Friday's Question - "Does a good technical person automatically make a good project manager?"

A common mistake in business is to assume that because someone is a good technical person then it follows that they will automatically make a good project manager. This is definitely not the case - promoting/moving/recruiting a technical person into a PM role can be a total disaster if the person is evaluated on technical merit alone - it is more important that the (proposed) PM has very strong "softskills" i.e. can effectively manage people, communicate well, tailor their management style to suit the broad set of personalities that he/she will come across during their PM career etc. etc.
Technically brillant does not always translate into PM star - if you have an individual who is technically strong and has excellent softskills then you've hit the jackpot BUT the two combined are almost as rare as hen's teeth ..!

So Friday's Question - "Does a good technical person automatically make a good project manager?"
Answer - Definitely not - check their softskills and if they are non-existent then consider an alternative career move for them - a PM with technical ability is all fine and dandy but a PM without softskills is a nightmare ....!

Friday's Question - "Why do we need Project Management documentation ?"

People sometimes think that the primary function of project management is to produce documentation (and lots of it!) - they incorrectly think that if they produce a (very fancy) project schedule and hang it on their wall for all to see (and admire), then they are "project managing" .. The reality is that project documentation produced during the project management activity should be used to assist the project manager and team to MONITOR and CONTROL the project - a DAILY review of key project documents should be conducted by the project manager and a WEEKLY review of team-related documents should be conducted with the team. This daily and weekly review enables the PM and team to keep the project on track and alert them to any problems that may be lurking further along - remember also that project management documents are LIVE documents that may need to be modified depending on the outcome of the daily and weekly review - so don't forget to make those modifications when required ...

So, Friday's Question - "Why do we need Project Management Documentation ?"
Answer - To assist the project manager and team to keep their project on track through daily and weekly reviews of key project management documentation ..