Chapter One of The Project Manager's Guide to Emotional Intelligence

I am excited to report that I am making excellent progress on the book, the Project Manager's Guide to Emotional Intelligence.  In fact, Chapter One is ready for your review and feedback.  For any of you interested in participating in the review, here is Chapter One in PDF format:  Project Managers Guide to Emotional Intelligence V5 Chapter One

My request is that you provide your feedback as comments to this blog to allow others to see and react to your comments.  I hope that this approach will provide the best possible feedback and result in a product that is interesting, applicable and helpful to project managers, and enjoyable to read.

Here is my specific request for those providing feedback:

1. Read the draft chapter from end to end without diving in
2. Note any major issues or missing areas
3. Provide your reaction to the material
4. Write up your feedback from steps 2 and 3 and post as a comment on the EQ 4 PM Blog.  Scroll down to the bottom of this page where it says, post a comment, and type in your issues, comments and reactions.
5. Go back and read the chapter in detail looking for typographical, grammar, and other general construction errors.  You can provide this feedback in whatever form is most convenient to you.  If you want to post it in the comments on the blog, that is fine.  You can also send an email to me at EQ4PM@ProjectAdvisorsGroup.com

Let me know if you have any questions.  I would like to get your feedback by Saturday May 27th if that is possible.

Comments

[Chris S]

I thought the thesis was very interesting, and targets and underserved area in the pm discipline. I like the workplace focus.

I thought the text was also very well put together and helped draw the reader along. However, I think it could be sped up overall by a scrubbing of redundant phrases, a review of unnecessary transition words and some slight reorganization, especially when tying together two concepts (ref the first 2-3 paras after the "emotional mastery for pm's" heading].

Also, I was confused by the mini self-assessment grid (maybe I need to read the rest of the book! :) The scoring leads me to believe that saying Yes to questions indicates I have a higher EQ. However, some of the questions, answered in the affirmative, seem to indicate a lower EQ. Ref: #4, 7, 9, 12, 13 and several others.

[Jim Friel]

I will get right to the point. The first chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book. It's good but... You start out with the comment on the danger of not having understanding and control of your emotions. I don't think you make the case for "dangerous". Maybe some more detail of a personal experience might add the proper context. Emotional awareness is definitely a tool worth having (I think it definitely gives one a leg up on the competition) but is it any more important than the other qualities required to be a successful project manager.

I think there would be some value in a paragraph on how hard work, hard skills and soft skills relate. I see emotional awareness as an add on, not a replacement for these skills.

[Jim Friel]

Maybe I am being too PC but I would consider a different term than the village idiot. I think the point you are trying to make is that you were the last to know. You were very lucky to have someone step up and point it out to you. Most people would say nothing about those soft skills and then mumble under their breath.

On page 3 you refer to doing this for ROI reasons only but you allude to personal benefit later - "Initially it wasn't for personal reasons." Later, on page 7, you state that you are most interested in the application of EA first in life. I don't know that this is important but it is interesting. I personally feel that there are emotional traits I exhibit at home that would be great in the project setting and vice versa. No worries!

An observation is that emotions are always there whether they are understood or not. Relationships too. I obviously worked with you after you began to grasp the importance of understanding and harnessing emotions to keep a very emotional project in check. Its not always about being bestest buddies with everyone on the project and I think that's important to keep in mind. Some times you have to be the taskmaster!

[Jim Friel]

I have a question on measurement of emotions. Is there a magic number or is it the eye opening that is important? I think it is an American thing to try an place a number on everything. Assuming agreement on the importance of EA, I would think that it is important to know the areas of weakness and stragey to address the weakness. I would also think there could be a tendency to slip back to old ways. Constant vigilance on the EA front is required.

[Jim Friel]

Anthony, I would check one of the style journals regarding footnotes and bibliography. I sense an inconsistency in what is being quoted and what is background.

Something to think about. On page 11 you list 9 benefits of EA. I am not sure if these are in order of benefit (or if not should be). They are not listed in the order they appear in the book. They should probably be one or the other (or maybe both).