If your organization is experiencing disproportionally higher chaos on your larger projects, you might ask if you had sufficient information and time at the beginning to understand the problem being solved before anyone committed to cost or schedule targets.

Agile teams often struggle due to weak project foundations, not complex issues. Defined roles, clear communication, and acknowledged "Definition of Done" are critical. Neglecting these basics leads to dysfunction and missed goals, proving that visible fixes are needed for invisible problems.

An IT manager's "chess" metaphor contrasts HR's "checker" mindset: HR seeks homogenous staff, but IT needs diverse specialists. This mismatch creates challenges in hiring, promoting, and compensating IT professionals, often leading to talent loss.

This is an article about three ideas: project sponsorship, project wagers, and risk.  Understanding their relationship is critical to becoming more effective as project managers, and organizational leaders.

In games like Everquest, World of Warcraft, or Diablo there are significant milestones when you accumulate enough experience to “go up a level”.  It’s always rewarding to watch a project manager do that in real life.

Project managers need to ensure that sponsors, team members, and stakeholders understand that un-managed change is the real bogeyman.

Projects should have clearly defined goals, schedule targets, and resource allocations. When projects are described as “ongoing” that is often a red flag suggesting that either this isn’t a project, or it is not being well-managed.

No one likes process for process’s sake.  Most of us are naturally resistant to change.  Modifying standards or processes is an organizational change task.  How do we encourage people to embrace change?