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Tag: Leadership

PMTimes_Nov22_2023

The Relevance of Mobile App Development for Businesses

Written by Aleksandr Shulgin on . Posted in Articles.

Mobile app development is more relevant and important than ever for businesses of all sizes in the current digital era. Our daily lives and how we engage with the world around us have been completely transformed by the introduction of smartphones and the explosive expansion of mobile technology. Mobile applications have permeated every aspect of our everyday life, from productivity and shopping to communication and pleasure.

Let’s explore the significance of application development for businesses, the specialists required for developing mobile applications, the typical cost of hiring such specialists, where to find a mobile app development team, what factors to take into account when choosing them, the potential for outsourcing application to a development team, and the benefits of outsourcing.

 

Why is App Development Important for Business?

For businesses, the creation of mobile apps offers a variety of advantages and opportunities that help them grow their consumer bases and remain competitive. A survey conducted by Clutch revealed that 42% of small businesses already have a mobile app, while 30% are planning to build one in the future, indicating the growing adoption of app development teams across various industries. For the following reasons, developing apps is essential for businesses:

 

A well-designed mobile app enables businesses to interact and engage with their consumers more personally.

 

  1. Increased Customer Engagement. Apps may greatly increase consumer engagement and loyalty by offering useful features, smooth user experiences, and tailored content.

 

  1. Increased Brand Visibility: Creating a mobile app gives companies a dedicated platform to promote their goods, services, and brand identity. The user’s smartphone now has the app icon, which acts as a continual reminder of the brand, boosting exposure and brand familiarity.

 

  1. Improved Customer help: By providing features like chatbots, in-app messaging, and self-help choices, mobile applications may simplify and enhance customer service. These features allow organizations to help customers quickly and effectively, enhancing their pleasure and loyalty.

 

  1. Increased Sales and income: Customers may make purchases using mobile applications in a simple and secure manner, increasing sales and income streams for enterprises. Additional incentives for clients and repeat business can be provided through in-app purchases, mobile payments, and loyalty programs.

 

  1. Competitive Advantage: Having a mobile app may provide firms a competitive edge in today’s congested industry. It demonstrates an innovative mindset, a dedication to satisfying client demands, and a forward-thinking attitude. A well-made, feature-rich app may draw in new users and set a company apart from its rivals.

 

Specialists Needed for Mobile Application Development and Average Cost of Hiring

Source: Sigmund. Unsplash

 

A group of qualified experts with a range of specialties is needed to develop a mobile app. Following are some of the major positions in mobile app development team and their respective typical salaries:

 

  1. Project manager: Plans and organizes the development team, oversees the whole app development process. A project manager typically costs between $60,000 and $100,000 per year to hire.

 

  1. UI/UX Designer: Develops user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing interfaces. The typical annual salary for a UI/UX designer in a good development team is between $40,000 and $90,000.

 

  1. Writes the code and creates the software for particular platforms (such as iOS, Android, etc.). Depending on experience and competence, hiring a mobile app developer might cost anywhere between $50,000 and $120,000 annually.

 

  1. Quality Assurance (QA) Tester: Verifies that the program runs without hiccups and finds any defects or problems. A QA tester typically costs between $40,000 and $80,000 per year to hire.

 

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Where to Look for Specialists and What to Consider When Selecting Them

There are several options to consider while looking for experts in mobile app development. Here are a few possibilities:

 

  1. In-House Hiring: By advertising job vacancies on appropriate sites, holding interviews, and evaluating candidates’ credentials and experience, you may hire specialists directly.

 

  1. Independent contractors and freelancers: Websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and Toptal give users access to a large pool of qualified experts who may work on a project-by-project basis.

 

  1. Business Networks:

 

Leveraging professional networks may be quite helpful when trying to identify experts for mobile app development team. When choosing professionals, keep the following things in mind:

– Look for appropriate experience: Verify that the professionals you are considering have expertise creating mobile applications and have the abilities required for your particular project needs.

– Examine portfolios and references: Look into their prior work and contact references or clients for testimonials. You may learn more about the caliber of their work and their capacity for success from this.

– Evaluate your teamwork and communication abilities. Successful app development depends on strong teamwork and communication. Look for experts that can clearly convey ideas, comprehend your vision, and function well in a development team.

– Technical proficiency: Examine the specialists’ technical proficiency by gauging their familiarity with the frameworks, programming languages, and tools used in the creation of mobile apps.

