I’d really like to take credit for coming up with this line, but I can’t. I heard it during a trailer for a new TV show. But I immediately thought of it in terms of IT, project management and consulting leadership. In all three of those – especially when they are all combined as they have been for me most of the time – confident leadership is necessary. Sometimes you’re running a team, sometimes you’re going it alone, and all the time you’re working with some form of project or consulting customer. And in all these situations, your role as the PM / IT Consultant is to be a strong and confident leader.
What does it mean to be a project leader?
So, what exactly, does it mean to be a project leader? I’m sure it means a lot of different things to different people…and it probably depends on where in the organization you’re looking at the role. But to me, from my experience, it boils down to these three key concepts:
Have a take charge personality. I think the title of this article says it all. As the project manager ‘in charge’ of the engagement, we need to know from Day One how we’re going to manage the project, what the project involves, and how we’re going to keep everyone engaged. After all, it is our project, we’re accountable for it, and no one will look worse than us if we fail. So, basically, we need to know where we’re going with it and we need everyone else to jump on board. Yes, we need their input and we need their help, but ultimately we must be the ones running the show.
FastTrack Schedule logos will grace one blazing fast car this week at the second annual Bahamas Speed Week Revival.
Power, lights, and heat are coming back on for many whose neighborhoods were devastated by Superstorm Sandy, but millions still need assistance rebuilding their lives after the storm. The clean-up and reconstruction efforts are far from over. Please join us in supporting the 
As organizations examine the need to stay waterfall or go agile, they can’t help but also examine the current skill set of their developers and really look hard at what costs may be involved to make the jump to agile development. Can the current development staff make that move? What training will be involved? What percentage of the core staff will not be able to make that move or will strongly resist? What will the cost of new hires be? Every CTO and CFO will be asking themselves these or similar questions if their company is seriously considering this type of organizational change.
For the third consecutive year, TopTenREVIEWS has named 
In addition to receiving the highest overall rating in 
Think about this one. I mean really think. I’m not talking about the project manager who is only running internal projects…that never really presents a dilemma. But for those project managers working in professional services environments where you are leading a team of project resources who have been assembled to deliver a solution for an external customer – for example a customized implementation of your own software offering – this can become an issue.
It’s here. Microsoft’s revamp of the Windows OS is now available to the masses. Designed not only for traditional Windows desktops, laptops, and ultrabooks, Windows 8 is also tablet-friendly. It’s an OS designed with touch in mind, borrowing design elements from the Windows Phone 7 operating system.
Affectionately known as “The Hammers,” the 
Let’s consider some of these concepts further…but first let’s consider the requirements for becoming certified. If you have a bachelor’s degree, then you must have 4500 hours of relevant PM work experience including three years (36 months) of PM experience within the previous eight years prior to sitting for the PMP exam. You must also have 35 contact hours of PM education. Requirements get a little higher if you don’t possess the bachelor’s degree, but for the sake of this article, we’ll assume the candidate has a bachelor’s degree. The cost for PMI membership and testing will run you about $535 and the cost of the initial training requirements may cost you anywhere from $1000-$2000. Then there is the ongoing annual training requirements, but that cost is far lower thanks to the many low-cost professional development unit (PDU) options have become available to satisfy ongoing training requirements.
Not all projects will include every stage, but most projects include elements of these stages, sometimes repeatedly as one activity relies on the completion of the last. Most complicated projects require many more stages than this, which could include:
Projects are meant to be completed. No one likes to leave unfinished business, right? But there are those situations that come up from time to time where the project can’t be completed or is put on hold. The reasons can be almost endless. The most common include things like customer funding issues, a change in the customer’s organization, customer satisfaction drops to rock bottom, some roadblock arises that can’t be worked around, or perhaps the technology is presenting an unavoidable work stoppage. Whatever the reason, it’s painful and potentially embarrassing and now you may need to move into damage control mode.