miscellaneous
As this post suggests it is going to be full of miscellaneous items. So I’m just going to let some thoughts flow about recent events from yesterday and today. Hmm…almost sounds like a radio ad “Playing the songs you love from yesterday and today!”
Anyhow…here are some of the things I was thinking/reading of/about late last night:
(lol…how’s the sentence structure and punctuation today?!)
Alright, let’s start off with some news from Microsoft®. It appears that they are having some issues with components many of you might find useful. For their internal newsgroups (those of us certified have certain other access non-certified persons have) they are experiencing difficulties and (Worldwide) their sites are unavailable.
Second new item for Microsoft®, and more than likely Prometric®is the culprit here, is having trouble with receiving exam results from Prometric®. If you have recently taken an exam with Prometric® I would suggest that you check on your results with Microsoft®. If you are open to the idea of switching testing companies (I had trouble like this many years ago with Prometrics®) I’d suggest taking a look at Vue.
Now onto some thoughts about Project Management (as this is what I do :P).
One of the most degrading management processes, or should I say most disruptive to the PM, is when a project team member makes a commitment to the project Sponsor (client) without the PM’s approval; the entire process can break down.
Why does this happen? Well growing in the industry the way I did I can say that a lot of it is miscommunication.
What happens is that the team member is hounded day in and day out about being “client focused” and “cater to the client” without being told what the process of this really is. So when a client (project Sponsor) asks a team member to do something they tend to do it. Hey, after all the team member is just trying to be “client focused” right? What happens in the mean time is that this team member could have just affected the delay of multiple other resources/team members or elongated the project to an unacceptable level for the PM.
In other instances you have high level resources doing tasks that a lower level resource could have been utilized in. So then you may see a degradation in the team as the lower level feels like it is hard to learn/come up in the organization. On the flip side of this you could also start hearing complaints from the high level team member about tasks being to mundane.
How do you address this:
Simple, the PM and team members need to be on the same page. Sounds like a novel communication ides eh? As the PM you need to ensure you outline what the accountability is and the scope of the management process and why it is important. Don’t stop there either. A lot of times this problem is fostered by the client (project sponsor for those of you in larger org’s) so ensure that all involved understand the proper procedures and the importance of adhering to these guidelines. Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of ensuring that the team and the sponsor are on the same page!
How to address these issues with team members:
Let them know the first time that they did not follow the proper procedures as outlined. Don’t stop there though, tell them HOW it affected the process or potential out come of the project and how it has affected the team as a whole. Keep in mind that if this happens 1 or 2 times it might just be an issue of the team member not understanding or being pressured by the client. A 3rd or 4th time is a performance problem. Again, ensure that if these situations do occur you bring them up with both the team member AND the sponsor so that the team as a whole can be back on the same page.
Have you ever been to the sight http://www.thinkgeek.com/ ? This is one of my favorite online shopping places! Check it out when you get a chance, especially if you are technically oriented!
Well, until next time I wish you good day!
miscellaneous
Anyhow…here are some of the things I was thinking/reading of/about late last night:
(lol…how’s the sentence structure and punctuation today?!)
Alright, let’s start off with some news from Microsoft®. It appears that they are having some issues with components many of you might find useful. For their internal newsgroups (those of us certified have certain other access non-certified persons have) they are experiencing difficulties and (Worldwide) their sites are unavailable.
Second new item for Microsoft®, and more than likely Prometric®is the culprit here, is having trouble with receiving exam results from Prometric®. If you have recently taken an exam with Prometric® I would suggest that you check on your results with Microsoft®. If you are open to the idea of switching testing companies (I had trouble like this many years ago with Prometrics®) I’d suggest taking a look at Vue.
Now onto some thoughts about Project Management (as this is what I do :P).
One of the most degrading management processes, or should I say most disruptive to the PM, is when a project team member makes a commitment to the project Sponsor (client) without the PM’s approval; the entire process can break down.
Why does this happen? Well growing in the industry the way I did I can say that a lot of it is miscommunication.
What happens is that the team member is hounded day in and day out about being “client focused” and “cater to the client” without being told what the process of this really is. So when a client (project Sponsor) asks a team member to do something they tend to do it. Hey, after all the team member is just trying to be “client focused” right? What happens in the mean time is that this team member could have just affected the delay of multiple other resources/team members or elongated the project to an unacceptable level for the PM.
In other instances you have high level resources doing tasks that a lower level resource could have been utilized in. So then you may see a degradation in the team as the lower level feels like it is hard to learn/come up in the organization. On the flip side of this you could also start hearing complaints from the high level team member about tasks being to mundane.
How do you address this:
Simple, the PM and team members need to be on the same page. Sounds like a novel communication ides eh? As the PM you need to ensure you outline what the accountability is and the scope of the management process and why it is important. Don’t stop there either. A lot of times this problem is fostered by the client (project sponsor for those of you in larger org’s) so ensure that all involved understand the proper procedures and the importance of adhering to these guidelines. Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of ensuring that the team and the sponsor are on the same page!
How to address these issues with team members:
Let them know the first time that they did not follow the proper procedures as outlined. Don’t stop there though, tell them HOW it affected the process or potential out come of the project and how it has affected the team as a whole. Keep in mind that if this happens 1 or 2 times it might just be an issue of the team member not understanding or being pressured by the client. A 3rd or 4th time is a performance problem. Again, ensure that if these situations do occur you bring them up with both the team member AND the sponsor so that the team as a whole can be back on the same page.
Have you ever been to the sight http://www.thinkgeek.com/ ? This is one of my favorite online shopping places! Check it out when you get a chance, especially if you are technically oriented!
Well, until next time I wish you good day!
miscellaneous
posted by Michael at 12/08/2005 12:05:00 PM
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