'Dream' polls promisedInquirer.netSmartmatic, on the other hand, will be responsible for the hardware and software of voting machines and systems, and will provide project management Automation is back on trackManila Standard TodayErap: Something fishy in TIM-Smartmatic pactABS CBN NewsFear of consequences led to reconciliationInquirer.netInquirer.net -Inquirer.net -Manila Standard Todayall 14 news articles »
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Google News: Project Management
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'Dream' polls promised - Inquirer.net
4 Jul 2009 | 11:00 am -
Director of Financial Operations - CFO.com Magazine
3 Jul 2009 | 12:33 pmDirector of Financial OperationsCFO.com MagazineStrong project management experience required. · High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation. and more » -
Pöyry wins São Paulo metro Line 4 project management - Railway Gazette International
3 Jul 2009 | 8:27 amPöyry wins São Paulo metro Line 4 project managementRailway Gazette InternationalBRAZIL: Pöyry has been awarded a €3m contract by the São Paulo Metro to provide project management for Phase II of the city's fully automated driverless and more » -
Property developer ECM outsource project management to PPF ECM ... - ISI - Emerging Markets
3 Jul 2009 | 4:23 amProperty developer ECM outsource project management to PPF ECM ISI - Emerging MarketsThe managing board of local property developer ECM Real Estate Investments (ECM REI) has decided to delegate the management of its own projects to an and more » -
(Update 2) Poll automation back on track - ABS CBN News
3 Jul 2009 | 3:10 amMSN Indonesia(Update 2) Poll automation back on trackABS CBN NewsWe will have our project management team, and this will be the one to give direction and orders,” Melo said. Smartmatic has been hounded by controversies in 'Not about money' but partners mum on detailsInquirer.netD-Day for Smartmatic, TIMBusiness MirrorReckoning day for SmartmaticManila BulletinPhilippine Star -GMA news.tv -ABS CBN News -Inquirer.netall 155 news articles »
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ComputerWorld: Project Management
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Recession Causes Rising IT Project Failure Rates
18 Jun 2009 | 10:27 amRecession-related IT budget slashing and layoffs are taking their toll on IT project success rates, according to the results of the latest CHAOS Summary 2009 report from The Standish Group. -
Opinion: Monitor your project sponsors
31 May 2009 | 9:01 pmEvery project needs a sponsor to succeed, right? It's not quite that simple, says Paul Glen. -
Project managers have much to gain exploring the wonderful world of Web 2.0
29 May 2009 | 12:07 pmTapping into social media to manage projects is a very efficient and forward-thinking way to keep everyone in the loop and come up with the best ideas for reaching goals. -
In tight times, IT managers more likely to postpone than cancel a project
14 May 2009 | 9:11 amIT managers have canceled outright fewer client computing projects during the recession than expected, preferring instead to postpone or scale them back, according to a Gartner Inc. survey of 475 IT administrators at large companies. -
