It is not what you do - or even how you do it - but it is both of these things together with 'who you do it with' that counts!

There are four opportunities that I am seeking partners or sponsors for:

1. Is sponsorship for my website www.thelazyprojectmanager.com and associated podcast 'The Lazy Project Manager' on iTunes
2. Is to advertise on one of my websites
3. Is an opportunity to sponsor a new and unique book project I am undertaking
4. Is to become a full partner in the delivery of my popular workshop 'The Project from Hell'

To find out more please download the appropriate pdf guide and then contact me at peter.b.taylor@btinternet.com to talk further.

Thank you and 'be lazy'

Peter

Web Option

Book Option

Partner Option

The PMO Leader of the Year Award will be presented to the PMO Leader, nominated by their PMO team, who shows the most excellent leadership and understanding of what a PMO can deliver to a business.

A panel of independent judges will review all submissions to consider how each nominee has led their PMO over at least the last 12 months and how they plan to grow the PMO under their stewardship in the coming months. The judges will look at the key PMO leadership skills in the areas of:

·         Flexibility How effectively does your PMO leader respond to the changing needs of the projects, your PMO and your organization? How does he or she manage the balance between the requirements of project processes and the people delivering those processes?

·         Resilience How effective is your PMO leader as a negotiator? How well does he or she negotiate changes to how things are done whilst maintaining the core objectives of the PMO? How well does he or she enable the PMO to respond to unexpected requests for resources or support?

·         Setting Example How successful is your PMO leader is an example to everyone within the PMO and the project organization? How well does he or she express or demonstrate the standards of the PMO and champion these in the face of misunderstanding, conflicting interests or politics. How good an example is your PMO leader as an agent of change?

·         Professionalism How professional is your PMO leader is his or her approach to their work. How does the PMO leader demonstrate their knowledge, expertise and understanding of, for example, the commercial needs and constraints of the business or the technical aspects of project and programme management? What commitment does the PMO leader demonstrate to developing skills and a capability for themselves, the PMO members and the wider organization?

·         Support How well does your PMO leader communicate with everyone within the PMO; to establish and articulate needs; support the team or individuals within at times of pressure or conflict?

How to enter If you would like to nominate your PMO leader as PMO Leader of the Year, then please write in no more than a total of 1,000 words:

Why you think he or she deserves this award and how they fulfil the judging criteria we have identified above.

Please make sure that you seek the approval of the PMO leader before submitting his or her name.

Include the following information with your entry:

1.     Your contact details: name, role, organization, address, telephone and e-mail, along with the contact details for your PMO leader;

2.      An indication of the size of your PMO (number of full time or part time members); the date it was set up as well as for how long your chosen nominee has been leading the PMO.

3.     You may, if you wish, include endorsements or comments from members of the PMO or others inside (or outside) the organization, who have worked with your PMO and its leader.

Please send your entries by post or email to: Melisa Young, Gower Publishing, Wey Court East, Union Road, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7PT, UK e-mail: MYoung@Gowerpublishing.com Telephone: +44(0)1252 736600

Timescales All entries should be received by Gower by 31st March 2012. The shortlist for the ‘PMO Leader of the Year (2012)’ will be announced on 31st May 2012. The winner of ‘PMO Leader of the Year (2012)’ will be announced on 29th June 2012.

You can also check out www.leadingsuccessfulpmos.com

It is important to understand the balance of change if you want to change your ways to those of a ’lazy winner’ - building on the concept of ’productive laziness’, which encourages people to apply more thought before leaping into action and throwing effort at a problem or task.

Without reaching some sort of ’escape velocity’, as in space flight, you will never do anything different. Deciding to be different or to bring about some form of change is most often easier done when you have no choice in the matter, when outside forces give you no option other than to change. But we are talking here about reaching the point of conscious decision to make a personal change.

Look at it this way.

To move anyone towards change there is a balancing act that needs to be performed. There are a number of resistances that stop change taking place, or at least allow you to put up personal arguments against changing (these might be small voices in your head that you hear from time to time):

• Cost. Everything has a perceived cost whether this is actual money that would need to be invested or just your time and effort (and distraction from other matters).
• Risk. A concern over what such change would bring about should it in some way fail and require recovery, the work to be redone or loss of face. Concern about the risk of failure an what that would mean to you and others.
• Pain. Recognition that change usually means some form of pain that needs to be endured, the negative aspects of the process of change itself.
• Hidden. It is often possible to uncover the first three points but there will often remain ’hidden’ reasons that someone is resistant to such change. If this is yourself then it is a matter of being honest with yourself, if this is you looking to assess the desire for change in others then this is harder to understand.

