Lessons in Project Management, Second Edition

Shorten Long Meetings to Sharpen the Focus

I had just finished setting up another meeting with Jerry Ackerman when Ashley Parker walked into my office. We were going to lunch together to discuss her project, and she was a little early. There was a nice Italian restaurant, Mama Leoni’s, a few miles south of our office, and we decided to go together in Ashley’s SUV. It beats eating peanut butter and crackers at my desk any time.

Mama Leoni’s was a family establishment built in the 1950s; it was renovated in the 1980s but still retained the original leather booths. Anthony and Tina Leoni, the owners, still cooked on occasion, but Anthony, Jr., ...