Happy Halloween! How can you scare a project manager and their team? Don’t even try “boo”, it won’t face them. If you really want to frighten them you just need to say two words: project failure. Why is it so scary? Because there’s this thing called ‘scope creep’, can cause the project’s schedule to derail, overrun its budget and end in a disaster. 

Photo by Unsplash User Markus Spiske

Dispersed teams are the rule, not the exception nowadays. Information technology and the internet have helped facilitate communication and have fundamentally changed how teams collaborate. For businesses, it’s now vital to embrace a social and collaborative strategy if they want to keep their competitive edge. 

Photo by Unsplash User Garett Carroll

Teamwork is not always filled with sunshine and rainbows. When people with different personalities, as well as different demographic and professional backgrounds come together, conflict is inevitable. As the project leader, you will have to act quickly to avoid an escalation of the situation and to resolve the issues between team members effectively. 

Lists are great! They help us keep the chaos at bay and there’s little as satisfying as crossing off a finished task from a to-do list. DONE! However, to-do lists are not the only type of list out there. So here’s a list – duh! – of 5 lists everyone should have. 

Are you on the outside of project management looking in? Have you had a taste of a project leadership role and decided it was for you? Or have you exhibited leadership characteristics and decided this is where you want to move next? Maybe someone recognized the leadership qualities you are exhibiting, and have been mentoring you toward this career destination.

"Team building exercise" - are you sighing in exasperation just hearing these two words? But team building exercises can be exciting and go beyond trust falls and 2 truths/1 lie games. Here are some more unconventional team building activities that will help your team have fun AND bond. 

You think you're delivering on all cylinders with your project customer and they are happy with everything you're doing. That may be the case...but most likely there's at least one or two things that may surprise you about the way they are going. There's at least a couple of things out there lingering in their heads that they feel you and your team have dropped the ball on and you aren't even aware. 

Photo via public domain archive

Every project has a goal or objective – but it’s not always easy to communicate these goals to the project team. Clear goals are important to motivate and energize the team and to achieve better project outcomes. On the other hand, not knowing or understanding goals will lead to confusion and ineffectiveness. 

Here are 5 historical constructions that are proof that anything is possible. Built hundreds, even thousands of years ago and without the technological advancements of today, these monuments show that we can achieve a lot more than we think.

You have a very skilled project team assigned to you for the duration of the very important technical project you are about to embark on.  They are yours and working solely for you, right? Wrong. Don’t be fooled. Yes, they want the project to succeed, but often you and the project are one of many of the priorities they are juggling so be aware.