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19 Inspirational Quotes to Create a Wise Leader
Some of the most inspirational quotes ever uttered to stir you and get you moving through the day. Whether you feel stuck or just need a good dose of inspiration from great minds. Be sure to feed your brain inspiring quotes and phrases daily.
- For the wise person, there are only two types of experiences on life’s road: winning and learning – Greg Henry Quinn
- Successful people are EXTREMELY self-disciplined. When they set their mind to something, they do it. No questions asked –
Jacob Reimer - To those who retain their zest, old age has much to offer. From them the world has much to gain – Lord Beaverbrook
- You must be the change you wish to see in the world – Gandhi
- Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm – Winston Churchill
- Dream big and dare to fail – Norman Vaughan
- Make each day your masterpiece – John Wooden
- Once you choose hope, anything’s possible – Christopher Reeve
- Every moment is a fresh beginning – T.S. Eliot
- Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear – George Addair
- A year from now you may wish you had started today – Karen Lamb
- It is never too late to be what you might have been – George Eliot
- There are no traffic jams along the extra mile – Roger Staubach
- If there is no struggle, there is no progress – Frederick Douglass
- If you can’t outplay them, outwork them – Ben Hogan
- The best way to predict the future is to invent it – Alan Kay
- Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you – Arnold Palmer
- If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all? – Joe Namath
- Choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything – Scott Reed
5 Secrets to Successful Project Management for Christian Leaders
42 Masterful Quotes to Inspire Healthier Relationships
Conflict is part of our working life and is often used as a way to work out our differences and reach a conclusion. It’s usually the approach you take that tends to exacerbate the issues and cause undue stress. How you deal with conflict reveals your character.
- The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions — Claude Lvi-Strauss
- A crisis is a turning point — Anne Lindthorst
- Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional — Max Lucade
- Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind — Hamilton Mabie
- There is no way to peace. Peace is the way — AJ Muste
- The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment — Dorothy Nevill
- The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them — Ralph Nichols
- The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war — Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
- To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong — Joseph Chilton Pearce
- A man convinced against his will”¦is not convinced — Laurence J. Peter
- My problem is I say what I’m thinking before I think what I’m saying — Laurence J. Peter
- Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of emotion – Robert Quillen
- You can’t influence somebody when you’re judging them — Tony Robbins
- Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side — Duke François de La Rochefoucauld
- It is astonishing how elements which seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens. How confusions which seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard — Carl Rogers
- If it’s mentionable, it’s manageable— Mr. Rogers
- Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today — Will Rogers
- The best way to persuade people is with your ears, by listening to them — Dean Rusk
- The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution — Bertrand Russell
- It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye — Antoine de Saint-Exupry
- Human beings love to be right. When a person is willing to give up being right, a whole world of possibilities opens up — Pete Salmansohn
- The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise — David J. Schwartz
- Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is? — Frank Scully
- Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve the silence? — Shirdi Sai Baba
- When things are not working for us, instead of fighting and struggling, we need to say, “What’s happening here? How am I not being true to who I am? What is pulling me away from my purpose?” — June Singer
- The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you — John E. Southard
- It takes two to quarrel, but only one to end it — Spanish Proverb
- The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn— Source unknown
- Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions — Earl Gray Stevens
- Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it — Charles Swindoll
- If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow — Carol Tavris
- Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict—alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence — Dorothy Thompson
- Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness — James Thurber
- A good manager doesn’t try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you’re the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong, that’s healthy — Robert Townsend
- Knowledge becomes wisdom only after it has been put to good use — Mark Twain
- People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes — Abigail VanBuren
- The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any — Alice Walker
- It isn’t a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have nothing else — Anthony Weston
- I’ve found that I can only change how I act if I stay aware of my beliefs and assumptions. Thoughts always reveal themselves in behavior — Margaret Wheatley
- I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum — Frances Willard
- When you’re at the edge of a cliff, sometimes progress is a step backward — Source unknown
Modular Penthouse, Wandsworth High Street
Generous glazed areas and therefore naturally lit apartments with fine views out are an extremely desirable part of the modern home. A common misconception and criticism of prefabricated modules is that they offer little opportunity for large glazed facades. Atelier One have proved this is clearly not the case on previous projects such as the rooftop extension to The White Cube Gallery in Hoxton Square and on their work on the Piper Building, Fulham. The key to glazing prefabricated modules is to provide enough stiffness to eliminate movement when the modules are transported.
Modular Penthouse, Wandsworth High Street
Architect: Martin Markcrow Architects
Structural Engineer: Buro Happold
Quantity Surveyor: KMCS London
Model Photography: Andrew Putler
This new two-storey penthouse is located above an existing four-storey building on Wandsworth High Street, London, within a Conservation Area.
