I seem to be doing so much more quality assurance work than project work recently. However, a conversation this morning with a potential client flagged up the increased importance of ‘project skills’ for both staff and students. A recent article emphasised the increasing use of ‘real’ project sessions in the interview process. The article can be accessed at http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2012/05/projects-are-the-new-job-inter.html?awid=4711429804570248879-3271
Projects being used in interviews
May 15th, 2012 by paul mayesProject management for distance learning
April 27th, 2012 by paul mayesOne of my contacts has suggested I publicise the e-book “SUCCESSFUL PROJECT MANAGEMENT : Insights from Distance Education practices” by S. Tichapondwa Modesto and Stephen P. Tichapondwa. It is available at http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/SuccessProjMgt.pdf
Staff management plan
April 23rd, 2012 by paul mayesIt’s been another long period of doing academic quality work but it’s back to project-based work this week. To support this I was delighted to see there is an online version of one of my favourite documents from my Teesside work back in 2007. The report on producing on project staff management plans by the Tasmania Inter Agency Policy and Projects Unit is available at http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/78377/Realising_project_benefits_project_staff_management_plan.pdf
Project sponsor role
April 9th, 2012 by paul mayesWhen I’ve been doing training on project management roles, I’ve tended to use an adaptation of the JISC infoKit definition of a project sponsor (described at http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/project-management/key-roles). However, there is a very interested new piece by Lynda Bourne (at http://blogs.pmi.org/blog/voices_on_project_management/2012/04/what-does-a-project-sponsor-re.html) that contains useful new ideas I will incorporate in a few weeks time
Closure
April 3rd, 2012 by paul mayesSince I blogged about it back in February 2010 (http://betterprojects.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2010/02/10/project-closeout-checklist/) I’ve used Mark Ridgwell’s Knowledge Genes roadmap in a number of successful sessions. In future I will augment this with some new ideas from Christopher Avery’s blog (at http://www.christopheravery.com/blog/leadership-skills-all-teams-need-closure-to-feel-complete/) on closure for project teams. Christopher is a great contact to have on LinkedIn
Scope
March 29th, 2012 by paul mayesI’m in the middle of another long spell of producing dcumentation for a client but I took time out to respond to a request from a former colleague who had been asked suddenly to describe the scope of her proposed project. In addition to my usual favourite sources and some previously produced material, I was able to point to the start of a new series at http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/2491.aspx
Template
March 19th, 2012 by paul mayesDuring my university working life I often used the AQIP database of action projects to look for ideas on improving learning and teaching (eg the Bellevue University project on Implementing a Project Management Methodology). There is an especially good internal template from Kent State University for proposing action projects at KSU. This template would serve any institution as a basis for their general learning and teaching projects. The template can be found at http://dept.kent.edu/aqip/AP_template.doc and very useful explanatory notes at http://dept.kent.edu/aqip/AP_template_expln.doc
Revenue models
March 15th, 2012 by paul mayesIt’s been a long 10 days preparing documentation. My next work task is preparing a presentation on returns on investment (ROI) of higher education projects. Recently there was a very interesting article on revenue models in higher education by the always thought-provoking Joshua Kim at http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/should-every-ed-tech-project-include-revenue-model
An excellent presentation
March 4th, 2012 by paul mayesLast week I used an excellent presentation from Columbus State Community College as the background ‘viewing’ for an online briefing for a small college here in the North of England. To quote from CSCC “the Project Leadership Presentation – Autumn 2011 (available at http://www2.cscc.edu/about/faculty-staff/projectmanagement/Project%20Leadership%20Presentation%20-%20Autumn%202011.pptx)was delivered to many leaders across the college. The messages and framework included in the Powerpoint slides are intended to provide consistency across the college and provide quick reference as needed for your important college project work.” At http://www2.cscc.edu/about/faculty-staff/project-leadership.shtml are a range of similarly excellent CSCC documents and templates suitable for any aspiring college
Good institutional material
March 2nd, 2012 by paul mayesThe project management material produced by Charles Sturt University (which I mentioned back in 2010) has been updated and, once again, gives excellent examples for any institution to learn from. The main section can be found at http://www.csu.edu.au/division/psc/plframework/