From PMBOK’s EIGHT Project Performance Domains …
… to the 8/80 rule …
The number 8 looms large in Project Management …
… and never more so than this year … as Stoneseed presents:
STRAIGHT TALK ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT … Volume 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT IS STRAIGHT TALK ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT – Volume 8?
Straight Talk on Project Management is Stoneseed’s eBook, your go-to resource for practical, no-nonsense project and programme management anecdotes and advice!
It’s perfect summer holiday reading!!
At Stoneseed, we write at least 48 blogs a year covering everything from agile transformations to stakeholder engagement, always with our trademark passion and a light-hearted touch that gives you a fresh perspective on project management. The hope is that they’re never too technical, sales-pitchy or high-brow – we’ll save that for when we work together on your project!
And … rather than just have all these blogs sit on Stoneseed.co.uk, each year Helen and Molly and our marketing team hand-pick a bumper selection of blogs to publish as an eBook, giving you page after page of expert guidance as you learn from Stoneseed’s Professional Services Team sharing hands-on experience and insights you can trust.
The eBook format means you don’t have to trawl through old blog posts to get the full spectrum of our project management wisdom—it’s right there at your fingertips!
You can download the latest edition for free (and also instantly access all our eBooks and PDFs and, to help make you beach-ready, you can even grab a copy for your Kindle on Amazon!
It’s not just our voice though and I’d personally like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Straight Talk on Project Management blogs and eBooks. Whether it’s replying to a “round-robin” survey, responding to a blog and subsequently inspiring a follow-up, being there as a real-life Project Management issue unfolded (and hearing me utter the words “there’s a blog in this” … or getting in touch just to say, “have you ever thought of writing a blog about …?”
Straight Talk on Project Management isn’t just for its readers; it is often inspired by them too.
NO REPEATS
I was recently asked how we keep the content so fresh, and a member of Stoneseed’s C-suite once remarked that “no two blogs are ever the same.”
I suppose no two IT projects are ever the same, are they?
In IT Project Management, “every day’s a school day” and every lesson, whether that’s from a successful outcome, a timely correction or a downright project fail, is rich in content for blogs.
A mentor once advised that, in IT Project Management, I’d learn more than I’d earn and I remember thinking that this meant that it wasn’t the kind of job that made you a millionaire! It didn’t mean that at all! I mean, I’m not a millionaire! What my mentor was saying was that it didn’t matter how much you earned, the experiences would always teach you much more! Not just about IT Projects either, delivering business change through IT has taught me lessons about life, self-improvement, relationships and has been very character building.
The same is also true in reverse, I see IT project teachings in everyday life too, from watching a football match to planting a garden to spring cleaning the house … and they make great, relatable blogs too.
You get into the habit of never being off blog writing duty! Even writing this, I’ve jotted down that we’ve never done a blog about From PMBOK’s 8 Project Performance Domains, (a dive into this results driven and adaptable approach, and framework for successful project delivery might be interesting) and the 8/80 rule (a blog about why Work Breakdown Structure work packages should be no shorter than 8 hours and no longer than 80 hours of work would be useful – I’ve even written down a title!!!!) – so watch this space!!
THERAPY
Blog writing (and reading) is very therapeutic.
FOR THE READER
A reader, Gretta, recently shared that among the most compelling reasons why she reads Stoneseed blogs is their ability to deliver timely and relevant news and trends.
“They keep me grounded, give me a sense of the day, like those PMI Pulse of the Profession reports but readable with a brew and a biscuit!! They offer insights that I identify with and often offer a different perspective that I hadn’t thought of – there is always something new to discover in one of your blogs.”
That sense of the day vibe is vital and very interesting, I suppose I can write a blog and have it published within minutes and that makes all the content feel of the moment.
Gretta also described a “living, breathing, together in this moment” feeling that she gets from the blogs. This can help us to all feel connected, give us a sense of community – important especially in times of hybrid, remote or just lone working.
She added, “The personal touch that you bring into your writing makes the blogs even more enticing. Your own experiences, opinions, and observations offer a unique perspective.”
I find that this makes the content more relatable and adds an element of authenticity that readers tell me they appreciate. That also helps me!!!
FOR THE WRITER
Those “experiences, opinions, and observations” also allow me a moment of contemplation, reflection and a chance to process the events of a day or experiences delivering an IT Project.
I often say blogging is like journalling, a chance to get happenings down “on paper” and get them sorted in my head. Stoneseed’s Head of Marketing Helen Moss sometimes calls my blogs my “confessional”, and it’s true that I write from the heart and rarely spare my own blushes! Another colleague calls it my “therapy” and it’s certainly therapeutic.
I guess we’re all right. The only difference is that journals, confession booths and an hour with a therapist tend to be rather more private! With a blog, your thoughts and confessions are laid bare for the world to see.
EVOLUTION, REVOLUTION AND REVOLUTIONS
Compiling the blogs into eBooks, and especially reading through past volumes, chronicles how fast our industry is evolving. It’s funny, you can get so busy managing and delivering IT projects that you forget just how far we have progressed in how we do it! From game changing platforms like Stoneseed’s P3MO to the evolution of PMaaS from “emergency service” to part of organisations’ resource planning, it’s healthy to take stock and celebrate project management’s innovation and forward momentum.
Beyond evolution, there’s signs of revolution too – and in more than one sense of the word!
Reading through back issues there’s a strong sense of the revolution that has occurred over the past decade. IT Projects have continued, at ever increasing pace, what my PM friend Malc calls “a journey of relevance” from back-office function to catalyst for business change. IT doesn’t just support business now, I’ve written on several occasions, IT is the business!
Molly, Stoneseed’s brilliant and perceptive Marketing Assistant, also identified there are multiple instances of the other meaning of revolution across the volumes too. She said, “Have you noticed that the biggest project challenges we face are consistently: scope creep, poor communication, unclear goals, unrealistic expectations and deadlines, allocating and managing resources, difficulty engaging stakeholders, skills gaps, managing budgets … it’s like IT Project teams are stuck in a revolving door!”
Molly’s spot on! Maybe over the next eight volumes we’ll solve all of these revolving door issues, but then what would I write about?
I’ll leave you with a link to the latest eBook (and all the back issues too) and finally a sincere THANK YOU for reading, both this blog and its predecessors that now make 8 volumes of STRAIGHT TALK ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT!
FREE EBOOK!