Author Archive

Facilitation Top 5

Posted: January 30th, 2012 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Top FiveAs any instructor will tell you, one of the best things about teaching is learning from your students.  It happens in some way, big or small, every time you get in front of people who are expecting to hear how to do it “right.” 

Of course, there is no “right” a lot of the time.  In my classes, for example, I instruct and inform, but I also facilitate discussions about the options, and the students decide what’s going to work for them.

This brings me to the recent Facilitation Skills Workshop class I taught.  In this class, we learn about different facilitation techniques and then the students do the work; they actually facilitate each of the 12 sessions throughout the class.

Learning Success

Posted: January 10th, 2012 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

We’re all probably a little hung over from the ardous task of coming up with gift ideas.  But how about the idea gift?   There’s no more precious gift than a great idea, and I get lots all year long from students, friends, colleagues, even family.  Below is an article about an idea that a colleague gave to me and that others found helpful when I ran it a year ago.  So in the spirit of continued giving post-holiday, here is my idea gift re-gifted for you.  And thank you to all the great gift givers in my life!  All the best in 2012!

Is Your Meeting Worth the Time?

Posted: December 20th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. 2 Comments »

MeetingA couple of days ago I fired up my online calendar and started to schedule a meeting with my manager.  Our meetings are typically less than 30 minutes long, but I had  a lot to talk about, so I was going to make it an hour long.  Yessirree.  I had a lot of stuff on my mind, I needed an audience, and he was the logical person to hear me out!

Grapevines and Rumor Mills – Assets or Liabilities?

Posted: November 30th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

SecretCommunications is, of course, the single biggest indicator of project success or failure.  As project managers, we have to think about all aspects of communications, including how much, to whom, in what format, etc.  We also get pretty savvy at knowing which communication channels to use.

A lot of project work gets done through informal, undocumented communication channels.  This is not only OK, it’s actually necessary.  Imagine if every conversation or information gathering effort we conducted required a documented plan.  The fact is a lot of good data can be mined from the water cooler and coffee klatch gatherings.

Training for Project Closure

Posted: November 8th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Business people crossing the finishing lineI ran my first triathlon this past summer.  My biggest concern going into the race was how I was going to hold up toward the end.  Running is the last of the three events, and the one about which I was least confident.  I wondered if I would be able to finish that last mile or if I would simply be so exhausted that I would not make it across the finish line.  As it turns out, I was so invigorated by the experience and so excited about completing the race that the closer I got, the easier it actually became as I moved toward the finish line.

Who Owns Project Success or Failure?

Posted: October 18th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

TeamRecently, a project management colleague was expressing frustration with her inability to get a project moving in a constructive direction. She commented that she knew the success of the project was her responsibility, but she felt hamstrung in her ability to get what she needed from people.  Even simple requests for information from external stakeholders went unanswered and resulted in project inertia.

I hear this from project managers on a regular basis and it always brings me back to one of the truisms in project management: The project manager is responsible for project success. 

Things We Know and Things We Don’t

Posted: September 27th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Knowns-Unknowns_MatrixOn every project there are things we know and things we don’t know – Knowns and Unknowns.  Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project as shown in the matrix.

The Known Knowns you handle via the plan, but what about those various flavors of Unknowns?  How do you normally account for those things in the project?  Often it’s with padding – estimates that include unidentified amounts of time and/or money just in case

Hockey Players and Project Managers: Just Trying to Win

Posted: September 6th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. 1 Comment »

Boy_with_Hockey_StickMy son’s hockey team won their last tournament of the summer season this past weekend.  As the athletes came into the lobby from the locker room, everyone cheered, recognizing each individual contribution.  Another mom made a comment out loud that many of us hockey parents think just about every time we see them come out of the locker room: “They’re so little!”

It’s truly amazing to see 9-year-olds play hockey at the level that this team plays.  They skate on the ice as though they’re dancing on pavement.  They handle a stick with astounding skill.  They move the puck up and down the ice with agility that sometimes takes my breath away. 

Control Projects or People? It’s All in the Details!

Posted: August 17th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Seeing_the_DetailsControlling projects is a good thing. Controlling people is not. What does it mean to control projects, not people, and when have you crossed the threshold from controlling the project to micromanaging the people?

When you start telling people how to do their jobs instead of focusing on the results they create is usually an indication that you have stepped beyond the bounds of project control and into the realm of people control.

Some team members are quite adept at complicating this tidy distinction. What about, for example, the team member who tells you they will get the work done on time but sees no need to share details regarding the steps involved or how they’re going to get it done?

Decompose for Better Risk Identification

Posted: July 5th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. 2 Comments »

Looking_Through_Magnifying_GlassMy last couple of ProjectBrief posts have pertained to risk management best practices.  The first post was about the value of articulating risks as events, and my last blog was about including the consequence of risks in the register.  This time, I want to remind people of a PM best practice that lends itself well to identifying risks.