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Project management for beginners

Interesting thread going on Slashdot about PM for beginners. Making things happen gets a nice mention.

Surprising number of mentions of PMI and PSP and other heavy processes I wouldn’t expect to hear so fast from the Slashdot crowd: Project management for beginners.

It’s funny but I still am baffled by the threading and conversation UI at slashdot. I’ve been there dozens of times but still it’s beyond me.

Anyway, I posted a response, but it’s buried so deep I doubt you’ll find it without magic powers so here it is:

Here’s my 3 (ok 6) steps for getting started before buying a book or doing anything else:

  1. I’d recommend talking to your team, individually, about what things on the project are most frustrating or could be improved.
  2. In each conversation ask for their advice on what you can do, and also what they are willing to do or try.
  3. Based on your conversations, propose one simple change that has the best odds of both being accepted, and improving things. If the team has lots of conflicts, pick something very small. If there is too much dissension, pick something you can do with just one or two others.
  4. Then make the change.
  5. If things go poorly go back to #1.
  6. If things go well, propose the next thing from #3.

But without talking to your team, and without establishing credibility and leadership, no book, degree, or IQ, will be of any use to you as a project manager. Start with your team first and earn their trust.