APM Blogs

I just walked out of an Agile presentation.

Note: The original Gantt chart developed by Henry Gantt in 1910 was not the same as the one we use today; it actually showed resources against time (but that’s a topic for another blog post).

I have been thinking about managing projects and programmes by clichs and particularly the ups and downs.

During the heady days of the 1980s the pioneering work of the leaders of an emerging project management profession positioned risk management as a central, if not the central, activity.

Causing confusion over customersThere is much written about the importance of stakeholder engagement and management, and in most cases it is right failure to engage with just one key stakeholder can undermine even the most well-defined and organised programme.

Reading about change communication frustrates me.

As project managers, we’re all aware of the RAID log concept, to capture risks, actions, issues, decisions and any other information a project manager may wish, or be obliged to record.

We can improve project outcomes by changing our understanding of communication.

Supermarkets place premium goods at eye level, they put sweets and magazines near the checkout counter and use point of sale advertising throughout the store, they offer trial packs and free tastings, they attract us round corners into aisles with goods we don’t need, and they pump the smell of baking bread throughout the store and also into the street.

RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and APM have jointly commissioned a Stakeholder Engagement guidance note on this critical aspect of project management.