Sarah Borders

When I was younger, there were these books and posters of "Magic Eye" images that, allegedly, if you stared at them long enough, you could see some hidden image. No matter how hard I tried, I could never see the image. Ever. All I saw were a bunch of abstract colors in a pattern, but no big picture. Can you see the hidden image above, or are you like William and me? The image allegedly shows a shark, in case you were wondering. This is not an exact science, but if you have trouble seeing the hidden picture, I'm willing to bet you're naturally more of a detail-oriented person than a big-picture thinker. These two approaches live at opposite ends of the spectrum, but there's a balance in between the two, and I like to think of it as being a helicopter. Unlike being a helicopter parent, being a helicopter in business is, in fact, a good thing. It means you can see and readily understand different perspectives in a situation and easily switch between deep dives an

Once upon a time, in what now feels like another (and in some ways, an alternate) life, I was a librarian. I'm not ashamed to admit that it's a career I chose by default, but not as alternate-universe Mary Hatch did when there was no George Bailey to marry. I had earned a BA in Classical Studies. The history, mythology, philosophy, literature, art, architecture, and language of the ancient Greek and Roman world all fascinated me greatly, but I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I'd worked my way through college as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, and once my course load wound down, I began to work full-time and was promoted to lead bookseller. I was still living with my parents, and I had no plans of moving out until, at my father's insistence, I could afford to buy a house (renting was a waste of money). I had no immediate plans for my next move, and was content to continue working at the bookstore until I figured it out, until one day, my mother pointed m

I've worked with cross-functional teams throughout my experience as a PM, and I've learned a thing or two about leading cross-functional teams. And now, dear reader, you can benefit from my mistakes experience. Here are some best practices I've collected, in no particular order: 1. Cast a Wide Net Whether you're forming the team or inheriting it, it's important to make sure you have the right people on your team. Consider the work to be done. Do you have the right person to do that work (or oversee the work being done)? Regularly confirm with each of your team members that they're the right person to be included on the team--no one knows better than they do. Create an org chart of team members, and map it to your work breakdown structure to make sure you're not missing any matches. 2. Have a Clearly Defined Scope and Desired Outcomes OK, so this one is kind of obvious, but it's worth mentioning because when you get stuck in the weeds with your project o

In ninth grade, I took a course in computer science where I learned my first programming language, Pascal. Every class brought a new learning and a new problem to solve. I don't remember the language at all—if you don't use it, you lose it, but I have retained the most valuable lesson: A computer is only as smart as its user. That's how I know ChatGPT won't replace us. It's not because we're smarter; it's because, in a way, we're dumber. What's more, I would argue that replacing us was never the point or even the danger of artificial intelligence. Armed with the power of well-written algorithms and well-chosen learning datasets, machines can do amazing things. They can recommend new products to buy based on your past purchases, they can learn enough to drive cars reasonably well, and apparently, the latest version of GPT, GPT-4, can even pass the Uniform Bar Exam. Can GPT-4 argue and win a case in court? Maybe, but I am willing to bet its win rate

I have never had the opportunity to manage a project where I needed to manage the budget. As a public librarian working in adult programming and outreach, I did manage our annual programming budget, but that's a different kettle of fish. The primary idea there was to pace ourselves with booking author events and other programs and, at the end of the fiscal year, procure needed equipment and other relevant items to prevent ending with a surplus. When I went through formal education to learn project management principles, we learned about Earned Value Management (EVM) and how it helps to determine project health by evaluating the variances and performance of the project triangle: scope, schedule, and cost. Each side balances against the other, so that whenever one area is adjusted, the other two are affected. It's a useful visual; you can't add items to a project scope (extending the scope line of the triangle) and keep the triangle together without affecting either the timel