In this cast we describe Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who Does What By When.

We've talked and joked about it many times, and this cast will put to rest the details of Horstman's Law of Project Management (HLPM). Mark came up with it several years ago, to help a group of young managers get over their fear of working on fairly complex software development projects. It was actually born over a dinner at Mexican restaurant in Dallas!

The concept is simple: all projects are simply tasks, done by people, within certain time frames. Despite all protestations to the contrary, no matter how complex the project, they all boil down to who is responsible for doing something, what they're responsible for, and when they have to have it done by. Complex tools can be helpful, but only on really large projects (and almost nobody looks at them anyway ;-) ).

Keep it simple with HLPM. Here's how.

In this cast we debunk the myth that change briefings are about logic, and suggest a different path: persuading individual team members.

You're going to be asked to lead, or at least brief on, change efforts that your organization is engaged in. Regardless of whether it's your idea or someone else's, you don't win people's energy to your cause by showing how right you are. You win their support by showing them why this plan works for THEM.

This cast discusses a way to harvest our work on annual reviews for use during layoff discussions.

Nobody likes preparing annual reviews. Even those of us who are good at it know that far too often they sit on someone’s desk, unused. But during a downturn, Annual reviews are an important piece of raw material that helps effective managers deal with a Steel Cage Death Match meeting.