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This journey started with sprouts. Run with me. My epiphany came last Christmas when I asked a family member why, having peeled the sprouts, she was now cutting a little cross into the base of each one. Her answer was, "I don't know, it's just what my Mum always did." We Googled it and it turns out ...

"When did you finish training to be a Project Manager?" asked the new member of a project team I work with from time to time. We'd been comparing our backstories, him fresh from college, ink just dry on his certificates and excitedly starting his first placement, hence the question. With a few more ...

Originally published on CIO.com Traditionally a project is judged complete when it is transitioned into service. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate this endpoint. A CIO asked me this recently because his team were expressing an interest in extending their role so that they could assess their project 'fr...

I'm writing this as UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is preparing his Spring Statement, YAWN! Except the guy on the news just described as "a kind of mini-budget - a chance to update parliament on progress and make any adjustments". This got my attention. What a brilliant idea for us in IT Project Manag...

Originally published on PMToday.co.uk I was sitting on the M1 in traffic the other day, the gantry lights above were displaying a huge red X above the inside lane, signifying that it was closed due to an accident. Most cars got over into another lane as soon as it was safe for them to do so. However...

It’s that time again. The glitz and the glamour, the pomp and the pageantry, the fame and the fashion - it's awards season. I love movies so I always cast an interested eye the way of the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and, of course, The Oscars. Looking beyond the rather overblown spectacle of the ceremonie...

Are you guilty of confirmation bias? It's a psychological habit where you filter your reality until it resembles something more aligned with your existing beliefs. I think we're all a bit guilty of it from time to time. For example, you think that your co-workers are lazy so all you see is them slop...

Originally published on CIO.com A very novel way for CIOs to increase effectiveness A poster of Lord Alan Sugar just appeared on the wall of a CIO I know. As it does every year, in fact. Lord Sugar is the central figure in the UK's version of TV show "The Apprentice". Of course, had my CIO friend wo...

I just witnessed an IT Project team undergo a massive positive transformation ... all thanks to a video camera and an innovative CIO. The team was going through one of phases. You ever have these? Nothing was wrong ... but nothing felt right. They were delivering IT Projects on time but not feeling ...

I have a new favourite way to pass free time. It's a webcomic called " xkcd " by Randall Munroe, an American cartoonist, author, engineer, scientific theorist, and the creator of the most addictive website ever! Especially the site's "What If" column, where Randall attempts to scientifically answer ...

If you have had anything to do with Public Sector IT procurement over the past two years or so, either as a client or a contractor, IR35 has probably never been far from your mind. My friend, a Public Sector IT Project Manager, jokes that he'd started seeing IR35 everywhere, "It's been the topic of ...

Can certain words cast a negative shadow on Project Management thinking? Originally published on CIO.com I walked into a Project Management Office recently, and on the wall, in large letters above the Project Leader's desk was the phrase 'No "Ifs", "Buts" Or "Maybes"'. At first, it looked like one o...

Previously published on PMToday My news feeds, as I write this, are full of talk of a Cabinet reshuffle. Prime Ministers and Presidents move core team members around (and in and out) to try to ensure that they have the right people in place to deliver strategic goals. Sometimes, whole new portfolios...

There's a fella used to go in a local fish and chip shop. Run with me on this. It must have been every week because he was always there whenever we decided to have a chippy tea on a Friday. For about the last month though, he hasn't been in the queue. I don't know his name but we had got quite frien...

Thanks to a reader of my CIO.com column, Gareth, who wrote to me with an idea for an IT Project Management blog. "Hi David," he writes, "Have you ever written a blog along the lines of 'you're only ever as strong as your weakest link.'" Gareth was inspired to get in touch after a train journey home ...