BI Grows Up: IT Moving Past Integration Woes
5 May 2009 | 9:00 pmSometimes, one year can make all the difference for corporate IT departments.
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Project Shrink
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The Problem Might Be You – Comparing Text With Video
1 Jul 2009 | 11:23 pmLast week I wrote a post called “Be The Change You Wish To See“. This week I cover the same topic in a 2 minute video. Which one has more impact in delivering the message? Which one captures my emotions about this topic? Text or video? Be The Change You Wish To See – Project Shrink Episode 23 How do you get your team to do the right thing? Show them. Do the right thing yourself. If you want to see some fabulous behavior in your team, be fabulous first. Other people who liked this article liked these tooReturn Of The Project Goals VideoEarlier this year I experimented with a… -
Project Rhythm
30 Jun 2009 | 1:15 amThis is a guest post by Andrew Sparks. Find out more about Andrew at the end of this post. What does a well-run project sound like? Generically we speak of successful, high-performance projects (or factories or other team operations) as “humming” or “ticking like a Swiss watch”. Every successful project I have ever seen has had its own pace and rhythm. When problems occur, they do not knock the project out of balance. Problems are just grist to the mill and the project team cranks through anything that crops up during the normal weekly schedule of meetings, discussions… -
Systems View – Final Analysis
26 Jun 2009 | 4:09 amThis is the final post in my series about using systems thinking for analyzing problems in projects. 1. Systems Thinking: A Technique To Find Project Problems 2. Systems Thinking: Looking For Causal Loops 3. Shifting The Burden And Fixes That Backfire – Archetypes Part 1 4. Limits To Growth And Tragedy Of The Commons – Archetypes Part 2 I started this topic to be able to analyze problematic situations in projects. You will need to try this technique a few times before you really get the hang of it. To be a good project manager you have to “see” potential problems. Literature… -
Elements Of Project Leadership
25 Jun 2009 | 4:44 amAs a Project leader you are dumped in an organization you have never seen before. You get people assigned you don’t know. The organization prescribes methods and tools you don’t like. And of course, there are a gazillion of unwritten rules. Welcome to your project life. You run on partial Information, partial Influence and partial capability. But how do you actually run a project under these circumstances? Answer: Project Leadership. The elements of (my version of) Project Leadership are: Goals and Means on individual, project and organizational level Alignment of goals and means… -
Be The Change You Wish To See
24 Jun 2009 | 4:46 amHow do you get your team to do the right thing? To adopt agile practices? To go the extra mile? To be on time for meetings? To produce polished products? You can be on the lookout for the latest techniques. You can put your hopes in the most hyped up tools. You can always search for great excuses: I don’t have authority. Not the right people. But you’re running a project. You just get people assigned. You never have enough, clearly defined authority. Deal with it. So, how do you get your team to do the right thing? Show them. Do the right thing yourself. Be on time. Be friendly. Be…
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Pawel Brodzinski
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What Would Be Your PM Approach: Glen Alleman
1 Jul 2009 | 12:44 pmWe have another set of answers in what would be your PM approach series. This time opinions from Glen Alleman who runs a great blog called Herding Cats. This should be a must-read for everyone dealing with project management, especially for those boxed in one approach. Glen’s thoughts are very insightful and personally I value much our discussions, no matter whether we agree on subject or not. He has also pretty unique background since much of his work is done on huge projects being delivered for institutions like US Department of Defense.Here are Glen’s answers. There are three… -
PMBOK Can Be Agile Too
26 Jun 2009 | 9:53 amI was a part of hot but interesting discussion yesterday on agile community meeting. I was trying to show situations where agile doesn’t have to be a perfect solution. On the list of examples there were one-man R&D project like these done in Google and a tiny startup. A point I made was agile methods are too strict for these environments – you don’t need pair programming, daily stand-ups or 2-week sprints there.Then the whole thing started. People went with argument that it’s not about every single technique which is a part of Scrum or XP. As far as we’re aligned with Agile… -
What Would Be Your PM Approach: Jurgen Appelo
24 Jun 2009 | 11:19 amToday we have Jurgen Appelo who briefly says what would be his PM approach in different situations. Jurgen runs a great blog – Noop.nl – which I advise you to subscribe if you haven’t done it already.There are three situations. For each the question is the same – what would be your project management approach?You work in a big company and are put in charge of big complex project which is about to be started. People in the company are familiar with Prince-2 but time or budget overruns aren’t anything new, although they’re kept at industry average level. A project team is gathered… -
What Would Be Your PM Approach: Shawn Futterer
18 Jun 2009 | 11:35 amThis is the first set of answers for the same three questions I asked several project management experts. These are thoughts of Shawn Futterer who is a director and the main person standing behind the ICPM (International Community for Project Managers) site which is a great place for all of you who look for high-quality PM content and resources.There are three situations. For each the question is the same – what would be your project management approach?You work in a big company and are put in charge of big complex project which is about to be started. People in the company are familiar… -
What Would Be Your Project Management Approach
18 Jun 2009 | 11:26 amWhen it comes to decide which project management approach is best I believe there’s no silver bullet. I’d go even further – in any given specific situation there’s no such thing as ideal approach or a single method which would work best.I have this thought in the back of my head for some time and I decided to find some arguments either for or against this theory. I decided to ask several industry experts and bloggers the same few questions. How they would act in three different situations.I’ve chosen people with different experience working in different businesses. I’ve done it on…
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ComputerWeekly: Project Management
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British Airways shelves ERP project as recession bites
1 Jul 2009 | 5:34 amBritish Airways has shelved plans to roll-out a company-wide ERP system because it doesn't want to spend cash in the face of a recession. -
Suppliers' anger over wasted NHS bid
30 Jun 2009 | 3:04 amExecutives at some IT suppliers say their companies have wasted money bidding in an open competitive tender when an NHS foundation trust had already chosen to buy the Cerner electronic patient records system. -
Tories would scrap £8bn of IT projects
29 Jun 2009 | 9:45 amThe Conservative Party would cut or kill new and proposed IT projects worth at least £8bn, with the national identity card and the Interception Modernisation... -
Will London Stock Exchange scrap Tradelect?
