Blog

Do people respond to the emails you send? Do they do so in a timely manner? Do they answer all your questions?

While project managers need to be prepared to use many different communication tools, email remains important. It may be a central means of communication at your organization. Or if your t...

Ah, deadlines.

In one sense, a great project manager rises above deadlines and keeps everyone focused on what meets project goals under current circumstances, even if that means original deadlines shift or fall by the wayside.

But in another sense, project schedules DO matter, and meeting a deadli...

A lot of project management is getting other people to make decisions.

As project managers, some decisions lie with us, especially when it comes to choosing the right tools to use to move a project forward. The decisions that lie with the project manager can vary depending on how this role is struc...

I once had a coworker who had clearly mastered the art of managing his own workload. He had a really positive way of saying no to new requests that were beyond his capacity. His response would almost magically leave you feeling good, even though he’d just declined to do what you asked.

At the time,...

Once I was supporting a project that lasted about 18 months. About a month away from the project deadline, I was feeling proud that I’d built trust with a new team on this project and led them through all the required decisions in a timely fashion. Most of the big project deliverables were nearing c...

I was perusing r/projectmanagement on Reddit and I found a post from a new IT PM who asked, “How do you gauge severity of testing issues that you don't fully understand?”

I didn’t weigh in on the conversation because I agree with a lot of the advice already provided: Lean on the technical experts o...

I was chatting with a friend whose role is transforming more and more into a project-management-type role. Occasionally, even as somebody with the responsibilities of a project manager, she feels confined to tasks such as scheduling meetings for others that are traditionally associated with an admin...

This blog was inspired by this post on Reddit, and is an expansion on the comment I wrote in response.

How clearly do you understand the status of each of your projects?

The real status—not just the status your software is telling you.

There are plenty of robust project management software progra...

This blog was inspired by this post on Reddit, and is an expansion on the comment I wrote in response.

What’s a “normal” number of projects for one project manager to lead or support at a time?

Usually I don’t find the word “normal” very helpful, but it’s a natural question to ask if the number of...

This blog was inspired by this post on Reddit, and is an expansion on the comment I wrote in response.

This month, my company—accustomed to projects with a waterfall or hybrid methodology—started running its first intentionally agile projects. I've been delighted to watch a project manager on my te...