The 2,400 sq ft apartment for private clients was pre-fabricated in Slovenia, and transported as five separate 12.0m long modules to London, where they were craned into position over a 2-3 day period, before connection to the existing services and stairwell. The steel framed structure minimised the load on the existing building and afforded strength during transportation and lifting. A modular construction route was chosen primarily to avoid disruption, noise, and dust pollution to the clients who occupied the top floor of the building. In addition, a conventional construction route with scaffolding and temporary shelter on this constrained site proved particularly difficult and costly.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Requirements Management
Most project managers know the importance of requirements management. Without a solid foundation and grounding in the subject, requirements management quickly turns towards the complex and difficult side.
Why Manage Requirements?
In the final analysis, all projects are completely driven by requirements. Requirements are usually not cast in stone. Stakeholders gather insights and more knowledge of their true needs with time. This means that they can change their minds about requirements, no matter how late in the game. Requirements should therefore be managed proactively in anticipation of change.
However, if requirement definitions are not set up properly in the first place, expect that the quality of delivery will suffer, along with more schedule delays than imagined, and a big drain on the budget.
Broad project requirements help to establish a baseline for objectives. Subsequent change requests would thus require approval by the right authority; a change control board is usually set up to investigate and approve changes to requirements. The objective of baselining is not to prevent or discourage changes, but to ensure that approved changes are relevant and deserve the priorities assigned to them.
The simplest way for project managers to reduce the probability of missing critical requirements is to hold requirements review sessions to ensure that stakeholders understand the requirements and that any ambiguities, inconsistencies and omissions are identified and addressed to facilitate requirements approval or sign-off.
However, when inaccurate requirements are in play, team members end up reworking those activities multiple times. The only sensible course of action is to deliver requirements up front in an accurate manner. That way team members will be able to immediately identify any missing components early in the project lifecycle.
It’s vitally important to employ tools designed to assess requirement quality at the beginning of the project. These tools will help to identify any requirements that are vague or missing early enough to improve the changes of success for the project. Even simple tools like guidelines and checklists can solve major problems later on. You may also consider automated tools, depending on your level of technical expertise.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Requirements Management
Good Requirements
Requirements that meet the “good” standard are ones that anyone can easily evaluate to quickly and clearly determine that all the needs have been accurately met by the project.
The common criteria used by project teams to properly evaluate requirements is as follows:
Verifiable: Ensure that all deliverables are able to be evaluated to ensure they have met all necessary requirements. Verification techniques such as modelling, analysis, review by experts, simulations, and demonstrations or testing.
Testable: Requirements are able to be assessed using the most basic of all criteria. This includes quantitative measurement like “pass or fail.”
Traceable: Requirements should be tagged to specific sources. Examples are compliance requirements, best practices, industry standards, and use cases.
Clarity: All statements should be presented in unambiguous ways so the cannot be interpreted differently by different team members.
Bad Requirements
Bad requirements are marked by their incompleteness and lack of clarity. They are hard to understand and implement. They generally possess these characteristics:
Inconsistency: Without clarity, you’ll find requirements that are in conflict with other requirements! This is very frustrating because there’s no way that either one will ever be satisfied.
Non-valid: These are requirements that team members simply cannot understand. They will never be able to accurately assess or approve non-valid requirements.
Non-ranked: These requirements have not been correctly prioritised. Without proper ranking, it’s difficult for team members to be able to assess them properly.
The risk to the project not meeting the clients expectations is not something that will ever be entirely removed. However, having a specific criteria upon which to benchmark a project is a great way to reduce this risk.
Risks fall into two main categories. Systemic risk is inherent to the nature of the work and cannot be avoided. The non-systemic risk is a bit different and relates from the activities in the project itself. One of the greatest of all non-systemic risks is that of bad requirements management.
Teams that wish to reduce the risk of the project not meeting the clients expectations substantially are best served by establishing specific requirements in the initial stages. Common goals like being “on time and on budget” while maintaining a high level of quality will require dedication from teams members who have eliminated as much non-systemic risk as possible.
When you’re next involved in a project where requirements come up in a discussion, always pay careful attention to the good, the bad, and the ugly that could result without proper due care and attention.
5 Indicators You’ve Hired the Right Project Manager
The importance of hiring the right project manager cannot be overstated enough. Whenever senior managers are asked to identify outstanding project managers, they almost always have a hard time doing so. What’s most concerning about this is that almost £2 trillion pounds are spent on these projects across the globe, according to Gartner.
There is no doubt that it takes a lot of time and effort to become an outstanding project manager. This isn’t a job for the faint hearted.
A great project manager has leadership traits that should be easily recognised in all steps of the hiring process.
