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What is the Role of the PRINCE2 Project Manager?

2009-10-21T08:25:00Z

The popularity of PRINCE2 training shows no sign of abating, esepcially with the PRINCE2:2009 update. There's no doubt that attaining the PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification will increse your job prospects and the number of contracts that independent consultants can put themselves forward for.

But what exactly is the role of a PRINCE2 Project Manager? This article tackles that question. For a more in depth overview of PRINCE2 2009 and its Processes and Themes, visit Silicon Beach Training's free PRINCE2 resources pages.

A PRINCE2 Project Manager is not there to tell the techies how to do their job (unless he’s also the Team Manager, of course, but this is a case of wearing two hats). Nor, particularly, is it his job to kick butts; if a kicking is required, it is more likely to come from the Senior Supplier. The Project Manager is also not responsible for delivering the benefits of the project, merely “delivering an outcome that is capable of achieving the benefits” (Managing Successful Projects PRINCE2, P 212, my emphasis).

It is the Project Executive who is “ultimately accountable for the project” and who is the “key decision maker”. I hate to break it to you guys, but the PRINCE2 Project Manager is really just the Project Executive’s bitch, who’s job it is to draft the plans (for the Board’s approval), parcel up the Work Packages for the techies, and then monitor progress and go crying to the Board when anything goes wrong. More admin boy than international troubleshooter; the general implication is that the Project Manager doesn’t even have any line management responsibility. In real life, this is quite likely – the Project Manager may be a contractor with a virtual team made up of slices of peoples’ time (been there, done that), or he may be responsible for an outsourced development happening on the other side of the world.

Tolerance, therefore, is a key PRINCE2 concept. The Project Manager hands out Work Packages to the Team Manager (or, directly to the techies), telling them what to do and when it must be done by – with a tolerance level beyond which they are not permitted to proceed. In turn, the Project Manager has been granted (by the Project Board) a budget for a particular project stage (consisting of lots of Work Packages), with a level of tolerance beyond which he must not proceed. One level above that, and the Project Board have been given a budget for the whole project (by corporate or programme management), with a tolerance level which they must not exceed.

Listening vs Learning - 10 Tips for Trainers

2009-10-19T13:20:00Z

This article from Silicon Beach Training describes the difference between listening and learning, and provides tips and advice on what this means for professional trainers.

More detailed advice for trainers can also be found on Silicon Beach's Free Training Resources blog or by attending their 2-day Train the Trainer training course.

Listening is the least-effective form of learning. Lectures are the least effective way of teaching. Emotions are the clues to our brain that determine how important a memory is.

It's how our brain determines whether it's worth saving, and how deep into the momory it goes. People will remember what they feel far more than what they hear or see.

In other words, know how to get your learners to feel

I'll look at this in the Ten Tips list.

1) Know the wide variety of learning styles, and how to incorporate as many as possible into your learning experience.

And no, we're not talking about sorting learners into separate categories like "He's a Visual Learner while Jim is an Auditory learner.", or "He learns best through examples." Every sighted person is a "visual learner", and everyone learns through examples. And through step-by-step instructions. And through high-level "forest" views. And through low-level "tree" views. Everyone learns top-down and bottom-up. Everyone learns from pictures, explanations, and examples. This doesn't mean that certain people don't have certain brain-style preferences, but the more styles you load into any learning experience, the better the learning is for everyone--regardless of their individual preferences.

(And while you're at it, know that most adults today do not truly know their own learning styles, or even how to learn. The word "metacognition" doesn't appear in most US educational institutions.)

2) Know the fundamentals of current learning theory!

3) Know why--and how--good advertising works. Be sure you recognize why this matters.

4) Know why--and how--good stories work.

5) Consider the learner to be on a kind of hero's journey. If Frodo is your student, and you're Gandalf... learn as much as you can about storytelling and entertainment. Learn what screenwriters and novelists learn. Know what "show don't tell" really means, and understand how to apply it to learning.
Humans spent thousands upon thousands of years developing/evolving the ability to learn through stories. Our brains are tuned for it. Our brains are not tuned for sitting in a classroom listening passively to a lecture of facts, or reading pages of text facts. Somehow we manage to learn in spite of the poor learning delivery most of us get in traditional schools and training programs (and books).

