Group items tagged

I'm posting this link to Debra Fine's website. I've read two of her books: "The Fine Art of Small Talk" and "The Fine Art of the Big Talk." While they're not directly about project management, they do relate to the ability to communicate and build relationships both personally and professionally. The content of these two books has helped me build rapport and relationships with teams and stakeholders, open discussions about sensitive topics and project difficulties, and improve my ability to get what I want out of conversations big and small. I would recommend these books to any PM looking to get better at communicating.

Debra, that book sounds very useful to integrate EQ with the PM experience.

Connect with others and ask questions about topics such as scheduling, estimating costs, planning, etc.

Another list of PM tools with descriptions and user comments.

BrightHubPM.com covers all aspects of project management, from introductory articles on the basics, to in-depth articles on strategic planning. Experienced project managers share what's worked and what hasn't, as well as provide objective reviews of PM tools, both OEM and open source. Follow us online or open a discussion in the comments.

This is a member based community of healthcare project managers. Even though you cannot access much of what the group offers, it provides a glimpse of indutry specific PMs forming their own learning community.

Weird but kind of amusing blog about PM issues and reviews of current trends (like this one: http://eight2late.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/motivation-in-project-management/)

I think this FB page has a good value as I found this social media site has a huge influence and is adding users constantly. The site provides news, videos, resources, galleries, and other ways to engage with the area of PM in an easy and accurate way.

According to the description it is an issue tracking app. This is very useful for managing a project by prioritizing tasks by tracking timelines, milestones (enter title, due date, and the goals or focus for each milestone). The app integrates client emails and also in the message creation it is possible to attach files up to 50 MB in size. To create a project the PM only needs to write the project title and description.

I posted this in our class discussion, but it occurred to me that it is really a great project management resource for those people who might feel daunted by difficult conversations. It it a resource that will help improve your EQ. In short, the book talks about how to identify when a crucial conversation needs to take place, how to plan for it and how to execute it. There is also a two day course that you can attend or maybe even lobby to bring into your office for PMs. The website for that is here: http://www.vitalsmarts.com/products-solutions/crucial-conversations/ You'll also find that Vital Smarts, the company that produces this training, has a lot of other EQ related resources.

We have a couple of copies of this book lying around my office. I hadn't connected it to project management. I will have to check it out.

Many people I worked with at the Colorado Department of health use this approach. The state has invested in offering the course to employees. While I never had a chance to take this course, I've heard really great things about it. One thing that has made a difference for people I know who have done this, they did with a staff team. That way everyone is using a common approach. That seems to really support implementing what they learned.

One reason PMs fail is their desire to get the product right the first time. This site says that this is an unrealistic expectation and that we should expect to get it wrong the first time and communicate this to our team. The dynamics will change making them more open and less pressured to "make the wrong step". This approach is modeled by Microsoft which generally takes about 3 times before they get a product right. Other useful tips and lessons follow such as Less is More. An uplifting site that reminds us that it is okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them.

Very insightful article. The point the article made that I felt was interesting was the part about how it can be hard early on to not test what they are making. Easy to go down the wrong direction.

This is very similar to Trello and is a web app. It allows a PM or project staff to track requirements, meetings, commitments, new ideas, etc. Acceptable for the Agile methodology and also has reporting features.

This site outlines the basics of project management. I especially liked the matrix that compared four commonly used tools in project planning and project management for identifying the strengths and uses of each.

businessballs.com has tons of information on many different topics including project mangement

This site does have a ton of information.. It also provided me with a TQM flashback!

This includes some tools that may be useful when planning and working on projects. Many of these coincide nicely with the things we have been learning about in class.

I like this - very helpful. I'm visual, so the graphics help. Thanks for sharing!

Ooooh. I'm definitely checking out OpenProj. That's my kind of organization.

Very informative article from the Harvard Business Review. Using many real life examples, this article reviews the problems and solutions to managing a multicultural team. Problems can be overt such as language and accents to something subtle such as how to deal with conflict. Four categories were identified by the researchers that could create barriers to effective teamwork. These categories are direct versus indirect communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and conflicting norms for decision making.

I think that one thing that was interesting is that it stresses being careful in how you establish groups and subgroups otherwise you may see a strengthening of differences. It is something that I see in the classroom all of the time. Kids break up based on common culture, language, or backgrounds.

This is a free version of Microsoft Project. It does require you to download it to your computer

I can't hardly believe this is free! What is the world (Microsoft) coming to? Anyway, I downloaded this for my home computer, thanks!

Thanks, Laura. A friend was recently asking me if I knew of a free PM tool like MS Project. This should be perfect.

This article breaks down the stages of a project. It is an easy read.

Interesting article, I learned something new in the section releasing the benefits. Specifically, "to gain benefits, you must have change." I know some can be afraid of change but then how does a company grow. Change needs to occur to have everything stay current and up-to date. thanks

This was a great article since it appealed to all skill levels. Whether new to project management or a "seasoned" professional these tips could apply to all. I also like how it was broken down into 21 ways so you could pick one topic and work on that and then move on to the next if need be. A great way to gradually build better PM skills.

Has an app for Apple devices