Project Management – Pet Peeves [2]

Come to think of it – Every day at work is crazy!

Most of what we all do at work falls into one of the following 3 categories:

“Need-it-now-kind”: [Things you don’t want to do, but actually need to do] Someone suddenly decides that this has to be done NOW! It’s mostly someone on the Business side. Something like the building is on fire and everyone has to extinguish it before the worse happens

“What-if-kind”: [Things you want to do, but actually don’t need to do] These are the things the team does just so they don’t have to face the bad consequences

“For-the-fun-kind”: [Things you don’t want to do and actually don’t need to do] These are the things we all do to be happy; Coffee/Lunch breaks; Other things that we do to make people smile or basically engaging in tasks that don’t push the project forward

There’s one more kind that is often forgotten – the important kind! [Things you want to do and actually need to do] One of my mentors told me that I must eat my frog first thing every morning. Eating the frog means that I must just do it, otherwise the frog will eat me meaning that I will end up postponing the task forever

Would you eat your frog first thing Monday morning? I am still figuring out! Sigh!

#projectmanagement #mondaymorningblues #eatyourfrog

Project Management – Pet Peeves [1]

What I have noticed so far in my career is that we all (people) come up with great ideas and build something. Something the C-suite people in the company will like the most. Something that did not exist before. We either build it from scratch or buy something similar from the market and make enhancements to it! If you are a PM you will know what I am talking about – The famous ‘make or buy’ analysis!

Then we start using them and break them. The famous word for this is ‘Testing’. There are different types of testing. The latest in all this mess is ‘automation’! Use a software to test everything until it all breaks!

And then we spend majority of our time and money in fixing them. We call this bug fixing, maintenance and support.

So where do you spend your time? I am in all of this – Got to deal with the good, bad, expected and the unexpected. Sigh!

#beingaprojectmanager #petpeeves

Keep Calm and Manage On

[X] asks a question to [A]. [A] replies saying [B] is working on it and will get back ASAP.

[B] replies to [X] without keeping [A] in loop. So, [A] doesn’t know [B] has replied to [X].

Another person [C] replies to [X] without keeping anyone in loop. So, both [A] and [B] do not know this.

In the meantime, another person [D] asks a totally different question to both [A] and [B]. Luckily, [B] answers it, so, this problem was solved.

[E], out of nowhere, interferes and tries to answer [X]’s question without keeping [A], [B], [C] and [D] in the loop.

After a while, [X] forwards [E]’s e-mail to [A], [B] and [C] without the attachment [E] sent that [X] used to get the answer.

[A] is totally clueless while [B] and [C] still try to impress [X].

OMG! Enough! This day has been a total disaster!! 😐

#Ialwaysfinishmyprojec

MBA, finally!

It is over. The Masters. The MBA PM. Phew! I got an e-mail last Thursday that said “Congratulations, you have successfully completed all your MBA PM degree requirements…..“. I had a big grin in my face when I read that. My MBA PM is done and I just have one word to describe how I feel now: RELIEVED!!

It was online. I was never used to this study-mode before. It was hard. And, it got more tough after Lime. I hardly had the enthusiasm at times. But I did not give up. 

All this while, I had been reading a lot. Reading through magazines and journals to complete my assignments. ‘Essays’, ‘Research’ and ‘Assignments’ were the words I kept saying for the past few years. This degree has taught me a lot. I did take my own time but it’s all worth in the end. 

I am happy that I have now successfully sailed through those tough times ! And my recent career move (into project management) seems a perfect fit for my skills and passion 🙂