Rules Rule.

A while ago I wrote “Rules Rule.” at Gantthead.com: “For years I thought I hated rules. But I realized, I absolutely adore them. … … before you can bent rules, you have to study them. Learn them. Know them. And I love studying them. Rules provide you with a sense of expectations. And meeting stakeholders …

The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today’s World

In the remaining months of this year I have some exciting speaking engagements coming up (stay tuned for updates). Here is the slidedeck for one of them: The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today’s World. The End Of The Human Cannonball: Project Leadership In Today's World View more presentations from Bas de …

Having Enough Room To Step Sideways

You can limit your team’s room to operate. By giving them detailed instructions what to do, by giving them very fixed and tight constraints, you can drive them into a funnel of efficiency. It’s like a bobsled track. The less room you have to move sideways, the faster you go. But what happens if you …

The Rules For The Rules Of Engagement

If you want to have a self-managed team (and you really want that), you need to agree on the means of the project, the rules of engagement. One set of rules for everyone. Everyone should know the same set of rules… Humans … have “rules” about how we do things “around here”. It is not …

Great Virtual Teams: Rule 2: Use Technology to Simulate Reality

How to use social media successfully in projects, is described in the Harvard Business Review article by Ann Majchrzak, Arvind Malhotra, Jeffrey Stamps and Jessica Lipnack: “Can Absence Make A Team Grow Stronger”. The article is from 2004, and they are not mentioning “social media”, they discuss “virtual workspaces”. But the two concepts are strikingly …