Most of us feel uneasy at the thought of conflict and conversations that could upset someone we need to talk to. At the same time, most of us know that avoiding conflicts and conversations at all costs leads to undesirable results. If you’re experienced at conflict management and dealing with it is natural for you, this post might not teach you anything new (but maybe it could help you coach others to get better at handling conflict). This post is for the people out there who

Most people have jobs where their workload changes, sometimes without much notice or predictability. Projects staffed with teams face the same challenge; the people doing the work had an initial vision and work direction, and then their leaders realized that something somewhat different was needed, so the vision and work direction were updated accordingly. When this happens, individuals and teams alike need a robust and reliable system for staying on top of changes and making

Smart ways of working offer the double benefit of making work easier and delivering better outcomes, and one source of wisdom on smart ways of working is the Agile Manifesto, written in 2001 by the 17 signatories listed on the Agile Manifesto website. The Agile Manifesto is an outline for making software development less wasteful, less risky, and more flexible and responsive to changing customer needs. However, even though it was written for software development, its wisdom c

Always consider how your work ties into the big picture, as mentioned in the earlier post Documenting Experience on Your Resume. Tying your work into the bigger picture helps you learn more about other parts of that picture while better understanding how your contributions help the organization function well overall. This is valuable for preparing you for other roles in other parts of the organization (or another similar organization), which can help you be more broadly emplo

Having mentors in your network that you regularly engage with is crucial to your professional development and career advancement. Mentors you know personally can offer you knowledge that can help you succeed at work and connections that can help you get promoted to better roles over time. While online mentors usually won’t know you individually, they can still be a wealth of knowledge to help you master your work. Additionally, while they don’t introduce you to connections th

Perhaps the most common vision people have of career progression is someone climbing a corporate ladder, jockeying for position to lead their company one day. Of course, there are only a handful of leadership positions available in most companies, so only a small minority of people can get into them. Luckily for everyone else, there are other career tracks on which they can advance in their own careers, in their own way becoming important figures who exercise informal but str

When we try to imagine the most creative people, it’s common to think of an artsy person in a messy space full of all their different ideas. Someone working in a tidy and well-organized space is often stereotyped as very conventional and analytical, maybe even a bit boring, but certainly not creative. Interestingly, being well organized can not only facilitate creativity, but also provide an environment that enables deep focus; a highly creative initial idea doesn’t get anywh

In the early weeks and months of your new, better paying job, you’ll be learning a lot from others who have been in the organization longer than you have. These people are your mentors, even if they don’t formally hold that title. Learn from these people to help you get proficient at your job, but also learn from them with an eye toward how you will help others learn in the future. While you can’t rush becoming a mentor or try to become one by a specific deadline, the time to

Earning a certification related to your planned career path is a great way to demonstrate knowledge to colleagues and future employers. If you’re looking to get into a career field, getting a relevant certification shows that you have at least basic relevant knowledge and are serious about working in it. As you consider whether getting certified could help you reach your career goals, factor in the prior experience, time, and effort required to study for and pass the test(s).

Congratulations on landing your next, higher paying job! You’re probably both excited and a little nervous about what to expect, and this post is a good thing to read to help you get off to the best start possible. Reading this post will help you understand what to expect early on, how to operate for peak learning in the early weeks, and how to get the feedback you need to make sure you’re on the right track to master your new job.

“I’m still interested in project management after reading this book. What should I do next?”

Project Closure

Mom was leaving to pick up Nathan from baseball practice, but Abby wanted to make sure the project sponsors were happy with everything and ready for the party to start. So, Abby took her dad around to show him the food spread and decorations, taking pictures of these things with her tablet so that her mom could review the pictures while she waited for Nathan in the car. There were certain things Mom really cared about, like having the food on ice and a meat thermometer to ens

Project Monitoring and Controlling

Project Execution

At this point, Abby had a lot of important information figured out. She could clearly see what would need to happen to get the work done, and what it would take to get there. Abby decided the best next thing to do next was to review and add to her human resource management plan, to finish planning how to best manage her team. She had already involved her friends in some of the planning, like the brainstorming sessions, and she documented the processes that she had used so far

Now that Abby had determined the scope of the project to throw the party, created a schedule for her team to set up the party, and estimated the total cost of throwing the party, she could see how changes in any one of these three elements could affect the other. If extra items were added to the party, it would result in the party taking more time to prepare if any setup was required or costing more money if the extra items were purchased. So, an increase in scope would incre

As Abby figured out how much work would be involved with certain parts of the party, she decided it was time to think about hiring some help from outside of the project team. She knew Nathan would really love a bouncy castle at the party, but neither she nor her friends or parents, had ever worked with a bouncy castle before. They could make every last party supply themselves, but some would be hard to do and would take a long time. There were just certain things that made mo

As a thank you to her friends, Abby came up with an idea to “pay” them for their help. She wanted to surprise them after the party with a carnival ride punch card for the fair that would be in town the next weekend. Would this fit within the cost constraint set by her parents? There were a few different prices to choose from, and she thought it would be great since the fair was such a special event for them every year. To get it all worked out, Abby made a plan to determine h

The next day, Abby continued to work on the schedule of setting up the party. Most of the work on this was done, but she needed to make sure everything could get done in time for the party. To do this, Abby would calculate a very important timeline in project management known as the critical path. The critical path is the absolute minimum amount of time required to complete all the work for a project from start to finish, and any delays in the tasks on the critical path will