29 Jun 2009 | 9:22 amWhether the London Stock Exchange decides to scrap its core trading platform or upgrade it will be a lesson to all project teams when developing core... -
Is NHS CIO the answer to a failing NPfIT?
26 Jun 2009 | 2:03 amNHS CIO Christine Connelly announced the departure of the man who is running the £12.7bn NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in an e-mail last week.
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Project Smart
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The Curious Case of the CHAOS Report 2009
1 Jul 2009 | 1:35 pmThe Standish Group collects information on project failures in the IT industry and environments with the objective of making the industry more successful and to show ways to improve its success rates and increase the value of the IT investments. The latest results have been compiled into the CHAOS Report 2009 published by the organisation in April. -
The Top 6 Things to Consider When Choosing a PPM Solution
27 Jun 2009 | 9:53 amAccording to a recent article in a leading technology magazine, the demand for project and portfolio management (PPM) solutions is rising in response to the weakened economy. Many businesses are choosing to implement PPM solutions in order to "identify which IT projects are mission critical and to help them execute those projects as efficiently as possible." These customers have also found that PPM solutions offered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) are both more affordable and easier to deploy than traditional ones. -
Being a Project Sponsor Means Championing a Cause
24 Jun 2009 | 1:20 pmWhen talking about the positions on a project team, the ones that come to mind first are project leader, project manager and team members. Time is spent designing the project, selecting the right team members, establishing the critical path leading to end goals and establishing a reporting and measurement system. Unfortunately, what many firms discover is that the project still seems to get off course even with all the elements so carefully aligned. -
How to Apply PRINCE2: Engaging Senior Management in Your Projects
22 Jun 2009 | 4:08 pmHaving trouble getting upper level decisions made on your project? Feeling that senior management are not bought in to the project's vision. Are senior executives simply not willing to get involved when you need them? Research shows that a lack of engagement with senior stakeholders is one of the main reasons for project failure. So how do you solve this? -
Project Failures From the Top Down: Can Marchionne Save Chrysler
18 Jun 2009 | 9:35 amOn the surface the merger between Fiat and Chrysler is very promising, but a bit of history on Chrysler and Marchionne's management style suggests that the sustainability of the merger might be in trouble. Will Chrysler be revived? Can they initiate the kind projects that will return it profitability, or is Chrysler headed for a fatal crash?
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Reforming Project Management
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Use Near-Misses to Learn about Construction Safety
18 Jun 2009 | 7:52 pmImage by Elliot Moore via Flickr Ihaven't written about construction safety in awhile. I used to write about it every Thursday. I just read an ENR editorial Analyzing Near-Misses Is Key to An Effective Safety Plan. It reminded me of how far we need to go in construction. Our industry kills about 1300 people in the US every year. Thousands of others are seriously injured. Yet, there are far more dangerous industries where people are not getting hurt at anywheres near the construction rates. Alcoa has made amazing strides to create an injuring-free workplace in their smelters. Dupont's chemical… -
Time to Re-Th!nk Improvement
15 Jun 2009 | 1:10 pmSo much of our attention in the lean community is on continuous improvement. Normally that is interpreted as "process improvement". In the project world processes are often incidental to the work we are doing to fulfill the promise of the project. In other words, the value stream goes through a series of tasks like writing software code, documenting a feature, refactoring, etc., none of which follow a repeatable step-by-step process. Architecture and construction projects are similar. The process stuff is supporting the value stream. When we make so-called improvements to process we are… -
Project Appraisals Are Dead…Long Live Project Appraisals
14 Jun 2009 | 12:52 pmJust read the June 15 issue of Business Week. They reviewed Management Rewired. Not surprising, it was a far better review than I did in my last post. Here are two statements BW chose to emphasize: Feedback, praise, criticism — all useless. Instead, put human psychology to work for you, this book advises. As contrarian as it sounds, Jacobs says employees should set their own objectives and critique their own performance. This is a book every project leader should read.Performance reviews and project 'post mortems' are not just uncomfortable…they don't produce the kind of value… -
Project Managers Learning to Be Leaders
8 Jun 2009 | 8:00 pmI get a lot of requests to review new books. I'm sitting on 5 books at this time. I try to read them in the order I receive them. I make exceptions for friends. I'm writing today about a book that I moved to the top of the list and I'm pleased I did. Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science, by Charles S. Jacobs, is a book about transformational leadership. There a lot of fine books on leadership1 so why another? Hasn't everything already been written? Not quite. Jacobs calls on neuroscience (the study of how the brain works) to… -
Lean Project Implementation Is Not Adoption
1 Jun 2009 | 8:18 pmI was speaking today with the COO of a large construction firm that has been on a journey to deliver their projects on a lean basis for the last 8 years. We were speaking about the usual comments senior people make about lean. He said, "Don't paper the projects; you need to change your practices to deliver a lean project." In other words, going through the motions won't make the project lean. But what will make it lean? You need to change your practices to deliver a lean project.Doing a project lean is not an implementation issue. Rather, it is about adopting a different set of behaviors.
