Stakeholders Posts

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.

7 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management to Watch for in 2012

Posted: January 9th, 2012 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »

By Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM and Richard Larson PMP, CBAP

The close of one year tends to make one reflect on what has occurred in the past year and ponder the future. Here we ponder some trends in the Project Management and Business Analysis fields for 2012. Here are our top seven predictions for business analysts (BAs) and project managers (PMs) in 2012.

1. Divergence of the PM and BA Role. In 2009 we predicted that as the economy tightened, organizations would decrease their project budgets and combine the role of PM and BA. For 2012 we believe that organizations will see the need for both roles, particularly on strategic projects, and move away from a combined role. There are several factors for this trend:

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.

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. 

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. 

Turning Requirements Trash into Stakeholder Treasure – Part 2

Posted: August 23rd, 2011 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »

Treasure_ChestHello all – BobtheBA here and when we last left off we were exploring how innovation can be key to turning requirements trash into stakeholder treasure. The scenario we were exploring was a difficult stakeholder that was not forthcoming with their requirements. Your job (should you choose to accept it) was to improve your 1:1 interview process through innovation by looking at it through different eyes like those of a hostage negotiator. It may yield a different result or help you to be more prepared than what you thought possible.

Relationships Span the Chasm

Posted: June 7th, 2011 by RichLarson. Comments »

I recently heard on NPR a doctor named David Loxtercamp, author of “A Measure of Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor.” He described his views of the medical profession, and sounded like a wise and thoughtful physician.

During his interview, he read some of his pearls of wisdom, one of which really resonated with me. He was talking about patients and their doctors, but I think it could be applied to any profession in which practitioners must understand the needs or “pain” of its patients, clients, customers, etc.

Toss Negativity into the Trash with Ritual Cleansing

Posted: April 12th, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

Can't_Do_CanDo you remember the last time something bothered you so much that you couldn’t get it out of your head?  A troublesome thought can consume you and preclude you from thinking of anything else.  It becomes paralyzing.

One way to resolve persistent, negative thoughts is to do something to symbolize the elimination of the source of the negative thought and associated negative energy.  For example, you might write down your thought on a piece of paper and then tear it up or burn it to symbolize the destruction of what’s troubling you.  Psychologists call it ritual cleansing.

On day 1, we look great. It’s day 2 that kills us!

Posted: March 22nd, 2011 by Andrea Brockmeier. Comments »

In_a_hurry!I heard this from a project team member in a training class recently.  He was referring to the schedules for the projects he works on.  What he was getting at was that the team really doesn’t have a chance from the get-go.  They are behind on projects before they even begin, and it doesn’t take long for that to be evident.

Why do we do this to ourselves? 

Project managers know they should be getting input from the team on planning and the estimates for their work.  And they often do.  It’s what happens after that that’s problematic – namely, the input is ignored.