Project Management

Scheduling time for preparatory tasks helps change stick. If you are facing change in your organisation, here is a checklist for what you can do to prepare.

We live in a world where uncertainty is becoming the norm. Few would now assert with any confidence that they can predict what the future will bring, and we see increasing evidence that things [...]

Reflection and learning are critical for organisations, teams and individuals, especially at a time of high uncertainty and rapid change.

The following project management tips will provide you with some useful guidance for effective project management.

Herbert Kelman is an American psychologist with a lifelong focus on conflict resolution and peace research. He set out 3 stages of attitude change, which are helpful when applied to the [...]

A few days ago, I watched some of Clare Balding’s TV game show –they showed clips of an experiment, with people buying fruit and vegetables at a busy market stall. The experiment highlighted how [...]

When Craig Kilford, from Course Conductor, contacted us back in 2016, he explained he wanted to “Transform the way companies invest in learning for their employees, by using independent analytics [...]

When your working week is already full on, with pressure to deliver tasks, support services and hit targets, you may feel it doesn’t leave a lot of time for supporting people and considering [...]

Who do you trust with your company’s future? The answer, at the most fundamental level, has got to be your people. I have been doing some really interesting work around building and [...]

What sank the Titanic? It wasn’t just an iceberg, it was people. Leaders whom no one dared challenge, employees unable to communicate, organisations lulled into a false of security. The lessons [...]

Who wishes they could attend more meetings?!!  We all know what it feels like to come out of a meeting knowing there was no point being there… or that it could have been so much more productive [...]

There’s every chance you haven’t yet heard of mBraining, but we’re convinced this exciting concept can do a lot to help organisations overcome resistance to change. mBraining is about aligning [...]

The launch of ‘Gower Handbook of People in Project Management‘ by Gower Publishing is evidence that the importance of the people element of project management is being increasingly recognised, [...]

This model for relative prioritising and sizing of requirements is a technique often used in an Agile/SCRUM environment.

This article explores the relationship between empathy and assertiveness, showing how they can combine effectively to offer a route to more consistent success in project and change management.

In Titanic Lessons in Project Leadership, we see how ‘small’ and easily overlooked behavioural and communication issues can build into seemingly unthinkable errors.

What do comedians, vacuum cleaners and Formula 1 have in common … and what have they got to do with project management? I’ve been inspired by a Radio 4 programme about learning from past [...]

King’s ‘Vision 2029’ strategy is to become a world top 20 institution. Currently ranked 36th, this Russell Group university has embarked on multiple, ambitious change programmes covering [...]

Just think about building the Titanic… It was a huge undertaking, both in terms of sheer scale, and because of the complexity caused by integrating so many new technologies in a way that had [...]

When you’re faced with change and having to do things in a new way, have you noticed that it takes longer to get things done? When you change your mobile phone or your television, this can [...]

It is now known that the brain organises things using a basic threat or reward principle, and that our first instinct is to assess threat levels. However, dealing with a ‘threat’ takes more brain [...]

It’s coming up to 30 years since I first managed a project officially and almost 18 years since I ran my first Agile project. It’s been interesting watching the gradual take-up of [...]

Last week I was in Barcelona, at the headquarters of Fusion for Energy, the EU body managing Europe’s contribution to the ITER project – the biggest international collaboration in the field of [...]

Most of us are aware that becoming angry, fearful or frustrated gets in the way of clear thinking, so it pays to stay calm. But when we’re under pressure and our emotions are rising, then it’s [...]

Everybody seems to be talking about Agile. There’s a huge wave of enthusiasm and focus on it, and it’s being heralded as the way forward for the effective management of projects in the modern [...]

It’s World Book Day today and we thought we’d share some of our most favourite industry books with you. It’s easy to buy the ’latest book’ out there, especially if you are new to the field, but [...]

So, I’m sitting here writing this blog. But actually, the truth is I’m supposed to be doing something else! I’ve left something (quite a few things?) unfinished, and those things are distracting [...]

Most Agile methods focus at the product development level. There’s a revolution from below aspect to them which is seductive. It encourages teams to change the world by doing it. Who [...]

McKinsey recently coined the term ’Neuromyths’ to describe old-fashioned ways of thinking that may have become entrenched, and damaging to the way organisations are thinking about their [...]

You’ve arrived at the site of an important customer. You’re about to address a group of their senior executives and you’re feeling excited about it – you’ve done loads of work on this, and feel [...]

