Archives for posts with tag: personal development
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It’s Not Always Easy Doing The Right Thing All The Time

December 5, 09 //
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We all know what we “should” do to run a project. Putting the right structures and processes in place. Getting the proper authorizations and doing communication and stuff.

But sometimes we are operating in unknown organizations. Sometimes we think we have the right authority, but in reality we don’t. Sometimes we just get a team assigned without any real influence in the selection process.

That’s ok. It’s our job to fix it. Deal with it. Or leave it.

But that’s easier said then done.

When our project sails under a clear sky on a smooth sea, you have no problem following the right procedures. This gets a lot harder when shit hits the fan, you are under pressure, dodging bullets and running for your deadline.

Not good. But human.

There is no instance fix. But this is something you can work on.

Perhaps something for the new year?

Train mental flexibility and communication skills.

This “mental flexibility” thing is nothing more than “thinking outside the box“, “seeing other point of view” and “knowing your own assumptions and biases”.

There are exercises you can do to train this. Like “Six Thinking Hats For Project Management” , “Project Potion: Meshups” and “Team Metaphor Game“. And here are 25 more ways.

Training communication skills is so easy these days: start engaging online. Start a blog, start commenting on a blog, get a twitter account, just choose your own tool and have fun with it.

Free training. Wow.

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Mastering Three Spaces: Personal, Reputation And Project

November 13, 09 //
4

Do you remember last years “The Four Dharmas Of Project Management“?

“I learned that you cannot jump from the PMBoK directly to topics like “mental flexibility” and “emotional intelligence”. I am sorry to tell you, but most people cannot make that jump that fast. A path to “project enlightenment” has to be defined. Conveniently, I think I have one… In Buddhism teachings are presented in Turnings of The Wheel Of Dharma. Each turn builds upon the previous one and brings the student to a higher level of consciousness.”

I have been going back and forth this year between “Second Turn: Structure For Resilience”, “Third Turn: Global Pool” and “Fourth Turn: Flexible Mind”.

While writing, talking and discussing about these levels, I have found a more effective, easier to explain version of the 4 Dharma’s. The message doesn’t change. But the emphasis and words are slightly different.

Three Spaces: Personal, Reputation And Project

Basically, I just went from 4 to 3. :) I currently talk about:

  • Personal Space
  • Reputation Space
  • Project Space

(more…)

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The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today’s World

October 5, 09 //
2

In the remaining months of this year I have some exciting speaking engagements coming up (stay tuned for updates).

Here is the slidedeck for one of them: The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today’s World.

The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today's World
View more presentations from Bas de Baar.

“Sometimes you end up doing everything in your project yourself. You become the center of control. But sometimes changes happen so fast, it’s hard to keep up and in control. It seems lately “sometimes” is more often then we would like.

One of the approaches to deal with the new world we do projects in is to let the team self-organize. But how do you get your team to do this? How do you know this is actually going to work?

Bas de Baar argues that now is the time to put more leadership into your Project Management. You have a clear role in this new world. But it requires strong communication skills, dedicated personal development and for some, old habits to brake.

In this presentation he will present the alignment of goals and approaches between organization, project and individuals as the central task of a Project Leader.”

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Project Shrink Rerun: Knowing And Promoting Yourself

July 9, 09 //
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On “Project Shrink” a recurring theme is “knowing and promoting yourself“. The following postings are among my favorites within this topic:

Marketing: Tech People Hate It. Boy Are They Going To Need It!

“If your are into software project management, you are into marketing. If you are planning to keep on working on software projects in the years to come, you better get darn good at it. It seems to be a dirty word among technical people: “marketing”. But it’s not about selling your soul to the devil. It’s not about tricking people into buying stuff they don’t want.”

discuss Project Shrink Rerun: Knowing And Promoting Yourself

Dear Project Manager: Why Should Anyone Want To Work For You?

“If it’s not your reputation that’s going to kill your job, it’s your poor, old school skill set. Project organizations are getting more and more distributed over our globe, team members are becoming more mobile. The project manager will have to deal with an increasingly multi-cultural, global and mobile environment, in which the employees are working on more fragmented tasks. You desperately need to update your skills.”

Define Yourself As A Professional With Margaret Meloni

Earlier this year I had an interview with Margaret Meloni in which she answers the following questions:

  • Why is it important to define yourself as a professional?
  • How do you get to know what you bring to the table?
  • How do you broadcast that to others?

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Personal Productivity – The Power Of Slow

June 22, 09 //
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In episode 21 of The Project Shrink Podcast I am talking to Christine Hohlbaum. She is the author of “The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World”. We are talking about personal productivity, time management, the art of delegation and expectation management.

You can watch the episode below or follow this link.

Subscribe with iTunes to “The Project Shrink Podcast”
Full Video Version of Project Shrink videocast

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