It’s all about communication
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 29. June 2010
From what I can read and I understand, project managers have a hard job when wanting to manage projects successfully. They may be prepared and have planned all necessary steps, might be fortuned by skilled and motivated teams, they may moreover have so much luck that their client can express project requirements in a clear and distinct way. They might have thought about possible risks and took steps to mitigate them. They may even have managed to get the budget they requested. How many ‘may’s and ‘might’s have I used? Many? Yes, many but not enough. Even with so many mights which go right, they still can not be sure they can yell ’done’ on time or be successful at the end.
Why? Well it is all about communication. Bad communication will make your project fail, good would give a legitimate chance of succeeding.
Our colleague Richard Joerges found in the archives of TED Conference 2002 a video describing how people sometimes talk, send messages, inform one another that everything is developing as agreed and fail to communicate their real problems or concerns.
The video is a presentation of Chris Bangle (famous car designer for various auto mobile companies like BMW, Fiat or Range Rover) in which he talks about how it pays not only to talk but also to say what’s in your mind and how to build trust between team members.
You may watch the video here: (more…)
Tags: Communication, Creative teams
Improving communication through listening
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 19. April 2010
Good and effective communication among the stakeholders of a project is very important for successful projects. There are so many approaches to allow information transfer. Through Wikis, blogs, emails, reports, special PM tools, event invitations in calendar entries, face to face talks, video chats, etc. All approaches have pros and cons, so don’t expect us to give any recommendations. Simply pick the one fitting the needs of your team at best.
But no matter how you do it, whether you use Merlin for project management on Mac OS X or not, we think you should try and take the time to listen someone to the end or read the complete information given.
Four little tricks* can help in getting an active listener:
1. (repeat) Remember to Shut Up
2. Ask Questions (keeps us engaged)
3. Make Eye Contact (make the connection)
4. (and my favorite) The Imaginary Conversation Ball
_
*) Quoted text found in The Return of Listening. A blog post written by Raj Menon.
Tags: Communication, Listen, PM
Disarm with charm
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 2. February 2010
In a previous blog post, we have written about communication skills and that bad communication could be a warning sign to failing projects.
So if communication is so important in project management, what would a PM provoke by walking cold into a meeting? Cold reactions, at the very least. Keith Ferrazzi, an expert in relationship development and author of the books Never Eat Alone or Who’s Got Your Back, mentions in his blog the importance of generosity and spreading goodwill to anyone that we meet as a first step towards a warm relationship.
Tags: Communication, PM
Personal branding: video Interview with Dave Prior
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 5. January 2010
Our friend Dave Prior already gave us an interview in the past. In case you would like to see and hear him, we recommend the episode of Project Shrink podcast by Bas de Baar about Project Managers and Personal Branding. Enjoy 
The video interview is split into two parts.
The first part is about personal branding…
In the second part Dave Prior talks about techniques/steps to start a personal brand…
Tags: Communication, Dave Prior, Personal branding
Hello 2010, bye bye 2009!
Frank Blome on 4. January 2010
One lays a bit longer in bed at Christmas, and finds the new year already in full swing when awaking. But wait. Our hibernation was not that deep, we simply granted ourselves a short break. 2009 was after all the most active year in our young history.
Directly on its begin, January 2009, we were in the Macworld and presented Merlin iPhone to the interested visitors.
In February 2009 the beta test of Merlin 2.7 started containing the new version of Merlin Web. A Merlin Twitter presence was also created, with over 750 followers meanwhile.
Tags: App Store, Communication, Merlin, Merlin iPhone, Merlin Server, Merlin Web, Snow Leopard, Story, Team
Is Over-Communication a Problem in Project Management?
John Kranz on 11. June 2009
Pawel Brodzinski hosts a blog on software development lifecycle and poses this question: “Is over-communication a problem in project management?” Some interesting initial comments have come in via his blog and twitter.
Tags: Communication
Twitter Alternative for Project Managers
John Kranz on 3. June 2009
For those who read German, our CEO has already weighed in on what he thinks of Twitter when it comes to serving as a useful tool for project managers. One obvious concern with Twitter is that the communications is open, so others can easily follow the tweets. The solution to this dilemma in ensuring privacy for the enterprise comes in the form of a twitter-alternative known as Yammer.
Tags: Communication, Twitter, Yammer
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