Things like psychometric testing and method certificates can only provide so much information on potential employees. To find the best candidates for your position you need to ask them real questions about their experience, such as how they dealt with and recovered from a failure; what methodologies they use to manage projects and deal with sponsors; or their creative process when coming up with original ideas for strong team building. An awesome project manager is able to answer these questions easily.
Successful project managers should have experience in dealing with both failures and successes to gain the skills they need to build a strong team that delivers results consistently.
Here are five strong indicators that the person you have hired as a project manager is likely to be successful in their new role:
You Can Catch More Flies with Honey than with Vinegar
1. People like them!
Project managers who are difficult to get along with or have unlikeable personalities are not likely to be great motivators. Awesome project managers aren’t afraid to listen to the ideas and feedback of their team members for the best overall results.
They should be friendly and have respect for everyone they are working with at all times.
2. They don’t blame others nor take credit for successes.
It can be hard not to get involved in the “blame game” when something doesn’t go exactly as planned. It can be equally as challenging to not “glory grab” when a project goes off brilliantly and without a hitch.
A strong project manager will shield their team when criticism is raining down by passing the message down in a constructive way, so it can be addressed and fixed promptly. In the event of a project success, great project managers make sure the people who were key to the assignment are rewarded for their work. When they speak of a successful project, they highlight the strength of their team and not just themselves.
3. They involve the entire team in planning.
A great plan is usually always the result of a “mastermind”, or the combined effort of one or more people working towards a common goal. Strong project managers encourage everyone on the team to contribute their thoughts and feedback in the planning process. While not everyone will be actively contributing to the campaign design, they listen to the opinions and ideas of people who the project will affect, such as the CEO, and the marketing department.
A strong project manager should foster a productive, creative and enjoyable work environment. By doing so, they maximise the time they work with their team so they deliver a great end product.
4. They’re serious team builders.
A great project manager understands that a major key to their project success is the team that stands behind it. Successful project managers take the time to select from the talent that is best suited for the job they need to complete. Instead of settling for just anyone who can join the team because they’re free, a skilled project manager is willing to do what it takes to onboard and recruit the people they think will bring the most to the table.
5. They’re strong managers.
A strong manager knows how to take the lead. They understand what it takes to lead their team. They know how to motivate those working with them. They realize that they are a part of something greater. They’re not afraid to take responsibility for all aspects of the project, regardless of whether it’s failure or success.
As a project director or hiring manager, it can be a challenge to find a powerful project manager, but once you connect with the right person, you’ll know it almost instantly. A strong project manager absolutely loves what they do and they’re not afraid to tell you about how excited they are about their past, present and future endeavours.
They strive to be the best leaders and always respect the ideas and positions of others who present them with questions that need solutions. They go the extra mile to make sure that all details of their projects are addressed and fine tuned. They speak positively of their peers, their team and anyone else who is involved in the project.
What are your thoughts on what makes a project manager shine? What do you think makes the cut between being an average project manager and an awesome project manager? We invite you to share your thoughts and experience.
UMaine offshore wind project receives $3.7 million grant, reviving vision for offshore wind farm
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $3.7 million to a University of Maine-led to further research and development of offshore wind technology.
The Money Will Help Finance Further Development of Floating Turbines That Could Lead to a Lucrative Clean-energy Industry in the State.
The DOE found enough promise in the project’s progress to spend the additional money, bringing the total investment to $6.7 million and allowing the consortium to complete engineering and design work to address technical concerns.
Habib Dagher, leader of UMaine’s offshore wind research team, said “the DOE was impressed by the Maine project’s low cost. It’s also the only project with a power purchase agreement in place.” Dagher also said “the project will be financed using a combination of public money, private investment and borrowing”.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy passed over the Maine Aqua Ventus project for a $47 million grant, but provided $3 million to keep the project alive. The winning proposals in Virginia, New Jersey and Oregon are currently behind on project milestones, creating the opportunity for Aqua Ventus to lead.
Aqua Ventus, plans to place a two-turbine, 12-megawatt project off the coast of Monhegan Island and is the only project of its kind that proposes the use of concrete for the floating platforms.
The DOE is impressed by the design because it holds the potential to drive down costs while moving construction closer to project sites, spreading out the economic impact, Dagher said, “the technology can be used to access more than half of the offshore wind resources in deep waters within 50 miles of the coast, and will create jobs”.
UMaine has already tested a smaller 65-foot-tall turbine deployed off Castine, Maine, which performed as engineers expected, even as waves reached the equivalent of 75 feet.
Hopes for an offshore wind project are pinned on Aqua Ventus after Norwegian company Statoil spiked its plans to put four three-megawatt wind turbines 12 miles off Maine’s coast.
UMaine, which was selected as an alternative, is waiting in the wings if any of the winning proposals fail to meet milestones by May 1. Those programs with the greatest likelihood of success will be selected to move forward after May 31, Danielson wrote.
