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Zach Bachiri

IS4600

Assignment 4

1 - Project Managers Watch Your Language
This article is about the use of certain language in the project management
environment. Using certain language can influence conversations in a certain way
and lessen understanding between coworkers if language is used incorrectly. The
first example in the article is of people saying resources when referring to people.
Calling people resources implies that they are all the same, when they are in fact
unique individuals with highly different skillsets and personalities. The other
example is to not refer to a person or group to their functional role. The author
recalls a time when he was at a meeting after recently being appointed head of the
QA team. People would say things like What does QA think about this? This can be
demeaning and frustrating, since you are only being associated with your functional
role. This improper use of language is not always intention, and in fact is mostly
force of habit. Project manager, and anyone in a work environment, must be aware
of the language they are using an the repercussions it has.

2. Overcoming Project Bottlenecks
All projects have obstacles. This article discusses 4 steps that a project manager can
take to overcome these bottlenecks in a project. The four steps she lays out are to
prepare to avoid them, remain calm, think about your options, and finally evaluate.
Avoiding problems in the first place is always better than dealing with them. To do
this, a PM should decide which problems could arise, and only the ones that will
actually effect the project; think critical path. Then take some time to think about
what can happen, the repercussions of it were to happen and how to prevent it.
Then remain calm. It is important to remember that these issues are likely not life or
death situations and are things that you can deal with. Then think about your
options. Brainstorm all of your options, without evaluating merit quite yet. Talk to
everyone you can, including colleagues and unlikely people. Finally, evaluate. Look
at your options and weigh how likely they are to be successful and decide upon the
optimal solution. Once this process is done, you can take action

3. 5 Steps To Build Confidence In Your Team Members
The success of a project largely depends on how well a team functions. Having
confidence is extremely vital to a team members ability to produce quality work.
The author describes 5 steps that PMs can take to build confidence within their
team. First, help people learn and develop. Competence is strongly related to
confidence. Giving your team access to courses, training and conferences that will
expand their knowledge will help increase their confidence. Next is to delegate step-
by-step. This will also help with building competence. Giving team members specific
tasks in an area they are interested in will give them an opportunity to learn. Then
Focus on peoples strengths. Letting people focus on work that they are genuinely
good at and interested in will give them confidence by putting their skills into
practice and showing their competence. Then be supportive. Getting to know your
team on a personal level lets you know more about what motivates them, and what
bothers them. You can use this to encourage them and push them in the right
direction. Finally, embrace failure. Let your team know that it is okay to make
mistakes. Dont just say this, but show it in practice. Doing all of these things will
increase overall confidence within your team.

4. Eyes On Target
As a project manager, it is always important to always be focused on your goals. To
do this your team must continually be focus on the right tasks at the right time.
There must be a balance to make both of these happen. To do this, the author
describes the three Cs; three techniques that will help you achieve this balance. The
first C is cadence. This is important in forming habits in the team. You must establish
a pace to the project that will create energy in the team. Set up a consistent meeting
schedule that coincides with the required velocity of your project. The next C is
critical path. Always be aware of the tasks that are on the critical path of the project.
It is natural to pick the easier tasks to be done first, but this will leave critical tasks
for later in the project and can hold up the project. Be sure to think about critical
path when deciding which tasks to tackle. The final C is control. A PM must have
control over the project. You must be able to get the team working and coordinated
when you need it. Following these three Cs will keep your project on path.

5. Its Time To Put Value In The Drivers Seat
Value is the most important quality of a project. It must deliver value to the
company through monetary gain or some sort of business value. Thus, producing
value should be the guiding factor in every decision that a PM makes. To do this,
desired results from a project must be defined before the project has begun. The
author lays out a general path for getting to your desired destination. First is to
choose what that destination is. Determine what the tangible value from this project
will be and what it will look like when you get there. You can have everyone that is
involved in the project share their value considerations. That is, what would make
the project valuable for them. Take these into consideration and decide what will
create the most value. From there, identify possible hazards that could impede the
flow of the project. Identify this risk and figure out how to minimize the possibility
of it happening, and how to mitigate it if it does happen. Then plot a preliminary
route. This will be the general direction and the high level tasks that the project will
need to go through to get to the end goal. Go down this path and adjust your course
as necessary. Remember that everything should be done in the name of the final
value of the project. To do this, you need optimal visibility in the project so that
everyone can see the direction of the project and understand its value.

