Articles Published

 

The following articles written by Randall L. Englund appear in print:

Book Chapters:

    We are Winners!  AMA Handbook of Project Management won the PMI David Cleland Literature Award for 2006.

 

"Dealing with Power and Politics in Project Management"  Chapter 27 in Dinsmore & Cabanis-Brewin The AMA Handbook of Project Management: Second Edition. 2006.

Project management is more than techniques to complete projects on time, scope, and budget.  Organizations by their very nature are political, so effective project managers need to become politically sensitive.  Assessing the environment and developing an effective political plan help to address the power structure in an organization, identify critical stakeholder levels of impact and support, develop a guiding coalition, and determine areas of focus.

 

"Making the Case for Project Portfolio Management" (with Clifford Cohen), Chapter 5.1 in Harvey Levine Project Portfolio Management:  a Practical Guide to Selecting Projects, Managing Portfolios, and Maximizing Benefits.  Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Applying this framework approach to these and all other statements that come up serves to demonstrate the unique capabilities of PPM in addressing a surprisingly wide range of organizational issues.  Although not a cure-all, PPM nevertheless emerges as a very powerful tool that all levels of management can use to improve processes throughout the enterprise.

 

Case Study:  "A Global PMO at Hewlett-Packard" (with Ronald Kempf), pages 107-111 in Dinsmore and Cooke-Davies The Right Projects Done Right!  From Business Strategy to Successful Project Implementation. 2006.

The project management profession program provides the developmental activities that project managers need to effectively manage projects and to progress in their careers.  Terry Cooke-Davies draws best practices from his Human Systems Network.

 

*  "Leading Change Towards Enterprise Project Management" (with Ralf Müller), Chapter 5 in Y Chandra Sekhar Enterprise Project Management:  An Introduction.  ICFAI University Press. 2005.

 

*  "Creating the Project Office:  A Management Guide to Optimizing Results" Chapter 8 in Y Chandra Sekhar, ed. Enterprise Project Management:  An Introduction.  ICFAI University Press. 2005.

Posted at 9:24 PM on January 23, 2009 in Project Manager Development|

Project Practitioners > What is Your Interaction Quotient?

What is Your Interaction Quotient?

By Randy Englund

 

Most all work gets done through interactions with others.  However, people accumulate many habits and practices that stand in the way of successful interactions.  For example, leaders want results but actions speak louder to say they want control.  Is it possible to pursue both control and results—up to the point where the two actually conflict?  Our effectiveness in working with others can improve when we explore a new perspective, frame of reference, tools, and recommendations to achieve better results through the power of strong relationships.

In my experience with professional organizations sponsoring major events, an inordinate amount of discussion goes into pessimistic forecasting, angst around break even points, and tasks.  On occasion I have suffered through these discussions quietly.  At first, I’m operating in my own circle—feeling frustrated, almost paralyzed from acting.  I then compel myself to operate in a different circle—where I connect with others in order to achieve a greater outcome.  That means I speak up and remind the group of the First Law of Money:  money will come when you are doing the right thing.  I refocus the discussion on why we are doing the event, reinforce that its purpose is to contribute to the professional community (not just prevent the organization from losing money), and engage others in clarifying the value the event offers, both to promoters and participants.  If the value is indeed there, we can charge appropriately for the event, and people will come.  We need to be enthusiastic about the project.  It is that enthusiasm, and its source, that will be contagious, bringing others in to participate and making the project successful.

In situations like these, I can use the following questions as a means to gauge my interaction quotient: [click here to read rest of article]

 


Posted at 09:00 PM on March 15, 2009 in Leadership |

An Executive Imperative: Shift from Toxic to Green

By Randy Englund


 

An imperative facing executives in all organizations is not only to embark on a quest to manage project management processes, but also to create a “green” environment that encourages project-based work.  When these elements are in place, the organization is better positioned not only to survive but to prosper, even in difficult times.  These elements require that leaders eliminate pollutants and “toxic” actions that demotivate project managers and their teams.  It also means that those people on this path search with unrelenting curiosity for leading practices.  A “leading practice” is a process, action, or procedure that has not yet gained recognition as a best practice but it shows great potential as a better way to optimize results from project-based work.  When these practices are revealed to you, it requires that you be prepared to take action.