This makes it hard to assess the ’balance’ of resistance since while it may be possible to quantify and address the ’cost’, ’risk’ and ’pain’ elements the ’hidden’ ones remain hidden and therefore unquantifiable.
On the other side of the balancing scales are the reasons for change:

• Needs. The definable drivers for adopting a process of change, the need of the person to make a change.
• Problems. What is it that is causing some issue or concern in the status quo that offers the desire to make some form of change?
• Benefits. What are the desirable benefits of such change, the expected beneficial outcomes of adopting something new?
• Implications. If no change is initiated then what will the impact be, what will the consequences be? The implication being that something must be encouraging the need for change in the first place.

Therefore, you need to make sure that the scales fall more heavily on the side of ’for change’ in order to stand a chance of making such change a reality.

Peter Taylor is the author of The lazy winner: how to do more with less effort and succeed in your work and personal life without rushing around like a headless chicken or putting in 100-hour weeks. Published by Infinite Ideas, www.infideas.com

Looking for some ideas for the 'PM in your life' for Christmas? Or perhaps your project team?

Then check out my 'Lazy PM' store for caps, t-shirts, badges, mouse mats, cups and much more.

http://www.zazzle.com/thelazyprojectmanage

Be 'lazy' this Christmas - Peter

200^th Project Management Podcast released

Popular podcast celebrates 200 episodes of helping people understand project management with an interview extravaganza show.

SILVERADO, November 29, 2011 – The 200th episode of The Project Management Podcast is released today, celebrating 6 years of bringing project management topics to beginners and experts.

The four-part episode includes interviews with twenty project management experts who all provide their unique opinions about the number-one challenge that project management is facing today.

“Our ‘bicentennial’ podcast both looks back at how far project management has come and reflects on the future,” says Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, President, OSP International LLC and host of The Project Management Podcast. “We are used to working with project management experts on the show, but this is our biggest interview podcast ever. I’m really pleased we have so many great contributions from industry leaders.”

The project management superstars sharing their expertise with listeners include Mark Perry, Peter Taylor, Margaret Meloni, Andy Kaufman, Elizabeth Harrin as well as the presidents of the three leading project management associations: Mark Langley (PMI), Roberto Mori (IPMA) and Stacy Goff (ASAPM). Serial author Max Wideman is also contributing. “Project management as a discipline is interesting because it consists of a number of integrated functional areas,” Wideman says in his podcast segment. “Some of these functions are comparatively well established, whereas other areas are but young neophytes and are not so responsive to the same approach. Project management may be about ‘getting things done’, but it is also about the process or manner of getting things done.”

The show has received nearly 6 million downloads and is available for free through iTunes or The Project Management Podcast website. “Podcasts are convenient, practical and a great way for people to learn new things,” Fichtner says. “Listeners tell me that they get a lot of benefit from the opportunity to hear different, and sometimes challenging, opinions. Even the experts we’ve interviewed for this episode are continually learning.”

About OSP International LLC

OSP International LLC is a project management training company headquartered in Silverado, California, specializing in exceptional products to help candidates prepare for the PMP exam. OSP International LLC has been reviewed and approved as a provider of project management training by the Project Management Institute (PMI). As a PMI Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.), the company has agreed to abide by PMI established quality assurance criteria.

As well as The Project Management Podcast, OSP International LLC also produces the PMP Exam Simulator, The PM PrepCast, and The PDU Podcast.

It is your decision

What do you get for passing “GO” in Monopoly? Some (play) money. What do you get for taking over a troubled project? Nothing. The only thing you probably get is a warm handshake and "I am so happy to have you here, you are such an experienced project manager, you know how to master this."

Welcome to daily madness. Everyone is on the run, due dates are late, the budget is exceeded, the customer moans, stakeholders shake their heads... And if you want to go crazy, don’t you dare to stop doing everything exactly as your predecessor did. Just continue and play your given role.

I did not. I had no wish to end with a burnout. I assessed the project and decided to experiment. I developed and stayed with some personal convictions and I tried some techniques from the Agile project management. I started with a so called "Swedish coffee". In Sweden – so I was told by one of my team – project teams use to sit in coffee corners and discuss project relevant matters of all kind and priority. No beamer, no agenda, no minutes – just the team and the project (“just the team” means, I was very lucky to have great team members on board!). What we did while we were drinking coffee? We went through risk and actions lists – based on what every one of us had in the head – and we made decisions. Decisions about roles and responsibilities, about customer’s expectations and about priorities, even personal development, touch typing and short cuts in Excel and Word … Very simple but also very important things!

