A Deal By Handshake...

... Lasts As Long As The Handshake

Image by ratch0013 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Too often I've found myself the victim of this cliché, more often than not because of people outside the original handshake. I have a tendency to trust people's intentions, and am willing to work with people in good faith until that trust is broken. 

When dealing with an individual, and not a business, this can be an appropriate relationship. However, when dealing with business this will often get you in trouble (not only because of the legal considerations). The reason is that very rarely are deals handled by only two individuals. Without something in writing, you are guaranteeing pain and wasted time which could have been avoided if the deal was written down in the first place.

I'll illustrate a recent example: 

Wacky Wednesday - Job Interview

I'm working with some veterans regarding Project Management Roles. Sadly, some interviews really do feel like this.

Does Complaining Ever Help?

I don't gripe to *you*, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger.

-  Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) Saving Private Ryan

This is perhaps the best way to word how gripes (complaining) work when you are in a leadership role. Complaints shouldn't be voiced in front of your team; as the impacts at best show that either you don't want to be doing the job, or at worst, tells the team it is okay to slack off (or do a poor job) because you don't care about what they are doing. 

PMI Houston 2015 Conference!

 It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

  - Theodore Roosevelt

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who made the 2015 PMI Houston Conference as great as it turned out to be. Energizing speakers with interesting topics, solid networking opportunities, old friends, and lots of lessons learned.

During the conference I presented on two topics. First, was Round 3 of 5 of Morey's Laws of Project Management, first thing Monday morning. The attendees were actually energetic for the morning session, and there was a lot of discussion regarding one of the Project Manager's greatest assets: the People on your Project team.

On Tuesday, after lunch, I presented Without Change Management It All Comes Tumbling Down for the second year in a row. This is one of my more popular presentations, with lots of interaction and solid actionable steps for attendees to implement. The presentation and content were complemented several times as the most useful presentation at the conference.

The show was also the introduction of my new products:

• Without Change Management (Package): Included:
• PDF of Slides
• Audio recording of presentation
• Change Management Plan workbook with description of templates
• Templates for
• Possible Change Notification Form (Word)
• Change Order Form (Word)
• Change Register (Excel)
• Scope Creep: The Project Killer
• PDF of Slides
• Audio recording of presentation

And, of course, the Morey's Laws poster produced many chuckles. If any of these products interest you, please email me at mmorey@c4-elt.com. A complete revamp of the website (with store page) is coming this summer, so this should only be temporary. 

I look forward to this conference every year, and am already thinking about which programs to present next year. In the meantime, if you attended the conference, remember that people tend to let their normal lives take over when they get back. If you want to implement something you learned, it's action that will bring about the change, not knowledge or intention (or to Paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, be the man in the arena).