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The PMO Leader Blog

A Guide to Rating Employees on Annual Performance Reviews careers chris kopp communication leadership project management Feb 15, 2022

I walked into my manager’s office with a bit of a swagger and a smug look. “Everything for this week is done,” I said. “All project plans have been updated, the...

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3 Ways to Reduce Friction When People Work with Your PMO chris kopp leadership pmo project management Jan 03, 2022

In a previous article we asked, How Much Friction Does Your PMO Generate?  The net of the article was that people come to your PMO because they want to transition from their current state to a...

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How Much Friction Does Your PMO Generate? chris kopp leadership pmo project management strategy Nov 29, 2021

Videos from the cockpit of the space shuttle re-entering Earth’s atmosphere are amazing! As the shuttle reduces its speed, 'kinetic friction,' the resistance created by two objects sliding...

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Are You Falling Victim to Annual Performance Review "Bait"​? careers chris kopp leadership Oct 25, 2021

Movies that appear to be produced for the sole purpose of Academy Award nomination are called “Oscar Bait.” One strategy of movie producers in this genre is to release the film late in...

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How Useful, Usable, and Used are Your Processes? agile chris kopp pmo ppm project management Sep 15, 2021

There’s a concept of product design that focuses on making sure a product is Useful, Usable, and Used. Designers do all they can to make sure their products meet all three criteria. How do...

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Change Your Lighting, Change Your Influence chris kopp professional development project management strategy Aug 16, 2021

Warning: I’m going classic “7 Habits” here...

Stephen Covey talked about a Circle of Concern and a Circle of Influence. The larger Circle of Concern is everything that worries...

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The First Question to Ask Yourself When Something Goes Off the Rails careers chris kopp leadership pmo project management Jul 19, 2021

I once worked for a fellow who had a big job; as in, multiple departments and tons of people rolled up to him. His phone never stopped ringing, and in the constant flow of text messages and email...

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A PMO Lesson I Learned from a Salesperson chris kopp pmo project management strategy Jun 30, 2021

“Nope, we can’t do that,” I said curtly to the potential client. I knew my team would not be able to fulfill their request, and as my colleague and I sat in that meeting, I prided...

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3 Reasons to not "Phone It In"​ When You Are a Remote Worker careers chris kopp communication pmo professional development project management Jun 20, 2021

I remember watching The Jetsons as a kid and thinking how cool it would be if we could video call like them. Jane, Judy, or Elroy would pop up on a desktop screen and talk to George like they were...

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But, We've Always Done It That Way! chris kopp leadership project management strategy Jun 07, 2021

A young girl once asked her mother why she cut off the ends of the roast before putting it in the pan. “That’s a great question,” her mother said. “I’m not really...

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3 Ways to Keep Your Presentations from Going Off-Road chris kopp pmo professional development May 17, 2021

There’s no telling how many presentations we sit through in our careers. Some good, some not so good. What exactly is it that separates the good from the bad? Is it slick graphics, a good...

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The Single Greatest Quality a Project Manager Must Possess chris kopp professional development project management Apr 20, 2021

There are all kinds of skills, qualities, and talents you must possess to be a successful project manager. You need to be able to see the big picture, break it down into smaller pieces, and...

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Be the First to Fill the Communication Vacuum that Nature Hates chris kopp communication leadership strategy Apr 12, 2021

Aristotle stated that nature abhors a vacuum. His argument was that nature hates the idea of empty space and will fill it with whatever is available. While this theory was later contested, there is...

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Are You Able To Sleep Through A Storm? chris kopp pmo professional development project management strategy Mar 25, 2021

What qualities are necessary for a Project Manager to be successful? Leadership, organization, and being detail-oriented all come to mind. However, for a Project Manager to be truly...

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One Way to Take Some Heat Off Your Project chris kopp pmo project management stakeholder management Mar 14, 2021

I remember taking a shuttle from an off-site parking lot close to the Atlanta airport. It was nearly 100 degrees and extremely humid, so I was looking forward to the doors of the bus swooshing open...

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