Is your project management style what your medical device project needs?
When we talk about project leadership or team leadership, everyone has a unique approach and style. You develop a certain project management style based on your personality, experiences, and company culture. After 25+ years as project management consultants, we have broadly grouped project management styles into seven different categories. What are the 7 different project management styles? How do you know what your default project management style is? Is your default project management style what your medical device project needs from you? What do you do if one of your…
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The importance of Vision in managing a medical device project successfully
When we talk about the importance of vision for project management in a medical device company, we are not just talking about the end results that the project team or the medical device company wants to accomplish. ‘Vision’ encompasses so much more. As every project management consultant at the Waddell group will attest, Vision is what the project manager needs to have, to: 1) Identify the nature of the project they are undertaking and how it fits in with the company goals. 2) Ensure that the project parameters closely follow…
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Project Management Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Remote Teams
Project Management Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Remote Teams Last October, Waddell Group CEO Tom Waddell interviewed Courtney Jones, a skilled project manager with expertise in managing teams from across the globe at Rebiotix, a Ferring Company. Jones’ experiences with project management during the COVID-19 pandemic have equipped her with the tools necessary to get the most out of her teams, and both Jones and Waddell agree that simple changes to you and your team’s processes will pay dividends in the long run. Jones has found success…
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Tips for Successfully Managing Remote Teams and Projects
Managing Projects Remotely in a Pandemic Last year, Waddell Group CEO Tom Waddell interviewed Dr. Michael O’Connor, Director of Strategy and Project Development at Medtronic about tips on managing projects in a pandemic. Dr. O’Connor shared some wisdom about quickly adapting and executing projects during lockdown and afterwards. At the onset of their conversation, Dr. O’Connor stated that Medtronic saw the pandemic ahead of time through their global presence, but what they saw still didn’t prepare them for the scale and impact COVID-19 would have on project management practices and…
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How Integrity in Project Management Leads to Team Success
Integrity Is a Critical Component for a Successful Project Recently, we talked about why integrity is a critical part of project management and what’s required to maintain the integrity of the project and the company. In brief, the project manager needs to be aware of (and convey to their team): The intent of the project Why the company is doing the project Profitability The trade-offs required to achieve the project goal But that’s not enough. You also need to manage the project with integrity so that it doesn’t get off…
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Why Integrity Is a Critical Part of Project Management
With its many moving parts to direct and risks to navigate, managing a new medical device project can be a challenging undertaking. Because of the stringent quality requirements in the medical device industry, project management principles such as project structure, setting goals, tracking status, risk management, and resource management are especially important, and leading this charge is integrity. So, what exactly is integrity, and why should it be a critical part of project management? Defining Integrity in Medical Device Project Management Integrity is all about “honoring your word.” This includes identifying…
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Evolution of Project Management Under COVID-19
COVID has changed the communication experience Tom Waddell interviewed Jonathan Flachman recently around what we have learned when it comes to Project Management under COVID-19. That interview created the genesis for this blog post and if you want to watch the video, please click here. To begin with, some things have not changed. Communication is still the best currency a project manager has at their disposal to help manage the people in their project. This looks very different in an environment within a COVID-19 experience than it did before. Project…
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Technical Project Management
Why it is important to have a technically trained engineer run your project We are often asked – when it comes to medical device project management, what does it take to be a World-Class Project Manager? The answer to the question is an important one, and certainly, things like experience and project management training are important. But we have found that having an education and (lots of) experience in a relevant technical field combined with leadership skills is what sets our people above the rest when providing the best medical…
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Project in chaos? Don’t Panic!
Project chaos/crises can be caused by several factors, from a complete breakdown of direction, a lack of performance on key activities, or even misguided leadership. Sometimes it’s outside factors that throw everything into disarray. This last cause may be relevant to our current work environments. There are four key elements of rescuing a project in crisis, those project management steps include: 1. Define “What’s So” 2. Define the Project 3. Create a Plan 4. Define Risks and Mitigation Defining “What’s So” The most important first step in a chaotic situation…
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Leadership in the Realm of Employee Motivation
Lots of people talk about leadership – including us if you review other blog posts we’ve made on www.Waddellgrp.com. People talk about how you get your team members to do what you need them to do. How closely should you manage? How should you give difficult feedback? This article will approach leadership from a different perspective: What motivates your team members to do their best? We’ll start by going down a historical lane and examining what one ancient general believed motivated people to go to war. While not the whole…
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