Lessons Learned in Project Management

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗣𝗠𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 - 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 📚 Read the report: https://lnkd.in/ekRmSj_h With this report, we are introducing a simple and scalable way to measure project success. A successful project is one that 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲, as perceived by key stakeholders. This clearly represents a shift for our profession, where beyond execution excellence we also feel accountable for doing anything in our power to improve the impact of our work and the value it generates at large. The implications for project professionals can be summarized in a framework for delivering 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 success: 📚𝗠anage Perceptions For a project to be considered successful, the key stakeholders - customers, executives, or others - must perceive that the project’s outcomes provide sufficient value relative to the perceived investment of resources. 📚𝗢wn Project Success beyond Project Management Success Project professionals need to take any opportunity to move beyond literal mandates and feel accountable for improving outcomes while minimizing waste. 📚𝗥elentlessly Reassess Project Parameters Project professionals need to recognize the reality of inevitable and ongoing change, and continuously, in collaboration with stakeholders, reassess the perception of value and adjust plans. 📚𝗘xpand Perspective All projects have impacts beyond just the scope of the project itself. Even if we do not control all parameters, we must consider the broader picture and how the project fits within the larger business, goals, or objectives of the enterprise, and ultimately, our world. I believe executives will be excited about this work. It highlights the value project professionals can bring to their organizations and clarifies the vital role they play in driving transformation, delivering business results, and positively impacting the world. The shift in mindset will encourage project professionals to consider the perceptions of all stakeholders- not just the c-suite, but also customers and communities. To deliver more successful projects, business leaders must create environments that empower project professionals. They need to involve them in defining - and continuously reassessing and challenging - project value. Leverage their expertise. Invest in their work. And hold them accountable for contributing to maximize the perception of project value at all phases of the project - beyond excellence in execution. 📚 Please read the report, reflect on its findings, and share it broadly. And comment! Project Management Institute #ProjectSuccess #PMI #Leadership #ProjectManagementToday

Japan’s bullet trains had a problem big enough to threaten the future of high-speed rail. At 200 mph, tunnels turned them into sonic bombs. Noise complaints grew. Communities suffered. Speed restrictions became a real risk. What stands out to me is this: The solution did not come from more force. It came from a bird. Engineer Eiji Nakatsu studied the kingfisher, which moves from air into water with barely a splash, and used that insight to redesign the Shinkansen’s nose. The result was remarkable: ↳ sonic boom dramatically reduced ↳ trains became about 10% faster ↳ electricity use dropped by around 15% But this was never just about noise. This is the deeper impact: ↳ 15% less energy has been framed as 200,000 fewer tons of CO2 annually ↳ 10% faster speeds can mean more people living outside expensive cities while still commuting ↳ quieter tunnels can mean families near the tracks finally sleeping through the night That is what makes this story bigger than engineering. One bird’s beak did not just improve a train. It reshaped how an entire system could perform, with less friction for people and the environment. I see a much bigger lesson here. The best innovation does not always come from adding more power, more cost, or more complexity. Sometimes it comes from observing better. Nature has already solved for speed, efficiency, resilience, and adaptation. The real question is whether we are humble enough to learn from it. Because the future will not belong only to those who build more powerful systems. It will belong to those who build systems that work better with reality. What system in your industry is still being forced forward when it should be fundamentally redesigned? #Innovation #Biomimicry #Engineering #Leadership #Technology #Transportation #Sustainability #AI #FutureOfWork #PascalBornet

