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Picture this: You have two options for risk identification and you can only choose one. One involves identifying over fifty risks at the start of your project, but you never look at them after the fact. The second option is a risk identification workshop that requires regular maintenance, but facilitates a lot more communication about the risks and the responses to them. If you chose the second option, you’re well on your way to great …

As IT becomes an increasingly integral part of the business world, burnout of IT staff has become a major issue. In a study of 614 HR leaders, 95% said that burnout has hurt employee retention. It’s clear that IT workers are stressed out, and no Twenty-One Pilots song is going to make them feel any better about it. But in her article for Computerworld, Mary K. Pratt gives six ways to keep burnout from wiping …

Getting into an argument with a coworker is not a place anyone wants to be in. At some point, you stop listening and you start counting the veins popping out of their forehead. You’re both professionals here, but this is becoming a borderline impersonation of a drill sergeant and you need to deescalate this quickly. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Liane Davey shares tips for how to resolve an argument with a coworker: …

Escalating problems is something no one wants to do. It sort of gives off the vibe of “the ship is sinking, send the rescue boats,” and most people would rather drown in the work/stress than ask for help. But not every problem can just be powered through, and extra help might necessary. In a post for the PM Perspectives Blog, Elizabeth Harrin explains when it’s the right time to escalate an issue: When you don’t …

Risk management used to play a much smaller role in IT. But now the constantly shifting state of initiatives means that risks need to be monitored constantly. As risk management continues to rise in importance, there are emerging trends that will help shape the way business leaders look at risks. In an article for TechRepublic, Alison DeNisco discusses six new trends that will help reshape the way we view risks: The transition to the modern …

A workplace’s culture is one of the main reasons people are attracted to or repulsed by an organization. A lot of organizations seem to have difficulty when it comes to culture, and the missteps can cost them dearly. In an article for CIO.com, Sharon Florentine gives the rundown on how to define your organization’s culture. Cultivating Your Culture The best way to start shaping your culture is to identify and own up to it. If …

Be it with bitcoin or another type of cryptocurrency, the digital age has completely transformed how we buy and sell things. Now blockchain aims to change everything else about how businesses operate digitally. In her article for the Enterprisers Project, Minda Zetlin describes three areas blockchain will affect your company in the future: Cryptocurrency transactions Transactions between organizations Workflow within large organizations Blockchain on the Brain As already noted, cryptocurrency transactions will be greatly affected …

The due-by date on innovation is always today, according to the business. To get those results, we expect people to be working around the clock. But at some point, even the most invested employee burns out, and not always for the reason we suspect. In their article at Wired, Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg explore the techniques that industry titan Google employs to keep their employees in tip-top shape. Creativity Strikes When You Least Expect …

Picture a scrum team: seven developers, plus or minus two, rigorously following the ceremonies in the Scrum Guide. They maintain a product backlog prioritized by business value, with estimates of effort created by the team. They generate a burndown chart for each sprint, and they know their velocity. They limit the daily scrum to 15 minutes, conduct a retrospective at the end of each sprint, and have a checklist for their definition of done. They …

Every effective project manager knows how to manage their highest-priority items. Without being able to identify the biggest issues of the day, there’s no way for you to advance your career. You’re chasing the painted portrait with a plaque toting how the organization was never the same because of you, not a participation medal with “Good Job” scribbled in pen on the back. In an article for Project Times, Neal Whitten explains some good ways …

When talking to someone in person, over the phone, or in a video chat, we are pretty good at conveying tone. But as soon as the words are written down the game changes. Hostility can come from seemingly out of nowhere for saying something the wrong way. In a post for the Digital Project Manager, Becky Tornes gives some simple tips to help improve tone in written communication: Read your messages back to yourself. Have …

If the Flash ever had to give up being a superhero, IT leaders would be offering him an incident management job almost instantly. The process requires speed and the proper processes to keep the whole thing running smoothly. It’s one of the most visible parts of an organization, so it needs to be as efficient as possible. In a post at his website, Joe the IT Guy describes seven things effective incident managers do: Have …