– Cultural fit: Take into account how well the professionals fit into your company’s culture. A more efficient development process may be achieved by creating a good working connection and adhering to the ideals of your firm.

 

Outsourcing Application Development and the Advantages of Outsourcing

Businesses also have the option to outsource their application development in addition to recruiting professionals inside. There are a number of advantages to outsourcing, including:

 

  1. Cost-effectiveness: Compared to recruiting an internal workforce, outsourcing is frequently more affordable. It does away with the need for office space, equipment, perks, and recruitment expenditures. You may also benefit from the experience of experts from nations with reduced labor expenses through outsourcing.

 

  1. Gaining access to specialized skills: By outsourcing, you may tap into a vast talent pool. Making sure you discover the best experts for your project, you may pick from a large choice of specialists with a variety of skill sets and knowledge.

 

  1. Outsourcing saves you time by letting professionals handle the development process while you concentrate on your main company operations. Time is saved, and the job may be finished more quickly.

 

  1. Scalability and flexibility: Outsourcing allows you to manage your app development demands with scalability and flexibility. The development team size may be readily increased or decreased to meet project objectives, guaranteeing efficient resource use.

 

  1. Shorter time to market: Outsourcing can hasten the design phase. Your software may be released more quickly and you’ll have an advantage over competitors if you have a committed staff working on it.

 

Conclusion

In today’s digital environment, the success of enterprises depends greatly on mobile app development. It provides better brand recognition, better customer service, higher sales and income, and a competitive edge. It also increases customer engagement. It’s crucial to select the best professionals, taking into account their credentials, experience, and cultural fit, in order to create a successful mobile app. Specialists can be found through internal employment, independent contractors, and business networks. As an alternative, contracting out the development of apps offers cost efficiency, access to specialized expertise, time savings, scalability, and a quicker time to market.

Businesses may use the power of mobile technology to propel growth and success by recognizing the importance of mobile app development and making smart choices regarding expertise and outsourcing.

PMTimes_Nov14_2023

The Convergence of Security and Project Management

Written by Jonathan Spiteri on . Posted in Articles.

In the rapidly evolving world of IT, we frequently hear about vulnerable data being stolen and disseminated from renowned organisations, or businesses reporting disruptive attacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assaults that bring their operations to a halt. While some of these disruptions may stem from a small bug that was not captured during testing, there are instances where the cause is much more serious.

The financial and reputational impact that these attacks have on organisations are huge, often requiring a substantial amount of time and effort for a full recovery. This underscores the importance for the organisation to have project managers who, leveraging their experience from past projects and their background in security training, can effectively assist the project team in recognising common vulnerability points and taking proactive steps to address them.

In recent years, a series of incidents have underscored the necessity of making security a critical aspect of project management. One prominent case is the Anthem Inc. Data Breach.

 

The Anthem Inc. Case

Elevance Health, formerly known as Anthem Inc. is one of the largest health insurance companies in the United State. Despite the expectations that organisations of a similar size would have invested significantly in security measures, in 2015, the company suffered a major data breach that exposed the personal and medical information of approx. 78.8 million individuals.

Investigations revealed that the cyberattack began through a spear-phishing campaign where cybercriminals used social engineering techniques to send deceptive emails to employees. One employee fell victim to the phishing attack, granting attackers access to Anthem’s database.

Needless to say, this breach had a significant financial impact on the company not only in terms of legal expenses but also in the effort required to strengthen their cybersecurity measures.

 

Key Takeaways for Project Managers

The Anthem Inc. security breach stands as a compelling example of the consequences when security becomes an afterthought in project management. This breach serves as a reminder of the critical role that project managers play in ensuring enough security considerations are taken into account throughout the course of the project. To this end, project managers should:

  • Ensure that a robust risk assessment is conducted not only during the project initiation phase, but also during execution and prior going live.  Through these assessments organisations can proactively identify potential security breaches and mitigate them accordingly.
  • Advocate for the integration of security measures into project planning with all stakeholders. They need to emphasise the practice of prioritising security-related activities over adherence to predefined timelines.
  • Loop in subject matter experts throughout the course of the project to ensure compliance with the right security frameworks and meeting all compliance, regulatory and legal requirements.
  • Develop a robust incident response plan as part of the project delivery before the project goes live. This plan should include the identification of key stakeholders and the establishment of procedures and processes to address security incidents.
  • Leverage past lessons learned throughout the entire project lifecycle to avoid repeating past mistakes, while replicating good practices.
  • Effectively communicate security requirements with all stakeholders, ensuring that these are well understood by everyone involved. Additionally, like all other facets of project management, project managers should also ensure correct and timely reporting of progress.