 

 

A toxic element might be managers who barely understand or appreciate the project management process, and they make demands or decisions that are short-sighted.  A green element is leaders who engage their people in open discussion, and possible dissent, to determine the best way to proceed on a complex project.

 

Give Me Respect
 

Senior managers often insist on doing things their way, even though they are new to that position or portion of the business. One time I was being pushed to become a technical expert on a project I was managing, because the senior manager thought that is how to earn respect. I argued that a project manager’s responsibility is to drive the overall process and get issues resolved, not try to second guess the technical experts. We did not resolve our disagreements in the initial conversation but agreed to keep each other informed as the project progressed.

At one point during the project he criticized me for a change we made. I explained that the project team discussed the change thoroughly and agreed it was necessary to get past problems from the past. It took courage and passion on my part to push back against the manager who was only acting upon inputs from others, not his own experience or knowledge. I had the strength of the whole team, the soundness of our deliberations, and my own belief that this was the right thing to do acting in my favor. The manager backed down.

Throughout the project I consistently applied sound project management practices and achieved success. It was this success and consistency in actions that gained me respect. He and his manager, who both had been project management illiterate, came to recognize that the project manager position makes a unique, valuable contribution, because they witnessed how masterly the discipline can be applied. I got difficult projects done and in ways that went beyond their own knowledge. I kept the manager informed of what I was doing so he would not be surprised. I also made sure that I had his support, in a general sense of direction, via regular communications. This approach had the additional benefit for me of avoiding micromanagement by the manager because he respected my contributions.

This somewhat painful process accomplished a shift from toxic to green.  The organization gained a long-term valuable outcome through the process that was created.  When time came for me to move on, a manager told me, “At first it was not intuitively obvious to me what you were doing.  Now I see that you applied a very powerful and productive process.  I’m not sure I can find somebody to replace you.”

An executive imperative is to recognize these talented individuals in your organizations…and get out of their way.

Take-Aways
 

  • Recognize toxic elements that detract from organizational performance. 
  • Identify green elements that engage people using their innate talents.
  • Take the initiative to apply your talents, even when the environment is not ideal.
  • Engage in a relentless pursuit of leading practices…and for people who can apply them.

Randy Englund
www.englundpmc.com

Technorati Tags: , ,

 
Comments
Not all comments are posted. Posted comments are subject to editing for clarity and length.

John Reiling
March 19, 2009
It sounds like you are saying that 'green' is good and 'toxic' is bad! While this is true, does not 'green PM' refer to a consciousness about the environment?

Randy Englund
March 22, 2009
Yes, John, "green" is good and "toxic" is bad!  I'm referring to the realm of interrelationships among people in a working environment.  See my further explanations in a comment to the post on "What Shade of Green Are You?"

Randy Englund
Englund Project Management Consultancy, http://www.englundpmc.com


 

Project Practitioners > What Shade of Green Are You?
Posted at 01:05 PM on March 15, 2009 in Behavioral Characteristics, Business Value, Interaction Skills, Leadership, Project Priorities |

What Shade of Green Are You?

By Randy Englund

 “Green” has become a big trend in eco-consciousness.  Faucet maker Moen Incorporated, together with Iconoculture, a leading cultural trend research firm, gathered information defining characteristics in determining consumers’ level of interest in green products.  I thought it would be interesting to take their results and extend them to project environments, allowing managers to assess where they and their stakeholders position themselves with regards to creating green working environments.  This could provide stark contrasts to the “toxic” environments many managers create, whether that’s done by intention or not.

The research divided consumers into four primary groups.  They found that key values and financial status, rather than age, are the defining characteristics in determining level of interest in green products.  Follow along to decide determine which shade of green you are.

