Thoughts on building great teams, delivering results and becoming successful
1) Leadership as influence, not position Two core definitions framed the second part of the lecture: Leadership = followers Leadership exists when people choose to follow. Authority alone does not create leadership. Leadership = influence Leadership is the ability to shape behavior, thinking, and direction of others. Nothing more, nothing less. Key implication: holding a … Read more
1. Why leadership matters in projects Projects are structurally harder than line management: teams are temporary people often have not worked together before members come from different functional backgrounds time pressure is high authority is often indirect (matrix organization) A solid plan alone is not sufficient. People are the decisive factor. A strong team can … Read more
1. Team Roles: Why Composition Matters Team role model referenced as a nine-role system. No role “good” or “bad.” Capability to perform any role exists. Preference patterns exist and influence ease of contribution. Key message: Balanced role composition reduces blind spots. Role diversity supports planning quality, problem solving, and coordination. Practical implication: Role awareness supports … Read more
1. Why Structure Matters More Than Tools One of the most underestimated success factors in projects is structure. Structure determines clarity of responsibility, ownership boundaries, and interface definition between work packages. Failure rarely originates from lack of capability. Failure typically originates from unclear ownership caused by weak structure. 2. The Zoo Example: How Chaos Is … Read more
When people talk about project risk, they usually mean timelines, budgets, or technical dependencies. What they rarely mean are stakeholders. And yet, in real projects, stakeholder management is one of the most decisive success factors. Not because stakeholders write code or design processes, but because they shape the environment in which projects either move forward … Read more
Topic: Project Organization, Roles and Stakeholders 1. Why Organization Is the First Real Project Problem Most projects do not fail because the idea is wrong. They fail because nobody really thought through how the project is organized. Who is involved? Who decides? Who actually works on the tasks? Who can stop the project without being … Read more
Knowing who is doing what is a prerequisite to implement change. Organisations will always try to evolve their business by enhancing, improving or widening their line of products, services and channels, by redesigning their processes or by starting completely new lines of business or partnerships. The way to implement those changes is to execute projects. … Read more
You can’t manage the zebra without structure. Without good structure, work can’t get done, communication fails, and organisations become ineffective. The importance of structure can’t be overstated. If you run a project, if you manage an organisation, or if you simply want to communicate in a way that your audience actually understands, not following a … Read more
Organisational debt is lack of structure evolving around individuals. Organisational debt is one of the hardest things to straighten out in an organisation. It’s very similar, and just as hard to cure, as its sibling “technical debt”. Technical debt Technical debt is a phrase originally coined by software developer Ward Cunningham. Wikipedia defines it as … Read more