Who do you think is actually responsible for project success? Would you say it’s the Project Manager, or the Sponsor? Maybe the Development Team Leader who gets the product built, or even the Test Manager whose work drives development via acceptance testing and test-driven development? What do you reckon? Well, in traditional projects such responsibility…

When a project doesn’t run according to plan, a common reaction is to assign more project managers to create “better” plans in the belief that their combined clairvoyant abilities will somehow make the future more knowable. In a similar fashion, letting loose a posse of business analysts when faced with unexpected hurdles or unknowns seems…

I’ve always had an issue with the title “Project Manager” as it does seem to place role owners firmly at the top of an organisational hierarchy where they are deemed to have sole responsibility for managing their staff on a project that only they own. In my view, for anything other than the simplest manual activity this…

Building a company has never been easier. Free software, fast computers and 3D printing, all enhanced by the “interweb”, make it a simple(r) matter to research, design, create, market, and even sell a range of products with only a small up-front capital investment and limited (if not a single-person) workforce. The game is well and…

Few would challenge the importance of a stern manager – let’s call him the “Captain” – taking control of the Good Ship Project, applying a strong hand at the helm to ensure the correct course is set and a successful conclusion reached. I for one, however, take issue with such a “command and control” approach.…

Have you ever tried martial arts? Perhaps a bit of surfing? Or maybe you consider yourself somewhat of a spiritualist? Well, all of these are disciplines that centre ultimately on self-discovery. In the same way, Agile principles are more than just a work ethic – they are a way of life. Indeed, as Nicholas St. North…

In his book, “Daemon”, Daniel Suarez envisages a future where people use wearable technology to explore an alternative internet called the “Darknet”. This tool makes it possible to layer virtual information onto the real world, for example superimposing people’s finances in order to make judgments about their credit-worthiness (now there’s a use for Google Glass!).…

Is your working week mapped out in advance with a detailed to-do list and discrete meeting appointments in your calendar? Probably, but how about longer term? A task list for the next twelve months is likely to be much more of an overview including summarised entries such as learning a programming language or taking a…