https://ChacoCanyon.com Tips, techniques, insights and inspiration on topics like person-to-person communications, project management, workplace politics, and workplace conflict. http://ChacoCanyon.com/images/life-at-work-logo.gif https://ChacoCanyon.com Tips, techniques, insights and inspiration on topics like person-to-person communications, project management, workplace politics, and workplace conflict. 72 141 en-us Business/Management Copyright 2026 Richard Brenner https://backend.userland.com/rss Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 EDT If you work in a project-oriented organization, you might encounter, from time to time, a project sponsor or project manager who bullies people. Here is Part II of a collection of indicators of an elevated probability of finding such a person in your project.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/260812.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/260812.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 12 Aug 2026 04:30:00 EDT If you work in a project-oriented organization you might encounter project sponsors or project managers who bully people. Because being bullied is both unpleasant and career-dangerous, knowing how to avoid such projects is useful.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/260408.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/260408.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:30:00 EDT When people hide their ignorance of concepts fundamental to understanding the issues at hand, they expose their teams and organizations to a risk of making wrong decisions. The organizational costs of the consequences of those decisions can be unlimited.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/251001.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/251001.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:30:00 EDT In the project management community, it's often said that time is the most precious resource. Although time is indeed precious, to regard it as a resource -- like finance, equipment, or people -- can be a dangerous mistake. Time is not a resource.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250924.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250924.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management Computers/Software/Project_Management/Risk_Analysis Science/Science_in_Society/Skeptical_Inquiry/Critical_Thinking rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 24 Sep 2025 04:30:00 EDT A common belief about perpetrators of workplace bullying is that they have an outsized view of themselves and their power. The truth might be rather different. They could be dealing with an addiction cycle -- a sense of weakness after the effects of previous bullying incidents have dissipated.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250917.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250917.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 17 Sep 2025 04:30:00 EDT Some meetings focus on solving specific problems. We call them "working sessions." More often, we delegate problem solving to task teams, while meetings wrestle with the difficult task of identifying or "scoping" problems rather than solving them. Scoping discussions can be perilous.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250910.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250910.shtml Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution Business/Management/Communication_Skills rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:30:00 EDT An agenda in the form of an ordered list of topics might not provide an appropriate framework for a given meeting. For example, if A depends on B, and B depends on A, we must find a way to discuss A and B together in some orderly fashion. Here are some alternatives to linear, ordered agendas.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250903.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250903.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:30:00 EDT Most meetings are structured around a linear agenda, if they are structured at all. But the order of the agenda might not be the order that optimizes productivity. This first post in a series about contributions to meetings considers alternative frameworks for structuring team meetings.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250827.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250827.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 27 Aug 2025 04:30:00 EDT Earned Value Management, a widely used approach to project management, is most useful in contexts in which estimators are familiar with the Tasks, the Technologies, and the Teams. But even when they are familiar, Earned Value Management is vulnerable to the tactics of those who game the metrics.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250820.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250820.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management Computers/Software/Project_Management/Risk_Analysis Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:30:00 EDT High-touch jobs require that we work closely with colleagues, teammates, clients, or suppliers. Because choosing to leave such a job affects all these people, and the person departing, we would do well find a path that respects all involved. Here are some suggestions.]]> https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250813.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/250813.shtml Business/Human_Resources rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 13 Aug 2025 04:30:00 EDT Links to articles from Point Lookout that touch on Critical Thinking at Work. https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/critical-thinking.shtml https://ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/critical-thinking.shtml Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution Business/Human_Resources Business/Management/Ethics Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations Business/Management/Organizational_Change Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management Computers/Software/Project_Management/Risk_Analysis Science/Social_Sciences/Communication/Rhetoric/ Business/Management/Communication_Skills Computers/Internet/E-mail Computers/Internet/Etiquette/E-mail Reference/Knowledge_Management/Knowledge_Creation/Problem_Solving Science/Science_in_Society/Skeptical_Inquiry/Critical_Thinking rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Tue, 28 Jul 2026 04:30:00 EDT