Margaret Meloni
Helping project managers be the best they can be - Helping human beings navigate impermanence. A human making sense of this world using Buddhism to guide me. Want to know more about leading your team to project success? Great! Dealing with loss and life and how to cope - let's talk.
Stay Ahead of Communication Breakdowns
Communication Gaps Kill Projects: Your Checklist for Clear Messaging If you've ever watched a promising project derail because "nobody told me that," you already know the truth: communication gaps are silent project killers. They lurk in every stage of the work, from kickoff to delivery, turning manageable challenges into full-blown crises. The good news? Most communication breakdowns follow predictable patterns, and with the right framework, you can catch them before they cause damage. Where...
Navigating the Gap of Loss and Love
Greetings Reader I found myself in this peculiar gap, a moment in life that felt surreal. When I talk about a gap, I refer to that time when I had laid to rest - whether through burial or cremation - most of the significant people in my life: my mother-in-law, my parents, my husband, uncles, aunts, and some dear friends. I understood, deep down, that my journey wasn’t over; I wasn't finished. Yet, for a stretch of time, I had a peculiar sense of relief. I wasn’t constantly preoccupied with...
Turning Team Conflict into Innovation
Managing interpersonal tensions within a team can be one of the most demanding aspects of leadership for project managers. While many perceive conflict as a barrier to productivity, reframing this mindset can turn disputes into valuable opportunities for innovation. By leveraging emotional intelligence and a structured mediation process, leaders can cultivate an environment where conflict becomes a catalyst for growth rather than a source of division. Conflict is often seen as a destructive...
How Embracing Impermanence Sets Us Free
Greetings Reader At the heart of our Buddhist practice lies the belief that embracing impermanence is essential for liberation from suffering. I am grateful for the chance to explain why this understanding guides my path. Consider the story of the Buddha seated beneath the Bodhi tree. When his mind achieved a profound state of purity through concentration, it is said that he attained the Three Knowledges. The first revealed his past lives and the past lives of all beings. The second...
Freedom Awaits: Delegation Done Right
You’re micromanaging. And you hate it. Don’t beat yourself up. Set yourself up for success. Perhaps you have found yourself reviewing minor communications and attending unnecessary meetings. Or jumping in and completing project work because you think that you can do it faster, and with fewer errors. I can relate. I remember staying in the office late on a Friday evening to complete an assignment for a team member, so that she could leave early for vacation. I was pretty proud of myself. I was...
Are You Micromanaging? 5 Warning Signs.
When I look at these five warning signs, I realize I would have had to answer ‘yes’ to each of them. If you find yourself answering yes to at least two of these, you might be a micromanager. Don’t panic. Keep reading. Help is on the way. 1. Your team schedules checkpoints but cancels them. This can mean that your team is afraid to show you unfinished work. And fear to show you what they are working on also leads to a lack of collaboration. 2. Your team stops asking you questions. They would...
The Wisdom of Impermanence
Greetings! I hope that 2026 finds you. This is not meant to be an incomplete wish - I hope that the year finds you and I encourage you to fill-in-the-blank as to exactly how the year finds you, or how you find the year. We start with how things are. I look forward to continuing this journey with you. This journey of life and death, of love and loss, and of grief and joy. In the past, I have shared episodes of the Death Dhamma podcast with you, and I have shared books and articles that I have...
The Easy Standup Solution
On Tuesday you considered why your standup meetings aren't working AND you read about an easy to implement solution. Here is some follow-up, an approach to consider as you reset your team behavior and move forward together to fast and effective standups. ### **Your Reset Plan** **Week 1:** Introduce the framework. Explain the three questions and the time boundary. "We're doing this to stay coordinated without eating up your deep work time." **Weeks 2-4:** Keep it tight. Use a visible timer....
The One Change That Will Transform Your Daily Standup
If your standups are broken, it is time to fix it. Start this week. Your team will thank you. Standups can balloon to 20+ minutes, people ramble about every detail, discussions spiral into problem-solving sessions, or nobody actually listens to anyone else. The team checks out. You don't surface real blockers. And everyone walks away thinking "I could have done actual work instead." But it doesn't have to be this way. Today we look at the most common challenges, and consider easy to implement...
Your 2025 pmStudent Gift is Here! 🎁
Complete 2025 on a high note, and jump into 2026 with project success! Hi Reader As a special thank you for being part of the pmStudent Community, I’ve created something that will immediately make your projects more successful: The Project Success Probability Matrix - a strategic one-page planning tool that helps you: ✓ Identify risks BEFORE they derail your project ✓ Get a clear snapshot of project health at a glance ✓ Save 2-3 hours per week in planning & monitoring ✓ Show stakeholders you...
Helping project managers be the best they can be - Helping human beings navigate impermanence. A human making sense of this world using Buddhism to guide me. Want to know more about leading your team to project success? Great! Dealing with loss and life and how to cope - let's talk.