This Project Management blog is for you. If you are early in your journey to becoming a Project Manager, have been running projects for a little while, or have a project to run and need some help; then this guide aims to give you some tips, tricks, strategies and shortcuts to tackle your project challenges.
It is based on experience gained by making lots of mistakes and trying different things out. Sometimes it’s good to look at challenges from a different angle, sometimes tried and trusted techniques can help and sometimes it’s a combination of the two.
I have been a Project Manager for more than 20 years and have worked on numerous technology projects in the broadcasting, online and telecoms sectors.
I have managed many different types of project, from large to small and across different disciplines including infrastructure, off the shelf software applications, in-house developed applications, consumer websites, TV applications, and business systems integrations and I have even done a few of my own small property projects to throw into the mix.
I started out as a traditional Project Manager and was first introduced to Agile in the mid 2000s. At first I was skeptical, as it all seemed a bit simplistic and, if I’m honest, a bit too good to be true. Now, having worked with Agile delivery teams over many years I have seen the advantages, and some of the disadvantages, of the approach and how it can fit into organizations and the many benefits it can bring.
There has been a lot of speculation that project managers will no longer be required with the advent of Agile delivery – but that is to misunderstand the different domains (no doubt the subject for a blog post at some point). It also isn’t what I am seeing every day. Project Management has changed a lot over the years and the people management aspects that were prevalent 20 years ago don’t work in the modern workplace (thankfully).
In recent years I have been running larger project teams and programes of work with more of a focus on software delivery. I now spend a lot of my time working closely with Project Managers, Agile Delivery Managers and Scrum Masters. I also help people starting out on their project management and agile delivery journey and enjoy sharing my knowledge where I can and working through challenges together.
Project Management can be a challenging profession especially when all of your best-laid plans seem to be falling apart. I started this blog because I still love the hustle and bustle of Project Management today and many of the challenges we encounter are the same things that we may have encountered in a slightly different guise on other projects.
So thank you for taking the time to read my blog and feel free to get in touch to comment and let me know if you would like to cover any specific topic – assuming I feel qualified to discuss the topic of course.
All the best
Chris Wilson, Agonda Projects Limited 2019