August 2009
Beginner
252 pages
6h 2m
English
Content preview from 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 71. It's the People, Stupid
NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT that the members of your project team are human beings, with aspirations, strengths, constraints, and weaknesses. Your project's success hinges more on team members' attitudes and aptitudes than it does on your Gantt chart wizardry and project tracking prowess. Feel free to manage the project, but don't forget to lead the team.
Many of us manage projects in a matrix environment with team members reporting both to us and to a department manager. We do not have human resources (HR) hiring/firing/evaluation responsibility for them. However, don't abdicate responsibility for the care and feeding of the people on the team to managers in the HR or functional hierarchy.
Many of those managers get promoted based on technical knowledge of human resources or their departments, not on their ability to inspire people. Your project's success depends on your ability to lead. There are many books available on leadership. Read voraciously.
Everyone on your team wants to contribute, learn, and achieve. It may be challenging at times to dig deeply enough to find this desire in some team members, but it's what makes software project management challenging and fun.
Hold one-on-one conversations with your team members regularly. Determine what their issues are, ask them for ideas, and give them a voice in the project. Take their ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.