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The Tao of Project Management
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55: Vital Energy
4 Jul 2009 | 3:30 amThe ProjectThings are slowly progressing on the network upgrade front but we have had a lot of technical problems with the design. Hopefully it is sorted out now and we should find out next week when we upgrade another of the buildings at St Luke’s. Meanwhile the pressure of work is starting to tell on some team members.One thing all project managers are concerned with is how to energise and motivate their team. We are now one and a half years into a three year project and as the old saying goes a two year project will take three years and a three year project will never end. It’s… -
54: The Ripple Effect
27 Jun 2009 | 3:41 amThe ProjectI’m getting back up to speed after my week off and no major problems, just the usual one of things taking longer to complete than planned, so no change there then! I try to keep calm and encourage people to stay positive, do their best and not get despondent. Just as I thought things were settled we had an outbreak of swine flu at the University, fourteen students and one member of staff but fortunately it’s the end of term.The WayPoor project managers have a negative influence on the team. It’s all down to their behaviour. If they are disgruntled with life and have a chip on… -
53: Materialism
19 Jun 2009 | 8:11 amThe ProjectI have just spent the past week cycling in Menorca. Brilliant weather and it is a really nice island. Managed to check my email a few times and got told off by my boss for doing it on holiday after I emailed her about one. From what I’ve seen she has been looking after the project in my absence but I will have a pile of things to catch up with on Monday.The WayWhen faced with a difficult decision some project managers agonise about it for ages. Should they do this or should they do that? Following the way is simple; it is always the easiest path to take. Be still and quiet and… -
52: The Womb
5 Jun 2009 | 10:52 amHaving not run much for the last few years due to knee problems I was persuaded to enter a 5K fun run and, despite the heat, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the knees held out. Thanks to those who sponsored me I raised £120 for Hospiscare Devon.The ProjectAnother difficult week firstly struggling to make ends meet with the problems of the excessive enabling work costs. It looks like we have just about sorted that out for this year and I am preparing the proposal to the project board. Second the heavy work load that is starting to build up on the team and we ramp up the implementation. Meantime… -
51: Principle and Process
30 May 2009 | 2:08 amThe ProjectThe battle to get additional funding continues. Meantime we have reached a compromise with SWMBO whereby we can use our cabling budget to pay for the necessary building enabling work. This means we can carry on as per plan for the remainder of this year but then the funds run out and we will either have to secure additional funds, wind up the project or overspend. Not a very happy position to be in but there is one glimmer of hope for me, I will be leaving at the end of the year rather than having to slog on for another difficult year.The WaySome project managers start out defining…
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Gantthead: IT Project Management
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Implementing a Successful Help Desk
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmDon't make the mistake of thinking the key to a successful help desk is the right software. Yes, technology is important, but the real hurdle to get over is resistance to change. Here are some tips on getting users to embrace your help desk innovation. -
Is Agile Fragile?
28 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmAgility is a great process concept for small enterprise shops that have fewer resources and are obliged to keep their energies laser-focused. But for the larger organizations and their equally grand products, this development approach is problematic. -
Agile Management: An Oxymoron?
