Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

33% of respondents to a recent Computerworld survey identified project management as the No. 1 management challenge for 2006, beating out budget constraints and regulatory compliance.  

Project management ain’t what it used to be. From who’s on the team and where team members are located to the tasks they’re expected to complete, project management is a changing discipline.  

For example it part of doing everyday business in many companies to not only have workers scattered across their own countries, but to live all over the world.  

That is why it is becoming increasingly important for project managers to prepare their staffs for the practicalities of working with those that live overseas and to learning the cultural differences.  

Many managers only think of this if they physically have to go somewhere and personally be with them. This couldn’t be further from the truth.  

Think of something as simple as time zones and coordinating simultaneous contacts that require all to partake in. If things aren’t planned right, you may be contacting people when they are sleeping. 

Or things like many countries having holidays that we may never think of. Some countries have double or triple the number of holiday as others do. Are you planning something on one of them?

Language is of course a consistent challenge. Even in India where there are many that speak English very well, the number "77744333" would be spoken as "triple seven, double four, triple three." Imagine what that could do in IT where there are many very long numbers involved. Kapur from India mentions that these things can cause delays for days.

Project Management faces new challenges that we must learn to incorporate into our everyday thinking. The global business climate isn’t going away, and we must continually face these realities daily.

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