 

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Exploration of Security Breaches Through Three Lenses

To support project managers in ensuring that key security measures have been considered in their project, I often suggest examining their projects from three different perspectives:

Internal Security

One common source of security breaches arises from internal factors, often originating from disgruntled employees or vulnerabilities within other internal systems or networks. While it is extremely difficult to prevent all potential internal security breaches, as sometimes even the most trusted employee can, for various reasons, become a threat to the project and the organisation, project managers play a pivotal role. Through tools like a Risk and Impact Assessment, they can ensure that people and the interconnected systems have the least-privilege access rights to confidential information, including software code and database itself.  A properly constructed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) Matrix can be extremely helpful for project managers in determining what type of security privilege should be assigned to whom, when, and under what circumstances.

 

External Security

When organisations involve external parties, the risk for security breaches increases significantly. These breaches are not only tied to theft and copying of trade secrets, but can also be the result of insufficient security controls on the external party’s side. Furthermore, the situation becomes more challenging when the outsourcing company is situated in another country with a different regulatory landscape.

Therefore, project managers should allocate ample testing time within the project timeline. This entails not only conducting well-thought-out and designed integration testing, but also ensuring that robust security testing is performed on both the third-party and overall system.

One approach organisations usually employ to ensure that security testing is conducted effectively, in compliance with the latest security standards, is by utilising the services of externally renowned and specialised security testing companies to perform these tests.

Finally, in cases where the organisation is outsourcing parts of its software, the project manager should ensure that there is an escrow agreement in place to minimise the risk of the company being left without access to the source code in the event that the outsourcing company suddenly folds.

 

Technology Lens

Finally, in a world where everything is interconnected, technology and device-related security breaches frequently occur. In light of this, I recommend that project managers keep a comprehensive list of standard security practices to integrate into every project they undertake. These activities include the key tasks such as: changing of default passwords, configuring firewall settings, testing of third-party hardware and software before connecting with company networks and servers, and ensuring the installation of the latest security patches. By adhering to these security measures, project managers can significantly enhance the protection of their projects and systems in the ever-evolving technological landscape.

 

In an era where information is power and trust is paramount, security is not an option —it’s an absolute necessity that must be integrated into every step and phase of every project and product’s lifecycle. A security breach isn’t limited to a mere disruption in operations. Besides the financial and reputational aspect, it has the potential to impact lives. Hence, this makes security not an accessory to project management, but rather a fundamental principle that ensures the success, integrity, and trustworthiness of the projects the organisation undertakes.

PMTimes_Nov7_2023

Objectivity in Conflicts – Moving from Win-Lose to Win-Win

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Conflict, whether you call it difference of opinion, or disagreement, is an inevitable part of project life. Managing it well is critical to short-range project success and long-term healthy relationships. Organizational success relies on both project success and healthy ongoing relationships.

 

While not all conflicts or disagreements can be settled to satisfy all parties (win-win), there can be many more of them if the disagreeing parties put their efforts towards addressing the conflict and the decision that will end it rather than competing with one another.

Even when there is a win-lose conflict, cultivating long term relationships better enables follow through and future collaboration. Take for example two people vying for the same job. Imagine what might happen a year or two later when the one who lost is interviewing his opponent for a position in the ‘losers’ new company.

The way the conflict was managed will make a big difference. If they perceived a fair process and there was a cordial closure, it is more likely that they will consider their experience with one another without letting emotions overwhelm objectivity.

 

Passionate Objectivity

Decisions resolve conflicts and set up the action that will influence the future. Objectivity is a key to effective conflict resolution because it leads to rational and practical decisions and effective action to carry them out.

We are living in a time when beliefs are confused with reality, when ideologies and emotions drive decision making, often without considering longer term outcomes. To come to an effective decision to resolve a conflict it is necessary to suspend beliefs and attachments long enough to assess their usefulness.

Are you willing to question and validate your beliefs? Are you willing to collaborate with your opponents to confront the conflict rather than one another?

“When you see.., how belief, prejudice, conclusions, and ideals divide people and therefore breed conflict, you see that such activity is obviously not intelligence. Will you drop all your prejudices, all your opinions … so that you have a free, uncluttered mind?

