Quantum Theory and Management Techniques

February 17, 2011

One of the difficulties with learning and indeed teaching management theory is the lack of definitive rules we can apply to managing people. This is a particular challenge for new manager. A lot of my work is in the digital sector, so usually these people have spent their formative years in business doing technical work, [...]

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Does Anger Belong in Business?

January 31, 2011

I found myself in a bizarre situation a few weeks ago. I was running a management training course at a client’s site. I arrived at their offices two hours early, the sun was shining, I’d had a good night’s sleep and I was looking forward to the day. Little did I know that in a [...]

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Increasing Your Power at Work

January 20, 2011

When we think of the word “power” it can have many negative connotations: Machiavellian, manipulative, and self-centred. But the simple fact is, to drive through any positive change in your organisation, whether it be a corporate-wide change programme, a project or some personal career goals; you need the ability to influence others, which is determined [...]

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Influencing Skills

January 4, 2011

Let me introduce you to John. He’s just walking out of his boss’s office having tried to persuade him that Kate should be new project manager. His boss Bob disagreed, he wants to recruit from outside the organisation. The conversation nearly turned into an argument and John feels frustrated. He’s sure that Kate is right [...]

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Business Unplugged

November 26, 2010

If you really want to unwind from work I’d recommend our holiday destination a few weeks ago, the Marriot in Taba Heights, Egypt. There was absolutely nothing to do except lie by the pool, watch the sailing boats bobbing around on the blue waters of the Red Sea, and sip drinks at the poolside bar. [...]

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Down With Time Recording Systems!

November 26, 2010

When a department runs multiple projects, it is often difficult to track the time spent on each one. It is then difficult to work out how profitable or cost efficient a particular project has been, as you don’t know how much time and therefore cost can be attributed to it. In various places I have [...]

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Ten Common Misconceptions About Agile

October 28, 2010

Agile Development is a powerful approach, particularly in IT. It can help produce quality products in a quick, efficient manner. On 18th November 2010 in London we are running an evening seminar showing how to implement this method. However persuading people to be “Agile” usually involves overcoming a number of common misconceptions. “We don’t need [...]

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The Anxiety of Change

October 8, 2010

Recently I’ve been working with a UK software house. We’re helping them work in a more efficient, agile manner both in the way they develop their code, interact with their clients and manage their teams and projects. At the outset of our engagement we had a number of meetings to discuss potential ways ahead. What’s [...]

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Critical Chain Project Management – Part 3

September 14, 2010

Finishing the Critical Chain Project Plan Using Feeding and Resource Buffers In Part 1 of this series we looked at a variety of reasons why projects tend to run late and in part 2 we saw how the critical chain approach helps to address these problems. In this article we’ll add the finishing touches to [...]

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What Makes a Project Successful?

September 8, 2010

I was presenting some research recently showing how badly most IT project do. Did you know that a government audit reckons 50% of UK Government IT project fail or that Mckinsey estimates 80% of global IT projects don’t succeed? During the presentation someone asked me to define failure.  I reeled off my usual theoretical answer [...]

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