Project management articles, updates and reviews from Elizabeth Harrin.
There were plenty of questions about project management at last week’s women in technology event on how to be a successful woman in IT. Mainly people were interested in how to break into project management. The panel, made up of technology, project and programme managers from JPMorgan, as well as the main speaker, Helen Duguid from…
I’m not that good at networking at conferences and seminars. You know, standing around making small talk with people you are unlikely to meet ever again, on the off-chance that you might have enough in common to sustain a conversation until your glass is empty and you have an excuse to move on. You can’t…
Back at the beginning of August I was tagged for this meme by Mike Ramm, over at Stop and Think! I have no idea where it started, but the rules for the 8 Random Facts About Me meme are: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves which others do not know about them….
New country (well, returning to the one I left). New city. New department. New commute. My relocation went pretty well, all things considered, although Hans’ confidence in my ability to get everything to the right place was a bit optimistic. I had to buy a new hairbrush, as mine is in storage somewhere. I also…
I’ve been tracking down examples for project failure, mainly in the UK, and Tom “Bald Dog” Varjan contacted me with some reasons why he thinks projects are unsuccessful. His points are really interesting, so I thought I’d share them with you. Tom’s business cards introduce him as “Bald Dog, Organisational Provocateur,” so I’m sure that…
I ruined another perfectly good pair of tights today. This is an office problem that men don’t have – at least, none of the men I’ve worked with. Women earn 17% less than men in full-time roles, and we have a greater burden when it comes to clothes. How is that fair? Tights don’t seem…
“Can you be here for 9.30?” “Yes, that’s no problem,” I reply. “With the Eurostar it’s less than three hours.” This is the official line: from leaving the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord to arriving at Waterloo International is less than three hours. But who has a meeting at Waterloo station? Once you add…
It’s international women’s day, a moment to reflect on the state of affairs for women around the globe. In my world, an office move has left us pretty badly off: we used to have two toilets between seven women and now we have four toilets between twenty-three. I’ve not had to queue yet but I’m…
So I got tagged by Christine Kane. Which means I have to come up with five reasons why I blog. After not very much thought, here are my reasons: 1. Because I wrote a book Many bloggers start off by web publishing and then move into traditional publishing, in the Petite Anglaise and Random Acts…
I’ve been doing some research into why projects fail for a TV programme (more on this later – we are filming in May) and it seems that the unsuccessful project is unfortunately much more common than we would all like to believe. However, there is also a perception problem. I’ve been interviewed recently about the…
I am a big believer in the value of transferable skills, which is why I find the French education system so hard to understand. Essentially, you need to take business studies and do a business degree to have any hope of getting a decent job in an office. For me, university was (and is –…
Following my (rather dismissive) comments about recognition breakfasts for project managers on Projects@Work (no longer available), I thought it would be interesting to consider what breakfast choices are available to the busy PM, in case anyone close to me feels like laying on a recognition breakfast in my honour to celebrate International Project Management Day…