6) Know a little something about "the Socratic method". Know why it's far more important that you ask the good questions rather than supply all the answers.

7) Know why people often learn more from seeing the wrong thing than they do from seeing the right thing. Know why the brain spends far less time processing things that meet expectations, than it does on things that don't.

8) Know why it's just as important to study and keep up your teaching skills as it is to keep up your other professional skills. Yes there ARE professional organizations for trainers, with conferences, journals, and online discussions.

9) Know why using overhead slides to deliver a classroom learning experience can--sometimes (often)--be the worst thing you can do.

Although yes, in many cases using slides for some select pieces of a course are important, beneficial, and crucial. What we're dissing is the practice where the entire class, start to finish, is driven around some kind of slides or presentation.)

10) Know how -- and why -- good games can keep people involved and engaged for hours. Learn how to develop activities that lead to a Flow State.

Stop wasting time - Useful Time Management Tips

2009-10-16T14:42:00Z

Time is a gift - use it wisely. We do not have to be busy every waking minute. We also need to rest, relax and just do nothing. We need time to think spend time with our family, enjoy a hobby or read a book.

If you are reading this article you probably think you are so busy that you don’t have time for such things. Think again, you may just need to get read of your time eaters!

Time eaters are activities that usually have little or no reward. Waiting is a great time stealer, try shopping at the quietest times, make ask the dentist or doctors receptionist when the quietest time is to make an appointment.

Television is the greatest time eater. Only turn on the television when it has something worthwhile to watch, and even learn from. If you can record your favorite programmes you can save a quarter of the time by skipping the adverts, or you can read or sew or whatever you like during the breaks.

Cook enough for two meals and freeze one. Value your time.

You will get more done when you rid yourself of time stealers. At the very least, take time each day for your family, and to relax, even meditate

Silicon Beach Training provide a great 1-day Time Management training course packed with strategies to help you manage your time better. Here is a short list of tips designed to help with time management:

Come to work with the right attitude.

This is one of the most important parts of time management, if you are not willing to work in the first place then you will always find yourself short of time and rushed. Be prepared to work hard and get the job done, no matter how long you have to work at it. Any laziness now will only result in you having to work harder later.

Prioritise.

This is one of the main elements of time management that you will have to learn if you are to properly manage your time. You will need to be able to asses the situation and work out what deserves your attention first and what can wait until later. This is not always an easy thing to do as sometimes there are many things you must get on with but the skill of prioritising and time management is in making the tough choices not the easy ones.

Admit defeat.

if you are in a situation where you have so many things to do that it is simply impossible to do them all to a sufficient standard then the time has come to ask for help. There is no shame in this and in many ways it is respected by other people as you are putting the project before your ego and you are not afraid to ask for help.

Set clear goals.

Without adequate direction you will find it very hard to work effectively, especially if you are in a team or indeed managing a team. You must know what you are supposed to be doing and how long you have to do it; don’t lose track of time. If you follow a clear and concise plan then you will find it a lot easier to work and utilise your time effectively.

Not enough time to learn about time management?!

Sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees, and people don't stop to review their time management strategy because they don't think that they have the time! In reality, taking 1-day out to attend a time management training course can reap greater rewards in the longer term.

Here's 5 more tips to help you take a step back and think about how you're using your time:

STOP TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING AT ONCE
Take each moment as it comes and decide (quickly) what the most important task at hand is. Get on with it and don’t do anything else until it is done.
STOP TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF
Delegate, hire people and ask for help.
LEARN TO SAY NO
Decide what you want to or are prepared to do and say “no” to everything else. Don’t worry too much about what others will think if you say no. It is acceptable. Suggesting someone else who could do the job might help.
CONTROL THE TELEPHONE
Use your answering machine and return calls at your convenience.
Give your friends and business associates a time to call you.
Ask people to call you back.
Give a specific time to call back when leaving a message.
DON’T PUT THINGS OFF
Get the tings you don’t want to do over with. Make it the day’s priority or the
first thing you tackle. Divide large tasks into smaller, more manageable
ones. Reward yourself for completing them deciding first what your reward is so that you have something to look forward to.