As part of the effort, UMaine will unveil a $13.8 million expansion of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center next week. The new structure will allow scientists to produce wind and waves of varying intensity, recreating the fury of the North Atlantic in a controlled setting on campus in Orono, Dagher said.
9 Architectural Projects That Busted the Bank Vaults
Since the beginning of recorded time, construction projects have always been a major part of history. In fact, grandiose construction projects to erect the architectural visions of Pharaohs, Kings, Rulers, and Monarchs was used as a way to put the wealth and power of leaders on display for all of the people their lands to see.
Not surprisingly, all of these projects came at a great cost to the leaders that initiated them.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is one example of a grand architectural vision. This massive structure was built under the leadership of Egyptian pharaoh Khufu in the 26th century B.C.E. By the time work on the structure was completed, Knufu spent a great deal of his kingly fortunes on the project. According to sources, it is estimated that this project would cost more than $5 billion dollars to duplicate today.
Since then, there have been many other building projects that have cost significant amounts of money to build, some that were so grand in their scope they effectively broke the bank.
We will examine more of these projects here.
1. The Three Gorges Dam
This massive Chinese construction project took place over the Yangtze River in the Hubei province of Central China. This scope of this project was enormous and came with quite a bit of controversy due to the changes to the environment that were needed to make the project become a reality. When this project was approved in 1992, the Vice Premier at the time, Zoa Jiahua quoted the project cost at $8.35 billion to complete. In 2006, when the project was officially ended, the total cost ended up being closer to $37 billion dollars, or roughly four times more than the original estimate.
2. The Ryungyong Hotel
The ground broke for this 105 story luxury tourist hotel in 1987 in North Korea, despite the country being closed off to foreign visitors. After investing approximately $750 million dollars in the structure, the project came to an abrupt end when the Soviet Union, North Korea’s major economic supporter, collapsed. Today, the building remains unfinished and is recognised as being the tallest unoccupied structure in the entire world.
3. The MOSE Project
This building project was originally intended to help control flooding in Venice. However, it primarily served as a project to sink money into. The original budget for the project was $1.7 billion dollars but jumped to $8.1 billion over time. None of the work that was completed did anything to prevent flooding. Many people involved in the initial construction were arrested on bribery and corruption charges in connection with the project. Venice continues to have problems with flooding and sinking.
4. The Mirabel Airport
This airport was originally opened to serve Montreal, Canada in mid-1970. The Government seized 100,000 acres of land and displaced thousands of residents from their homes for the land that was needed to construct the airport. The cost of the land was $140 million dollars. This amount was eight times more than the costs that were originally projected. Once construction on the airport began, the price skyrocketed to a total cost of around $276 million dollars. Adding further pressure to the Mirabel Airport project was the fact that the Montreal-Dorval International Airport was located within a short driving distance away. While this airport did operate for a number of years, it ceased operations in 2004. In late 2014, demolition of the site began which added another $15 million dollars of cost to the failed project.
5. The Sagrada Familia
There is no doubt that building a Cathedral is no small undertaking. For the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, it is a project that has advanced at a snail’s pace and with a hefty price tag that can not even be calculated due to how slow the project has been to finish. Construction on the house of worship began in 1883. In 2015, it still needs to be completed. In 2011, the President of the Building Committee said that it might be completed in 2026 – 143 years after construction originally began.
6. The Millennium Dome
This is a London based project that has a happy ending, despite a shaky, and very expensive start. When construction of the Millennium Dome began in the 1990’s, the original budget of 758 million pounds was exceeded when it ended up costing 789 million pounds, so it lost money from day one, even without including maintenance costs. However, in 2007 the structure was sold to AEG and renamed the 02 Arena, so some of the initial investment money was recouped. This site is now a top venue for sporting events and concerts in the London, UK area.
7. The Channel Tunnel
Sometimes referred to as the “Chunnel” is a tunnel in the English Channel that links the United Kingdom with France. It’s not surprising that a project of this scope would cost a lot of money and time to complete successfully. In total, it took six years of work and $21 billion dollars to finish. In financial costs, it ended up being 80% more expensive than originally forecast. This privately funded project caused many of the initial investors to lose most of their investment due to over run costs. Today, their diligence to the project has made it widely successful. Hundreds of millions of people use the Chunnel trains to commute between France and the UK, with a travel time of around 35 minutes.
8. The Central Artery Tunnel Project
In 1991, Boston began construction of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, also known as the Big D, to provide commuters with an alternative to using the main highway through the City. This project is one of the most expensive construction projects in the history of the United States with a ‘real’ cost of $22 billion dollars once interest on the funding for the project is paid off in 2038. The Central Artery/Tunnel Project included the construction of roads, bridges, and even a tunnel that was built under the Boston Harbor. While this project did have the original effect it was supposed to have by alleviating traffic congestion in parts of Boston, overall traffic in the areas where the Big D serves has also increased.