 

> Dark Green:  Being the most eco-conscious of the four groups, Dark Greens are motivated by a sense of responsibility to the planet.  They come from all age groups, and tend to be from mid- to upper-economic levels.  Key values for this group were identified as a belief in the green movement, a strong sense of community and personal pride.

I believe Dark Green project stakeholders are the most enlightened with regards to appreciating the value and contribution of project management.  They have confidence in themselves and place emphasis on personal motivation, team development, and organizational social responsibility.  They exude a strong sense of values and take advantage of every teaching moment to inculcate those values across the organization.

> Medium Green:  Medium Greens have a heightened consciousness of green issues and an interest in going green, such as young parents concerned about protecting the Earth for their children and grandchildren, as well as protecting their families from toxins and other chemicals.  They assess value against the price points, and are motivated by products that make it easy for them to go green.  Key values for this group include hope, convenience and prevention.

I believe Medium Green project stakeholders have seen the light about the value of project management and are anxious to explore the possibilities.  They are willing to experiment, while at the same time constantly aware of business implications and the need to make sound business decisions.  They want processes to be simple, are fairly risk averse, and tend to balance short versus long term planning efforts.

> Light Green:  “Green is the new cool” is the motto of the Light Green group.  Many embrace the eco-friendly movement because it’s trendy and desire the status associated with green’s chic factor.  Pricing is a critical factor in determining whether they buy green products.  Key values for this group include thrift, practicality, self-expression and status.

I believe Light Green project stakeholders are the twenty-somethings or emerging middle class who come to the table with energy and enthusiasm to make a difference…or do things differently.  They are eager to advance in the organization.  Their budgets are limited, but they are willing to allocate resources on high visibility projects.  If project management gets what they want, they’ll embrace it, or they’ll go after Six Sigma or Balanced Scorecard, or ….

> Non-Green:  These individuals are not necessarily interested in the green movement, yet.  They are newly affluent or income-challenged, and tend to focus on green if it brings material gain and/or survival benefits and carry the lowest cost.  Key values for this group include stability, security, choice and entitlement.

I believe Non-Green project stakeholders have been focused on their tasks or careers without much thought or interest in project management.  They are pragmatic and skeptical of change or new processes.  The status quo is usually fine or else they do not get involved in efforts to work with other people to fix problems.  Their relationship priorities are on separateness rather than connected.

“Greenvenience” is Key

The research shows that most people feel there is an intrinsic value in going green, whether that stems from an interest in the planet or a desire for the status of going green.  Forty percent said they would pay more for green, and fifty two percent rate eco-consciousness as very or somewhat important.  Consumers expect convenient, no-sacrifice products that make it easier to be green.  Likewise, I believe creating “green” rather than “toxic” working environments will appeal to most project stakeholders if it is positioned as a natural, simple, necessary, and convenient way to implement project-based work.

Take-Aways

  • Regularly assess yourself and others about your attitude and aptitude to embrace “green” environments. 
  • Recognize that some people are not yet willing to support a project environment that requires changing current practices.
  • Be persistent in developing improved working conditions.
  • Believe in the inherent value that people, projects, and the environment contribute to organizational success, especially when they are part of an integrated “green” movement.

Randy Englund
www.englundpmc.com

Reference:  The Examiner, March 15, 2009, p. 5

Technorati Tags: , , ,


 
Comments
Not all comments are posted. Posted comments are subject to editing for clarity and length.

John Reiling
March 19, 2009
I think heightened awareness about green values is important. However, I think we need to emphasize practical considerations, such as installing energy-efficient equipment, recycling waste, and other things that make economical sense.
_________________
John Reiling, PMP
 

Randy Englund
March 22, 2009
The "green" I refer to in my posts is intended to extend the physical, tangible thinking about our environment into the non-physical, intangible relationships that affect our working environments.  In this sense, "green" is good, productive, and desirable, allowing us to work as natural, organic living systems are intended to do.  Examples would be:
* trust among colleagues and management is ever present
* cooperation instead of competition is the norm
* a common sense of purpose provides sustenance and meaning to all activities
* a shared vision brings clarity to the direction of work
* people fully communicate with each other regularly
* individuals are respected, able to express their creativity, and have power to influence others through positive persuasive techniques

On the other hand, "toxic" working environments are permeated by mistrust, failures to communicate, burdensome reporting requirements, misguided metrics, and cutthroat tactics.  Negative political practices create uneasiness and frustration among all except those who wield them with power.