Most projects fail. But there’s a simple technique to give yours a fighting chance. It’s not a to-do list. It’s not a fancy tool. It’s not a 12-step system. It’s a single question that flips the way you think. Here’s how it works: It’s called a “premortem.” You’ve heard of a postmortem what went wrong after a project dies. A premortem asks: What if we ran that analysis now? Before anything dies. Before the first misstep. Before failure sets in. The premortem comes from psychologist Gary Klein. Here’s how to run one: → Gather your team. → Imagine it’s 2 years in the future. → The project has completely failed. → Ask: What went wrong? No sugarcoating. No happy talk. Start listing the causes of failure. Budget misfire? Wrong team? Lack of buy-in? Scope creep? Missed deadlines? You’ll be shocked how quickly people identify risks—once they feel safe predicting failure. Why this works: It defeats irrational optimism. • It turns hindsight into foresight. • It makes risk visible. • It aligns the team before chaos hits. Because the best time to fix a problem… is before it happens. Pre-mortems don’t require special skills. Just a shift in mindset: Don’t assume success. Assume failure—and reverse-engineer your way out. Ask: What will future-you wish you had done? Then… do that now. I run a premortem for every big project I take on. Writing a book? Premortem. Launching a podcast? Premortem. Planning an event? Premortem. It never guarantees success—but it always makes success more likely. Summary: The Premortem Playbook → Imagine future failure. → List the causes. → Turn those risks into action steps. → Adjust your plan today. It’s one of the most underrated tools in your productivity toolkit. Try it before your next project. You won’t regret it.

Stuck in an endless loop of client changes? Lost track of what revision this constitutes? Yeah. Been there. Done that. The secret? It's not about saying no. It's about saying yes to the right things upfront. Every project that goes sideways starts the same way: Vague agreements. Fuzzy boundaries. Good intentions. Six weeks later you're bleeding money and everyone's frustrated. Here's my framework after 30 years of running two 8-figure businesses: The SOW is your salvation. Not some boilerplate template. A real document that covers: • Exact deliverables (not "design work" but "3 homepage concepts, 2 rounds of revisions") • Hours of operation ("We respond M-F, 9-5 PST. Weekend requests get Monday responses") • Revision rounds spelled out ("Round 1 includes up to 5 changes. Round 2 includes 3.") • Feedback cycles defined ("48-hour turnaround for client feedback or the project may be delayed or additional fees may be incurred") But here's what most people miss— Don't work on client notes immediately. Client sends 37 pieces of feedback at 11pm Friday? Producer sends conflicting notes from the CEO? Marketing wants one thing, sales wants another? Stop. Collect everything first. Resolve the conflicts. Get on the phone and discuss it with your client to get alignment. Separate the "have to haves" from the "nice to haves". Then present unified changes. "Based on all feedback received, here are the 8 changes we'll implement. This constitutes revision round 2 of 3." Watch how fast the random requests stop. No extra work that goes unappreciated. No more feelings of being taken advantage of. Communicate before the crisis, prevents the crisis from happening. "Just so you know, we're entering round 2. You have one more included. After that, it's $X per additional round." No surprises. No awkward money conversations. No resentment. Scope creep isn't a them problem. It's a you problem. And that's good news, because that means you are in control. They're not trying to take advantage. They just don't know where the boundaries are because you never drew them. Draw the lines early. Communicate them clearly. Everyone wins. What's your most painful scope creep story? What boundary would've prevented it? Small Business Builders #projectmanagement #clientmanagement #businessgrowth

"𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗕𝘂𝘁…" – 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 😅 I still remember the first time I asked for feedback after my very first project as a Junior Research Analyst. I was expecting something like: 👉 “Great job!” or 👉 “You nailed it!” Instead, my manager paused and said: “Your work is good, but here’s where you could improve…” That "but" hit harder than I expected. I felt defensive. I had worked hard. But then, I realized something that changed my entire approach to feedback. 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮 (𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚): 🔹 1. Never Just Ask ‘How Did I Do?’ I learned that vague questions lead to vague answers. Instead, I started asking: “What’s one thing I should continue doing?” “What’s one thing I should change next time?” 🔹 2. Feedback ≠ Criticism Feedback is NOT an attack. It’s a shortcut to improving faster than you would on your own. I started reframing feedback as free mentorship. 🔹 3. Your Manager Notices More Than You Think The best insights were about things I didn’t even realize I was doing wrong. Small details like my email phrasing, research depth, and structuring of insights made a huge difference. 🔹 4. The Smartest People Act on Feedback FAST The next time I worked on a project, I made the suggested changes immediately. Guess what? My manager noticed. And suddenly, I wasn’t just another “new joiner”—I was someone who learned quickly. 🔹 5. Ask for Feedback Even When Things Are Going Well Waiting for performance reviews = wasted time. Regular feedback helps you improve in real time, not 6 months later. My takeaway? Feedback stings only if you let it. Use it as a tool, not an attack. #CareerGrowth #FeedbackMatters #LessonsLearned

