Blog

Picture a Project Manager, a full team and a Business Analyst ... on every project. IT Project Nirvana. Budgets are tight so often it's the latter that either gets sacrificed, usually merged into someone else's role. Many Project Managers have in the past, had parts of their job description that loo...

I heard a PMO (Project Management Office) joke today. “How many PMOs does it take to change a lightbulb? Two, one to explain it’s not the role of the PMO and the other to realise explaining this (again) is futile and just change the lightbulb anyway.” Alright, it’s not the funniest gag you’ll ever h...

On a Zoom call with a client today, he and I were discussing how things had changed over the space of the past year. In and among the small talk, he said something about Agile vs Waterfall that got me thinking – I’ll come back to it. First, a short recap of the last year. As I write, it’s the start ...

Happy New Year! I am never sure when to stop saying that. Traditionally, I stop around a week into being back to work, but then nothing about this New Year is normal, is it? There’s never been a New Year and back to work period like this! Ever! For a start, many of us aren’t back in the actual offic...

Fast Five Blog SeriesWhat skills should you be looking for when you need a Business Analyst.  There are a few types of Business Analyst out there, but we are going to focus on IT – We are specialists. That being said; here are five core skills we look for in an IT Business Analyst when we recruit fo...

Fast Five Blog SeriesThis week’s blog is inspired by a quiz in a Cosmo magazine, in a Dentist’s waiting room. While trying to figure out what percentage of funny someone could be, it got me thinking about how certain traits could define what kind of Project Managers are out there. Keep reading to se...

It’s that time of year where we make resolutions make for the New Year. Below, we have listed a few that you might consider, as a Project Manager, to not only improve your Project delivery but to help you improve your own skills. Set some realistic goals Did you struggle to meet the goals you set fo...

Its winter solstice next week, and with it the shortest of days. At the winter solstice the Sun travels the shortest path through the sky and we are all getting used to waking up in the dark and leaving work in the dark. Getting up before the sun can be really demotivating and the temptation to fall...

What a strange year it has been.  Global pandemics aside, I think we will all be glad to see the back of 2020 and put our feet up for a bit. One thing I know is that every year despite being planning professionals, some of you will be taking your present shopping down to the wire.  Last posting day ...

During what can only be described as an extremely challenging year for many of us, we are extremely excited to acknowledge the hard work and successes of our colleagues within the project profession. Stoneseed is delighted to be sponsoring the Project Professional of the Year Award and will be prese...

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. Did you discover that working from home turned out to be just that? Few I speak to are keen to return to the old ways of schlepping into town to grind out a nine to five in the office, when you can nail the working day in your pyjamas! Have you also discove...

Less Is More. We all know this saying! It was apparently first popularised by minimalist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1940s and has since been transformed into countless hackneyed platitudes by advertisers, a song by Joss Stone, an album by Marillion and the name of a tour by Natasha Be...

This feels like a door we’ve been pushing at for a long time. Companies and organisations seeking greater efficiency and tighter monitoring and control of IT projects opened Project Management Offices (PMO) and quickly got the results that they desired and more! As IT Projects became more business c...

After 24 years, Spitting Image is back. Not on Sunday night, mainstream ITV now but tucked away behind a Britbox paywall. However effective the newly moulded rubber caricatures of today’s politicians, showbiz stars and members of the royal family prove to be, it will be hard pushed to match the impa...

With the UK economy stuttering, businesses are having to react and become more resilient, leaner and more efficient. We are seeing a growth in the number Business Change projects, stoking demand for Business Analysis skillset. Many organisations, having slashed costs, implemented furloughs and /or f...

Service offered - Project Management as a Service. Stoneseed Ltd is delighted to be awarded a place on the Government’s Digital Marketplace G-Cloud 12 framework. We are listed on G-Cloud 12 –Specialist Cloud Services.  Dale Beeton, Business Develop Manager at Stoneseed says: “We are delighted that S...

This time of year is normally a bit of a nightmare for project coordination. Holiday Season!  Ever tried to organise a meeting in August or early September?  I recently tried, of the five invited attendees, two replied they could dial in remotely as they were working from home, two would be away on ...

I’m feeling upbeat today. After a grey start, the sun is shining as I write this. A neighbour has some builders in (that’s a sign that things are picking up) and their radio just played Yazz’s The Only Way Is Up. And Yazz’s little musical time capsule sent from 1988 is right, things are picking up –...

The UK was put into lockdown on 23 March in an unprecedented step to attempt to limit the spread of coronavirus. All our priorities changed in that instant, as business growth forecasts were side-lined, and we all focussed on business survival. But is still believe that behind every successful busin...

Looking through the various project specific publications on line this week , there seems to be a consistent theme emerging, businesses are adapting to the “New Normal” and trying to push forward, and that now is a time for project professionals to prove their worth and drive business change and rec...