The Pragmatic Strategist

Canines, Trains and Really Great Parties

One of my favorite things about the information economy is the extent to which a highly commoditized, social web lowers the barrier to entry for prospective entrepreneurs.  While some of us elect to dive into owning our own business head-first with little or no safety net, that’s not the best way for some people.  Many [...]

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Tis the Season to be Independent

In Deck the Halls with Pink Slips I discuss the November round of layoffs at several big companies. Of course, part of what brought these to my attention is that a dear friend of mine got caught in the pre-holidays cut-backs at Adobe. Even worse, however, was the fact that my friend loved working at [...]

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Winners and Windmills

Accomplishment-oriented people often share a very common character trait: we hate to quit. More often than not, this is a combination of our own need to conquer whatever mountain we have set our sights on, and our belief that others are counting on us to succeed. In both cases, those assumptions are frequently over-estimated. Our [...]

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Time Management & New Projects

Well, things have been crazy as I’ve been learning the ropes for my new roles: Principal & Co-Founder of The Indigo Heron Group, Inc. and Managing Editor of Social Computing Magazine. Lots to learn and lots to do, much of which has taken it’s toll on my blogging efforts. I’m working on some new time [...]

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Why I Love Project Management

Throughout my career I have held roles with all kinds of titles, but in the end, at my core, I am a project manager. That is how I see myself and how I tend to identify, no matter what my formal title. And it’s for a very, very simple reason: there is one constant in [...]

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A PM Sans a PMP

As I have been looking for new employment as part of our relocation to Austin, I have found myself having to explain (over and over and over again) why it is exactly that, after a decade of working as a project manager, I still have yet to be certified as a Project Management Professional. Unfortunately, [...]

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The Argument Against the 'Over-qualified' Argument

I have recently gone through a series of interviews/screenings where the net result was, “I’m sorry, but you are just over-qualified for this position.” In response to that highly frustrating designation, I propose the following: Being classified as “over-qualified” is usually less “You cost too much” and more “I’m afraid you’ll be bored and leave [...]

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