 

“If you say it is impossible, you will never find out for yourself what it is to be intelligent.” – J. Krishnamurti

 

Krishnamurti pulls no punches. He says that to be well, happy, and able to take care of business, you need to stop being driven by beliefs and biases, you need to see things as they are, objectively.

Objectivity is the quality of being unbiased, relying on facts rather than opinions and personal feelings when making decisions. Objectivity does not mean ignoring the role of opinions, emotions, and gutfeel. It means taking them into consideration and making sure that the decision being made is the right decision.

If we overemphasize rational analysis, we end up with solutions that are brittle and hard to implement because they ignore the human element. If we under emphasize analysis, caught up in emotions, we get poor outcomes and ongoing strife.

 

Confronting the Issue

Objectivity leads to the idea of confronting the issue rather than the opponent. This is far easier to act upon in projects and organizations as opposed to the socio-political realm of ethnic groups, nations, and governments.

Here, in projects we have the advantage of relatively clear mutual objectives among stakeholders. For the most part, everyone is after a quality outcome, at a reasonable price, within time constraints. There may be differences of opinions about just about everything – objectives, designs, estimates, plans, resources, etc. But if the parties take a step back and remember what they are all after, there is a good chance that they will make good decisions to achieve it.

 

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Taking a long view

Often, when there is conflict the tendency is to think about the short-term consequences of the decision. Objectivity requires a long-term view.

Will the design option enable easy maintenance? Will the people who are on the “losing” side take an active role in implementing the decision, even though it was not their first choice? Will ongoing relationships be healthy?

 

What Does it Take to be Objective

It seems so simple, objectively address the issue to come up with resolution, a decision to act, that satisfies as many participants as possible and leads to successful project completion and healthy long-term relationships. Simple, yes. But not easy.

Emotions, beliefs, and biases get in the way. If the parties are unwilling or unable to step back and objectively assess the situation and make a decision based on identified decision criteria, they will struggle to justify their position, often relying on hierarchical authority, rhetoric, and distortion rather than good sense.

Two things are required: emotional and social intelligence and an effective decision-making process.

 

The process is a starting point for optimizing conflict resolution. A process that includes identifying decision criteria and that uses analytical methods, opens the door to improved self-awareness and self-management. An effective process makes it less likely that strong willed, assertive people will be able to have their way regardless of the facts and what is best for the organization and project. It forces people to step back and assess things objectively.

Emotional and social intelligence promote the ability to disengage from feelings long enough to be rational and to respect the needs of others. But even when there are parties who lack the ability to exercise self-management and recognize the power of objectivity, an effective process will influence the outcome.

As you make the decisions that resolve conflicts, make the effort to step back and drop your prejudices and opinions so that you have a free, uncluttered mind? Will you take the time and effort to validate your feelings with facts and consideration of alternative views?

 

It takes effort and awareness to bring objectivity to bear when you feel strongly about your position. It takes skill, courage, and patience to question your beliefs, validate them, and accept that your way is not the only right way and may even be the wrong way.

 

PMTimes_Oct25_2023

Doing What You Can to Change the Unacceptable

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Don’t underestimate your power to make positive change. Angela Davis, a passionate activist, is quoted as saying:

“I have given up on accepting the things I cannot change.

I aim to change the things I can’t accept.”

 

As project managers we are often faced with unacceptable realities that get in the way of project and career success.

 

Take for example the situation in which meeting a deadline relies on resources promised by a functional manager to be available at a specified date. The resources do not show up because they are assigned to another project and won’t be available for weeks. To make matters worse, the situation is often repeated, and functional managers are never held accountable. The organization holds the PM responsible for getting the project done on time, no matter what. But in reality, most projects are late, and no-one is ever fired for it. Everyone accepts the fact that schedules cannot be trusted. Clearly there is some dysfunction.

 

There are other examples of unacceptable situations, your boss or co-worker is abusive or incompetent, your sponsor or client chronically has irrational expectations and will not listen to reason, etc.

With a fixed mindset, you can believe that nothing can be done about it. You might be thinking “It’s always been like this and it always will be.” or “I can’t do anything about it, its above my pay grade.” If everyone is thinking that way the situation won’t change. If everyone misunderstands the advice to accept things as they are, things will not change.

Change is possible with a shift to a realistic understanding and a growth mindset that realizes that learning and change are possible. Accepting things as they are does not mean keeping them that way.  It simply means that since you can’t change the present moment or the past, the best you can do is to accept what is and what was. The future is subject to change if you apply the courage and skill to act effectively.

