Foul Tech Sours

Good communication is known to be a key component of successful project management. Project managers are expected to have a broad set of communication skills: they must be interpersonal, amiable, tactful in their communications, and most importantly, they must be open minded. With open mindedness comes the expectation that project managers are tolerant of individuals of varying ethnicities, religious beliefs, knowledge levels, financial situations, personal characteristics, and temperament. The personality of an individual cannot be changed, however, the way in which a project manager communicates with stakeholder, can change. An experienced project manager will have likely dealt with different personalities over the course of his or her career. Some people are introverts while other are extroverts. Some people say exactly what they’re thinking, while other people may be more soft spoken. Some individuals may always require detailed guidance and direction, while others may be more au

Photo courtesy of  Proof Positive Cash. Currency. Dinero. Mula. Capital.  Regardless of which term you use, it's all the same thing: MONEY. It's valuable and very highly coveted. To some, it's easy to obtain, for others, it eludes them very easily. With regards to Project Management, money is a very value resource, a necessity in some cases, that is required for a project manager and his or her team to successfully complete an assigned project. It's a commonly known fact that it's rare, if not impossible, to perfectly guesstimate a budget for a project. This is usually the case for long term, large scale projects. The mistakes that project managers make when it comes to the cost estimation of the overall project varies. Sometimes, project manager can be too optimistic. Other times, the project manager may fail to account for certain aspects of a project that may involve cost. And, very frequently, known unknowns come into play and unexpectedly dep

Micro manager. Unpleasant. Incompetent. Dishonest. Unprofessional. Late. Demanding. Entitled. Unfortunately, most professionals can say that they've had a boss at some point in their career that has displayed one or more of these characteristics. Often times, these people tend to be c-level, or "higher ups", or just managers in general, that likely made it to the position they're in due to taking credit for other people's work. As cliche as it may seem, my recent experiences, both professionally and academically, have got me considering TRULY how different bosses are from leaders. From a professional perspective, I've been thinking about the bosses I've encountered: They are great at delegating work. Whether they actually SHOULD delegate the work is irrelevant to them. As long as it gets done and gets done correctly, protocol, pay grade, and job descriptions don't tend to matter too much. They refuse to communicate down unless it's to their

Time, Cost, and Scope. Three attributes that can apply to just about any aspect of life. Regardless of the scenario to which one might decide to apply these constraints, there's always a give and take. For the sake of this entry, lets define time, cost, and scope as the following: Time: The duration required to complete the project and all associated sub-projects and deliverables. Cost: The total financial resources required to complete the project. This includes the cost of all resources, and the cost to complete individual work packages. DISCLAIMER: The next definition probably varies from source to source, however, this is my blog, and I will use knowledge that I've acquired over the course of my several years of formal education. Scope: The requirements and objectives that have been identified to determine what the end product is expected to accomplish. Photo Credit:  Cosmocatalano on Wikimedia | 2010 In a perfect world, time, cost, and scope would all be e