I don’t understand the shame associated with making mistakes. No one is perfect. No one delivered high-quality work on their first attempt. High-quality work IS the outcome of mistakes reflected upon. Use the RISE framework to turn any mistake into progress: R – Recognize Identify the mistake clearly without defensiveness. I – Investigate Ask why it happened. Was it a skill gap, a misunderstanding, or a process flaw? S – Synthesize Turn the insight into a principle or takeaway. E – Execute Differently Apply the learning immediately in your next project or task. Making mistakes is not the mistake. Not learning from them is. Quote from the book: It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done. PS: If you found this helpful, I share more insights to help you build a growth mindset. Follow along if you’re on the same journey.

🎢 How To Roll Out New Features Without Breaking UX. Practical guidelines to keep in mind before releasing a new feature ↓ 🚫 We often assume that people don’t like change. 🤔 But people go through changes their entire lives. ✅ People accept novelty if they understand/value it. ✅ But: breaking changes disrupt habits and hurt efficiency. ✅ Roll out features slowly, with multiple layers of testing. ✅ First, study where a new feature fits in key user journeys. ✅ Research where different user types would find and apply it. ✅ Consider levels of proficiency: from new users to experts. ✅ Actively support existing flows, and keep them a default. 🚫 Assume low adoption rate: don’t make a feature mandatory. ✅ First, test with internal employees and company-wide users. ✅ Then, run a usability testing with real users and beta testers. ✅ Then, test with users who manually opt in and run a split-test. ✅ Allow users to try a new feature, roll back, dismiss, remind later. ✅ Release slowly and gradually and track retention as you go. As designers, we often focus on how a new feature fits in the existing UI. Yet problems typically occur not because components don’t work visually, but rather when features are understood and applied in unexpected ways. Rather than zooming in too closely, zoom out repeatedly to see a broader scope. Be strategic when rolling out new versions. Especially in complex environments, we need to be rather cautious and slow, especially when operating on a core feature. That’s a strategy you could follow in such scenarios: 1. Seek and challenge assumptions. 2. Define how you’ll measure success. 3. Have a rollback strategy in place. 4. Test with designers and developers. 5. Test with internal company-wide users. 6. Test with real users in a usability testing. 7. Start releasing slowly and gradually. 8. Test with beta testers (if applicable). 9. Test with users who manually opt in. 10. Test with a small segment of customers first. 11. Split-test the change and track impact. 12. Wait and track adoption and retention rates. 13. Roll out a feature to more user segments. 14. Run UX research to track usage patterns. 15. Slowly replace deprecated flows with the new one. With a new feature, the most dangerous thing that can happen is that loyal, experienced users suddenly lose their hard-won efficiency. It might be caused by oversimplification, or mismatch of expectations, or — more often than not — because a feature has been designed with a small subset of users in mind. As we work on a shiny new thing, we often get blinded by our assumptions and expectations. What really helps me is to always wear a critical hat in each design crit. Relentlessly question everything. Everything! One wrong assumption is a goldmine of disastrous decisions waiting to be excavated. [continues in comments ↓]

A Project Manager Cannot Outperform a Broken System. Too many organizations still treat project success like it depends on finding one exceptional PM. Train them. Certify them. Give them better tools. Then put them inside a broken delivery environment and ask why the project still struggles. A strong PM matters. But no individual can compensate for: A team afraid to raise bad news. Priorities that constantly conflict. Ownership nobody can clearly explain. A sponsor who will not make decisions. An organization without enough capacity to deliver what it promised. Project leadership has to exist at every level: → Team conditions → Individual capability → Organizational conditions → Sponsor and governance behavior Because successful projects need more than a strong person at the center. They need: → Trust → Clarity → Ownership → Good decisions → Early truth while options remain → Adaptability when assumptions fail → Performance without burnout or heroics Here is the shift: Project accountability may sit with one person. Project leadership cannot. The strongest projects are not carried by heroic PMs. They are supported by systems where people can speak honestly, make timely decisions, own commitments, adapt together, and protect the outcome. If the PM is the only person leading the project, the system is already fragile. What should organizations fix first?