9. The Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is another example of a building project that came with many personal and financial losses during its construction in the early 1900’s. The project was hexed with obstacles including outbreaks of deadly malaria and mudslides that, according to hospital records, resulted in over 5,600 labourers deaths. Today, the Panama Canal remains a key part of the shipping industry between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. In 2014, work at the Canal ground to a halt after a dispute between the Panama Canal Authority and a conglomerate of European construction companies disagreed who would pay for a $1.16 billion overrun in costs. All parties involved in the dispute agreed on stop-gap funding that put the project back in action. In 2015, expansion work on the Panama Canal continues and the overall costs of the project continue to rise.
Craft A Snake Tie For Any Occasion
Taking the Right Path to Good Agile Implementations
1) A Wise Man Said Only Fools Rush In
Companies that goes nuts for agile because they know they have to deliver faster and for less cost to keep up with competitors may be making a big mistake and face a collapse of their efforts.
If they focused first on a deep understanding of their business’ needs, they could more accurately decide if agile is a good fit. A better approach for you to take is analyse your current processes to determine if agile methodologies actually support your goals and needs.
2) Educated Stakeholders Make Excellent Allies
Agile works from a focal point of improving quality delivery and frequency. It does not start with reducing time to market or cutting costs. Those benefits are a result of implementing agile methods over time, after the requisite investment of time and resources has been made.
3) Don’t Do the Project Without at Least One Committed Product “Owner”
A “product owner” is a the committed business leader who will make or break the project. This person will be expected to put at least half of their time into the project. They’ll also be responsible for getting all the decisions made through the right channels in a reasonable period of time. You must have a leader like this to succeed.
4) Gain Consensus on the Definition Of “Finished”
Everybody on-board needs to agree on what constitutes being finished with any stage of implementation. For some, it will mean that by the end of each and every iteration, the production-ready software will be available. This is not always possible, so get out ahead of a potential problem and gain consensus.
5) Build an Exceptional Cross-Functional Team
Cross-functionality is what separates the ineffective agile teams from the high-performance ones. Team members have to be proficient in performing any and all necessary tasks so that they’ll be able to always deliver what the customers need.
Team building requires that you identify the right parties and that you shape them into a functional team by making sure that they share your own true goal of always delivering massive value to product owners.
6) Make the Proper Investment in the Tools That Support Agile
The beginning stages of any agile project will involve you investing in the of the robust frameworks, infrastructure, and process automation tools that fully support agility. This includes a wide range of solutions like continuous build servers, automation testing, video conferencing, interactive chat, and software frameworks. Don’t scrimp on other important details like the solution architecture, either.
7) Retrospectives Need to Be a Main Priority
Inspection and adapting are the keys to agile. Organisations using this methodology use a vehicle called “retrospectives” to ensure these tasks are being performed correctly. A proper retrospective should embrace the qualities of self-improvement and transparency. Any actions that are a result of the retrospective must be given the highest priority. This is especially true of estimations, which are crucial to achieving the kind of team velocity that keeps projects on track.
8) Start the Project with a Solution Architecture
Even though documentation is not always the most glamorous part of any project, you’ll be well served to make sure you understand that documentation is still important to a successful project. Using a solution architecture pays off because it serves a blueprint for the final project that will be delivered by the team. Team members need this document so they understand what will happen if they make changes. Members who are added to the project at later days will use the documentation as a reference point so they can be brought up to speed.
9) Embrace the Fact That Change Is Coming and Plan for It
You can’t make a change without a cost in agile. Change is something you always have to embrace philosophically, but be aware of the costs and the impacts to the project. When you are doing the estimation process, factor in potential changes when applicable.
10) You and Your External Partners Should Have an Agile Relationship
Agile is not always the best fit for traditional vendors. They prefer contracts that use fixed prices and fixed outcomes. When you switch to agile you’ll need to make a point out of understanding the ramifications the changes will have with your vendors. You and they may have to make some changes to keep the relationship running smooth.
Try to build a transparent relationship with all of your external vendors. Risk Reward contracts that employ clearly defined KPIs work amazingly well for agile organisations.
35 Best Conflict Resolution Quotes
Conflict happens. However, avoidance of conflict, with no effort to resolve it, postpones a proper response and exacerbates the problem because conflicts that are allowed to fester unaddressed will always increase and have negative effects on relationships within the body.
These quotes seem to suggest that it is how you handle the situation, your attitude going into the conflict, and the conflict resolution that matters.