It is very easy

The next step was to involve three of project managers’ best friends in the team: Murphy, Pareto and Eisenhower.

Murphy, because unexpected events make us (project managers) happy: we can show how brilliant and how cool we are. If you have to deal with "green" projects with no issues, you are more or less useless and get totally bored. Pareto is our friend because he has shown that we only need 20% of the designated project resources to get 80% of the desired output done. This works for all team members, not only for the project manager! Eisenhower finally helps to decide which of your tasks you definitely need to do by yourself.

So we sat in the coffee corner, differentiated our tasks into “handle”, “delegate” or “leave”, discussed about soccer and weekend activities and ... stressed the nerves of most of the other people in the company. While everyone else was running around like headless chicken, my team and me decided to be lazy and to work less for more fruits. As a new project manager within this organization, I had some doubts if I do experiment too much, but: our project went well, we mastered our tasks, we were nearly on budget and wonderful on time and our customer was – yes no kidding: relaxed.

You are not alone

Have you read the “4 hours week” by Tim Ferris? Some recommendations to eliminate time consuming things are very easy to implement and Tim has a huge number of followers. You want it less general and more related to project management? Read Peter Taylor!

I met Peter in 2010. He spoke about productive laziness in one project management conference, and from this day I knew: I am on the right way. I am not alone. It is possible to reduce effort and still get your project in good shape. It is great to have more free time for proactive planning and team building. And there is absolutely no need to run around as a headless chicken to have success.

My project is in the final phase now. From Peter’s book I learned that the dinosaur is fat in the end and that I need to invest some more hours now. I have enough energy for this, because I was very lazy in the past 4 to 6 months. And you can do it as well!

PS: If you want more details about how I went the “lazy way” in my project, please contact me at projektmanagement.coaching@gmail.com 

Nadja Schroeer-Petranovskaja, PMP since 2006, lazy PM since 2009.

Well a whirlwind three days – let’s go for a name check for some of the people I met in Dallas: Cornelius Fichtner, Elizabeth Harrin, Rick Morris, all the lovely people at RMC, Mark Perry, Jim de Piante, Mark Gray, Anna Massot, Michel Thiry, Andrew Filev, Aaron Smith, Todd Williams, Dave Shirley, Nathaniel Quintana and, well and so many, many more (apologies if I have missed you off the list - you are all great 'lazy' friends).

A special mention should go to Gantthead CEO and editor of a brand new book ‘Project Pain Reliever’ – Dave Garrett.

This is an insightful, easy-access guide to the most common project management problems for new and accidental project managers. ‘Project Pain Reliever’ is a unique book designed to satisfy the needs of new project managers [- and accidental project managers] that exist in many professions and industries where their position requires that they manage projects as a temporary role but not a profession. Designed for quick and easy access, it covers both the art and science of project management, and provides peer-reviewed solutions for some of the most common project management problems.

It is the result of bringing together 35 project managers, including myself, to write the various chapters. Dave, I nominate you and the book for project of the year 2012 – 35 PM’s can’t be easy to control…

My conference session was on the Monday – The Lazy Project Manager salutes the Project Heroes! I hope that people enjoyed the session – we certainly had some laughs and made some noise!

I have to also proudly declare that all three of my books were on sale at the PMI Bookstore – and yes, I did that author thing of going to look at them for myself (sad but true).

Arrived home Wednesday for a rest. But it is not over yet.

On 3^rd November it will be the biggest UK event for Project Managers ever - Synergy 2011- at the IndigO2 arena, London. The Lazy Project Manager will be doing a book signing at the Gower stand for my new book 'Leading Successful PMOs'. Hope to see you all there.

All this and a day job too! Must be productively lazy!

This week started early as I had to head down to Portsmouth to catch an overnight Ferry to Caen, France.

This was quite a pleasant experience. The crossing was smooth, the ship – Brittany Ferries Mont St Michel – was modern and smart, and it was very quiet as well with only a few passengers. I enjoyed a cabin to sleep in and in the early hours of Monday morning I found myself at the NXP building ready for the PMI France Atlantic event.

My hosts Eric Maurice and Mark Gray once again looked after me well and I enjoyed a series of fine presentations from a number of people, including finally getting to see Jim de Piante in action (excellent). Congratulations to the PMI France Atlantic chapter for gathering such a great group of speakers, I look forward to hearing news of future events.

