I read this week’s QSWeek magazine. Sadly you have to register (it’s free) to view content, and even to contact them…but that’s another story.

You might find the fact that I read such a publication a little odd, especially considering that I’m “in software”. I believe that it is important to keep up with what’s happening elsewhere in my employer’s business, hence I read many of the magazines that appear in the office!

Anyway, our Business Relations Director was interviewed and came out with a few useful gems worthy of note here:

We have to all work together to make projects succeed.

Projects don’t manage themselves, nor do they succeed if there’s only one person doing all the work…it does take team work, it does mean we all have to work together.

A lot of other things can be added to quantity surveying to make a wider offering to the client and I don’t think that will stop.

As many of you know, I have written “value add” applications for my employer, generally these applications augment the existing quantity survey, cost management or project management function that the primary business is providing. I’m sure that software falls into these “other things”, and I’m glad to read that it has a future.

Lastly, the If I ruled the world box-out really caught my attention:

IF I COULD change anything it would be to bring back respect for people and property. We have lost the ability to respect other people and get on with each other. I’m not going to say ‘bring peace to the world’ – that’s crackers – but if people went back to respecting each other instead of this continual blame culture, I think the world would be a much happier place.

I think that last bit strikes true, as I noted here and here, a blame culture isn’t a good thing: it doesn’t do your project or your organisation any favours.