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August 4, 2015 - No Comments!

The Argument for Project Management

There are so many intangible tasks and qualities of project managers that it’s not uncommon for people to not fully understand their worth. In fact, the value or lack thereof has been discussed ad nauseum on several blogs, within companies, and at events. As a project manager, I’m always interested to hear the reasons why someone would question the value of the role. After all. I’m trying to stand up for the community of people who are good project managers. Within just a few minutes of any conversation about the value of PM, I have found that it’s all about perception, or maybe just a miscommunication. That’s right: PM is in fact not worthless! But the way a company operates, or a single person can affect that point of view. So how do I flip that argument on its’ head?

This is another article that I wrote for Team Gantt. Read the rest on the TeamGantt Blog.

July 28, 2015 - No Comments!

Five Ways Project Managers Can Be Great Leaders

Project managers often struggle with leadership—and where they can find appropriate opportunities to be true leaders. it makes sense, as most project managers do not have any direct responsibility for the people on their teams, but they are expected to manage and motivate teams to deliver projects on time and under budget. For that reason alone, being a project manager requires some tenacity, as well as a natural desire to lead.

Do you have that natural desire? Some of us do, and some of us need a little coaching to gain the confidence to believe in our own leadership skills. Read through these five tips and give yourself a boost.

Read the rest of the article over on the TeamGantt Blog.

May 14, 2015 - No Comments!

PM Matters

There's no doubt that I've made it my mission to talk about the practice of project management in the digital space. I've been fortunate enough to take the ideas I started on this blog to other sites, conferences, and now to a company that I've respected for some time. I've been working with the folks at TeamGantt to produce content for project managers. I've written a Guide for Project Management, a few posts on the TeamGantt blog (and more to come), and now started a new project (and format) that I'm just as excited about.

PM Matters is a Q&A video pm-matters-simple series that focuses on the issues that matter most to the digital project management community. And what better way to explore those matters than to speak directly with the community? In each episode, I'll speak with a PM about a topic that is close to them, whether that be though an experience, a conference presentation, article, or just plain old excitement. I'm really excited to dig in and not only talk to people I already know, but to people I've never met and want to meet. It's going to be a great way to get to know the community better and understand what makes us tick.

The very first episode is with Rachel Gertz, who happens to be a friend and my Every Day DPM co-blogger. Rachel also runs Louder Than Ten, which is a school for Digital PMs. I'm really happy with the way our interview turned out, and I can't wait to do more.

Huge thanks to TeamGantt for the opportunity and awesome support--not only for me, but for the community as a whole. I hope you'll follow the series and get in touch if you'd like to be involved.