28 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmThe smart project manager will be aware of agile development approaches--and be prepared to embrace them and adjust their PM approach accordingly. So let's try and bring some sanity to chickens and pigs... -
Social Suicide (Part 1)
28 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmLike all fads, social networking has the masses excited with thoughtless abandon. But people are failing to consider that it has its shortcomings--and that there are serious and embarrassing repercussions if not executed properly. -
Tailored Project Management
28 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmIt's time to take control of things again and apply our skills and experience to alternative project management--and challenge our thinking beyond conventional norms.
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ITToolbox: Project Management
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Developing Proposal Project Budgets
3 Jul 2009 | 5:36 amThe purpose of this task is to develop the proposal project budget estimates for tracking and monitoring the proposal project’s financial performance. Preparing the Proposal Project Budget Use the standard project financial management tool to prepa... -
Conducting Green Team Proposal Reviews
3 Jul 2009 | 4:06 amThe purpose of this task is to review and challenge the technical solution, management approach, and costing assumptions. What is a Green Team Review? This review focuses on delivery responsibilities with a view to obtaining delivery support of the... -
Late riser or can't see the tree for the forest?
3 Jul 2009 | 3:21 amThis morning I lazily opened up my eyes, looked at the blurred hands of my watch, then jumped up like a scolded cat. I was late and for some reason I thought it was a Saturday morning and not a Friday one. There is a saying that if you start the day late then you spend the rest of it catching up. This was running through my mind as I went through my morning routine (which included winning a couple -
The power of Twitter ...
3 Jul 2009 | 3:09 amBe the first one to hear about the death of another celebrity: The -
Web 2.0 and Government Transparency
2 Jul 2009 | 11:00 pmHave you seen USA Spending web site? Amazing! Nice dashboard too. Like with data.gov, I find this to be a new advancement in democracy and economic and political transparency. It feels good
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Project Management Articles - PM Hut
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Deploying Lean Principles to ERP Implementation Projects
4 Jul 2009 | 7:57 amDeploying Lean Principles to ERP Implementation Projects By Alexander Hankewicz The competitive environment that both Manufacturers and Distributors alike have experienced in recent years in the era of Globalization, Currency Fluctuation, and Market Pressures has given rise to the business impetus to run a leaner operation to remain competitive. These issues have trickled down to the IT [...] -
Effective Usage of the Fishbone Diagram
3 Jul 2009 | 5:42 pmEffective Usage of the Fishbone Diagram By Tony Jacowski The most popular tool to sort out problems is the Ishikawa Cause and Effect Diagram, which was first used in 1943 Kaoru Ishikawa to sort out certain work related issues. It is also popularly known as the Fishbone diagram. It is a visual depiction of the relationship between the [...] -
Project Management Tools - Where You Are and Where To Go
3 Jul 2009 | 11:44 amProject Management Tools - Where You Are and Where To Go By Meade Rubenstein Tools to help you determine where you are Knowing where you are is as difficult, if not significantly more difficult, then knowing where you want to go. You would think that you know where you are, but most people and companies don’t, this is [...] -
10 Practical Strategies For Project Managers
3 Jul 2009 | 5:38 am10 Practical Strategies For Project Managers By Stephen Yuhas Before managing a project, there are several things every project manager should know. These are simple strategies, or truths that will make a world of difference in every project you manage. Baked into many of these strategies is the necessity to effectively manage the expectations and perceptions of people. [...] -
Leadership in Project Management: The Two Sided Coin
2 Jul 2009 | 8:15 pmLeadership in Project Management: The Two Sided Coin By Mary A Crow Few introductory project management books dedicate any of their text to good behaviors of project leaders since they all follow the philosophy of how a project manager “manages” people via project management processes and they all shy away from how a project manager should be [...]