- “If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.” — Miles Davis
- “Don’t look where you fall, but where you slipped.” — African proverb
- “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” — Paul Boese
- “If war is the violent resolution of conflict, then peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather, the ability to resolve conflict without violence.” — C.T. Lawrence Butler
- “One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations is that in political, military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.” — Jimmy Carter
- “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” — Cherokee proverb
- “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” — Winston Churchill
- “A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill
- “Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth–or rage, fear, shame, entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.” — Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith
- “The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.” — Tom Crum
- “I believe that the basic nature of human beings is gentle and compassionate. It is therefore in our own interest to encourage that nature, to make it live within us, to leave room for it to develop. If on the contrary, we use violence, it is as if we voluntarily obstruct the positive side of human nature and prevent its evolution.” — His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass
- “The more incompetent one feels, the more eager he is to fight.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- “Every person in this life has something to teach me—and as soon as I accept that, I open myself to truly listening.” — Catherine Doucette
- “The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way in which we use them.” — Adriana Doyle
- “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” — Wayne Dyer
- “Whenever two good people argue over principles, they are both right.” — Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
- “Today . . . spend more time with people who bring out the best in you, not the stress in you.”—- Unknown Author
- “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Unknown
- “Love is our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator. The more we ignore its potential to bring greater balance and deeper meaning to human existence, the more likely we are to continue to define history as one long inglorious record of man’s inhumanity to man.” — Unknown
- “You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.” — Buckminister Fuller
- “Our greatest power as nations and individuals is not the ability to employ assault weapons, suicide bombers, and drones to destroy each other. The greater more creative powers with which we may arm ourselves are grace and compassion sufficient enough to love and save each other.” — Seth Godin
- “The problem with holding a grudge is that your hands are then too full to hold onto anything else.” — Seth Godin
- “To truly listen is to risk being changed forever.” — Sakej Henderson
- “The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
- “Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” — William James
- “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” – Jesse Jackson
- “Always pass a plate of forgiveness before each verbal feast — Anabel Jensen
- “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” — Kimberly Johnson
- “If you’re not listening, you’re not learning.” — L.B. Johnson
- “Conflict cannot survive without your participation.”— Wayne Dyer
- Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” — Carl Jung
- “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”— Anthony Robbins
- “Happiness depends on what you can give, not on what you can get.”— Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati
- “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” — Martin Luther King
Jesus did not advocate non-violence merely as a technique for outwitting the enemy, but as a just means of opposing the enemy in such a way as to hold open the possibility of the enemy’s becoming just as well. Both sides must win. We are summoned to pray for our enemies’ transformation, and to respond to ill-treatment with a love that not only is godly but also, I am convinced, can only be found in God.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Agile Methodologies
The “agile” buzzword has really taken hold among a myriad organisations worldwide. That result is not particularly surprising. Who wouldn’t love to employ light and fast tactics that allow them to respond to rapidly changing challenges? Despite all the optimism about agile methods, the bigger question is how well companies are actually doing when it comes to employing these methodologies in the real world. Without understanding what the core objectives of embracing agile methods are, it’s not going to be easy to gain results.
Agile methodology is employed in order to reduce the time, risk, and cost that is associated with a project. However, these massive benefits are not going to materialise out of thin air. They are the result of the dedicated work of a team who is well versed in implementing the methodology.
To become “agile” will require organisations to take a quantum leap in their culture. They will have to embrace the entire philosophy behind these methods or no real change will take place. Truly agile companies are the ones that have gone through a transformative process in order to implement brand new processes that say goodbye to the past. This takes a lot of work and effort and not all organisations are willing or able to do this.
Ugly Agile Implementations
Project teams that are solely focused on results and who don’t do their homework end up with very ugly agile implementations. These teams are so excited about agile as a concept that they convert everyone in their organisation into adopting the methods. The problem is, they do not spend the requisite time getting everyone on board with exactly what needs to be done.
Because of this oversight, the projects are plagued with poor communications and engagement. The project team and others in the organisation are each working on their own tasks with no thought to how the pieces fit together in the “big picture.” This is a major problem because agile methods really only shine when the whole organisation works as one well-oiled unit. In this scenario, major issues at the core of the project are neglected and the entire project goes off the rails. This leaves a bad taste in the mouths of managers, who are no longer excited about agile methods.
Really ugly agile implementations have the wrong focus. Because of this myopia, the true benefits of agile employment are never realised. Before long, things, unfortunately, go back to “normal.”
Bad Agile Implementations
Some businesses completely miss the boat when it comes to agile deployment. They’re interested in receiving the benefits of reduced costs, faster time to market, and cutting “red tape.” Despite this knowledge, they’re not truly committed to the all of the values that are espoused by the Agile Manifesto. Without this commitment, they cannot possibly hope to fully embrace a functional implementation.
Organisations like to invest in education and communications, but they ignore important concepts like utilising the tools that help them truly embrace agility. They even form teams that understand cross-functionality, but without empowerment they are unable to make vital decisions.
