Max Walker
MBA, PMP, CSM
Exploring project management in small or informal project environments.

About Cottage PM
About Max

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The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Rewards — and Merry Christmas!

One of the personnel management principles for project managers is that of rewards: the need to recognize and reward project team members for good, effective work. And that’s what I’m going to do for the next 2 weeks. While academically speaking, my launching a new professional blog with me owning all the tasks may not [...] [...]

De-mystify PM: Avoid Jargon

Like most disciplines, project management has its own set of tools and processes. Those tools and processes have names. To those in the practice, those names have meaning. But to others, it’s just jargon. And jargon is bad. Especially in an informal project management environment (“Cottage PM”). You can go a long way to demystifying [...] [...]

WBS – First Tool for New PMs

I’ve used “WBS Coach” to improve my use of WBS on my projects, and it is the basis for an in-house WBS course I’ll be offering in Q1 2010. I recommend it. Here’s why. It strikes me that many of us project managers land here accidentally. We’re doing other work in the organization, and we show [...] [...]

Exploring Professional Use of Social Media vs. Privacy and Safety

Way back when, “back in the day,” when I was young(-er), I used to be very particular about using my real name online. I created a handful of aliases with matching email addresses to use. I figured that while it didn’t solve privacy concerns really, it was sort of like locks on car doors — [...] [...]

CottagePM.com Lauched

CottagePM.com is now live! I’ve stolen enough hours over the holiday to complete the basics for the site. CottagePM.com is my place to explore what I’ve begun to call “Cottage Project Management.”  I talk about what that means on the “About” page. I hope that you find that interesting. Now, in true blog fashion, I’ll begin to [...] [...]