We’re in the final week of ’The Great British Bake Off’ and the last three contestants have survived 27 challenges, including cakes, pies, pastries, tarts, bread, biscuits and puddings from the [...]

The Harvard Business Review has recently published a report: Agile Practice: The Competitive Advantage for a Digital Age. Note, the title of the report is that Agile is ’the’ competitive [...]

I’m a pilot, a private pilot, and have been for 15 years. I’m also a ChangeQuest trainer and educator and a project manager. Flying is similar to managing projects! Every flight is unique, has [...]

We all know that innovation and creativity are mostly likely to be achieved when people feel free to think differently and take chances. And yet, in many organisations the worry associated with [...]

This week marks the end of summer and return to school for millions of students and parents around the world. Summer seems to go so quickly; time passes by and before you know it another summer [...]

Project management is now a skill set that is desired among all industries worldwide. What is it that project managers do that makes these skills so valuable? There are fundamentals in project [...]

Four years seem to have passed by so quickly and it’s taken nearly that long for my ears to stop ringing from the blaring Vuvuzella assault from the last World Cup or maybe age makes the years go [...]

Last week Ranjit did one of her popular talks on the Titanic disaster. From what she told me, a visitor needs to hit the ground running, and be right up to speed on the dramatis personae of [...]

It was first said centuries ago that change is the only constant. But it is just as true today. Effective change management is key to the success of any organisation. And its contribution is [...]

Our brains are constantly on the lookout for signs of threats or rewards – clearly the survival of early man depended on this. The decisions we make about what to pay attention to are based on [...]

Recently Honda released their latest gardening tool nicknamed ”The Mean Mower”. It can go from 0 to 100mph in 4 seconds accelerating faster than a Porsche 911. It has the same engine as a 996cc [...]

This picture is on a wall just outside my office. Every time I pass it I stop and admire it: a photographer would probably say it’s too blurred, or the light’s not right, but for me it’s [...]

Have you been following all the discussion around the benefits of the HS2 Rail Link in the news? It’s intriguing that this far down the line (pun acknowledged), the National Audit Office is still [...]

Last week was marked as the 40th anniversary of the mobile phone. So I thought we’d take a light-hearted look at the changes and evolution of the phone, since the first “brick phone”, the [...]

From very early on individuals in competitive sports are hardwired to win, they’re driven by a need to be ”top dog”, sometimes at any cost as many scandals have revealed (Lance [...]

Recently, I went to an “Agile Edge” conference at Valtech to hear Greg Hutchings talk on “Introducing Agile”. Here is what I learned. You must know WHY you want to “do Agile” The normal reasons [...]

A recent report from Deloitte has found that: “the quality of senior leadership — including core capabilities as well as personal qualities such as honesty and integrity — has a direct, and [...]

When you’re faced with change and having to do things in a new way, have you noticed that it takes longer to get things done? When you change your mobile phone or your television, this can [...]

Very soon we will all once again be happily jumping up and down cheering the world’s Super-Humans, the Paralympic athletes. After Team GB’s hugely successful performance in the 1st [...]

On any given project you can be fairly sure that things won’t go smoothly. Add to that being expected to do more with less, dealing with setbacks and disputes, things constantly chopping [...]

You’ve probably heard about statistics that say 55% of meaning comes from non-verbal communication, 38% from tone of voice and just 7% from the words we speak. This is based on Albert [...]

There are many techniques around to help with decision making, which typically involve understanding where you need to get to, exploring possible options, gathering information to weigh up the [...]

Last year I was running a large number of short change management workshops for an organisation, touching on theory around their change management framework, but mainly facilitating discussions [...]

Two weeks ago the Williams F1 team were celebrating their win at the Spanish Grand Prix when a fire broke out in their garage. It caused devastating damage to most of their IT and communications [...]

We were upgrading our computer systems in the office last week and, as I was out training for the week, it was an ideal time for our “go to IT” man to rummage around my desk [...]

The other day my husband was nostalgically watching one of the original Star Trek re-runs. Feigning interest I received a quick induction into the show’s formulaic format.  I learned [...]

What does it take for us to really learn from our experiences? Having finished our website project, we’re about to review ‘lessons learned’ with the team at ChangeQuest to make [...]

Titanic Lessons in Project Leadership The story of the Titanic has captivated people for the past 100 years. It stirs our curiosity and emotions and it is still amazing to think that what was [...]

 Animation showing how a deeper understanding of communication skills could improve the performance of your projects. ChangeQuest presents: The Project Manager’s Story (Communication [...]