A Girl's Guide to Project Management - Latest Comments

Re: Giveaway: Project Management for Musicians

Elizabeth — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:12:03 -0000

I wish I could just bang on a drum all day instead of working! Although I guarantee it wouldn't sound that good..

Re: Giveaway: Project Management for Musicians

Dave Gordon — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:57:32 -0000

I think that's a grand piano, opened up so the strings are visible, with a light bar providing the effects. Or, not.

In the meantime, let me introduce you to Todd Rundgren, project manager extraordinaire ...

http://youtu.be/bkngOY81mWU

And yes, that's Ringo on the drums.

Re: 4 ways to proactively manage stakeholders

Elizabeth — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:19:10 -0000

Great point - it is important to know why as then you can tailor your repsonse more effectively. Without that information you could be shooting in the dark wondering why your engagement strategies aren't working.

Re: 4 ways to proactively manage stakeholders

Centrino — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:09:03 -0000

good morning Elisabeth,

About #2, I would also do a root cause analysis, trying to determone 'why' the stakeholder is negative; knowing why, you can then see how you can turn them into a positive / supportive attitude.

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Elizabeth — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:07:47 -0000

But I am biased!!!

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Elizabeth — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:07:36 -0000

I think they are pretty cute!

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Jeff Furman — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:40:24 -0000

Cute pictures, or cutest pictures ever? :)

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Elizabeth — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:06:39 -0000

Thanks! It took quite a while - I'm not the world's fastest crocheter, but it was good fun to source the pattern, the yarn and then make it.

Re: 6 Things I didn’t know about being a project manager

Elizabeth — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:06:02 -0000

Courage is a really good point. You do need a certain amount of corporate bravery to make it as a project manager, because you need to be the 'honest broker' betweent the people doing the work and the people getting the benefits, and as you no doubt know, they don't always see eye to eye!

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Lindsay Scott — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:05:24 -0000

Love the outfit Elizabeth :)

Re: 6 Things I didn’t know about being a project manager

Aamer Inam — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:31:02 -0000

Great post Elizabeth ! I would like to add that as Project Manager you got to be vocal enough , making prudent judgement (a kind of collective prudence ) and have enough courage to uncover road blocks on time for quick and graceful resolve.

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Elizabeth — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:39:42 -0000

Thanks, Susanne! We're getting better at it every day :)

Re: The Parent Project: Month 3

Susanne Madsen — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:05:54 -0000

Awesome! Thanks for sharing Elizabeth. It seems you are doing were well on your new project indeed :-) Susanne

Re: No post today – project deadline looming!

Elizabeth — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:30:19 -0000

Thanks for letting me know, Christina. I've removed the link as you suggested.

Re: No post today – project deadline looming!

Christina — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 03:21:55 -0000

Hi Elizabeth,

as I followed some of your related posts suggestions I was led to this site. I followed the jokes link above and was alerted by my malware detector. It seems as if there is a trojan trying to attack as soon as you jump to that site.

Although this isn't your fault at all, you could delete it.
Regards,
Christina

Re: Winning stakeholder support when time and energy are limited

Elizabeth — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:38:04 -0000

Philip, I don't know why more people don't know about the communication escalator. I think it's a very visual way to show how we need to involve stakeholders. Perhaps it's because most project managers rely on the 'traditional' two-by-two matrix of influence and interest when they come to map stakeholders, and think that's adequate.

Re: Winning stakeholder support when time and energy are limited

Philip — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:33:22 -0000

Great Article, indeed communication is a must for any Project, the communication escalator is so important, why do people over look this.

Re: Book review: Who Says It’s a Man’s World: The Girls’ Guide to Corporate Domination

Marjorie R. Asturias — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:25:04 -0000

Great post! Always love reading book reviews -- my Goodreads to-read list is so massive it may require its own project manager.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've found that working WITH men tends to be easier than when I've worked with women. I've had wonderful, professional, and nurturing (appropriately so) supervisors who are women and who didn't hesitate to mentor me, but when I worked in all- or nearly-all female offices and work groups, I found it quite uncomfortable. When I was promoted, there would be the initial rush of congratulations and well wishes, but over time I'd sense resentment and would hear from someone that others resented me for being "uppity" and undeserving of my new title. I've also found it difficult to work with women in many situations because of my own personality. I grew up with brothers and have many male friends, and I have what you would probably call a direct and blunt manner. Men seem to appreciate it in the workplace, but the women often seem to take offense when I express an opinion that differs from theirs. I've had actual fights with men over project details, etc., and at the end of it we'd hug and kick back for some workplace gossip. With women, however, when I disagree with someone, they just shut down and engage in passive-aggressive behavior. One time, I pointed out a contradiction in a boss' email (that only went to her, not to the entire department), and she actually froze me out for six weeks. It wasn't until I pulled her aside and asked her what I'd done that offended her that she said that she didn't agree with the point I'd made in the email.

Sigh. I'm a card-carrying feminist and would love to feel more sister-like with my female colleagues in the office (I now run my own consulting firm from my home), but sometimes I feel that we're our own worst enemies.

Cheers,
Marjorie

Re: 6 Things I didn’t know about being a project manager

Elizabeth — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:46:10 -0000

Agreed: I don't think we talk about project failure openly enough, which is a shame as we can certainly learn a lot from it.

Re: 6 Things I didn’t know about being a project manager

Elizabeth — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:45:39 -0000

I hope you're right! In my experience people don't always recognise the value a PM adds, but we certainly do create results and should be judged on those. Thanks for your comment.

Re: 6 Things I didn’t know about being a project manager

Aamer Inam — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 01:39:43 -0000

Great Read Elizabeth , When you do your 100% being a project manager and look at every activity of every phase in terms of its importance , value and priority doing this every other day on a project makes you realize that you are doing a specific job , that has a clear objective , and you find a way to get this done through the power and commitment of your crew . I learnt from the post that a good PM is the one who adopts to ever changing technologies to meet project objectives , though no one understand what PM does but we see this as a major driver behind the workforce that can keep them upright to the project challenges ,over coming them and ultimately making it a success as a whole unit. So no matter what if any one else realize it during the project or not , end of the day , results will pop up and let every one know what an organization can achieve making best use of available resources in a diligent way !

Re: 5 Tips for making better decisions every day

Elizabeth — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:21:35 -0000

Decisions often cause stress, but they don't need to. I find that if you are not 100% convinced of the decision you are making then it is far more stressful to implement than if you believe in what you are doing.

Re: 5 Tips for making better decisions every day

Elizabeth — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:20:37 -0000

Nicole, yes that helps me too. It's hard to make work decisions at work sometimes - it helps to come home and make the final decision while washing up or cooking, as the extra time and the distance from the pressure of the office helps organise my thoughts.

Re: Improving project management standards at Airbus

Elizabeth — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:19:36 -0000

Thanks for your comment. I have taken out the advert for your company, though.

Re: 5 Tips for making better decisions every day

AyansuRaj — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:43:08 -0000

Thanks you for sharing these useful tips. Along with managing
projects in a global environment, the project managers, nowadays, constantly
struggle to manage stress and anxiety. One must allow himself both time and
space to cope with hectic project schedules and work.