Lastly, organisations that do poor agile implementations perform project reviews regularly enough, but the input from the meetings is never acted on by anyone. The key issues that are preventing proper implementation are never properly addressed and the project fails on its promise. Organisation members swear off the agile methods forever at this point.
Good Agile Implementations
When business personnel and IT staff work together, good implementations of agile are the result. These units work together so that a project delivery methodology is presented to the organisation that meets its needs. They also spend the time to create the cultural changes needed to ensure the methods are successful.
In organisations like this, team members, business end users, along with senior management and key stakeholders received a continuous education that empowers them all. Cross-functional teams that excel are the results. These organisations also invest in the techniques and tools that fully support agile. That includes test driven development, continuous builds, new standards, and more. With these in place, a platform that ensures long-term success will be installed.
Particularly telling, these businesses conduct regular project reviews which they conceptualise as opportunities to improve instead of something that simply has to be done. When change is needed, they embrace it and plan for it. When it arrives, they are ready and the organisation continues to excel. A sign of a good agile implementation is when the organisation is commits to making long-term changes that will benefit the methodology in the long run.
It doesn’t pay to underestimate just how difficult implementing good agile really is. Since major internal changes to how project delivery is done need to be embraced, the road ends up being a challenging one. Traditional managers will be challenged because empowered teams now have more input than ever before.
Once a good agile implementation is in place, the benefits are obvious and plentiful. An energised, cross-functional community of empowering people who are all focused on common goals get more done than ever before. Good implementation put platforms into use that improve project delivery because they allow for test-driven development, continuous integration, standards implementation, and best practice design applications.
6 Project Management Taboos Christian Project Leaders Should Break
The lack of project management training or experience of many Christian leaders can be an enormous stress factor for them. Whilst natural organizational ability is enormously helpful, in itself it is no guarantee of any project being both successful and low stress.
A taboo is an activity that is forbidden or sacred based on religious beliefs or morals. Breaking a taboo is extremely objectionable in society as a whole. We have isolated six project management taboos that are common in PM discussions.
The upside of understanding and acting on these most common project management taboos is tremendous. Not only will your project success rate increase, you’ll also improve satisfaction among internal customers.
1. ‘The customer is always right’ is wrong
The project sponsor is a role in project management, usually the senior member of the project board and often the chair. The project sponsor will often be a senior executive in a corporation who is responsible to the business for the success of the project.
However, project sponsors are people, and they can be wrong. This taboo prevents project managers from openly examining the actions of senior individuals in power. In its more stringent form, this taboo can even convert “lessons learned” activities into simple exercises in fawning praise for the vision of our leaders. When we cannot question the actions of the powerful, the organization can have difficulty finding its way out of trouble. This problem is most severe when the actions (or failure to act) of an Executive sponsor in power is the issue.
Ignoring a Problem Is, Enabling the Problem
2. ‘Ignore your problems and they will go away‘
The perfect employee. The perfect manager. The perfect workplace. Wouldn’t it be nice if that existed? When it comes to managing people, one of the best things we can do is to realize that nothing will ever be perfect. There will always be problems. It’s how we deal with them that matters the most, so do not ignore them, because they won’t miraculously go away. The problem only gets worse, frustration levels increase, productivity suffers and complacency will set in. They fester the longer you ignore them and ultimately compound the cost of the project.
You aren’t fooling anyone, people know when there is a problem! Occasionally things can get better by themselves, however, the majority of the time this doesn’t happen.
If you do something wrong, it’s about how well you fix it,” says GlassHouse Technologies’ Scannell. “Most people batten down the hatches and close up shop. Understanding when you’re starting to fail and quickly being able to engage as many stakeholders as possible to fix it is critical.”
Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers – Nice to Have or Necessity
3. Showing emotion is a sign of weakness
If only it were just about defining scope, creating a project plan and tracking costs.
Project Management obviously encompasses all those things, but it’s also about relationship development, team building, influencing, collaborating, and negotiating often in very complex environments.
In most workplace environments project managers have difficulty showing feelings. Project managers cannot even discuss them. It’s a pity — feelings are part of being human. When we can discuss feelings, we can manage them, and we can use them as indicators of morale, future performance, or motivation. This project management taboo can limit the effectiveness of project retrospectives. In projects, strong feelings are common. They play an important role in determining project performance. Yet feelings are rarely discussed in project retrospectives, and this omission can prevent project managers from truly understanding the evolution of the projects they are supposedly managing and examining. However, whatever form a project takes there will always be people involved and where there are people there are emotions.Emotions influence people’s actions, their behaviors and their responses to the emotions of others. So welcome to the world of ‘emotional intelligence’.
The concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) was first popularised by Daniel Goleman in 1995 with his book, “Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ.”
Just Jump Through the Hoops, Don’t Try to Fix the World
4. Project Managers should play by the rules
Most organizations have processes that nearly everyone understands are outdated and counterproductive, however, when project managers dismiss these processes, neglect to model their costs to organizations, the outdated processes are then very difficult to change.
Indeed, the taboo is part of the cultural infrastructure that enables these dysfunctional processes to persist. If project managers discuss them openly, they might find that upgrading them could provide significant payback.
Keep Complaining! It’s Good for You!
5. Keep complaining! It’s good for you!
We’ve all know that rush of relief you feel as soon as you wrap up a major rant. This is the national art and sport of the UK. However, complaining is viral misery. Back in 2006, an American pastor named Will Bowen launched a campaign he called “A Complaint Free World”. Drawing on the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, Alessandri pushes back against the assumption that complaining is only worthwhile if it gets concrete results; there’s no point in it, the received wisdom goes, if what you’re bemoaning is beyond your control.
Peace Is Not Absence of Conflict, It Is the Ability to Handle Conflict by Peaceful Means
6. You must take sides in a political conflict
Just keep neutral. It is possible to be respectful to (and respected by) your colleagues by staying neutral. Politics are as old as civilization and have continued to be a source of fascination since Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a treatise on how to acquire and retain power, in the 16th century.
There are a lot more project management taboos that aren’t included listed here. We are interested in your thoughts and suggestions?
Modular Eco-house System
5 of the World’s Most Spectacular Megaprojects
We seem to be entering a new age of megaprojects as countries around the world mobilise the private sector to invest heavily in multi-billion or sometimes multi-trillion dollar infrastructure initiatives.
Megaprojects (sometimes also spelled “mega projects”) are very large investment projects and require care in the project development process to reduce any possible optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation.
The most expensive large-scale megaprojects in the world range from bridges, tunnels, highways, railways, airports, seaports, power plants, dams and wastewater projects to entire city districts.
Megaprojects seem to be practically recession-proof and have continued despite the 2008 global economic slowdown likely spurred megaproject construction, since the governments of some countries among them China, India, and the United States saw investment in infrastructure as a way to stimulate growth. Moreover, many large corporations are locked into megaprojects, because only enormous undertakings seem capable of nudging their bottom lines.
Here, we take a look at 5 of the biggest, most important and spectacular megaprojects around the world.
Songjiang Hotel, China
Three Gorges Dam
Man has long used technology to harness nature and dam building has always been one of the most controversial methods.
Building a dam causes dramatic effects on the environment, yet can benefit man in innumerable ways.
Three Gorges Dam located in Sandouping, Yiling, Hubeiis is the largest power station in the world and took 14 years to complete at a cost of USD $37 billion ( ¥180 billion). The original estimated cost was USD $6 billion ( ¥20 billion). It can produce as much as 15 nuclear power plants and is expected to create 10% of China’s entire energy supply.
The Three Gorges Dam has moved 39 trillion kilograms of water 175 metres above sea level which scientists believe has altered the planet enough to change the speed at which the earth rotates.
The dam was first suggested by Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China in 1919 and people have been working on it, researching how it would work and where exactly it would go for nearly 100 years.
London Crossrail
Crossrail is Europe’s largest infrastructure project and is set to boost London’s rail capacity by 10%. The project will deliver approximately 11.9km of twin bore tunnels.
The $23 billion development 73-mile rail project will connect London from East to West, improving access to Heathrow Airport, central London as well as city’s surrounding towns and suburbs.
Eight boring machines have been cutting their way through earth to create 26 miles (42km) of tunnels.
Construction of Crossrail began at Canary Wharf in London Docklands on 15 May 2009, with tunnelling work starting in May 2012.
The Crossrail project is about 65% complete and engineers will now continue upgrading existing stations and building new stations in central London and London Docklands.
Beijing International Airport Terminal 1 to be World’s Biggest
Beijing’s new international airport
January 2013 saw work approved for a new airport in Beijing. With large sweeping, non-conforming arches that span inwards with curves to the interior, there is a definite stamp of Zaha Hadid Architects with their design language.
Playing host to eight runways and with the capabilities to cater for 130 million passengers every year, Beijing’s new international airport will be among the world’s largest and busiest once complete in 2017.
One Giant Leap for Mankind
International Space station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest artificial body in orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth.
It may be one of the most ambitious scientific ventures ever and also the largest masterpiece of the human engineering in orbit around Earth at present. The station consists mainly of habitable and science modules, external trusses and solar panels to provide power.
The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research including astrobiology, astronomy, human research including space medicine and life sciences, physical sciences, materials science, space weather and weather on Earth.
What exciting projects did we miss on our list? Let us know in the comments section below.
