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Free Introduction to Project Management Workshop (free as in free beer!)

14 August 2009 By AussiePM Leave a Comment

Recently our eldest daughter provided us with a tremendous example of leadership, generosity of spirit and self sacrifice that we are very proud of. Instead of receiving birthday presents for her recent 9th birthday party, she asked her guests to donate money towards the Haemophilia Foundation Australia, as her cousin has Haemophilia and it was her way to try and help someone else.

Now a nine year old selflessly saying no to birthday presents is pretty special in my book, and yes she is a pretty special girl, as are both our daughters.

However, this got me thinking. I take leading by example seriously in our house, so I thought about what I could do to help as well. So I thought that I have some time on my hands during the week, why don’t I give something back to society and help raise a few dollars towards the Foundation as well.

So here’s my idea, how about I run a FREE half day workshop on the fundamentals of project management for anyone who wants to come along, with a particular emphasis on attendees from non-profit organisations, government policy and IT areas and private sector change management and IT companies. Ideally targeting new-comers to project management or people who have found themselves in charge of running a project without any training or experience in doing so.

So firstly I’m giving something back to the project management fraternity through providing information to help build project management capacity and secondly, if I charge a gold coin donation for attendance that money can be donated to the Haemophilia Association. Lastly, I’m leading by example for my children. That’s what I’d call a win/win/win situation.

So, what do you think? Would you be interested in coming along to a half day workshop to learn a bit about the fundamental aspects of project management, such as managing time, cost, quality, human resources, quality, risk, and procurement in exchange for a gold coin donation to the Foundation?

If you would be please click here and leave your details. When we’ve collected 20 expressions of interest, I’ll go ahead an organise the event and let you know the details. The event will be held in Hobart, so if you are elsewhere, I can’t see why we can’t record it in a podcast and post afterwards.

If you’d like to help in some way, or would like to make any additional comments or suggestions, either leave a comment to the post, or use the additional comment field in the expression of interest form.

EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST TO ATTEND HERE

Filed Under: Cost, Leadership, Procurement, Project Management 101, Reading, Teams, Time, training Tagged With: , , ,

Recommended Project Management Reading

10 September 2008 By AussiePM 1 Comment

When assessment candidates visit my office to discuss their assessment plan or to deliver their evidence, I generally talk to them about their continued professional development. Of course I will tell them to complete the PM qualification and I’ll probably mention obtaining PM certification through the AIPM, but I’ll also recommend a few excellent books that I have read.

Remember that our futures are completely determined by the people we meet and the things we read. Any comments?

So here’s my booklist. I’ll edit this post as I add new books.

Hays Martin, Joe, 2004, Building high-performance teams: a practitioner’s approach, Argos Press, Canberra, Australia
This is an excellent book written by a former lecturer of mine at ANU, J. Martin Hays. He taught about transforming teams to a point to which they are delivering their full potential, and a notion called glorious leadership. One of the artifacts he used in his class was Glorious Leadership! A Holistic Approach to Achieving Leadereship Mastery and Worklife Balance, by Steve Morris. Check it out if you are looking at ways to develop your own leadership skills and knowledge, and that of your team. UPDATE: I have now found the link to the book and added it to the title of the book above.)

Berkun, Scott, 2008, Making Things Happen, O’Reilly, California
This is an update to his original The Art of Project Management. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far I categorise it as a must read for those seeking insight in to the softer skills required in project management.

Johnson, Spencer, M.D., 1998, Who Moved My Cheese, Random House, UK
This is another must read for project teams tasked with delivering change in a change resistant environment. It’s one of those quick reads, in the vain of the Two Minute Manager series, that provides a metaphor which allows the reader to understand how to deal with change, both in their own project teams and within the customer’s teams.

Stay tuned via the RSS feed for updates to this post.

Filed Under: Leadership, Project Management 101, Reading Tagged With: , ,

Three types of Project Managers

6 September 2008 By AussiePM Leave a Comment

I know this is probably going to spark either some thought or a barrage of comments, either is good, but I have a theory about the types of project managers that are out in the marketplace today.

Unfortunately this isn’t an original theory of mine, and I can’t remember the source but here goes.

There are essentially three types of PMs.

One eyed
The first type is the one eyed PM who strictly adheres to their chosen methodology. Whether it be the latest fad or a tried and true method that’s withstood the test of time is irrelevant, they won’t budge from it and they won’t use words that aren’t from it. Even if their project is heading for a nose dive, they still stick to it like flies to err a rubbish bin.

Methodologically challenged
Then there is the PM on the other side of the spectrum for whom paperwork or planning are both dirty words to be banished from your vocabulary upon entry to their offices. These types run by gut feel (which is a good quality and one I’ll comment on in another post) and don’t take the time to articulate their plan on paper. This is fine I guess on a small project, of say about a days duration, but any longer than that they are a nightmare to work with. Making themselves the font of all knowledge and disabling any of their team from making their own decisions in accordance with a formal plan.

Mixture of both
The third type is a mixture of both. These are the good guys in my book, who have an appropriate level of project formality through their paperwork and who have the skill of running with gut feel. They’re often more human and pragmatic in their approach to issue management and are more palatable to work with.

Anyway, what do you think?

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: