Portfolio Management: Getting it Right

The word "portfolio" is from the Italian word "portafoglio", which in 1719 translated to a case for carrying loose papers. Today's definition is much broader but based on the same concept of organising different things into one defined container. In the context of business or organisational…
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A guide to stakeholder management

Stakeholder management is about facilitating interaction between and among people. It is an activity best performed with intention. Done well, stakeholder management involves a number of skills, specifically: discovery, analysis, and diplomacy.   Discovery  Bringing people together in meaningful…
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The Adaptive Project Manager Skills Series: How to work politically

The word politics has negative connotations for most people. It conjures up scenes of back-stabbing, double-dealing, entrenched positions and just generally duplicitous behavior. But working “politically” doesn’t have to include any of those things. In fact, learning how to recognise and deal with…
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The Dangerous World of Psychological Safety, part 2

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. " — Franklin Delano Roosevelt.      To create brave spaces, spaces that foster constructive criticism and dissent, the fear of confrontation needs…
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Role switching and dynamic job roles

How can we enable better role switching to create more adaptive organisations?     "A sense of identity is never gained nor maintained once and for all. Like a good conscience, it is constantly lost and regained" — Erik Erikson     Role switching in ant colonies  When an ant colony is presented…
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Product Management Fundamentals For Adaptive Project Managers

The fundamental product management concept that all adaptive project managers embrace is: knowing your customer. Competent product managers understand that if you don’t know your customer, only luck will determine whether you can create a product that will be accepted and purchased in the…
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What makes a "good" user story?

User stories are a great way to capture product functionality and create cross-team clarity. But, how do you know if your user stories are well-defined or detailed enough? And, the answer, of course, is that it depends. Which probably doesn't help you much. So – what does it depend on?   The most…
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Un-managing change

Is it time to rethink the change management paradigm?     "If you want truly to understand something, try to change it. " — Kurt Lewin     What if the premise upon which the entire change management industry is founded is wrong? Change management is predominantly based on…
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The core business skills adaptive Project Managers need

The success of an Adaptive Project Manager (APM) rests on their ability to maintain focus on how their project fits within an organization’s Value Delivery System.   For those who are new to the term, “Value Delivery System” (VDS) is how a couple of McKinsey consultants in 1988 (M. J. Lanning and…
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The Adaptive Project Manager Skills Series: Working iteratively – Part 2

In Part 1 of “Working Iteratively” we established that “iteration” when used as a verb means the act of repeating, and when used as a noun, it means version. We also explored the premise that adaptive leaders understand achieving solutions or change is rarely a “one shot” activity. And that…
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The Adaptive Project Manager Skills Series: Working iteratively – Part 1

It’s hard to argue that humankind’s progress is not the direct result of continuous iterative activity. “Iteration” when used as a verb means the act of repeating, like flipping through social media posts. When used as a noun, it means version, as in the latest iteration of a software application…
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The Adaptive Project Manager Skills Series: The Mindset

Project management is a practice that begins and ends with the perception of the environment and goals affecting the initiative being worked on. That perception is formed by the set of assumptions, methods, or notions the project manager and influential stakeholders believe to be true: their…
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