Organization politics exist in every office and can have a significant influence on the portfolio management system when it comes to which projects receive funding and high priority. This is especially true when the criteria and process for selecting projects are ill-defined and not aligned with the mission of the firm. Project selection may be based…
Tag: Project Manager
Implementation Gap, A Real Problem Even Today
In organizations with short product life cycles, it is interesting to note that frequently participation in strategic planning and implementation includes participants from all levels within the organization. However, in perhaps 80 percent of the remaining product and service organizations, top management pretty much formulates strategy and leaves strategy implementation to functional managers. This will…
Negotiation Framework: Focus On The Problem
Too often personal relations become entangled with the substantive issues under consideration. Instead of attacking the problem(s), people attack each other. Once people feel attacked or threatened their energy naturally goes to defending themselves, and they loose focus on the problem at hand. The key, then, is to focus on the problem—not the other person—during…
Negotiation Framework: Focus on Interests
Negotiations often stall when people focus on interests: I’m willing to pay $10,000. No, it will cost $15,000. I need it done by Monday. That’s impossible, we can’t have it ready until Wednesday. While such interchanges are common during preliminary negotiation discussions, managers must prevent this initial posturing from becoming polarized. When such positions are…
Negotiation Framework: Mutual Gain and Objective Criteria
I have to say that this may be the simplest and yet one of the most powerful negotiation framework out there. I have done some reading on the subject in the last few weeks and I have ended up to the conclusion that Fisher and Ury have something in this 4 step approach that has…
Managing customer relationships framework
Managing customer relationships begins during the preliminary project approval phase of negotiations. It is important to avoid the temptation to oversell the virtues of a project to win approval because this may create unrealistic expectations that may be too difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. At the same time, project proponents have been known to…
Time Management: Personal Reflection
Plan to have a quiet period each day. You may not get it every day, but it’s important that you set aside some time for daydreaming and reflection. It’s vital to the inner person. Also, problems that seem insurmountable often ease into proper perspective during these quiet times. Personal Reflection on Another Level There is…
How to Develop Effective Business Writing Skills
It’s a source of amazement and some amusement that many articulate people are reduced to blubbering incompetents when required to put their thoughts down in a written form. Some people are intimidated by a blank piece of paper or computer screen. Let’s examine why this feeling of panic overtakes individuals who otherwise appear to be…
The Simplest Task Management Technique Available
Have you ever come home from the office with the feeling that you didn’t accomplish any of the things you wanted to get done that day? We all have days like that, spent entirely in putting out brushfires. Sometimes it can’t be helped, but if it’s happening to you regularly, part of the problem may…
Task Management
There is one modification you might make in your task management system that may make it even more useful. You know your own body better than anyone else. If you’re at the peak of your energy levels early in the day, you should do the tasks that require high energy the first thing each day.…