To me, the "green" aspects I refer to are absolutely necessary for project managers to buy into, create, and support.  Without them, they are doomed to failures, overruns, and dissatisfied stakeholders.  Each person has the power within him or her to embrace this thinking and act upon it every day.

Randy Englund
www.englundpmc.com


 

 

 

How to Establish a Project Management Office When Your Company Doesn't Want One

What do you do when the business partners you are trying to help think PMO stands for "painful meaningless overhead?" You go stealth.

By Thomas Cutting

READER FEEDBACK

Randy Englund Fri, 2009-01-16 14:26

Cutting's article is a wonderful example of a "POO"--Project Office of One. No overhead or permission is required for an individual to assume the title of POO. They can just do it. Take on all the advice Cutting offers in this article and embrace the essence of a project office--a concerted effort to improve project management across the organization.

Lead by example. Model desired behaviors. Plan thoroughly. Ask people for commitments. Follow through. Implement effective and efficient methodologies. All these behaviors are possible as a POO.

When you get amazing results, don't be surprised when somebody--such as the boss or COO--notices and asks how you do it. Be prepared for this teaching moment. Here's your opportunity to suggest taking on more responsibilities and apply project management leading practices across the organization.

Randall L Englund, author
Creating the Project Office
www.englundpmc.com

 

Max Wideman's web site (www.maxwideman.com), June, 2008

Introduction

A participant in a workshop asked me: "What is Not a Project?" "Not much" was my answer. This person got it, that most everything we do, whether launching a space shuttle, developing a new product, introducing a new service, or responding to a request, can be viewed as a project. Moreover, as often as not, a project manager has to influence without authority, and it has also been said that we use only 10-20% of our mental capacity. In a similar way, I posit that we use only a small portion of our influence capacity, maybe only 10%. If you could double your influence capacity, thereby improving your capabilities by 10% ...(click here to read the complete article).

 

March'09

PROJECT ENVIRONMENT

The Executive Imperative: Creating Excellence in People, Process and Environment

-- Randall L Englund

In order to optimize business outcomes, an executive imperative is to focus on creating excellence in people, processes and the working environment. Experiences reveal that these efforts reap tremendous benefits and enable executives and their organizations to achieve desired objectives.

© 2009 Randall L Englund. All Rights Reserved.

Article Price : Rs.50     Details   

 

January'08

CASE STUDY

Building Project Management Credibility -- Alfonso Bucero and Randall L Englund

A credibility foundation is built step by step during each person's professional career path which has a significant positive outcome on project and organizational performance. Credibility is built through a set of little details achieved during the project. It is something that is earned over time. It does not come automatically with the job or the title. It begins early in our lives and careers. This article explains a real case of building the project management credibility in a non-project-oriented organization—how the project managers of that organization, with the help of a project management consultant, were able to achieve better and highly trusted relationships.

© 2008 Randall L Englund and Alfonso Bucero. All Rights Reserved

August' 07  The Icfai University Press

COVER STORY

Creating Excellence in Project Management -- Randall L Englund and Alfonso Bucero

This article presents viewpoints, insights and practices about why, what, and how to create excellence in project management. This goal is necessary because projects are the means to achieve almost anything in every organization. Without good project, program, and portfolio management, achieving results is tenuous at best. Traditional efforts are not sufficient in an environment where internal and external forces are both driving and restraining performance in an accelerating manner. It is time to reduce organizational "toxins" and create "green" organizations.

© 2007 Randall L Englund. All Rights Reserved.