I reviewed 50+ MPH resumes this week. Almost all had certificates. Only a handful had real epidemiology projects. I sat with that for a moment. Because the pattern is clear: We are helping students collect credentials… but not teaching them how to think like epidemiologists. And employers see it instantly. After mentoring hundreds of MPH and PhD students, here’s the truth I wish someone had told me early in my career: Epidemiology rewards analytical thinkers, not certificate collectors. If you want to stand out, here is the roadmap: 1. Start with a real health question: Not “What software should I learn?” But “Which population health problem can I analyze today?” Examples: → County-level mortality trends → Disparities in your state’s chronic disease data → Injury or overdose time-series → BRFSS risk factors in your region Your skills grow when they’re anchored to real questions. 2. Begin with open, free, public health data: You don’t need access to hospitals or EHRs. Use: → CDC WONDER → NIH, WHO, and state dashboards → BRFSS, NHANES, National Vital Statistics → Environmental, mobility, or policy datasets Insight > access > certificates. 3. Build a portfolio that shows real epidemiologic reasoning: Examples that stand out: → County-level cluster detection → Social determinants + outcome mapping → Time-series analysis of injury or overdose deaths → Vaccination disparities by demographics These demonstrate the two traits hiring managers look for: clarity and rigor. 4. Level up: help local organizations: Most small health groups need analytics support: → Community clinics → Nonprofits → Health departments → Research labs They get value. You get experience. Your portfolio becomes credible overnight. 5. Document your full workflow: This is where most learners fall short: → Clear notes → Reproducible R/Python code → GitHub/OSF → One-page interpretation summary This shows how you think - not just what you built. 6. Deliver insights quickly. Improve later: Epidemiology is a decision science. Speed matters. → A simple map beats a perfect model delivered late → A basic trend line beats a stalled analysis → A quick dashboard beats analysis paralysis Impact happens when you ship consistently. 🔑 My 1-2-3 Framework for Applied Epidemiology 1. Understand the population + outcome 2. Choose the simplest valid method 3. Make everything transparent and reproducible This is how high-impact epidemiologists work. 💡 Turn Every Project Into Three Career Assets 1. GitHub repository 2. A one-page public health brief 3. A short LinkedIn post sharing your insight This builds a real professional identity - not just a list of certificates. If you want my template for documenting epidemiology projects, comment “Ready.” Like + repost to help future epidemiologists focus on impact, not credentials. #Epidemiology #PublicHealth #MPH #DataAnalysis #CareerAdvice

15 Years -15 Don’ts After 15 years in EPC, I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. Some mistakes were painful, some almost funny, but all of them left a mark. Here are my top 15 Don’ts that can derail any project: 1. Starting without a proper RAM test or geotechnical survey, saving money upfront, paying much more later. 2. Ignoring safety, workers in flip-flops, even children or babies on site. Unbelievable, but I’ve seen it. 3. Choosing low-quality components, cheap at the beginning, expensive forever. 4. Leaving responsibilities unclear, when nobody decides, chaos decides. 5. Hiding problems, small issues turn into big ones if you don’t address them early. 6. Awarding subcontractors only on lowest price, change orders are then guaranteed. 7. Bad site logistics, the first truck arrives and nobody knows where to unload. 8. Skipping the golden table, endless disputes later about “what’s correct.” 9. Wrong cables, when the inverter terminals are too small, just splice a thinner cable underground (yes, I’ve seen it). 10. Leaving unfinished work with the comment: “That’s for the O&M team to handle.”! Construction is never complete if responsibility is pushed downstream. 11. Believing more manpower fixes delays, usually it makes them worse. 12. Unrealistic timelines, ignoring permits, supply chain, or weather. 13. Starting in autumn and expecting the same timeline as in spring, winter changes everything. 14. Assuming winter construction costs the same as summer, it never does. 15. Treating commissioning as “just paperwork”, instead of a critical system test. Your turn: Which Don’ts have you seen in your projects? Who can top this list? #AndreasBach #SolarEnergy #Renewables #EPC #BESS #ProjectManagement #ConstructionFails