Jen Leech, VP of Engineering at Truss (left) and Poornima Vijayashanker, Founder of Femgineer (right)
While it’s fall and things are slowly wrapping up for the year, other people are just getting started on major projects, like one of my readers Carlo.
Carlo wrote in recently and said:
Poornima,
After leading a team of 3 for the past year and managing a number of small projects, I worked up the courage to ask my boss to let me lead a BIG project and it finally happened!
I followed a lot of the advice you gave to Ada in this post about listing my accomplishments to show why I was capable, and being clear about what I wanted. Thanks a lot to you and Ada for sharing it!
My boss and I sat down last month to discuss the parameters of the project. As we were talking I got a little concerned, because there is a limited budget, resources, and tight deadline: the end of the year.
I remember you talking about how it could take a year to complete a project, but I just don’t have that luxury. I’ve gotta deliver!
It’s hard to stay calm when there is so much at stake. I’ve noticed that at times I’m creating unnecessary drama, and I’ve noticed that when some teammates throw out ideas to improve the project they get shot down.
Would be great to get some pointers from you on how to stay calm, coach teams, and successfully deliver your first high stakes project?
Sincerely,Carlo
Well kudos to Carlo and anyone reading who just got their first high stakes project!
Are you excited?
Maybe a little nervous?
Or maybe you’re like Carlo — really nervous because you need to deliver on a tight deadline, and there is a lot on the line like your relationship with customers, revenue, and most importantly your job!
Fear not because all this month on Build, we’re going to be tackling the topic of how to manage your first high-stakes project.
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Jen Leech who is a VP of Engineering at Truss. Jen and I dig into some valuable strategies that will address and alleviate your anxieties around managing your first high-stakes project. Though our examples are based on software projects, much of the advice applies to really any type of project. So tune in to learn:
Once you’re done watching the episode, tell us when was the last time you managed a high-stakes project and what were some of the ground rules that you set either for yourself or for your team? Let us know in the comments below, because Jen, Carlo, and I would love to learn from you!
You can listen to this episode of Build on iTunes.
Help others enjoy it too by hitting the 👏🏽 ! And subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive additional episodes.
Check out these additional resources on project management:
Build is produced as a partnership between Femgineer and Pivotal Tracker. San Francisco video production by StartMotionMEDIA.