 

The University of California, Santa Cruz Extension now has a neat blog on project management.  Check it out at  www.SVProjectManagement.net.  Among other topics, you can find more about an organic approach to project management.  These listings are a wonderful extension to the courses the University offers on project management.

 

 
January 2008 BLOG REACHES MILESTONE OF 100,000 UNIQUE HITS.
 
Our online forum for project managers at www.SVProjectManagement.net. reaches 100,000 unique hits! 

Over 30 project management experts from around the nation share their expertise on a daily basis on our blog. Recently we added a blogger from the Netherlands, Bas de Baar. Published project management authors such as Kimberly Wiefling, Randy Englund and Rosemary Hossenlopp are regular contributors as well as murder mystery writer (and manager at Cisco) John Walker. There are over 400 unique hits daily and most visitors stay to read a few pages. Readers of the blog come from around the world with Europe showing a particular interest in agile project management and Japan and India showing spikes in readership in leadership and PMI certification topics.

This fabulous web site helps save time and solve problems with hundreds of templates and ideas.

* Project Management Templates  - Over 200 deliverable examples, checklists, and guidelines

* Project Management Articles -  Ideas and advice from expert, practicing project managers

* Resources for PMOs  - Making it all work: your project managers, tools, and processes

* Papers and Presentations -  More quick-to-digest how-to from colleagues

* Interviews and Case Studies - Learn how other project managers saved struggling projects and solved problems

Featured Articles by Randall L. Englund include:

Leading with Power

Operating Across Organizations

Speaking Truth To Power: Leading from the middle to correct a troubled architecture

cio.comMichael Hugos

Doing Business in Real Time

By Michael Hugos

The global economy has a life of its own, it lives in real-time, and we are all part of it. Hello brave new world

Flocks and Swarms - The End of Control As We Know It

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

 

What makes a flock of birds or a school of fish move as if they are a single entity? What makes them all suddenly rise, turn and accelerate at the same time? There is something more subtle at work here than just a leader bird or a captain fish telling all the others what to do. What can we learn from the dynamics of flocks and swarms that is relevant to the way we structure and operate a real-time business? [...more]

Swarming is a pattern

The neat things about exploring the concept of swarming is that it fits in nicely with chaos theory--small initial conditions set the stage to create something big; however, which condition and what it will produce is unpredictable. What is important is that these are patterns, and we can stoke these conditions because we know the pattern will lead to something interesting.

For example, utilizing an organic approach to project management means we look to natural systems and patterns at work in human and organizational behavior to be more effective. This approach leads to creating an environment that achieves more from project based work. See more at www.englundpmc.com.

By Randall L. Englund at November 4, 2006 - 9:43pm | reply

 

A Word From Our Sponsors

Karen Klein

August 31, 2006


You’ve heard it all before: successful projects require upper management’s backing. Sure do. But how exactly do project managers secure this support? And how do sponsors move from reactive to proactive involvement? The author of a new book explores the intersection of the sponsor-manager relationship on projects.

 

No matter where Randy Englund travels, he hears the same complaint from project managers: “Upper management does not understand or support us.” To help project managers and sponsors get better acquainted, Englund and fellow project management consultant Alfonso Bucero wrote the recently published Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success (Jossey-Bass, 2006). As part of its ongoing series of conversations about trends in project and portfolio management, Projects@Work interviewed Englund, executive consultant and principal of Englund Project Management Consultancy in Burlingame, Calif., about some of the key concepts and practical tips in the new book.

 

"What we’re trying to advocate is proactive sponsorship, meaning sponsors who are committed, accountable, serious about the project, knowledgeable, trained and able to walk the talk. Their values should be transparent and aligned with the organization and its strategy. A proactive sponsor protects the team from disruptive outside influences and backs the team up when times are tough."

 

[Read the complete Interview...]

Bad News Bears Repeating
Aaron Smith   (May 19, 2004)

 

Processes don't perform projects; people do. Unless people drive the processes, and not the other way around, there will be unrest and frustration in the trenches -- along with outside 'experts' who make a good living on the project failure rate [...more].

