Introducing my projects

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: Research & Case Studies

I think it’s about time I explained a little more about the projects I’ve got on the go at the moment. My role is about two-thirds projects and a third operational management. It’s the first time I’ve had an operational job and it’s great. I think what I like about that part of my day is that I can actually make something happen quickly and see immediate results. Projects take so long to get off the ground, and even when they do by their nature they take while to deliver anything, however small. (It could be worse. I was eating in the cantine with a colleague who’s role is corporate governance and strategy advisor. He told me that he never makes anything original as he reviews information and passes judgement.)

The two projects I have at the moment are:

Directory: making our global Active Directory more 21st century.
eMeeting: running proof of concept study for an on-line meeting package

I thought the directory project would have delivered something by the end of last year, but unfortunately resources and priorities meant it wasn’t so. We still don’t know exactly what we should be doing, so I’m arranging some consultancy to help out. The eMeeting project is a bit of nightmare. Our licences are due to expire at the end of the month and at the moment we don’t have replacement ones, but people are booking to use the software in March. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort that out next week: if not I shall have some very unhappy users.

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

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.