FNC Roundtable

Here are some more readings. This time we have another “On Point Collection” from the Harvard Business Review. This one is called Project Management: The View from 30,000 Feet. Lots to think about.

In the mean time, you should be thinking about the questions you would like to ask about project management. What is vexing you about your current project? Do we need a swat team to swarm down on projects in trouble (drowning projects)? Would you just be happy if we could get the client to agree to something? What about getting everyone at FNC to agree? What do we do about the “just one more item” on the list problem?

Start thinking about your issues, read the materials and be ready for our next session.

Getting ready for our next meeting (April 18) on Managing a Project.

Here are some interesting materials you should read to get you thinking about the issues. Next time we will talk about what people really mean when they want to learn about how to manage a project.

To start out, it might help to get at least one definition and discussion of what “Project Management” is. A great place to start is here, this article on Project Management from Wikipedia. Wikipedia provides a really nice organized discussion about project management–no real references to hair pulling or other symptoms of most projects. So it is a good place to start. You do not have to memorize all of it, some of it is fairly technical (and probably unduly complicated). The important thing is to catch the basics, like Time, Cost, Scope (what a surprise).

For another look, here is another article from our friend Joel Spolsky at joelonsoftware.com

This on is on Software Scheduling, which is a good component of many projects. I think you will find it quite helpful and stimulating. As always, Joel is both entertaining and extremely practical.

Finally, you might want to try out some of these articles about “people in groups” (which sounds a little like performance art). These are actually reasonably short and practical guides, so don’t be afraid to jump right in. I like these types of articles because they tell me about what really works (not just what we think works), how to apply our own common sense, and how to put it all in order.

• Groups that work
• Informal Groups

Both of these articles come from links from this website: The Free Management Library under Group Dynamics

Enjoy.