Reviews

Review this article

"Aaron is correct about rethinking our views about failure. Truly, the only failure is if we fail to learn from each and every project, regardless of the outcome.

I once conducted a pilot of a new training program. The design team wanted to determine if the program was ready to go. I viewed the project as successful because I quickly found all the problems and was ready to address them. However, the team was devastated that they could not go back to the company celebrating their new program. This attitude inhibited their ability to look closely at what worked and what did not. I was ready to suggest a number of improvements, but they were not ready to listen. I later gave feedback to the head of the company about this prevailing attitude of "get it right the first time out"; he was aware of it and concerned and said he would like to change it. He never did, and neither the program nor the company exist in the same form today.

A more enlightened view that creates an environment for more consistent, predictable, and sustainable success is to be a learning organization that views every project as a means to improve. The focus is on overall organizational success, not just on individual project performance. People then feel like they are constantly contributing to organizational and personal knowledge.

Randy Englund, www.englundpmc.com"
englundr - November 9, 2006

From: Kähkönen Kalle [mailto:Kalle.Kahkonen@vtt.fi]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 10:01 AM
To: alfonso.bucero@abucero.com; englundr@pacbell.net
Subject: Project Perspectives 2006 completed and available

 

Dear Project Perspectives contributor,

 

Project Perspectives 2006 is out now and distributed in Finland. IPMA (International Project Management Association) is at the moment printing several thousands copies to be distributed globally in IPMA member countries. It shall be also available in electronic format (pdf) that you can find attached with this message. It is a low resolution version only for viewing purpose and not intended for printing.

 

Thank you also for your valuable contribution [44 Leaders who Inspire People: A Real Case Study Alfonso Bucero, Randall L. Englund]. The feedback I have received so far from this issue has been very positive.

 

Best regards,

 

Dr. Kalle Kahkonen

Editor in chief

Project Perspectives

kalle.kahkonen@vtt.fi

http://www.pry.fi/pmaf_mag.htm

MINT e-newsletter [mint@facbus2000.business.mcmaster.ca]

Volume 13, Number 30 (July 26, 2006) 

 

******************************
 

Subject: New Book

From:  Randy Englund


As a friend or colleague whose path has crossed with mine, you may want to get my newest book:  "PROJECT SPONSORSHIP:  Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success."

 

In this book, co-author Alfonso Bucero and I describe the roles and responsibilities of sponsorship and cover how to obtain, sustain, train, and mentor a sponsor.  We draw upon personal as well as experiences from colleagues, such as yourself, in case studies, examples, questionnaires, checklists, and templates.  A sponsor commits to define, fund, defend, and support major activities from the start of each project to the end.  The task continues to ensure the benefits that the project intended to produce are realized.

 

A key concept is proactive sponsorship, meaning sponsors who are committed, accountable, serious about the project, knowledgeable, trained, and able to walk the talk.  Their values are transparent and aligned with the organization and its strategy.  They protect the team from disruptive outside influences and back the team up when times are tough.  An organizational culture committed to this approach is a desired goal.  Do sponsorship right the first time and save yourself grief later on.  The best way to sustain good sponsorship is to start out with good sponsorship. Anything less is remedial. 

 

The book addresses how project managers manage their sponsors as well as how sponsors do their jobs to achieve greater project success. This book builds upon my previous books on "Creating an Environment for Successful Projects" and "Creating the Project Office."

 

"Project Sponsorship" (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2006, ISBN 0787981362) is available from any online book seller or directly from my web site, www.englundpmc.com.  Please contact me with any inquiries about how I can help you and your organization implement these proven concepts.

 

Best regards,


Randy Englund, Executive Consultant

Englund Project Management Consultancy
englundr@pacbell.net
cio.com  JUNE 15, 2006 | CIO MAGAZINE

PEER TO PEER

Red Light, Green Light

How one CIO used project management discipline and the Traffic Light Report to align her IT department with her company's business goals.
BY DR. CATHERINE ACZEL BOIVIE

 

Executive sponsorship in practice
Posted: JUN 22, 2006 08:23:41 PM
It is important to note that this organization is practicing proactive sponsorship. Executive sponsorship is critical for all projects, but excellence in project sponsorship is often an elusive if non-present goal. When done well, sponsorship deserves credit for helping an organization achieve competitive advantage.

