David Cotgreave
Written Articles
IT Project Management can be a bit like a theme park of rollercoaster rides – thrilling at first, but quickly full of twists, sudden drops, unexpected loops, and that one terrifying moment when you realise the track ahead looks … er … unfinished.
One minute you’re cruising through planning, and the next you’re free-falling through shifting priorities, budget changes, or surprise stakeholder input. That’s why you need someone riding beside you—steady, experienced, and holding your hand.
Have you just had your budgets for the next financial year? Are you expected to deliver more with less money? What better time to make your operation as efficient as possible?!
A Spring Clean for IT Project Management is a great way to refresh processes, improve efficiency, and reduce risks.
According to Multicosts of Multitasking by Kevin P Madore and Anthony D Wagner: “We have a hard time multitasking because of the ways that our building blocks of attention and executive control inherently work. To this end, when we attempt to multitask, we are usually switching between one task and another. The human brain has evolved to single task.”
If I were to ask you what skills, presently, your IT project team has, could you open a skills matrix and show me?
Could you articulate which skills your IT projects will need in 6 or 12 months? Could you align these with your current inhouse talent?
Do you know how frequently your organisation will need specific skill sets?
With the UK facing rising employer NICs, against a backdrop of other rising costs, most businesses and organisations are tightening their belts
Whether it’s seemingly small changes (like reviewing janitorial products you purchase) or larger, strategic decisions, like staff layoffs, each of the choices you make now has an impact.
Your IT Project is heading off course, out of control and heading at speed to become part of those often-quoted failure statistics … what do you do?Panic? Head to the nearest bar?Do nothing and hope for the best? Or … implement a cunning plan that saves the day (Editor’s Note: Then head to the nearest […]
As an industry, we are using AI more to deliver IT Projects (not just our blogs) and it’s only going to ramp up! That “mainline AI into the veins” announcement by Sir Keir Starmer talked about billions of pounds of private sector investment, government support and that he wants Britain to be “the world leader” in AI.
Of course, a major reason for implementing AI is to save money! Even those that say that it’s about automating the mundane tasks or freeing talent to focus on other more strategic areas concede that, deep down, it’s really about the bottom line.
When the Financial Times asked nearly 100 economists about the UK economy in the year ahead, their responses were mixed – uninspiring even.
There will be growth, albeit fuelled by higher Government and some consumer spending, and the UK will perform better than other European countries where political instability threatens to destabilise their economies.
In the New Year, we’re back on a more serious trajectory with more Straight Talking on IT Project management with the top IT Project Management trends for 2025, and a January blog that will turn you from worrier to warrior!
Right now, though, tis the season for letting your hair down and we’re in full festive mode! Welcome to our party!
There are some brilliant IT project cracker jokes at the end (That’s subjective – Ed) and … as well as laughter … there’s music too!
Did you know that many traditional Christmas songs are IT Project Management anthems? It’s true!!
So … put on your Christmas cracker crown and kick back with some festive favourites.
We invest a lot of time, energy and budget on the “self-care” of our IT projects, in terms of robust governance, strong PMO (Project Management Office) and world-class processes, etc – but do we pay enough attention to our individual or team’s self-care?
Given the anecdotal stress, work-overload and burn-out in our industry, I’m thinking – NO.