Honesty
By upbringing and inclination I have a tendency to straightforward communication. I’ve never seen anything good come from being dishonest with colleagues, clients, customers, or suppliers. In a project management or team leadership context, clear, honest communication is absolutely essential.
Professionalism
I have a firm belief that people operating in a professional environment should employ professional principles. The job is there to be done in an efficient manner to the required level of quality. Best practice for project management, team leadership, documentation and communication should be used. One of my soap boxes is the management, agreement and documentation of requirements. If you haven’t defined what you’re going to do, how do you know how to test it – or even when you’ve finished! Don’t leave “dead rats” lying around hoping someone else will pick them up – pick them up and deal with them. Don’t “clock watch”, but draw a balance between leaving at an appropriate time and getting the job done.
Teamwork
Nobody acts in isolation and trying to do so will simply cause the project to fail. Creating and maintaining a sense of “team” is critical to the success of any technical venture. Good things must propagate into the team, bad things stick with the team leader – that’s the job. People’s strengths, ambitions and desires for progression must be recognised and supported. The team leader or project manager must lead from the front whilst letting others own their tasks.
E
njoyment
We all spend far too many hours at work for it to be acceptable to dread going in. It is completely possible for a group to generate high volumes of high quality work whilst enjoying themselves. Working with a sense of fun in an atmosphere where it’s okay to laugh together is highly motivating.