Sponsorship is a commitment by management to define, defend, and support major project activities from the start to the end, and then to achieve the desired benefits that projects were chartered to deliver. This appears to be the case in practice at Pacific Blue Cross.


Randall Englund
CoAuthor of Project Sponsorship
englundpmc com
 

 

AMD Presents "AMD Accelerate"

Bringing the Latest Trends and Technologies to Your Doorstep

Change is a way of life in the enterprise. Today's IT professional must manage streams of data about technology just as technology itself manages data streams.

 

The problem is that with so much information, classifying, categorizing, and absorbing relevant data can be an enormously challenging proposition. For this reason, we offer AMD Accelerate, a joint publication from AMD and technology media giant Ziff Davis written specifically for the enterprise sector. In Accelerate you can expect full coverage of the broad panorama of IT developments with informed perspective on the past and innovative insight into the future.

 

Published four times a year, AMD Accelerate enables you to keep track of emerging trends, distinguish hype from truth, and achieve a firmer grasp on the underlying principles that shape the future of business.

 

Englund Project Management Consultancy 
Company - Englund PMC helps people in management, managing projects, and working on project teams to discover and create an environment that optimizes results from project-based work.
10/26/2005

EASI by Englund Project Management Consultancy 
Product - The Environmental Assessment Survey Instrument covers ten areas identified by Graham and Englund to create an environment for successful projects.
10/25/2005

Sponsorship Workshop by Englund Project Management Consultancy 
Product - Project Sponsorship is a two day workshop that offers participants the opportunity to create an environment that achieves greater project prosperity as a result of excellence in project sponsorship.
06/13/2006
 

An Executive Guide to Achieving Greater Success 
White Paper - You've heard it all before: successful projects require upper management's backing. Sure do. But how exactly do project managers secure this support? And how do sponsors move from reactive to proactive involvement?
08/31/2006


Knowledge Management Through Project Reviews 
Case Study - Chapter Ten of Project Sponsorship addresses a sponsor's role in developing a learning organization. The process starts with doing project reviews and taking action on the findings. This Case Study describes project reviews in which we participated.
07/20/2006

Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success 
White Paper - Executives need training, experience, and practice to be effective sponsors. Sponsorship is a required and critical success factor for all projects, in all industries and disciplines. An objective for this paper is to unlock and open the door to excellence in project sponsorship.
2/21/2006 12:00:00 AM

Mentoring and Speaking Truth to Power 
Case Study - This case study illustrates the process of speaking truth to power by telling a story. Sponsors are more effective when they apply this process with senior managers; they are also wise to share the process with mentees.
08/09/2006

Creating an Environment for Successful Projects 
White Paper - Creating an Environment for Successful Projects describes how organizations that get better results from its projects make consistent and continuing efforts to nourish the environment for selecting and executing projects. This process starts with a survey to assess the project environment and ...
07/13/2005

The Ring Project, Daniel Starr, www.projectsatwork.com, April 13, 2006

 

Reviews

 

"Yes! Lord of the Rings has much relevance to project management. Frodo is the typical "accidental project manager" who gets assigned to a project that, if no one else does it, will not get done. He gets mentored by the queen-"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future"--and the wizard--"All we have to decide is what to do with the time available to us." Fortunately he had the fellowship to help him get started as well as create the distraction that allowed him to finish. And thank goodness for his sidekick Sam who keeps him moving. We, too, have to decide our role and accept the gifts of project management to reach the goal.

Randy Englund, author (Creating an Environment for Successful Projects) www.englundpmc.com"

 

Creating Your Political Plan.  Read the Englund/Bucero paper presented at the PMI Global Congress in Toronto, Canada during September, 2005.  Click here.


