Have a read and try to convince your colleagues!

But most of this will come to nothing and the OTT guys will triumph until carriers realize that having software DNA is a necessary condition for innovating in the world of digital services that many carriers believe they occupy. This too, is an inescapable fact.

Paul Golding nailed it. I have worked with Mobile Operators for years and I always regret never seeing an operator building a software stack aimed at creating unique, differentiated services for their customers. That DNA is almost extinct in mobile carriers now.

1.  Can you do the job?
2.  Will you love the job?
3.  Can we tolerate working with you?

It’s that simple.

As in all aspects of Project Management, it is essential that you involve your team in your end-of-project analysis. They will have different perspectives on the project, and will also have noticed problems which you, and others in the team, have not. Further to this, it is important that the team understand any changes you instigate for the next project.

Sounds obvious but it does not hurt to repeat it.

Only 3% of CIOs believe IT and business strategies are fully aligned despite 35% of boardrooms recognising IT’s critical role in the businesses performance.

The article does not explain the root cause for those results, there are probably a number of them including: separated budgets, business units silos, power struggles, lack of programme management at CEO level, etc.

Sharing bad news is an important task that the project manager has to handle himself. It’s paramount that trust is the least damaged as possible with stakeholders. That’s where you need to be open, explain clearly the issues and what you are doing about it.

By be open and by engaging with skateholders you will score “trust” points.

OK, but what about majority of cases when we need some kind of real estimate? For example all those fixed price projects where estimates are basically a part of risk management, as the better the estimate is the smaller are chances that the project goes under water. I can’t deny that we need to have something better than wild-ass guess then.

Yes. Assessing the cost and make sure the schedule is right. The main two reasons estimates are needed in fixed price projects. Its’ also part of the planning process that helps identify the skills needed.

In other words, no matter the method, if you are just guessing how much something is going to take, you will likely to end up with way worse results when compared to a method, which uses your track record.

This is also about having estimates from people who are actually doing or have actually done the job. We are not machines and every development team works/is different. Everybody is different and I always found that  programmatic ways of estimating work could not be the best tools out there.

It’s not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It’s the energy we bring to the hours we work. Human beings are designed to pulse rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. That’s how we operate at our best. Maintaining a steady reservoir of energy — physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually — requires refueling it intermittently.

Focus, focus, focus…moving that concept to project management and scheduling it means multi-tasking does not give satisfactory outcomes.

I like to compare projects to weight loss.  Look, I would love to take a pill at night, never have to work out, eat whatever I want, and lose weight.  The reality is that eating right and exercise is what it takes.  The sales numbers for weight loss fads, products, pills, exercise machines, etc. is staggering!  Every day I hear an ad for a new product that promised dramatic weight loss without changing and of the bad habits that lead to the weight gain in the first place.  It is this same mentality that continues to plague projects.  This mentality that if we put it out there it will happen and if we don’t acknowledge the bad stuff, it doesn’t exist is the basis of many of the organizations in business today.

This is true, a lot of organisation do not take planning seriously and prefer to manage issues when they are boiling red.