 

Passion and Equanimity

When we aim to change the things we can’t accept, we are faced with the paradox of equanimity and passion. They are both required.

Equanimity is mental calmness and balance regardless of external circumstances. It is accepting that passionate action and unphased acceptance coexist. With equanimity we have the presence of mind to accept what is, analyze what got it that way, plan to do something about it, act, and accept what happens. Whatever happens, we repeat the process – accept, plan, act, accept. Progress is an ongoing process.

In our example, let’s say the analysis uncovers that functional managers want to honor their commitments but are faced with demands from multiple projects and their sponsors that cause them to over commit. A rational plan to correct the situation would be to establish an effective portfolio management process which moderates the flow of projects, recognizing the interrelationships between functional resource availability across multiple projects. To project management professionals, it seems a no-brainer. But creating and sustaining a portfolio management process in an immature PM environment is not easy.

 

If formal portfolio management doesn’t happen there is still hope. There is always something to do, including doing nothing. Your options range from accepting the status quo to changing jobs. In between are options like grass roots cooperation among managers as resource demands change, multi-project monitoring at a PMO level, patiently and skillfully petitioning executives for portfolio management, and more.

This is where passion comes into play. Passion is a strong feeling of enthusiasm about something. If there is a passionate desire to correct the situation, then it is more likely to happen. And equanimity provides the best platform for making the change you want.

 

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Set and Setting

An often-overlooked aspect of making and managing change in our work environment is personal feelings. On a practical, analytical, unemotional level we can come up with the means to make change. If we do nothing or if what we do doesn’t improve the situation, there are feelings – anger, frustration, fear, despair, a loss of passion, etc.

On a personal level self-awareness and self-management, the two principal parts of emotional intelligence must be applied to enable you to change the things you cannot accept. On one extreme of the practical options is doing nothing, accepting the status quo.

If you do absolutely nothing, your feelings will not change. They will get stronger. Your anger might turn to depression. Your performance might suffer. So, you do something, you change your mindset. Environment (setting) and mindset (the way we think, our beliefs and mental models) determine the way we feel and our behavior.

 

We Can Change Our Mind

While we can change our environment – the organization culture, stakeholders, etc. – our ability to do so is limited. On the other hand, we have far more control of our mindset (though sometimes it doesn’t seem so). Changing the mindset begins with adopting an attitude of acceptance and letting go.

If we accept that we are in an unacceptable situation and we can’t change it, we can leave – ask for a transfer, find a new job, retire. If we choose to stay, for whatever reason, we have the difficult task of avoiding letting the situation lead to debilitating emotional reactions, like the anger and despair mentioned earlier. That is where a mindset that includes the belief that it is possible to be equanimous and optimally well in any situation is essential.

Apply mindfulness and emotional intelligence to remind yourself that you can change the way you think and feel, that everything changes, and that you can accept the status quo and do what you can to change your setting. This approach leads to a sense of personal control and hope for improvement. It is the theme of my latest book – The Peaceful Warrior’s Path: Optimal Wellness through Self-Aware Living and my first book, The Zen Approach to Project Management.

 

Related articles:

Learn from the Past to Perfect Performance

Making the Impossible Possible

Practical Perfectionism and Continuous Improvement

Achieving Quality Performance and Results

Know When to Give Up

PMTimes_Oct10_2023

Learn from the Past to Perfect Performance

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

To optimize performance, learn from experience. Set aside time for reflection, learning, and making the intention to perfect the way you live and work.

Hopefully, we are always reflecting and paying attention to intentions, performance, and goals. Though it is skillful to give full attention regularly and intentionally to deep introspection, both as an individual and team.

It might be during a retreat, retrospectives, or lessons learned activities, and performance reviews. It might be for an hour, a day, or longer.

As individuals, we can use meditation and contemplation techniques to cultivate self-awareness, reflect on past errors and successes, and to identify values and commit to positive action going forward. As teams, we can come together to review performance and find ways to improve – candidly and meaningfully.

Acknowledge errors, celebrate successes, and commit to skillful behavior going forward into the next cycle, phase, or project. Keep in mind that imperfections and uncertainty are facts of life. How we handle them makes all the difference.

 

Simple But Not Easy

So simple and logical. Reflect and learn. But we find that it is not that easy. Egos get in the way.