The audience received my keynote ‘The Art of Productive Laziness’ very well and I feel I left a lot more would-be lazy project managers in France as I departed, after an excellent meal with my hosts, for the 11pm overnight ferry back to the UK.

It was a short respite in the UK as I headed off to Heathrow late Wednesday to catch a flight to Vienna, Austria to speak at the IPMA event on 20^th October. This was held at the Austria Center Vienna, a grand imposing conference facility.

The session went well and some 300 new ‘Lazy’ project managers were welcomed to the ‘lazy’ family. My thanks to Brigitte and Michaela for all their efforts; both in inviting me to the event and then organising travel, accommodation and the very successful book sales.

Another short time with my family on Friday was followed by a transatlantic flight in to Dallas for the PMI Congress at the Gaylord Texan. 3,000 people to meet and greet and network with makes this the largest event of the year for me. And I had a long list of people to catch up with and meet for the very first time.

The show all started Saturday night, and therefore having landed at 3pm (9pm UK) it was a quick change before heading off to the Awards Evening where I was the guest of Dave Shirley, the co-author (with Rick Maltzman) of Green Project Management. A big cheer from us all when it was announced that they had won the coveted David I Cleland award for book of the year.

On Sunday I had a telephone interview for an article based on my new book ‘The Lazy Winner; for a women’s US magazine – the inner laziness being the theme. And then it was off to the conference.

Week 2

This week was filled with various radio interviews promoting The Lazy Winner but the big item was my trip to London to film a short piece for BBC2 – The Daily Politics Show. They wanted to interview me relating to how MPs (Members of Parliament) could be successful and lazy.

The recording took place just down from Parliament at The Cinnamon Club. They have a private bar where Simon Hoggart (The Guardian) and myself were interviewed by David Thompson from The Daily Politics show. It was a fast and furious process with question after question, repeated and rephrased, captured by the camera. Within a very short time I found myself back outside on the streets of London wondering how on earth they would make something good out of all that material.

You can see the results here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15290499  – in addition there was quite a good discussion in the studio with the presenters and ex-MP Martin Bell. I took a stroll after the recording and enjoyed a coffee in the autumn sunshine before catching the train back home.

I guess this may be my 3 minutes of fame but it seemed to work as the book shot up 2.5 million places in the Amazon UK book charts the day the recording was used on BBC2, which was very nice.

Thursday there was a meeting with Richard and David from Infinite Ideas as we discussed the status of the Get Published initiative we are partnering on – a means for project managers around the world to potentially get published – check out www.pmpublished.com for more information. It is always enjoyable meeting the guys in their Oxford offices and this time around we could also be found plotting the next ‘Lazy’ book, so watch out for that one.

On Friday I was also interviewed for BBC Asian radio, a less stressful experience – seeing yourself on TV is strange and slightly disturbing, maybe I just have a face made for radio?

Check out www.pmpublished.com and www.thelazywinner.com

Week 1

Now I talk all the time about being ‘lazy’ and combining this with the ‘smart working’ approach thereby being ‘productively lazy’. This month has really tested this theory (or proved this hopefully) to the limit.

Let me tell you about what I have been up to.

My new books are out – Leading Successful PMOs (Gower) and The Lazy Winner (Infinite Ideas) – which is great news. Strangely, since they were written 6 months apart, they ended up being published only two days apart, and both needed some marketing activities right at the beginning of the month. For Leading Successful PMOs I have, in conjunction with my publishers, Project magazine, the PMOSIG and some others, started a global award for PMO Leader of the Year (check it out at www.leadingsuccessfulpmos.com ). And for The Lazy Winner it is a series of radio and TV interviews that take my time.

I am also in the middle of reviewing the various case studies that I have had submitted by a number of collaborators for a future book – Project Branding (Gower).

On 6^th October I headed off to Romania, a three hour flight and then a two and half hour drive up in to the mountains for a ‘Summer Camp’ with the folks from PMI Romania. It was a delayed event hence the ‘Summer’ title in October. The scenery was incredible as I woke up looking at green hills and a rural scene, sun shining and a totally relaxed feeling about the place. I delivered my ‘Project from Hell’ workshop and then the world exclusive of The Lazy Winner keynote (always a nerve racking experience for me as each presentation needs several deliveries to become a polished gem).

 I received some great feedback from the attendees and I appreciate their enthusiasm and efforts during the day.

As we were only a few kilometres from Bran Castle http://www.bran-castle.com/  I took the opportunity to visit this fantastic building on my way back to the airport, and succumbed to a souvenir or two of Vlad the Impaler (supposedly the model for Dracula).

