Author Archives: donmcalister

About donmcalister

I retired at the end of 2011, after a 39 year career in the Aerospace industry as a Propulsion Engineer, Engineering Manager and Program Manager. My professional interests and expertise are in the areas of Program, Risk and Knowledge Management. I'm passionate about life-long learning in a wide variety of topics and I'm committed to sharing my knowledge and ideas with those who are interested. I'm an Aerospace Industry Consultant. I serve my community as a Rotarian. My hobby is playing as a jazz keyboard.

Tips for Managing Your Assumption Risks

Posted on November 5, 2013 by donmcalister

A major element of project management is the identification, analysis, and handling of risks. There are many types of risks that Project Managers must consider, but there is one type, that in my opinion, is not given the attention it … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Program & Knowledge Management, Risk Management | 3 Comments

Better Project Initiation with Mutual Learning

Posted on July 29, 2013 by donmcalister

Project Initiation (PI) is a critical step in the project management process. An inadequate PI effort can put the project in a hole from which it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to escape. Poor PI leads to poor … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Risk Management | Tagged Mutual Learning Model | Leave a comment

When Risks Must Be Treated As Issues

Posted on July 12, 2013 by donmcalister

Conventional Project Management wisdom is that risks are unfavorable things that could happen, but have not yet happened, whereas issues are unfavorable things that have occurred. Yet, in the real world of managing complex projects, thinking that there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Management, Risk Management | Tagged decision-making, Project Management, Risk Management | Leave a comment

Leadership Lessons from My Father

Posted on June 17, 2013 by donmcalister

Since today, Sunday, 16 June 2013 is Fathers Day in North America; I decided to share a few things I learned about leadership from my father. I’m pretty sure that my leadership style and whatever I’ve accomplished as … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Heroes, Leadership, Life, Love & Courage, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management | 1 Comment

Project Managers Must Know When to Break the Rules

Posted on June 5, 2013 by donmcalister

One of the major challenges, faced by Project Managers is achieving a workable balance between compliance with company policies, procedures and standard practices, and being responsive to external customer requests that require “bending” those rules. In theory, standard policies, procedures … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Baseline Management | Tagged compliance, conflict, customer satisfaction, decisions, integrity, Project Management, Risk Management, rules | 2 Comments

Building Leadership Skills – A “Novel” Approach

Posted on April 17, 2013 by donmcalister

I’ve always been, even as a young child, an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction. I admit to enjoying fiction novels more than non-fiction books and articles, although I do read a lot of the latter. In the past, … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management | Tagged brain development, cognitve development, Life Simulator, mental models, Reading and Leading, Risk Management | Leave a comment

The Art of Project Baseline Management

Posted on April 9, 2013 by donmcalister

Scope, schedule, organization, risk and cost baselines are the fundamental elements of a Project Plan, defining the What, When, Who, and How of everything necessary for successful project execution. The direction, tempo, resources and deliverables of our projects are driven … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management, Project Baseline Management | Tagged Art of Project Management, Project Baseline Management, whole brain thinking | 3 Comments

The Project Manager Politician

Posted on March 20, 2013 by donmcalister

The dictionary definition of politics is, “the art or science of influencing people.” One might argue that Project Management is also the art or science of influencing people, albeit for different purposes. So, does this mean that Project … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Better Thinking, Leadership, Personal Development, Program & Knowledge Management | 3 Comments

Humor is the Best Medicine – You Know Your Project is in Trouble When…

Posted on February 25, 2013 by donmcalister

Project Management is serious business, hard work, and it can be very stressful. A little bit of humor goes a long way to relieving that stress. I thought I’d offer a little of my own humor to try to make … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Humor, Program & Knowledge Management | 1 Comment

The Never Year

Posted on February 15, 2013 by donmcalister

In most of my blogs I write about the things that I’ve learned from my experience in the business world. Some of my blogs however are more personal and talk about things that I’ve learned about myself, and those close … Continue reading →

Posted in Heroes, Life, Love & Courage, poetry, That's Life | 6 Comments