Month: February 2015

Let the Journey Begin — Mentoring a Better Project Manager

I have been involved in discussions lately regarding mentoring in the project management and IT business management field.  The question is: what does it take to build a better project manager given the rapidly changing paradigm defining the profession?

Having mentored many younger people over the course of a 22 year plus career in the United States Navy–and then afterward in private business–I have given this line of thought a great deal of consideration.  Over the years I have been applying personnel development and growth strategies as one assigned to lead both men and women among the uniformed military, civil service, and contractor communities.  Some of these efforts were notable for their successes.  In a few cases I failed to inspire or motivate.

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I Get By With A Little Help… — Avoiding NIH in Project Management

…from my colleagues, friends, family, associates, advisors, mentors, subcontractors, consultants, employees.  And not necessarily in that order.

The term NIH in this context is not referring to the federal agency.  It is shorthand, instead, for “Not Invented Here”.  I was reminded of this particular mindset when driving through an old neighborhood where I served as a community organizer.  At one of the meetings of a local board, which was particularly dysfunctional (and where I was attempting to reform their dysfunction), a member remarked:  “I am tired of hearing about how this or that particular issue was handled somewhere else.”  Yes, I thought, why would we possibly want to know how Portland, or D.C., or Boston, or Denver, or Phoenix–or any of the number of other places faced with the same issue–effectively or ineffectively dealt with it before us?  What could they possibly teach us?

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