Finally it was a night at an airport hotel ready for an early morning flight back to the UK and a drive home to re-join my family.

A big thank you to Catalin and Simona of PMI Romania for all of their support and hospitality. See you again in 2012.

Check out www.thelazywinner.com and www.leadingsuccessfulpmos.com

Local London event - PMO Leadership

On Tuesday 29th November 2011, the PMO SIG will be holding its last local London Event for 2011 and will feature two presentations covering the PMO.

Hosted by CAFOD, the international aid agency, the meeting will start with an overview of the PMO within CAFOD by Anke Bysouth, the PMO Manager. 

Delegates will then hear from Peter Taylor, author of The Lazy Project Manager, and more recently Leading Successful PMOs.

The presentation is about successfully leading a PMO (whatever you understand by those three letters) to deliver better projects, better business to the customers of those projects and to the organisation that you work for, and to best serve the contributing project managers from both a professional and a personal perspective.

Each local PMO SIG meeting allows time for networking with the opportunity to carry on the discussions at a local pub/bar.

To book a place for this event, please click here http://www.apm.org.uk/event/pmo-leadership

A guest post by James Resetco Business Development, FindTheBest

Thanks to the recession, executives have to “do more with less” because of spending cuts, reallocation of resources and layoffs. But, that doesn’t mean you have to give up your diligent commitment to ‘productive laziness’ as a project manager (PM).

Using the best Project Management Software (PMS) reduces the cost and maximizes the efficiency of project completion by augmenting team collaboration and realization of results with visual benchmarks, automated updates and consolidated of information.

Why do ‘Lazy PMs’ use PMS?

1)     Controls project through prioritization

2)     Aligns and organizes strategies, competing projects and budgetary constraints

3)     Manages resources by: identifying surplus and deficits, and scheduling to maximize employee availability.

What do ‘Lazy PMs’ look for in a competitive software analysis?

1)     Open Source vs. Proprietary -

MAG Softwrx is an example of a proprietary technology platform.

Pro: Top tier sales team and quality tech support.

Con: Proprietary means you’re locked-in. It’s nearly impossible to switch PMS options because there is no way to transfer your data. It’s also more expensive.

Conversely, Collabtive is an open source platform, meaning the technology is accessible to 3rd party developers who build add-ons.

Pro: It’s less than half of the cost of proprietary platforms and more customizable to your needs.

Con: Extremely low cost solutions don’t have the same ecosystem of developers and support teams as their more expensive, proprietary competitors. 

2)     Important Features

The type of business and projects you manage dictate the necessary features of a PMS. Use FindTheBest to sort key features of PMS software options.

Three universally important categories to keep in mind when researching PMS are:

1)     Price: Because pricing is per user, if your company has a high growth potential, you’ll need to factor this into your budget consideration.

2)     Functionality: Do you need collaborative Software, scheduling capabilities or mobile access?

3)     Working concepts: Consider automated notifications, project templates, and budget tracking, if they’re applicable.

Leading Successful PMOs

How to Build the Best Project Management Office for Your Business

'For years there has been an inaccurate view that PMOs define and maintain project management standards. This view has led to untold PMO difficulties. The PMO in whatever shape or form is entirely about leadership and achievement. Kudos to Peter Taylor for spotlighting this and bringing us this practical reference.'
Mark Price Perry, Founder, BOT International and author, Business Driven PMO Setup and Business Driven PPM

'Finally a book for current and aspiring PMO leaders. While any practitioner worth his or her salt knows that the soft skills are what makes or breaks PMO leaders, too many organizations select their project leaders based on technical expertise. Whether you are charged with selecting the next PMO leader, aspiring to be one, or simply struggling to rise to the challenge of your leadership position Peter Taylor's insightful new work, Leading Successful PMOs, will help set you on a focused path to leadership and success.'
J. LeRoy Ward, Executive Vice President, ESI International

'Fascinating is the examination of the PMO from Business Organization perspective, positions the PMO as part of the Business Organization. Not least interesting is the six PMO types viewed from the business organization perspective. Is it the catalyst needed to get PMOs positioned by Business Schools?'
Eric Stein, IBM GTS Service delivery and Leader TPS Nordic cPMO Portfolio Review

Many organizations profit hugely by utilizing a Project Management Office (PMO), it means they achieve benefits from standardizing and following project management policies, processes, and methods. However, building an effective PMO is a complex process; it requires clear vision and strong leadership so that, over time, it will become the source for guidance, documentation, and metrics related to the practices involved in managing and implementing projects.

