Blog

IT Project Leadership has never been more challenging and complex. In this, the first of a short series, I'm going to look at some of the issues that you and I face and share some solutions. If nothing, else let's acknowledge that the challenges are universal and take solace from the fact that it's ...

When we're called in to rescue AWOL IT Projects we come across a lot of the usual suspects: scope creep; unrealistic budgets; overambitious timescales; etc. More recently though, we are seeing a new trend. Projects are failing just because they are heaving under unnecessary layers of CLUTTER! As IT ...

It's great when an IT Project progresses from implementation to delivery without a hitch, an event free ride from start to finish with no bumps in the road. Or is it? How does the word “Conflict” make YOU feel? I asked a few colleagues and their responses ranged from anxiety to aggression, from some...

"What can we do better?" "What's going wrong?" Both these questions were asked by different Project Managers leading IT Projects that were failing this year. Both had identified issues, both were keen to sort those issues out, both held almost identical team meetings to address the challenges. One w...

"As luck would have it, they fitted in perfectly!" This is one of my favourite bits of client feedback! It refers to a particularly successful deployment of Project Management as a Service resources. The email as a whole talks about the effectiveness of the talent, the extra experience and skills th...

Guest blog by Nicol Cutts – Stoneseed Head of Projects     I reviewed an initial project scope document for a Project Manager last week. In the four pages of text, there were 37 ‘&’s. So what? '&' or the ampersand is often misused and misunderstood. Largely thanks to social media communicati...

The Private Sector IR35 countdown clock is ticking louder and louder. Before you can say "non-compliant off-payroll Project Manager", it will be time for private firms to follow the Public Sector pioneers into this new world. It's come around quick, hasn't it? One of my accountant friends drily comm...

When discussing Stoneseed's Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) solutions with clients I am always intrigued by the way they manage IT projects. In almost every case, the client will walk us through some form of lifecycle, typically composing four stages that can be loosely labelled along the fo...

At a wedding recently, the nephew of the bride was a bit of a comedian. He was about nine years old, with a cheeky smile and we genuinely laughed when he bounded up and delivered this joke! "Knock, knock!""Who’s there?" we replied."Hatch""Hatch who?""Bless you!" he said drily, handing us a handkerch...

I started to write this on the day that the world's media declared that the "internet turned 30". OK, without getting nerdy, although the terms are often used interchangeably, March 12, was actually the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web. But hey, semantics – right?! Whatever you want to call it...

In a recent 'flyover' of IT Project Methodologies, I promised that I would return to each individually and assess their advantages and disadvantages. In this, the first in a series of posts, let's take a look at Waterfall.  Waterfall. What Is It, When Should You Use It? 1970 was quite a year for fir...

My friend tells the story of a 4x4 SSV he used to own. Famous marque, I won't name them, but not a cheap car AT ALL! The vehicle developed a fault, the reverse light wasn't working and there was a considerable delay between changing gear and the dashboard display registering the gear you were in. He...

The evolution of the IT Business Analyst role is increasingly seeing the job description stretch beyond the "IT" further into the "Business" territory. This means greater career prospects for analysts but also real challenges for businesses who do not have a character like this on their team. It's a...

I've noticed a bit of a trend. Of the IT Projects that I've seen fall into ‘special measures’ of late, they've all had something in common - a gap between stakeholder expectation and reality. It's actually (paradoxically) both easy and hard to nail this. Some project teams struggle but, like with mo...

Oh my!! Have you seen the video of 7-year-old runner Rudolph 'Blaze' Ingram who sprinted 100 metres in just 13.48 seconds? It's fascinating to watch this young Florida athlete speed out of the blocks; and after clocking up thousands and thousands of Instagram views, as I write this, he has made the ...