Patricia Walkow

Where People and Projects Meet: Tools and Techniques for Understanding and Managing the People Side of Projects Patricia Walkow

People... They can make a project successful, or they can make it a certain failure, without intentionally trying to do either. The history of project management is filled with case after case of project failures. Poor sponsorship, unclear objectives, lack of commitment, employee resistance to change, unprepared business users, weak project leadership, poor team dynamics, and poor planning for the change management activities are the top reasons why projects fail. ~How do you navigate a project through organizational politics? ~How do you effectively work with key stakeholders? ~How do you implement effective project governance? ~How do you engage and work with the project sponsor? ~How do you get the business ready? ~How do you become a credible leader? ~How do you get the project team to work like a team? ~How do you deal with conflict? ~How do you plan for project resources, and bring them on board? ~How do you understand and capitalize on people's motivations? All of these are people-related issues. A project may have the greatest technology, the most knowledgeable team, and a fantastic budget. Even with all of this, when the "people side" of a project is ignored, under-budgeted or considered "fluff", the likelihood of the project being less than successful increases. As experienced project managers, the tools we offer have been forged in the white hot furnace of large-scale change projects. They are strong, they are appropriate for the task, and they are effective. We invite you to use them.