Leading Successful PMOs will guide all project based organizations, and project managers who contribute to and benefit from a PMO, towards maximizing their project success. In it, Peter Taylor outlines the basics of setting up a PMO and clearly explains how to ensure it will do exactly what you need it to do - the right things, in the right way, in the right order, with the right team.

Contents: Foreword, Chris Walters; Foreword, David Ayling-Smith; Introduction; The meaning and purpose of a PMO; What makes a PMO successful?; Being a successful PMO leader; Starting a PMO; The final frontier; Appendices.

About the Author: Peter Taylor is a dynamic and commercially astute professional who, over the last 26 years, has achieved notable success in project management. His background is in project management across three major business areas using MRP/ERP systems with various software houses culminating in his current role with Infor, and including Business Intelligence (BI) with Cognos, and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) with Siemens. He has spent the last seven years leading PMOs and developing project managers and is now focusing on project-based services development with Infor.

Peter is an accomplished communicator and leader, he is a professional speaker as well as the author of The Lazy Project Manager and The Lazy Winner.

Gower Publishing 

If you have then I may be able to help you promote the book.

If you are interested I have a feature on my podcast The Lazy Project Manager (on iTunes) about PM books I have read.

As part of a future podcast if you would like to record a short (8 minutes max) mp3 recording about your book then I would be pleased to consider it for a future podcast.

You should include in the recording:

·         Your name

·         A little about yourself

·         Your book title

·         Why you decided to write the book

·         How readers can get a copy of the book – publisher – Amazon? – website - etc

·         What the book is all about and what is unique about the book

·         And optionally you could read a part of the book to allow listeners to get a feel for your style

I would also need a copy of the book to complete my review alongside the ‘interview’ that you would record.

Interested? Then just contact me through my website www.thelazyprojectmanager.com

Not yet published? Then again I may be able to help. Check out www.pmpublished.com - my website to aid would-be project management authors.

Thanks and ‘be lazy’

Peter

Chinese Proverb: Pearls lie not on the seashore. If thou desirest one thou must dive for it.

Two significant things have happened, Firstly I registered for the PMI Global Congress in Dallas in October, and secondly I had yet another very nice Chinese meal at my local restaurant.

Now my local Chinese restaurant has, in case you were at all interested, 192 menu options and 14 set menus on offer. I strongly suspect that your own local Chinese restaurant will have a similar number of good things to eat on their menu.

PMI Congress has, again if you were at all interested, 160 sessions that I could attend if I a) wished and b) could time travel in order to be in parallel sessions and c) could survive.

It is a fact that, despite the 192 menu options that I could select, I tend to fairly regularly go for the same options each time I dine ‘Chinese’ style. Actually all of my family does the same thing. We arrive in the restaurant, take our seats, order drinks and then peruse the menu for 5 or 10 minutes, politely asking each other what we are thinking of choosing and commenting that something ‘sounds nice’ or ask ‘is that new on the menu’ (it never is). But after that, when the drinks are served and it is decision time, we gravitate towards our favourites.

Mine is (in case you were still interested)

·         Prawn Crackers

·         Sesame Prawn on Toast

·         Crispy Aromatic Duck with Pancakes

·         Szechaun Beef

·         Rice

I won’t list the whole family choice but it is safe to say that I can place the final order without reference to the menu at all.

I am not even sure when these favourites became favourites (probably something to do with the increasing number of years I have experienced) but favourites they are.

For Congress you can select the sessions that you wish by

·         Styles

·         Presenter

·         Subject

And of course date and time. But how do you go about choosing from such a huge selection and ensuring that you both attend the best sessions and learn from the experiences.

When it comes to the Chinese meal I often ask myself am I missing out or just playing it safe? It is not every day that we eat out and so it is a good thing to de-risk the process and order something that you know you like. On the other hand there are the 187 other menu items that I know I would definitely enjoy some of if only I strayed from my regular choices. Tricky.

For the Congress I have printed out the schedule, with all the details of speaker and subject abstract and immediately I can identify a handful of speakers who I know are great speakers. So if I select these sessions I will for sure be entertained. On the other hand there are some pretty intriguing session titles that either fit in with my current PMO interest or just seem a new slant on project management. These could be good but the speakers are unknown to me.

So I could go with the tried and tested and potentially miss out on something and someone new and exciting or I could risk it and go with the unknown and risk enjoying a less than interesting time.