For more information on time management training visit Silicon Beach Training's web site, call on 01273 622272 or e-mail info@siliconbeachtraining.co.uk

Twitter Heckled Keynote Speaker - Know your audience!

2009-10-08T13:10:00Z

Presentation Skills Lessons to be learned - Know your audience.

Two Days ago a Keynote speaker at the HighEdWeb 2009 Open and Connected conferencesuffered a barrage of real-time heckling from his social medai savvy audience. Pity the conference was all about connectivity, and social media. Time for presenters to follow thier twitter backchannel and brush up on thier act.

More about this incident can be seen here:

Twitter-heckled Key Note Speaker – Know your Audience!

Peformance Management - fair performance appraisals

2009-09-18T13:08:00Z

When assessing an employee's performance it is important to look at the bigger picture to a correct and fair conclusion. With this in mind here are some points to take into account:

Outside influences and determining factors.

It maybe the case that a employee’s work and performance might have been hindered, or even helped, by something that was entirely out of their control and of which they had nothing to do with.

Misleading results.

It may seem that the success or failure of a project is directly comparable to the amount of work put in by, or the abilities of the employees who were working on it. This is not always the case, there may be other factors that need to be taken into account, i.e.

How achievable was the task in the first place?
Did the employee have the necessary information or equipment to carry out the task effectively?

Recent performance vs. long term performance.

It is easy to be short sighted in an appraisal and only focus on the employees most recent performance and not long term performance. This may either lead to an employee’s performance being overrated or underrated and will mean that the appraisal, and the improvements that you will try to make not be appropriate.

Vague evaluation methods.

Avoid the use of general and vague terms to describe something as important as an employee’s performance ie; words such as average, good, very good etc. Try and be specific about what it is that your are referring to and put it in context.

Unfair performance evaluations due to previous performance in other areas.

Try not to evaluate someone’s performance based on their previous performance in another area of expertise or project. This will obviously not be a fair assessment and will only lead to it becoming harder for both that person to improve and for you to get the best out of them. Performance appraisals are not something that people will often get too enthusiastic about however they are an important instrument in helping improve and get the best out of your work force.

Silicon Beach Training offer a full range of human resources training courses including performance management training.

Leadership and Assertiveness

2009-02-13T13:26:00Z

Assertive Leadership Skills

A good leader can confidently and assertively state personal and group needs in an effective manner. However levels of assertiveness in leadership can some times be problem, leaders can easily become too assertive or not show enough assertiveness skills. See this article on levels of assertiveness in leaders. Knowing how and when to assert oneself can be difficult. Below are tips on assertive behavior.

Non-Assertive, Assertive and Aggressive Styles

Non-assertive – failing to stand up for oneself or others, being ineffective in standing up for oneself that one’s rights are easily violated.
Assertive – standing up for oneself in such a way that does not violate the basic rights of other people. Being direct, honest, and using an appropriate expression of one ’s feelings and opinions.
Aggressive – standing up for oneself in such a way that violates the rights of the others, using humiliation.

Good Assertiveness Skills Basics

Say what you feel
Maintain direct eye contact
Maintain erect posture
Speak clearly and audibly
Do not whine or sound apologetic
Use body language

Examples of Assertive Behavior

Basic –a sample expression of standing up for one’s beliefs, feelings or opinions.
Empathic –expressing feelings or beliefs, while relating sensitively to another person.
Escalating –beginning with a basic assertion and progressing your feelings and ideas if the individual is unresponsive to your expressions
Confrontive –the other person ’s words conflict with you ideas and beliefs

Leadership and Assertiveness

May be confused with aggressive behavior, however, assertion does not involve hurting the other person physically or emotionally.
Aims at equalizing the balance of power, not “winning the battle” by putting down the other person or rendering her/him helpless.
Allows you to express your legitimate wants, needs, feelings, and ideas and creates honest relationships with others.
Gives other individuals a right to respond to your assertiveness with their own wants, needs, feelings, and ideas.
May involve negotiating a new solution with another individual. Assertiveness does not imply I win/you lose.
Concerns not only what you say but also how you say it.
Includes asking directly for something you want.

Good Leadership resource

Leadership training course

Good Assertiveness resource

Assertiveness Training Course