The discipline of project management is becoming a mature one… What are the role of standards in a maturing industry and what the heck IS project management anyway?

Team building has become one of the biggest buzzwords in management circles with good reason. It’s difficult to refute the advantages of having a well-oiled workgroup team that supplements and supports each others’ skills and competencies. The prevalence of the *team work concept* has led management to toss out competition as a motivator on their projects – an unfortunate loss, rather like tossing out the baby with the bathwater. Let me digress a moment.

It is impossible to always have the exact expertise that you need in house in order to get the job done. A *subcontractor* may be the best way to go. A skilled subcontractor will allow your regular staff to concentrate on projects that they are proficient in, and that can often be the best way to keep your staff on track and working at their optimal speed.

Using subcontractors gives you a number of advantages…

As anyone in a management position knows, it can sometimes be difficult to get the team up and moving. In today’s fast paced environment, most everyone is under stress, both at work and at home. But when a project deadline is looming and your team is buckling under the stress, then it is your job as a project manager to keep them motivated and on track. Take the time and earn the rewards from it!

Just imagine that you’ve found a stunning piece of crystal that you want to ship to your mother. You don’t just plop the thing into a box, slap a stamp on it and send it off, do you? Of course not! If you’re smart about it, you wrap it in cotton wool, then wrap THAT in bubble wrap, then fill the box with crumpled paper and carefully nestle the bubble-wrapped, cushioned delicate piece inside. Why would you treat the project that you’re building with any less care?

When Ken Salchow Jr., who designs network security for a F5 Networks, defines risk management with the following simple equation …

I am currently in the process of relaunching this project managment website to get running on a new content management system …

Therefore I wonder about what aspects, features and goodies you are looking for in addition to the existing ones.

Do you want to have a better way to communicate and discuss ?
Are you interested in contributing? As blogger or guest-writer?
Do you have a specific wish to me for topics to cover ?

Please let me know, if possible TODAY

We hear a lot in management circles about work incentives and employee motivation. Offer rewards for work, these expert articles will tell you.

Make a point of giving praise, they say.
They suggest bonding exercises and monetary incentives and recognition in the company newsletter – but most of them miss out on the key factors in employee motivation.

It’s more than just rewards – it’s a function of how you manage and the atmosphere that you promote among your team. If you step back from the experts for a moment and listen to your common sense, you’ll learn more about motivating your employees than you will in a raft load of articles on how to bond your workgroup into a winning team.

Read on for the 5 top suggestions on motivation your team!

Freelancer portals again

do you prefer Changing Code or Building Code ?

Even the the guy behind The Million Dollar Homepage – the site which made him…