Last week I spoke at Madison, WI InBusiness Annual Expo, on the topic of Improving Project Management. Not something I'll do again.
I am writing from the PMI Global Congress in Dallas - first time I've attended one of these without being a speaker. No pressure! This is the PM profession's Big Dance. Watching the PMIEF award presentations now - had lunch with one of the presenters.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Evil Boss Story and PMI NA GC
Want to share a true story of an evil boss while on a break during PMI NA GC:
True Story of an Evil Boss
Someone very close to me works for a major university's school of medicine. She coordinates medical research for multiple doctors. She and her colleagues are highly educated researchers and nurse-practitioners, and their job also involves a lot of project management. She and her immediate supervisor report to the head of the whole school of medicine at this university - a doctor and very demanding boss - how demanding, I am about to tell you.
A couple of weeks ago, the immediate supervisor had acute appendicitis and had emergency surgery when it ruptured. Her appendix ruptured before it could be removed because, despite being doubled over in pain, she did not feel that she could leave work because of her workload and the demands put on her by her boss (the head of the school of medicine).
If your appendix ruptures, you often develop a systemic infection called peritonitis. The ruptured appendix spills poison into your body cavity, and unless immediately controlled with heavy doses of antibiotics, you can die. So, when this gal's appendix ruptured, she had the emergency surgery and was then hospitalized to recover and undergo rounds of antibiotic therapy to fight the infection boiling in her abdomen.
Day after the surgery, this gal's boss, the head of the school of medicine, came up to visit her and see how she was doing. How she was doing was "bad" - imagine having an infection in your guts so bad that the doctors are contemplating putting a drain in you so the goo can seep out. Keep in mind that the boss, the head of the school of medicine, is a doctor. However, seeing that she was conscious and upright, she said "oh, you can work - we should get you your laptop." Fortunately another doctor in the room nixed that idea.
This and the other stories I've heard about this boss (never refusing a new project but won't add sufficient staff, refusing to prioritize projects so that her people are getting barked at equally by all of their study sponsors and doctors) are great reminders that there are still a lot of really clueless people who rise to positions of authority. They have great drive and talent in specific areas, but somehow get the idea that the rest of humanity is there to serve them and their egos.
True Story of an Evil Boss
Someone very close to me works for a major university's school of medicine. She coordinates medical research for multiple doctors. She and her colleagues are highly educated researchers and nurse-practitioners, and their job also involves a lot of project management. She and her immediate supervisor report to the head of the whole school of medicine at this university - a doctor and very demanding boss - how demanding, I am about to tell you.
A couple of weeks ago, the immediate supervisor had acute appendicitis and had emergency surgery when it ruptured. Her appendix ruptured before it could be removed because, despite being doubled over in pain, she did not feel that she could leave work because of her workload and the demands put on her by her boss (the head of the school of medicine).
If your appendix ruptures, you often develop a systemic infection called peritonitis. The ruptured appendix spills poison into your body cavity, and unless immediately controlled with heavy doses of antibiotics, you can die. So, when this gal's appendix ruptured, she had the emergency surgery and was then hospitalized to recover and undergo rounds of antibiotic therapy to fight the infection boiling in her abdomen.
Day after the surgery, this gal's boss, the head of the school of medicine, came up to visit her and see how she was doing. How she was doing was "bad" - imagine having an infection in your guts so bad that the doctors are contemplating putting a drain in you so the goo can seep out. Keep in mind that the boss, the head of the school of medicine, is a doctor. However, seeing that she was conscious and upright, she said "oh, you can work - we should get you your laptop." Fortunately another doctor in the room nixed that idea.
This and the other stories I've heard about this boss (never refusing a new project but won't add sufficient staff, refusing to prioritize projects so that her people are getting barked at equally by all of their study sponsors and doctors) are great reminders that there are still a lot of really clueless people who rise to positions of authority. They have great drive and talent in specific areas, but somehow get the idea that the rest of humanity is there to serve them and their egos.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Fun updates
I'll be presenting Tools and Tactics for Recovering Troubled Projects at the PMI Global Congress later this month. I've been adding more content and activities for Agile projects to this course - I'm looking forward to the latest iteration.
Last week I was at University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium's annual IT conference. The keynote was the CEO of Macys.com, Peter Sasche. Great presentation - eye-opening in how we as both providers and consumers of information and technology need to adapt, innovate. Very interesting perspectives on the role of IT - yet another senior marketing and technology exec predicting that IT departments will go away and we will see corporate computing as a utility... This has been a prediction for awhile now - unlike power, which does not contain trade secrets and proprietary data, IT does - companies will remain fearful of not having ownership and control on their premises.
Great points on the convergence of search and social media as well as analytics and collaboration. More data, more channels, more ways to interact with customers means more interesting projects.
I'm planning on taking advice from Michael Lopp (Rands in Repose) and staking out turf at a bar at PMI Global Congress, sending out invites through various social media, and seeing who shows up. See you there?
Last week I was at University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium's annual IT conference. The keynote was the CEO of Macys.com, Peter Sasche. Great presentation - eye-opening in how we as both providers and consumers of information and technology need to adapt, innovate. Very interesting perspectives on the role of IT - yet another senior marketing and technology exec predicting that IT departments will go away and we will see corporate computing as a utility... This has been a prediction for awhile now - unlike power, which does not contain trade secrets and proprietary data, IT does - companies will remain fearful of not having ownership and control on their premises.
Great points on the convergence of search and social media as well as analytics and collaboration. More data, more channels, more ways to interact with customers means more interesting projects.
I'm planning on taking advice from Michael Lopp (Rands in Repose) and staking out turf at a bar at PMI Global Congress, sending out invites through various social media, and seeing who shows up. See you there?
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