It is a tough business event speaking and I well remember my first ‘gig’ at PMI EMEA Congress in Amsterdam 2009. I was the unknown and I truly thank the 100 plus people who selected my session from the rest of the options and attended. It can’t have been too bad as I was invited to deliver an ‘encore’ session at the event and another 100 turned up for that as well.

This dilemma I am sure is not PMI specific but at every conference or congress where there are parallel tracks and therefore choices to be made.

I reflected that when I was a young man and starting work I used to regularly go out straight after work and buy 1 or 2 music albums on a Friday. This resulted in some purchases that I knew the singer or band and a number where I liked the album cover or someone said it was good or it was in the charts or I just randomly selected it. Over the weekend they were listened to and come Sunday evening I could pretty much know if the album was a ‘keeper’ or something that I would happily swap with a friend. But through this process I did expand my musical tastes and likes a great deal and some of these albums are still in my collection (although now in iTunes rather than on my shelf in what now seems an incredibly large vinyl format).

So taking a chance is worth it as long as you accept the fact that there will be some disappointments along the way.

For this Congress I am doing three things. Going with 5 speakers I know and enjoy, asking through various social media for recommendations of speakers that I have yet to enjoy myself, and for the rest just diving in.

If you are attending Dallas here’s a tip.

If you want to avoid having to listen to me then don’t go to session:

ISS09 : The Lazy Project Manager Salutes the Project Superstars

Speaker: Peter B Taylor

Monday, 24 October
4:15 PM–5:30 PM
1 hour, 15 minutes

We need to spread the word outside our community about what a great bunch of people we are and how project management

PMI UK are delighted to announce that HRH The Princess Royal has confirmed her attendance as our guest of honour at Synergy 2011 on 3rd November at the IndigO2 in London.

Her Royal Highness is always involved in many amazing initiatives and her programme of engagements essentially consists of supporting her many charities, travelling abroad to extensively undertake Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Olympic and other charitable engagements.

This news comes as a fantastic addition to the already exciting bill of Speakers which include senior politicians, sportspeople and even TV celebrities! We love how project management spans across so many industries and are excited to be able to share this with you, therefore this event has been made as inclusive as possible, with the variety and level of speakers, and the early bird price being extended to the end of September.

We have been overwhelmed with the response to date, so why not join your fellow project managers and business associates to network, learn and celebrate the project management profession.

Tickets are available at the early bird price of £60 (incl vat) until the end of September, so save yourself £30 and book yours today at www.synergy2011.co.uk. Group booking discount also available.

Best regards,

PMI UK Chapter

Tel:  0208 751 5626

www.pmi.org.uk

www.synergy2011.co.uk

Dear all,

I wanted to update you with the news that Gower (publishers of Leading Successful PMOs by Peter Taylor) will be sponsoring the Project Manager's conference Synergy 2011 at the O2 in London on 3 November (details below). We will have a book stand with our Project Management titles and will be giving away a Project Management Library of 12 books, as well as offering a 35% discount on all our titles. Do register for the event and encourage your clients and PM Colleagues to do so. There are some excellent speakers (outlined below) and a packed programme.

Melisa Young
Gower Marketing: Project Management

Location: IndigO2, London

Synergy 2011 is an event to recognize and celebrate the success of the Project Management profession and to raise its profile within the UK. Synergy's speakers have real world experience of the benefits of project management and are involved in hugely significant projects in the UK today. Speakers include Howard Shiplee (Olympic Stadium), Ken Livingstone (Politician), Steven Carver (Cranfield University), Mike Brearley OBE (Psychoanalyst/Cricket commentator), Didi Hopkins (Leadership/Communication/Change) Clare Young (The Apprentice), Ricardo Vargas (Risk Management specialist) to name a few, and also including a Project Management Comedy set with David Armand. The detailed programme can be viewed at the PMI Website.

Sponsors include, ESI International, PCU3ED, IIL Europe, eni snamprogetti limited, ExxonMobil, the Said Business School, University of Oxford and Gower Publishing.

Gower Publishing will be offering special conference discounts on the full range of Project Management titles and a chance to win a Project Management Book Library.

Buy your tickets now! register online, contact service@pmi.org.uk or telephone 0208 751 5626

Having my first book ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ published by Infinite Ideas changed my professional life.

I had ambitions to widen my audience and to get on to the international speaking circuit. It was only once I had a book to support and promote me that I began to be noticed.

A book lends gravitas and authority to its author (assuming it's a good book and all the evidence suggests that ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ is indeed a good book!) It can set agendas. It receives reviews in trade media that raise the author's profile.

