On returning to the USA recently for a business trip a picked up a couple of books in the airport in Shanghai.  Finding a decent collection of English language books in the airport is a new experience in itself.  I’d been thinking about how to help an expat friend of mine, a new arrival in China, who has been having some issues in adapting to the new surroundings (i.e. work environment.)  He was getting frustrated with the relative immaturity of business practices and with the perceived unwillingness of subordinates to follow direction.

So in the airport I found three books that I thought migth help: (1) The China Executive by Wei Wang, (2) China CEO, A Case Guide for Business Leaders in China by Juan Antonio Fernandez and Shengjun Liu, and (3) Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow.  Well the last one might seem a bit strange but of course understanding the transitions that have occurred in China in such a relatively short time frame are im ...

I mentioned before that I was considering cultural traits and their impact on the practice of project management in China. A few thoughts....

Leadership.  One example that always comes up is that th ...

Well, now for the other half of my PM self – managing a software development organization for a Chinese software company.  At Hundsun our “bread and butter” is enterprise application solutions for the financial services industry within China.  But we have some other business areas, mine included.  My area of responsibility is outsourced solutions, mostly offshore for European and North America clients but also for s ...

The goal of this blog is to share information about project management in and around China (which is where I have lived for the past 6 years.)  I’ll share my experiences and observations and hope that you will also.  My experience comes from two perspectives – teacher and business leader.  First,  I’ve been teaching information technology project management for more than 3 years at

Started the day on the beach walking the dog as the sun came up. A great way to clear the mind for the day ahead.

At last, the word is out. The ISSIG newsletter reports that Tim and I are here, live in cyberspace. Open all hours, visitors welcome.

We're near the end of our course and the students are trying to come up with atopic for their final assignment. One that should be interesting is from a ni-Vanuatu on cross-cultural communication in project teams. (ni-Vanuatu is a native of Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation that the colonialists (British and French) called the New Hebrides). It was ruled as a condominium jointly by France and Britain - but they didn't get on very well and it became known as more of a pandemonium than a condominium).

Start with a bang? Is this an example of the cobblers children (being the worst shod)? This project has been on the go for almost all this year and has missed its original deadlines. This is not unusual when dealing with volunteers who have another life they need to maintain to pay the bills. It's an interesting topic - how to work with volunteers. You don't have the same authority or power relationship - you can't discipline them (or they'll pick up their ball and go home). Or can you? How can you work effectively on a project staffed by volunteers?

 The Lessons Learned report should be interesting.