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SantexQ - Online Project Management
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5 Tips for Planning Your Next Project
23 Jun 2009 | 4:38 pmEven the best managers can get carried away in the excitement of landing a new client or getting the go-ahead to begin a new project. From signing contracts to salary spikes to picking your team, the early days of project management are fun but also crucial to developing your overall strategy. After your initial burst of big idea brainstorming, it’s time to settle down and begin planning out all the little details that will hold your project together and create an effective, profitable finished product or service. Here are five smart tips for planning out your next project and ensuring that… -
Making Project Management Easier: PC Keyboard Shortcuts
29 May 2009 | 9:04 amTime is money, and when you’re at the computer all day, a few convenient shortcuts can usually speed up the tedious computer-use part of online project management. We’ve put together a list of common PC keyboard shortcuts, so you can stop wasting time clicking allll the way over there and start using your keyboard for lightning fast computer skills that will astound your peers. Shortcut Tip: For PCs, in addition to the shortcuts listed on this page, users can find the shortcut keys to their programs by looking for underlined letters in their menus. For example, in your Internet… -
Using Project Management Tools for Client Management
27 May 2009 | 2:46 pmA big part of project management is managing the client. Sure, you need to get organized, check off tasks, gather resources and manage risk, but in the end, it’s the overall satisfaction of the client that matters most. While online project management tools are traditionally reserved for internal use (to keep the mess behind the scenes), certain aspects can be used to involve the client and keep them in the loop. Not only this, but project management tools can also be used to keep client contact information organized and within easy reach. With SantexQ, you can keep track of important… -
A Big Thank You to SantexQ Users!
29 Apr 2009 | 2:42 pmThe new SantexQ is going strong and we just wanted to take a minute and thank YOU, our users! Your feedback and questions have helped us create an online project management tool that we are truly proud of. The new invoicing and file upload features have been a great success and we look forward to continued growth. We are glad that SantexQ is helping to bring better productivity and effective task management to your projects. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post here on the blog, or catch us on Twitter @SantexQ. -The SantexQ Team -
Online Web Tools Go Social with Wakoopa
27 Apr 2009 | 4:28 pmI recently stumbled upon a very interesting site - Wakoopa.com. It’s a social network, but specifically for online web applications. Not only can you talk, share and interact with other Wakoopa users about your fave applications, the site also offers a desktop tracker that measures how often you use different applications and programs, from online project management tools to Photoshop to Yahoo! Messenger. So if you ever wanted to know just how much you use Facebook versus Myspace, this site is for you. Who knows? You may be able to use the data to increase productivity. The site ALSO…
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Journyx Project Management Blog
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Show Me the (Different Kinds of) Money
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmI first found out about the concept of different kinds of money shortly after I was married. I don’t mean different currencies or different denominations. I’m talking different types of money based on where it came from, how it should be spent, or what “pot” it is tracked in. My wife and I received some cash for a wedding gift. Even though I was responsible for managing our finances, she told me in no uncertain terms that the gift money we received should not be mixed with our regular “spending cash” or deposited in our checking account. It was given to us… -
Maintaining Resources in a Project – From Threat to Opportunity
30 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmAbout the Role of Project Manager in Encouraging Efficiency Processes The Challenge of a Project Manager The basic role of a project manager is to reach the project objectives while maintaining the given resources. There are two main methods for maintaining the resources: * To prevent resource deviations in advance * To react correctly to local deviations – in a way that will not affect the overall project resources In this article I will present an additional strategy: utilizing the potential for improving processes during the project itself. I will present characteristics which require… -
Would You Like to Participate in a New Resource Management Study?
28 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmOur partner, Cognitive Technologies, is sponsoring a research study on the resource management tools and processes organizations currently utilize and the challenges they face. The study will also highlight how management practices vary by organization size, type, and industry, and analyze any gaps that may exist between the beliefs and expectations of project managers and upper-level executives. To ensure this much needed research is viable, a large, diverse response pool is needed. Would you like to take part? The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and all participants… -
Link of the Month: Ten New Rules for Project Managers
25 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pm10. Adopt practices for exploring a variety of perspectives. We think we see what we see, but we don’t. We really see what we think. Remember the blind men and the elephant. Make it your habit to inquire what others see. You’ll see more together. 9. Stay close to your customer. Clients’ concerns evolve over the life of a project. Take advantage of that to over-deliver. Stay in a conversation with your client to adjust what you are doing. 8. Take care of your project team. We’ve come to accept that the customer comes first…the customer is always right. We can’t… -
Improving Project Success Rates with Better Leadership
23 Jun 2009 | 10:00 pmFactual and anecdotal evidence confirms that IT investments are inherently risky. On average, about 70% of all IT related projects fail to meet their on-time, on-budget objectives to produce the expected business results. In one KPMG survey, 67% of the companies who participated said that their program/project management function was in need of improvement. Why? A number of leading factors for project failure were suggested by the survey, including the “usual suspects”: unreasonable project timelines, poorly defined requirements, poor scope management, and unclear project objectives.
