In the popular children’s book A Mother for Choco, a baby bird goes looking for its mother. He stops and asks Mrs. Giraffe, Mrs. Walrus, and others “Are you my mommy?” But to no avail. None of these potential mommies looks like Choco and so he is left alone and very sad and begins to cry, “Mommy, mommy, I need a mommy!”
Author Archive
Are You My Sponsor?
Posted: June 28th, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
What’s On Your Sponsorship Short List?
Posted: May 28th, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. 2 Comments »
What is it with sponsorship? If I had a nickel for every story I heard in the classroom about poor or completely non-existent (!) sponsorship, I’d be writing this blog from somewhere more exotic than my cube. Sponsors who aren’t available for meetings. Sponsors who don’t have time to read reports. Sponsors the project manager never sees. Ever. Who is driving the project train here?
If an organization really wants their projects to succeed, and if you’re not convinced of that you’re really in trouble, then why is good sponsorship so elusive? As a project manager, is there anything you can do to improve the chances of a real partnership with a sponsor? That partnership is, after all, one of the top indicators of project success.
What to do with Meeting Saboteurs?
Posted: April 14th, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
In a recent project management class, we were discussing meeting effectiveness, and a student asked if it was ever appropriate to flat out excuse someone from a meeting for being rude or obnoxious?
Fortunately, I have not been in a situation in which I wondered if I should do that. Unfortunately, I think this student had a specific situation in mind. It’s a tough question, especially if the person who is being difficult is a peer or more senior than you.
Culture and Communications
Posted: March 22nd, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »
Projects cross cultural boundaries probably as often as not anymore. How many people either go to other countries to work on projects, find themselves working with team member from other countries here in the US, or work with virtual teams that include people from other places?
Of course, you don’t have to cross an ocean to experience cultural differences. Cultural differences here in the US can even breed culture clash.
I was reading about someone from the Deep South who was communicating with a team member in the northeast part of the country. The northern team member was offended that the southerner had called her “Ma’am.” The southerner was completely flabbergasted that this could be considered an offense.
2 Ingredients To Spice Up Meeting Effectiveness
Posted: February 22nd, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »As project managers and business analysts, you are undoubtedly familiar with the misery of poorly planned and poorly run meetings. It’s a long list of things that drive meeting madness: unclear purpose, wrong people in attendance, lack of ground rules, inadequate preparation, poor time management, etc.
Thought given to key elements of the meeting ahead of time can make for a more effective meeting. Communication of those things insures that everyone arrives at the meeting with a shared understanding of why they are there and what they need to accomplish.
Three Tips for Project Tracking Made Easy
Posted: January 19th, 2010 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »What do your team members do when you ask them the question, “Where are you at on the project?” Ignore you? Stare blankly? Look confused? Cower? 
What makes tracking and reporting so difficult? After all, “Where are you at?” is a completely reasonable and fair question. In fact, without answers to that question, we have very little information for our stakeholders.
Many things make tracking and reporting on projects difficult. Project Managers often don’t have authority over the resources, and team members may not feel obligated to provide timely answers. Those providing answers may not be clear on what information is being asked, or they may be dependent on others before they can report progress on their part of the project. Fear of the response to their answer also drives a lot of behavior around tracking and reporting.
Three things to keep in mind to make the Q and A around project tracking and reporting less painful:
Teaching Children Project Management: Important Life Skill
Posted: December 18th, 2009 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »A couple of years ago, I remember sitting in my car listening to a radio program, riveted to a discussion with Dr. Melvin Levine, co-founder of the non-profit All Kinds of Minds www.allkindsofminds.org . The subject of the show was his (then) recent book Ready or Not, Here Comes Life, in which he explores why so many young people struggle with the school-to-work transition in life, “a pivotal time that claims more than its share of unsuspecting victims. In fact, most people are better prepared for their retirement than they are for the startup of their working lives!” At one point in his discussion on how we might better prepare young people for post-school life, he asked the question, “Why don’t we teach kids project management?” Why not, indeed?! I have thought often about that question since hearing that radio program.
A couple of years ago, I remember sitting in my car listening to a radio program, riveted to a discussion with Dr. Melvin Levine, co-founder of the non-profit All Kinds of Minds allkindsofminds.org .