Egos get in the way when there is a criticism-averse mindset. Fear of being fired or disrespected and the need to be perfect lead to avoiding candid feedback from others and even from oneself. Without open self-awareness and intention to continuously improve, to optimize performance, there is a common tendency to avoid criticism, particularly negative feedback.

In a 2016 article on project performance review[1] and in my new book, The Warrior’s Path[2], I refer to warriorship and the need to confront resistance to looking at yourself and your team candidly and compassionately.

 

Warriors

“Warriorship here does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Here the word “warrior” … literally means, “one who is brave.”[3]

A warrior is dedicated to a cause, a struggle. The peaceful warrior is dedicated to the cultivation of clarity and compassion, with the goal of personal wellness, group wellness, effective performance, and being of service.

It takes courage and skill to confront one’s own and one’s team process and behavior, particularly the imperfections. It takes more than a formal performance review procedure.

 

In one case a software development organization “lost” the video recording of a project performance review that became too “negative” with some members of the team “attacking” members of a functional group who “defended” themselves.

This is not the kind of struggle the Peaceful warrior engages in. Seeking optimal performance is not about attacking and defending. It is about bringing issues to light and discovering causes by confronting the issues collaboratively.

Doing that requires disengaging from one’s identification with one’s role to take on the role of an objective assessor.

 

Not Easy

Taking on the role of objective assessor of your own performance is not so easy. Aversion to negative criticism is deeply embedded in culture and psychology.

To first acknowledge and then do something about the resistance to confrontation begins with oneself as an individual.  If you can’t face your own shortfalls, how can you expect others to face theirs? When you identify with your team and its performance you transfer your resistance to criticism to the team. Criticism of the team becomes personal. If you are on the attack or are defensive, you are not being objective.

But not all aversion to criticism is based on mental habits. Much of it comes from organizational cultures that seek to blame rather than understand and improve. It comes from leadership that is conflict averse, often because they don’t know how to handle conflict or have their own personal issues with criticism.

 

Emotional intelligence

Can you simply be present with the uncomfortable emotions you feel when confronted with your shortfalls? Being present with emotions means feeling them fully without reacting to them by trying to throw them off through ignoring, making excuses, blaming others, or disparaging yourself and your own competencies. This is emotional intelligence in action.

You and the team get nowhere without objectively addressing issues and their causes. Unmanaged emotions get in the way.

 

Facilitating Organizational Awareness

Facilitating the quest for optimal performance starts with self-aware individuals who can manage their emotions and who value criticism of any kind to avoid repeating unskillful behavior while promoting effective performance and healthy relationships.

Not everyone is self-aware and motivated. Embedding performance improvement in the organization or the team is enhanced by training individuals to recognize their aversion to criticism and value the opportunity to improve. At the same time, regular anonymous micro-assessments provide objective data to cut through subjective opinions.

Effective facilitation is another vital factor. The facilitator promotes objectivity and awareness of participants’ ability to give and take feedback in a positive, non-attacking and non-defensive way.

 

The facilitator prepares the team by promoting the understanding that:

  • Negative criticism is valuable to the end of improvement
  • It is normal to be averse to it
  • Whether averse to it or not, it is necessary to invite, accept and thrive on criticism
  • In most cases, the process and not the individual performer is at the root of errors and omissions. Take performance seriously but not personally.
  • Blaming and defensiveness are emotional reactions that get in the way of cause analysis and improvement.

 

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Next Steps

Assess where you, your team, and your organization are when it comes to using critical analysis in performance review to improve performance.

At what level of the organization does aversion to criticism exist? Is there lip service but no follow-through? Are training and facilitation needed?

How can you best promote candid useful reviews of team and individual performance so you and your team can learn from experience?

 

Related articles:

https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/the-key-to-performance-improvement-candid-perfromance-assessment/

https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/project-performance-review-the-power-of-recognizing-what-s-going-on/

https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/lessons-learned-process-thinking-review-3169

https://www.projecttimes.com/author/george-pitagorsky/page/7/#:~:text=Performance%2C%20Attention%20and%20Focus

https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/managing-virtual-teams-high-performance-7310

 

 

[1] Pitagorsky, George, Project Performance Review: The Power of Recognizing What’s Going On https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/project-performance-review-the-power-of-recognizing-what-s-going-on/
[2] Pitagorsky, George, The Peaceful Warrior’s Path: Optimal Wellness through Self-Aware Living, to be available in late October 2023
[3] Trungpa, Chogyam, True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art, Shambhala, November 11, 2008, ISBN 1-59030-588-4 [3]