Category Archives: Behaviour
Assumptions, Assumptions – Stereotypes and project teams
Stereotypes are familiar to most people via initiatives to reduce discrimination in the workplace and news reports highlighting the wider impact it has on the society we live in. Most people know of them, even if they have never heard … Continue reading
Industrial espionage isn’t what you think it is!
As a director of an industry body, I send e-mails to a large mailing list. And as soon as an e-mail has gone there is the inevitable ‘ping’, ‘ping’, ‘ping’ of incoming Out of Office messages. Lots of them. From people … Continue reading
Glued to your phone? Of course you are!
There is an ongoing hum of concern about the effect the smartphone has on our lives. For many of us, the first thing we do in the morning is reach for our smartphone. People complain that others are glued to … Continue reading
Don’t do a Dory
Is this your natural approach to a problem? “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” is proverb many of us are brought up with. Try harder, try harder. That’s what we get at school every time we get … Continue reading
Making Baby Bear’s porridge : Dealing with the gold-plater on your team
What is a gold-plater? A commonly voiced frustration when you get a group of project managers together is dealing with gold-platers. To them, a gold-plater is someone who cannot finish their work and release it to the client. They have … Continue reading
When the going gets tough…….Overcoming the fear of failure
One of our biggest challenges in working with a team is keeping people motivated when things get hard. Why does one person work themselves into the ground doing far more work than is necessary, while another spends hours on … Continue reading
Old School Tricks for getting the best from your Project Management Conference
At the recent Ground Control conference, I was talking to some digital project managers who were saying how much they valued the conference, how enlightening it was to talk with other project managers and how important such self-development is, but … Continue reading
Are you the Project Hero? Or are you stuck in the Drama Triangle?
As a project manager or lead BA do you ever find yourself stuck in this role? There is conflict between other members of the team and you feel you must go and sort things out for them. This plays out … Continue reading
Am I doing my user stories right? The team aren’t getting it.
Recently I was working with a BA to explore why the user stories she is creating are not being followed by some of her team. About the Team She is in the situation many people in large organisations are in. … Continue reading
Business Change – The Kubler-Ross Model
My interest in change management and behaviour started with my very first IT project. Although the Project manager said the users wanted a new tool, just putting it out there meant it was ignored. At first, I couldn’t understand … Continue reading