My ten commandments in IT management

1. Customers and Sr. Management never likes surprises
• Things might not go as planned and it is ok, but communicate the bad news early on as risks and not as issues in the last minute.
• It gives a chance for senior management to mitigate the risks and prepare for contingency plans
• It helps management to set expectations on the delays with customer/business users.
2. Know the customer business and identify the problems
• Suggest solutions as you are the best person who knows all and can bring in your expertise
3. Use the strengths of the team
1. Every resource will have his strength, unless hopeless. Use them in projects well
2. Instead of cribbing and complaining, develop the weakness of the members
3. Identify the strengths and place them in the right project and role
4. Teach how to fish
• Mentor the team members in estimating, planning, tracking and communicating risks and issues and status of the tasks.
• This goes a long way in developing them into Architects, Leads and Managers
5. Importance of TO-DO list for each team member to track their work without follow-ups
6. Proactive Risk management and communication with stakeholders on risks and issues
7. Daily status check for deliverables and communication to management
8. Mentor them to always get peer reviews done for the deliverables as a standard process for an eye on quality
9. Trust the team member and cultivate ownership and accountability by each and every member
10. Prompt decision making on risks and issues as the highest priority

Somethings gets added as we experience new lessons in life

1. Emails to Customer/Vendor which involves financial implications should be drafted carefully

2. Stakeholder who takes the risks raised by Project Manager lightly and doesn't act, is risking the outcome of the project at PM's expense.

Get Your Team to Follow Through After a Meeting

After a meeting ends, it can be challenging to keep your team motivated and focused on doing the agreed-upon tasks. 

Of course, you need to end the meeting with clear agreement on specific actions and completion dates for each item, but that’s not enough. 

Ask people to speak up if they realize they won’t be able to deliver on an action item. 

Assign someone to track and follow up on action items between meetings. 

And keep a running tally of which items get done, aiming for an 85% completion rate. 

But don’t let the tracking turn you into a taskmaster. 

Be compassionate and understanding if things come up and people aren’t able to meet their deadlines. 

But if team members continually drop the ball, have a frank and open discussion about what needs to change.

Whether agile or not, try to have retrospective meeting with all stakeholders till the team and deliverables sink into the team's game

Getting Better at Handling Disappointments

Disappointments are inevitable and unpleasant whether a missed promotion, a failed project, or a poor investment, but you can always learn something from them. Though this comes at a cost, it is a lesson for future

To constructively deal with your next setback, think through what happened. 

Distinguish situations that were predictable and preventable from those that were unavoidable and beyond your control. 

Ruminating over something that didn’t go your way — and that you couldn’t control — will only frustrate you further. 

For situations that you could have handled differently, consider them in positive terms: 

What can you do differently next time? 
What lessons can you learn from the mistakes you made? 
And remind yourself of what’s going well in your life, so you don’t let the disappointment take an outsize role in your brain. 

It might sound like a cliché, but keep the setback in perspective — and try to let it go. 

You may be tempted to play the situation over and over in your head, but staying preoccupied with it will only create unnecessary stress.