Starting this week and continuing into next week I will share with you the top 20 things I have learned about being a project manager. Here are Nos. 20 - 11;

#20 - It's not your project. Yes we want to take ownership and accountability but it is the company's project and you need to act that way.

#19 - The customer is not always right. The stakeholders may want a lot but your job is to deliver what they need, not what they want.

#18 - Project teams are made up of experts so you don't have to be. Leverage each team members expertise and knoweldge during the project.

#17 - Being under budget significantly is just as bad as being overbudget. Over estimating may keep other projects from getting funded.

#16 - Weekends are not contigency time. Always build contigency into the schedule. Weekends are for emergency work only.

#15 - There is no such thing as a "nice to have" requirement. A requirement is either needed or not needed.

#14 - A project manager's job is not done when the project is delivered. The close out phase is just as important as any other phase.

#13 - Status reports are less about status and more about getting support and action from the project stakeholders.

#12 - There is a point on a project where bringing in additional resources will have little positive impact and could have a negative impact

#11 - Per my favorite PM, Risks are issues waiting to happen. Address risks early and continually to prevent them from becoming issues.

Dealing with conflict is a regular part of managing a project. This week's tweets provided some tips on handling conflict.

Conflict on a project can occur in many ways. Between you and the team, between team members, between business owners etc.

• The first step in dealing with conflict is to understand where it is coming from. Is it from lack of communications, stress, project issues?
• The next step is to engage the parties involved in the conflict. Get both parties to define what their issue sand concerns are.
• Avoid dealing with conflicts in a group setting. Get the parties together privately to discuss the conflict and try to resolve it.
• If the conflict is between two other parties be dispationate in dealing with them. Their emotions are probably high so you need to be low.
• If you are one of the paries in the conflict check your emotions at the door. Be factual and concise in the discussions.
• When discussing conflict stay away from adjectives as much as possible. Phrases such as royally screwed up can inflame emotions
• Using a visual medium such as flip charts or white boards to describe both sides of the issues may help all parties see resolutions easier.
• Don't think you have to solve all of the conflict at once. Sometimes allowing a day or so between meetings may help.
• Do not use emails, chat sessions, or text messages to solve conflict. Meet in person or use the phone or even video conferencing.

Next week the tweets will discuss scope management on projects. Enjoy the weekend!