Stuart Taylor

I help project managers

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

If people in the UK learned how to cool their houses more effectively, I'm pretty sure there'd be far less complaining whenever we get our 2 weeks of sunshine here. ☀️🥵

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

After weeks of focus on my own book, today I’m enjoying someone else’s: Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

I’ve spent this week in Dubai, trying to decide on whether to go ahead with my plans to move here.

It’s been clear that there’s a propaganda war by the UK media against Dubai and British ex-pats for about a year. I’m also aware that UAE has censorship laws that may filter the views being shared.

So I had to come, have conversations with everyone I could and make up my own mind on what the truth really is.

The good news is there’s a growing sense here that the worst has passed, and an optimism that things will get back on track soon.

The mixed news is in property. I viewed a rental yesterday where the price has dropped 20% since March. Good for renters, bad for landlords.

The bad news is the traffic is back! Actually, that’s good news - it means schools are open and people are getting back to their routines.

The real bad news is tourism, where multiple taxi drivers told me they’ve had almost no income until this week - with one admitting he was forced to sell his car at a fraction of its value to avoid falling into debt.

Whilst travelling the length of the city, I saw no damage. Just residents and citizens showing resilience and getting on with their lives, making the most of the many opportunities the city offers.

And in a few months, I’ll join them.

#dubai #uae

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

Exploring housing estates in Dubai on foot in 37C heat is a little challenging…

Currently in Mirdif, heading to Dubai Hills next

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@anishmoonka Wow - extreme quality management!

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

Back in Dubai for the first time this year.

It’s bigger than people expect. Not dense like London or New York — just long.

A sprawling city where you feel the distance between everything.

I like it.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@Starrworld24 Of course 👍

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

My book is out next week.

And I’m looking at great books on Amazon with 2-3 star reviews because the delivery was a day late… 🤦‍♂️

Not sure if I’m ready for this 🫣

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

Well, I didn’t expect my book to do that…

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@Starrworld24 I started jotting down random chapters about 2 years ago, but only had about six or seven chapters at the start of this year. Then I spent every spare moment from January to end of February writing!

And today, the book is launched - maybe I'll take a break now. Lol

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

My book - Becoming the Project Manager - is now out on Amazon!

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

Who are you when the project starts to fail?

There's a moment in most project management careers that no one really prepares you for.

It isn’t your first day, and it isn’t the first time you build a plan. It’s the moment when things stop behaving the way they’re supposed to, and you realise that you’re the one people are looking to for answers.

I remember sitting in a meeting early in my career, watching a plan I’d put together begin to unravel. Not dramatically, just day by day, piece by piece, it was falling behind target. Delivery wasn’t moving at the pace needed to meet our deadline. Nothing catastrophic had happened, but I could feel control slipping.

What made it worse was that every week I was presenting progress to the CEO and the C-suite. I felt like I was failing, publicly, right in front of the most powerful people in the business.

Most of what I’d learned up to that point had been about how things should work. There was far less about what to do when they don’t. And there was nothing at all about how it affects you when projects start to fail.

If your identity is built on being a successful project manager, then who are you when things don’t go to plan?

That question doesn’t get asked out loud very often. But it sits there all the same.

And over time, I realised that this is where most of the real work begins — not in the plan itself, but in how you respond when the plan stops working.
That’s the part of the job that rarely gets written down. And it’s the part I’ve tried to capture in Becoming the Project Manager.

I’ll share a bit more over the next few days as we approach launch day.

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Becoming the Project Manager will be available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle from 27 April. For the first week, I’ll be offering it at around 30% below its usual price.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@Starrworld24 Thank you! I experimented with a few versions before landing on the gantt/mad men/platform video game theme. It’s really nice to receive such kind feedback.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@timothybull All versions are available on Monday 27 April - along with a special offer… 🤨

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@timothybull Thank you! 🙏
Kindle versions can be pre-ordered; unfortunately, paperback versions can not.

I hope it's worth the wait!

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@Glinner I’d never of known if you hadn’t responded to it 👍

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

Prime Minister,

In relation to the Washington appointment, I should note that the relevant assurance processes have now run their course, albeit arriving at an outcome which, in certain narrowly defined respects, might be regarded as less than fully convergent with the usual expectations attached to such considerations.

That said, it has been judged appropriate—taking into account timing, context, and the broader framework within which these matters are properly understood—that the position should not be viewed as preclusive.

Accordingly, the process has continued on a basis consistent with established practice in circumstances where initial findings are considered capable of being set alongside other, equally material, factors.

I should also add that the question of how such findings are surfaced, interpreted, and attributed within the system is itself the subject of ongoing reflection, and will no doubt benefit from further clarification in due course.

In the meantime, there appears no immediate cause to revisit the present trajectory.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

It’s here.
Becoming the Project Manager.

You don’t learn this role in private.
You learn it when everyone’s watching.

Available from 27 April on paperback and Kindle.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

I'm at that point in life now where I've gone from needing glasses to read books and magazines to needing them when reading from screens.

Every day is a new discovery of things I can't see anymore, whilst the rest of the world looks normal to me.

It was food labels today - I couldn't even find the ingredients list, never mind tell you what was on it.

[Stuart Taylor @InfluentialPMO]

@ZubyMusic Thank you for sharing. My plan before this was to move to Dubai in July - and that remains the case. I’m committed to making a positive contribution to the region, and will not be scared off by the neighbourhood bully.