Several years ago, I consulted with a large IT organization working for the VP of program management. This VP and I have a long history of delivering results for more than 25 years. His organization was comprised of program directors with varying levels of project managers working in each program director’s organization. The program management VP had a peer VP accountable for product management. The product management VP also had directors, which included product managers and product owners.

The product management and program management organizations didn’t get along well. There was confusion on role clarity, and a chronic “that’s not my job” mentality. The product managers didn’t think they should be accountable to the program managers, and the program managers had difficulty pinning down what the product managers were—and were not—accountable to deliver.

Shortly after I started my consulting gig, the VP of product management hired a new product management director. In one of his first meetings, which included the program management VP, the product management director referred to himself as “CEO of the Product.”

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.

I love baseball. I grew up playing as a kid. I had a pretty good fastball and a knee-buckling curve. I like to think I could have broken into the pros if it only I was bigger, stronger, faster, and had more talent. (Only a few minor details that stood between me and the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame.)

I particularly enjoy going to spring training games in Arizona. This year, I went to four games in five days, including a day and night game on the same day. At the night game, Patty and I took my 91-year-old father-in-law. I bought good tickets that minimized the number of stairs, and we sat in the section behind home plate.

We had peanuts and beer during the game. The weather was beautifully comfortable; not too hot or cold. We stayed until the middle of the 8th inning and left to avoid traffic. The one thing from that game that will stick with me into my old age was during the seventh-inning stretch.

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.

So we've all been to the doctor.  We know the feeling of getting marched into a sterile examination room, given a gown that only covers the front half of your body, aked to step on a scale, prodded with a thermometer, asked to pee in a cup.  Then there's what seems like an eternity of sitting on an examination table with your hind quarters hanging out waiting for the doctor to come in the room.  Then after what seems like an eternity the door bursts open and the doctor pronounces, "Hello, I'm Dr. Goofleblat..."

In my article How to Flex Your Quadrant II Muscle, I discuss Stephen Covey’s four quadrants of time management which categorizes your tasks:

• Quadrant I: Urgent and important tasks (e.g., crises, emergency meetings)
• Quadrant II: Not urgent, but important tasks (e.g., proactive goals, planning and prevention)
• Quadrant III: Urgent, but not important tasks (e.g., irrelevant meetings, unimportant emails/messages)
• Quadrant IV: Not urgent and not important tasks (e.g., avoidance activities, time wasters)

The model, also known as the Eisenhower Matrix (thanks to some readers for pointing that out!), was foundational in helping me minimize time-wasting activities and not get distracted by non-important tasks. More importantly, it helped me to allocate time to focus on things that are important but not necessarily urgent. It was groundbreaking for me and has helped me immensely ever since I implemented it over 30 years ago.

Because I feel this is so important in how we all manage not just our careers but our lives, I want to share with you my quadrant II (Q2) list and give you a boost on how to think about your own Q2 items.

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.