Collected Project Management Failures, why project management is hard

1. MISTAKES I HAVE MADE:
COLLECTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT FAILURES
Amye Scavarda
Bay Area Drupal Camp - 2014
@amye
Rennett Stowe

2. WHO AM I?
@amye
• Project Manager at Phase2
• Acquia before that
•Maker of many mistakes
• Storyteller for other mistakes

3. WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH THIS
Why is this so hard and why is
this presentation full of crying
statues?
What are these Mistakes you
keep talking about?
Svadilfari

4. You Must Be This Tall To Ride

5. WHY IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT
HARD?
Team
Clients
Services
Alignment / Mission
General Sucking: Hard decisions
rondmac

6. Team
www.despair.com

7. Clients ToniVC

8. Services
tterrag

9. Alignment / Mission

10. General Sucking: Hard decisions
Machiel van Zanten

11. Now that we’ve covered that -
All you have left is the Practice.
I have a Practice of project
management.
I am lucky enough to be able to
Practice.
*MarS

12. IN THIS PRACTICE, I MAKE
MISTAKES:
Frequently
Occasionally
Every once in awhile
Almost never
ONCE

13. FREQUENTLY: drubuntu
Accidents of Friction
The Black Art of Estimating
Team Juggling
Agile in practice when a client
wants waterfall

14. OCCASIONALLY
Saying yes to something I really
really shouldn’t have
Not saying anything to something
I really really shouldn’t have
Letting things go to the last
minute: deliverables, deadlines
Contracts: What do they mean!
elviskennedy

15. EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE
•Insane Timelines
•Theming is the true shibboleth
•Working so much that you start
making mistakes. Like actual
mistakes, not these little things.
•Forgetting about holidays
•Discovery: doing it wrong
•Billing: Not doing it
Alex E. Proimos

16. WHEN ATTACKED, FIGHT BACK
hey mr glen

17. The things that you did last
week.
!
ALMOST NEVER
h.koppdelaney

18. ONCE
All of the things that make you
cringe when you hear them.
Oh yeah, I did that once.
Stu Willis

19. EXAMPLES OF ONCE:
Screensharing chat
Forgetting the mute button
Telling clients how many other clients you’re working with
Forgetting how much your billable hour actually *is*

20. What are your examples of ‘once’?

21. A Note on Surviving Project Management

22. Thank You