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PMPort News
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FLUOR CORPORATION; Fluor Selected by Tenaska for Trailblazer Energy Center in Texas
5 Jul 2009 | 9:00 amFluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) announced it was selected to begin limited engineering for Tenaska's Trailblazer Energy Center, a supercritical coal-fired plant development equipped with carbon capture technology in Sweetwater, Texas. Fluor and Tenaska have signed a memorandum of understanding that will be the basis of a joint Tenaska-Fluor limited engineering phase of work. If Tenaska goes forward with the construction of Trailblazer, Fluor expects to proceed with implementing design requirements, engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and start-up of the 600 megawatt plant. The… -
LIBRARY SCIENCE; New library science study results from Spring Hill College described
2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 am"What skills do librarians need in today's world with its Google-esque movement toward ubiquitous instant information? Anecdotal evidence suggests librarians are acquiring a wider range of information technology (IT) skills. This study examines the IT skills employers deem essential by conducting a content analysis of randomly selected job ads from ALA's online JobList over a five-month period," researchers in the United States report. -
DELOITTE; Deloitte Study Provides Insight for Effective, Efficient Implementation of Stimulus Projects
30 Jun 2009 | 9:00 amToday, Deloitte released Going Beyond Compliance, a guide for local, state and federal agencies responsible for implementing projects and distributing stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The 2009 stimulus package provides a significant level of spending on infrastructure and mandates both speed and an unprecedented degree of transparency and accountability. According to the Deloitte study, these seemingly competing priorities can be addressed with proper management, monitoring and the use of new technology tools. -
Biofuels may be used to clean up Chernobyl 'badlands'
29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 amLondon, June 29 (ANI): Belarus, a country affected much by the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, is planning to grow biofuels to make its soil fit to grow food again within decades rather than hundreds of years. -
United States: Department of Defense Purchases 19 GenDrive Power Units From Plug Power
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 amPlug Power Inc., a leader in providing clean, reliable energy solutions, today announced it has been selected to provide 19 class 1 GenDrive fuel cell power units and two years of managed services for a demonstration project funded by the Department of Defense (DoD). Plug Power's GenDrive units will be commissioned at the U.S. Army's Forces Command in Fort Lewis, Washington where they will power a fleet of sit-down counterbalanced lift trucks.
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The PM Podcast
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Episode 121 PREMIUM: Project Management 2.0 and Social Media
22 Jun 2009 | 7:51 amLast week's discussion with Bas de Baar on "Everything a Project Manager should know about Social Media" largely focused on how you as a project manager can use social media for career growth. We also touched upon how to use social media can be used in your projects. In this Premium Episode we welcome Elizabeth Harrin (Author of Project Management in the Real World) to look more in depth into how a project manager can use Project Management 2.0 and Social Media on your projects. We discuss if and how we should use these tools, how confidentiality plays into this, how the increasing… -
Episode 121: Everything a Project Manager should know about Social Media
12 Jun 2009 | 8:53 amThe number of social media websites is sheer overwhelming. There are Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Myspace, Skype, Google Chat, Plurk, Bebo, Xing, Hi5, Orkut, Pownce and LinkedIn. And these are just the more popular ones. But why should you as a project manager care about this? Bas de Baar (http://blog.softwareprojects.org/) thinks you should. Bas argues that social media will help you personally by growing your visibility within the worldwide community of project managers and he also argues that social media helps your worldwide, virtual project team to grow together faster and deliver… -
Episode 120: Sustainability... Why Bother?!
31 May 2009 | 5:56 pmCompanies and project managers have believed for years that their only responsibility was mainly a financial one – maximizing value for shareholders and finish your projects on time and on budget. Sustainability is a new idea, where the corporate sector incorporates social and environmental concerns in its strategies and plays a more responsible role in the world. But why should project managers care about it? Our guest today is Jennifer Russell, PMP (www.mastodonconsulting.com) who argues that with some effort and foresight, sustainability can be integrated seamlessly in the goals of… -
Episode 119: SharePoint for Project Management
17 May 2009 | 2:13 pmHave you ever seen Microsoft SharePoint? And after you saw it, did you feel like this was a tool that you’d like to use in order to manage your projects? If the answer is no then you are like most companies who don’t understand MS SharePoint’s power and use it simply to share documents or spreadsheets. That is where the book “SharePoint for Project Management” comes into play. It demonstrates how SharePoint can also help you organize and manage complex projects. In today’s episode we welcome Dux Raymond Sy, who is the author of SharePoint for Project Management. It turned out that… -
Episode 118: Cultural Awareness and Cultural Intelligence
5 May 2009 | 10:03 amMany aspects of culture are invisible, yet culture has an enormous impact on our projects. If ignored, these aspects can lead to misunderstanding, stress and conflict. Alternatively, if attention is given to the invisible aspects, it can enhance productivity, improve project teamwork and create more joy on the job. Dealing with cross cultural issues on a multi-national projects can be like trying to control an invisible elephant. The issues are real and crucial as we journey into the new era of increasing globalization. That is why I am very happy to welcome Tom Verghese…
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No Kahuna
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A handy little feature went out last week - we now have events...
