art of project management

Archive for the ‘art of project management’ Category

By Scott Berkun on December 17th, 2007
14 Comments »
Making things happen

What new chapter do you want?

The work on Making things happen (the book formerly known as the art of project management) is well underway. Months ago, I asked you to vote on what you wanted. There were many excellent suggestions, which I’ve read and am reviewing, but top votes went to a new chapter:

One remaining decision is what the new chapter will be. I’ve heard three good candidates so far.

Possible new chapters:

How to build/grow a team
The secrets of morale
Learning from projects after they ship (or your iteration ends)

They’re all good fits, and I have my opinions, but I want yours. For reference, here is the full outline from the existing book (I’ll give you a dirty look if you ask for a chapter that’s already in there :)

So leave a comment and let me know: does one of the above rock for you? Or is there something else you want to see as Chapter 17?

Thanks!

By Scott Berkun on December 6th, 2007
7 Comments »
Management

Should you ban blackberries at meetings?

I’m volunteering to go to the front lines in Todd Wilken’s war against blackberries in meetings. Lifehacker and the NYTimes have taken on similar issues before, and I’m all for it. Here’s why.

Any real meeting, where decisions are being made (e.g. not a status meeting) should require people’s full attention. If people are voluntarily comfortable half reading e-mail and half-listening, it’s an indicator to me that:

There are too many people in the room.
Few decisions are being made.
I’m failing to facilitate the discussion to keep it on target.
The information being conveyed is low priority.
I’m wasting f2f time with information I could deliver in other ways.

If I allow this to go on, I encourage passive attention in meetings, further allowing stupid people to prattle on about low priority things, which further encourages more people to tune out. As as Steven M. Smith points out, the blackberry use is a symptom of bad meetings, not the cause. The person running the meeting is the place to point the finger (who is responsible for answering the question is this type of meeting right for the agenda we have?).

Instead, I believe in making attendance at meetings binary. Either you are in, or you are out. If the meeting is too boring to keep your attention, then it’s a good sign to both of us that you do not need to be in the room – so get up and leave. Most meetings should be optional anyway: you don’t have to come, but don’t cry if we decide something you wanted to have input on.

Moreso, 95% of the time what people claim to be urgent status is stuff that can wait. Call bullshit on people. Unless they’re heart surgeons, or front line web people, the world can wait 20 or 30 minutes for the meeting to end for them to get to whatever it is. The web will wait. IM will wait. It can all wait for you if you have your shit together. This is doubly true for leads and managers: if they’re managing their teams well, they should have subordinates who can be effective for a few hours without their hands being held. Most managers should be embarrassed, not proud, to be in hyper-crackberry panic mode all the time.

However, if we’re talking status meetings, where 15 or 20 people are all crammed into a room, that’s another story. These are often a waste of time, but if you must have them, the arguments for passive attention have more weight.

I like Todd’s list of recommendations – worth a look.

By Scott Berkun on November 29th, 2007
5 Comments »
On writing

The new name for the artofpm book is…

Three months ago, I asked all of you to help me decide the name of the revised edition of the art of project management (if you want to know why we’re changing the name, read that last post).

After more than 300 votes, here’s what won: Making things happen

After many discussions with the fine folks at O’Reilly, the final name is Making things happen: mastering project management. I’m excited about the name! My favorite chapter in the book is #12, the one called how to make things happen, and now it gets top billing.

For those interested in the behind the scenes drama: this was not a fun process. Like naming a child, naming a book is something one only expects to do once. If you don’t like the outcome, or the fact that there is a name change, I understand, but do consider this was 20 times less fun for me to deal with, than it was for you.

What’s most interesting is this – behold the power of the web! You guys say it and it happens! I must thank all of you who took the time to vote: the ability to point to data from actual customers played a key role in my discussions with the editors at O’Reilly Media on the new title.

The revision is well underway, and I’ll post more about it, and its timeline for release, soon. In related news, the existing book will be out of print soon, so pick it up if you want a collectors item.

For fun, here were some of the best, and funniest, write in votes:

TBFKATAOPM2 (The book formerly known as…)
What the #$!#!@$% is Project Management and How Did it Get inside this book?
Projects. Managed. Berkun’s Way.
Kill the messenger
Who stole my project manager?
Real world project management
How to make enemies and derail projects in 5 minutes a day
OH MY GOD, HOW DID I BECOME THE PM?
The bible of mastering the zen and art of agile project management for dummies
From bad to worse: how bad managers become horrible
Who stole my project manager?

By Scott Berkun on November 29th, 2007
1 Comment »
On writing

The art of project management – going out of print

The time has come. As mentioned a few weeks ago, the book formerly known as the art of project management will be going out of print. A revised edition, with a new title, will be out in 2008 (If you want to know why, read the post).

If you’ve been waiting to buy a copy of the book, you should do so soon. Amazon and other retailers already have limited inventory (noted by 5-10 day ship times). The used inventory on amazon and e-bay look good, but I don’t know how out of print status will effect that.

Once the book is out of stock, you’ll have to wait for the new edition, which will be out next year.

By Scott Berkun on October 30th, 2007
4 Comments »
art of project management

Do you use / teach with the artofpm book?

Work is underway for the revision of the art of project management. One goal is to make the book more useful for teachers, professors, or even team leads who work through the book with their team.

If this is you, I want to chat and get your input – Either leave a comment, or contact me. Thanks.

By Scott Berkun on August 17th, 2007
26 Comments »
On writing

Help decide the title of a book

For reasons I can’t fully explain here, the 2nd edition of Art of project management will have a new title. Yes, it’s a huge pain in the ass, but this stuff happens – and i swear, my publisher and I would avoid this if we could, but as things turned out, we can’t – that’s all I can say. We’ll do everything we can to make sure this change is clear to people who pick up the book.

As far as the 2nd edition itself:

Based on your feedback, the current goal is to add:

Exercises & situations for applying lessons from each chapter (TOC here)
A discussion guide, for use in reading groups
A new chapter (topic TBD)
Updated references, corrections, and other trivia

Now – the hard part – the title: my editor are debating options and wanted to ensure input from readers of the first edition, and possible readers of the 2nd – That’s you. If you want to write in a candidate, hit other. Some candidates are close to the original title, others go their own way.

I promise the results will be part of the decision making process. Cheers.