The book has helped me internationally, too. ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ has been a bestseller on Amazon Kindle store in the USA and I've had a huge number of enquiries for speaking gigs and consultancy as a result (I have presented in New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Germany, Poland, France, Romania, Sweden, Hungary, Netherlands and many more).

There are many project management books already in the market but there is equally an ever greater demand for knowledge and shared experience, guidance and advice as the profession of project management grows and grows.

It is suggested that there are some 16 million people worldwide with the role or title of project manager! That is a massive audience that wants to hear from you.

So do you have a great idea for a book?

Do you have something that you want to say and share with the widest possible project community?

If so then now is the time to act.

I have created a website just to help people like you, www.pmpublished.com  has been put together to help you get published, not an easy task these days. It has been hugely successful for me and I want to help you achieve the same thing.

Who knows, you may well just have the idea for the next number 1 business book!

A book written by you to sell (or give) to clients is the best piece of marketing collateral you can own. 

I am working now with my friends at Infinite Ideas to develop more titles in the Project Management sector. So, if you've written or are considering writing a book, get in touch now though www.pmpublished.com – at the very least you can download a free eBook called ‘Get Published’ written by Infinite Ideas.

£60 for only a limited time, but it’s the price for a lifetime’s inspiration. This Unbeatable Price is only available until the end of August, you’ll be saving £30 if you get in this month, so you had better book your tickets now!

Synergy 2011 on 3rd November is THE PMI UK event of the year. This project management conference offers you an opportunity to celebrate the profession of which we are all a part.

One unmissable day at an extraordinary venue, outstanding keynote speakers, scores of inspirational ideas and a fabulous opportunity to be part of our team helping to educate great project managers for the future.

As members of the PMI we’re all used to playing a key role in strong team performances to deliver a range of projects. Many of these might never come to fruition without the guiding light of a skilled PMI trained PM.

It’s a source of great personal satisfaction as each project is delivered on time, on target and on budget. With so much success to build on is there any one of us who wouldn’t gain a tremendous amount from the day we have put together for our fellow project managers, looking deeper into all those skills, techniques and invaluable tips which the best team leaders bring to bear when approaching a challenging role or situation.

It’s all here, as we come together for just one day this autumn.

You owe it to yourself, your colleagues and to your employer or client, to ensure that you continually develop throughout your professional career. PDU’s are your indication that you are taking this responsibility seriously and doing your best to stay abreast of developments in the PM arena. To recognise this and to coax as many of our members along (as if coaxing were necessary) as possible, the day will be worth 5 PDU’s to those attending.

Synergy is a special day. The messages and the shared experience will be exceptional – we want to leave you in no doubt as to that fact and we want you to want to be a part of it. Come; join us and take a significant step towards your personal development goal for 2011.

Synergy 2011 on 3rd November 2011. Don’t miss your chance to inspire and be inspired – for the Unbeatable Price of £60 (incl. VAT). This amazing offer won’t last, in fact, it’s only available until the end of August before the full ticket price is released. Save yourself £30 and book now.

Find out more and book your tickets today at www.synergy2011.co.uk

Thank you to everyone who placed their pre-order for The lazy winner. The book is now in stock and I have shipped your copies today – do let me know what you think of the new book when you have had a read, all reviews and feedback always welcome!

The lazy winner: How to do more with less effort and succeed in your work and personal life without rushing around like a headless chicken or putting in 100 hour weeks

For those of you who would like to know more then check out www.thelazywinner.com – there you can find more information about the book, you get to meet Nigel, and you can place your order for the book as well. 

Have you got what it takes to be too lazy to fail?

The lazy winner builds on the concept of ‘productive laziness’, developed in Peter Taylor’s bestselling The lazy project manager, which encourages people to apply more thought before leaping into action and throwing effort at a problem or task.

Here Peter applies his ‘lazy’ concept to solving the work–life balance conundrum with concise, practical advice, laced with humour, on how to achieve more with less. So if you’ve been working frantically but seem to be getting nowhere, put your feet up and ask yourself these questions:

• Do I want to do this and do I need to do this?

• Is it worthwhile?

• Do I have to do it myself?

• What is the shortest path to success?

• Can I maximise the return on my effort?

If these questions send you into a mild panic you’re probably on course to becoming a busy loser but following the simple ideas in this book will set you on a winning course and ensure that you are successful in what you do at work and in life. Peter’s first book was The lazy project manager, a Kindle bestseller and a page one bestseller in the business category on amazon.com.