Welcome to the Great Metropolis!

Everyone knows that currently London is a global hotspot for general visiting and tourism, but for projects and project management visitors it may be even better than that! In London there are just so many places to visit that may be of interest to current, past and potential project managers. 

Each and every one of these places has a purpose; it must be a valid purpose – otherwise they would not exist. They may also have visions, missions and obligations. Project managers will be familiar with such concepts in relation to their projects; as well as to operational, business-as-usual activities. So in visiting these following places, locations, events and organisations it is appropriate to ask oneself about their purposes and how well they are being achieved.  

These may be key performance indicators (KPIs) and critical success factors (CSFs) which can be identified and assessed. This is as well as providing fundamental knowledge, information and / or entertainment – as in the purpose or expectation.

Purposefully, most project managers have variable attention spans which they apply conscientiously or not. How are these variable attention criteria to be assessed, applied and considered during these visits to destinations? In project practice when confronted with material, such as an email, report, notes, crisis, etc. there are options of:

• to glance at it for a few seconds;
• to address quickly;
• to consider over longer periods or with others;
• or in combinations;
• or to disregard, ignore or delegate.

The same or similar options apply in selecting and undertaking these visits. It is interesting. Will this be a quick or long visit; evenly spread or concentrated in certain areas?

And then one has the media options of:

• researching in advance,
• purchasing a guide book on arrival,
• …or departure,
• using a guide in person or through headphones,
• formal and organised or informal and casual.

These options are available on projects and can be applied elsewhere – in life, at work, at home and in visits to destinations in London.

Our sister site ‘dash round London’ hosted by dashdot provides lists of possible places of interest, where to go and what to see which can be found here. Altogether they are long lists. Sorry about that! But they are not exhaustive lists by any means so further contributions, commentaries and recommendations are welcome for this section – contact us.