying at all. The good news is that the Maximizing IS/IT Team Effectiveness course I am taking with Villanova University is very flexible and I’ll be able to catch up the online classes next week. The bad news is that I have twice as much studying…
Good service, bad service
“Good morning, Elizabeth,” says the man at the coffee stand. “The usual?” “Yes, please.” I fiddle with my purse to get the correct change. “Sorry, I don’t have enough money,” I say. “I’ll just go to the cash machine.” I leave the counter and cross the street to the nearest cash point. When I get…
Villanova Friday, Week 4: Effective Communication
This week on the Maximizing IS/IT Team Effectiveness course I am taking with Villanova University the focus has been on communication. We’ve looked at effective strategies for one-on-one spoken conversations with people, including how to determine the preferences of the person you are speaking to. About two thirds of people prefer to take in information…
Villanova Friday, Week 3: IT Leadership Alchemy
This video discusses the course text book I’m using for my Maximizing IT/IS Team Effectiveness studies. For those of you who would prefer to read the transcript, it’s below. This is the course book that I’m using for the Maximizing IT/IS Team Effectiveness course that I’m taking with Villanova University at the moment. It’s called…