 

Industry Vet, Author Say Creating a Project-Based Organization is Key to Survival

Offer Ten Steps to Nourish and Construct an Environment for More Successful Projects

SEATTLE, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 03/07/2006 -- Few managers realize that they can make consistent and continuing efforts to optimize the environment in which projects are planned and implemented, and that the continuing survival of their organization depends upon it.

According to Randall L. Englund, co-author of "Creating an Environment for Successful Projects, 2nd edition," and Christian Smith, vice president of sales and marketing at eProject (www.eproject.com), this process can start with a survey to assess the project environment and continues by taking action on findings.

“The goal is simply to construct an environment in which projects are more successful,” says Smith.

How can we nourish the right environment for Selecting, Executing, and Getting Better results from projects? Here are 10 steps that will help managers get started:

Read more...

 

Feb. 1, 2005 Issue of CIO Magazine

Staffing

CIO, How Does Your Garden Grow?

CIOs who have been asked to do more with less have been asking their staffs to do a lot more. They came through for you; now what are you going to do for them?
BY: MEGAN SANTOSUS

 

Readers Viewpoint
An organic approach to project management
Posted: MAR 05, 2005 03:36:03 PM
In the Graham/Englund book, Creating an Environment for Successful Projects, our premise is that you cannot command anyone to perform. Your best bet is to follow this gardener metaphor and create the conditions or environment where people are encouraged to do what they innately know how to do. A lush garden happens not by command and control but by leading change towards a project-based organization, demonstrating desired behaviors through upper manager teamwork in prioritizing and linking projects to strategy, developing a learning organization, discovering how the organization works best and supporting those efforts. A leader will be known by the quality of the questions they ask. Acting authentically and with integrity are key to making this organic approach work more efficiently and effectively in keeping and getting the best work from your staff.

Randall Englund
Author
www.englundpmc.com

Truth-Sayers
Randall Englund   (October 21, 2004)


Knowledge doesn't always equal power as most any project leader can attest. In fact, messengers of the truth are often endangered species in the political jungles of many organizations. Here are suggestions for speaking the truth to power, including a look at how one project manager successfully applied these ideas to become an agent of much-needed change.  [read article...]

 

Invest in Learning, No One Gets Hurt, Demystifying EV

October 10, 2003

RE: Invest in Learning

I agree that lessons learned are a great idea, but I did not find an organic approach mentioned in ["The Learning Curve," May/June 2003]. Sharing best practices and lessons learned needs to be a people-interaction thing, not just a database somewhere on the server. Chaos theory offers us understanding about small initial conditions causing huge but unpredictable effects. The "secret" to taming chaos (and sharing lessons learned) is in patterns, purpose and interaction. Patterns are found in how people respond to information and sharing. Purpose is the commitment each member of the organization makes to its success. Interactions provide the exposure to practices (established, newly discovered or invented) that can be applied to other projects. The organic sharing of free-flowing, unstructured information has its own organizing force. The learning curve is accelerated when an organization develops a clear, convincing and compelling purpose, and finds ways for people to share what they have done or are doing. You cannot predict when a spark will be ignited, but it will. By finding somebody who solved a similar problem, a project manager can then connect with that person or read the details in a database. It is this initial motivation to serendipitously connect people that is missing in most knowledge management efforts and discussion. Instead of cost cutting on travel and meetings, invest in the means for people to learn from each other and reap tremendous benefits.

Randy Englund, principal, MadelineLearning, Burlingame, Calif.

Send comments to aaron@projectsatwork.com | Letters may be edited for space.

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Projects exist to create unique results, and organizations are vitally dependent on creating value.  Optimizing results to achieve the greatest value needs to be the goal of any project-based organization.  It does not happen by wishful thinking or accident but takes a concerted effort.  A project office is in an ideal location to lead this effort.  However, many project office implementations fail to meet minimal expectations and they disappoint a variety of stakeholders.  A growing body of knowledge suggests there are better ways to approach the concept of a project office.

 

 

 

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