6. Meeting Goals To Maximize Results
The point of a meeting is to address issues, make decisions and move your project
forward. There are steps that can be taken to ensure that meetings do not end up
being wasted time. First is to provide clarity and purpose. Everyone in the room
should know why the meeting is taken place and what should be accomplished.
Have an agenda for this meeting and follow it if you can. Though, allow for change if
necessary. Some items simply may take longer than expected and should be
addressed at another time if it is beneficial to move on. Another step to take is to
provide visuals. This can help focus the conversion and increase the level of
involvement. It is easy to give targeted feedback if everyone is looking at the same
thing. Also, be sure to accommodate virtual members if necessary. It is good to
always assume that someone will run into trouble and will need to dial in. Be
prepared for this. There should also always verification and documentation of the
meeting. Decision made should be repeated, to clarify to everyone, and documented
to look back at. This clears up any ambiguity about what just happened in the
meeting. And finally, follow up. If anything needed to be addressed after the meeting
be sure to address it. Also let meeting participants know about the outcomes of what
was decided in the meeting, so they know that their time contributed to productive
actions.

7. 7 Steps To Improve Collaboration In Your Team
Collaboration within a team is a vital part of productivity. It allows the team to
achieve more than an individual ever could. The author lays out 7 ways that a PM
can improve collaboration. 1. Aggregate and adapt. Take input from your team and
weave their ideas into the team plans. This will create successful collaboration. 2.
Listen first. You must listen to your team before creating solution to problems or
making decisions. Listen to them, provide feedback, and take into consideration
what they have to say. Actively seek this out. 3. Energize. Bring inspiration and
energy to your team. Help make the team members feel valued by expressing
appreciation for their work, even if something fails. 4. Remain open. Creating an
open atmosphere within the team creates trust and allows people to share their
opinions. Be open to people new ideas and input on the project. 5. Be transparent.
Let your team members know what is going on in the project. Share details about
project related things, even if not directly related to the work they are doing. This
lets the team know that they matter enough to be kept up with the entire project. 6.
Have fun! Having fun together, such as going to lunch together, having bowling
nights, etc. boosts morale and creates an environment where the team members feel
connected. This will naturally boost collaboration. 7. Transcend insularity. Make
collaboration a goal and hold each team member accountable for participating. This
will create collaboration and naturally increase productivity.

8. Project Managers And Business Analysts Why Cant We All Just Get Along
Business analysts and project managers have a very important relationship within a
project. Requirements are a frequent cause of project issues, and a good
requirements management process can greatly improve project predictability. So it
is clear that project managers and business analysts must have a good relationship,
and would be expected to. But problems arise. Commons complaints about PMs
include that they are only focused on cost and schedule, they dont provide
assistance in getting stakeholders to contribute to requirements and they dont
support scope change. Common complaints about Business analysts include they
have no sense of time or cost constraint, they simply relay the requirements form
the customer and do not analyze, and they are unavailable for the remainder of the
project, after the requirements are approved. Lack of a good relationship between
the analyst and pm can cause serious trouble down the road of the project. One way
to address this is to give training in each others roles. This way, each person
understands what the other is doing and the struggles that they are going through.
Also, the PM usually has a preliminary get and set meeting with their project
sponsor, but the business analyst is not included in this. Having this meeting with
both parties, together, would get both on the same page and increase collaboration.

9. 5 Skills To Enhance Project Management
This article discusses 5 general skills that can greatly enhance a project managers
worth to employers, and ability to do their job. First is public speaking and effective
oral communication. Whether meeting with people, explaining requirements or
presenting to stakeholders, verbal communication is vital to highlighting the project
and its effectiveness. Next is writing and electronic communication intelligence.
Electronic communication is a large part of project communication in this day. PMs
need to be responsible and levelheaded with this type of communication. Next is
networking. Being able to network with potential employers and potential clients is
necessary to building vital relationships. Joining local PMI chapters, or other
organizations, gives you the chance to do this. Next is decisive leadership. This may
be the most important skill a PM can have. You must be able to not only lead, but to
determine when leadership is needed. It is important to determine what are the
important decisions that need to be made and to address them quickly. Do not get
lost in small problems. And finally, do research. Pre-project research and planning is
an important part of setting yourself up for success. Be resourceful and find ways to
save money on a project while still effectively meeting requirements on time.

10. To Escalate Or Not To Escalate? That Is The Question
Inability to appropriately escalate issues and decision is a common problem within
a project. Sometimes PMs try to solve all problems themselves and do not escalate
issues enough, when in fact they cannot deal with the problem themselves. Or in
some cases a PM will escalate things that do not need to be. This means when
something gets escalated, someone may not realize when something actually needs
attention since they so much is getting escalated. This article outlines some steps to
be taken than can help you decide when to escalate. First, find out what
stakeholders escalation requirements are. Different stakeholders have different
views of what is important enough to get escalated. Be clear about this. Then
document this criteria and include examples that give context about the criteria.
Then, when making an escalation decision, leverage the decision of a 3
rd
, unbiased
party. Getting an outside opinion can either validate your though, or show flaws.
Then make sure you have done proper analysis. Know what could happen if you do
not escalate, and be able to talk about these repercussions if you do escalate. And
finally, know that if a problem is happening repeatedly, escalating it will reduce the
risk of it happening again. Learn from your mistakes.

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