12 Jun 2009 | 2:07 pmA handy little feature went out last week - we now have events for when project members become subscribed/unsubscribed to tasks and messages. It’s nice to know when folks started listening in on the conversation. -
You can now mark a task as done AND add a comment in one go.
29 Apr 2009 | 2:23 pmYou can now mark a task as done AND add a comment in one go. -
Feeling like not doing a task? Now you can…
20 Apr 2009 | 12:32 pmFeeling like not doing a task? Now you can… -
Message subjects
20 Apr 2009 | 11:07 amMost ticketing/issue tracking systems force users to specify a title and a body for a given task. For most tasks though, we find that having a title is unnecessary and often annoying. Therefore, No Kahuna doesn’t have task titles. It’s an example of how we’re trying to simplify things and allow the site to get out of your way so you can get work done with your team. When we added support for messages awhile back, we thought we’d do an experiment to see if the subject of messages was overkill as well. It turns out that having subjects for messages does provide value. While… -
New pricing for No Kahuna
18 Mar 2009 | 3:54 pmWe have been rolling out a ton of new features and improvements over the last weeks. One such update is a much simplified pricing: No Kahuna projects can be either public or private. Public projects are free and you can have as many as you like. For private projects you need an upgrade. That’s really all there is to it. You still get unlimited users on every project but now you also get unlimited tasks and messages. And our new entry level plan starts at only $7. If you or your company needs privacy from the start – no worries: Every subscription plan comes with a free 30 day trial now…
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entp hoth blog
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New in Tender: Enhanced Search
23 Jun 2009 | 1:36 amIt’s true. Until now, Tender’s search capabilities have been in need of some work. Over the weekend, we deployed the first major update to overhaul the search system. Design-wise, we didn’t like how the search was so comment-centric. Searching for anything that matches anywhere in a comment body will now return the whole discussion just once. You can also search for names and emails to pull up discussions that the user has participated in. Also, we wanted the search to be unified on a single page. You can now search Discussions, FAQs, and users (if you’re a support member) from a… -
No Thirst Software On Tender
23 Jun 2009 | 12:52 amIt's only been a week of working with Tender and a few days of having it live for our customers to use, but I'm thrilled with it. The discussion forum is much more structured than our old Google Groups forum—we can mark issues as open or resolved, assign priority queues to issues, and, best of all, support emails go to the forum so they can't get lost in a cluttered inbox. It's not as large and in charge as FogBugz, but that's part of its appeal. We're even more committed to offering timely and effective support as our customer base continues to grow, and Tender will help us stay on top of… -
Job Queue Issues: It's Not Lupus
23 May 2009 | 4:30 amYow, what happened to the queue? We had two separate issues on Thursday night and Friday night that have since been fixed. The first one had to do with a strange error from parsing one of the many emails we receive. A bug in our email parsing library raises a critical exception that kills the queue process. I found the issue, deployed a workaround, and then submitted a patch to the library author. Typically, our queue catches and logs exceptions, instead of dying. However, the bug caused it to mistakenly raise a fatal SyntaxError, which is typically reserved for a typo in a script that… -
Extreme Programming
15 May 2009 | 12:32 pmRick & Towski practice some Extreme Programming. -
New in Tender: Autoresponders
13 May 2009 | 12:56 pmIn our continued dedication to rolling out new features for Tender, we’ve recently deployed Autoresponders. Autoresponders allow you to automatically send an email to users after they submit an issue. But we didn’t just implement your run-of-the-mill “We’ll get back to you soon” kind of autoresponders. We’ve given you power with some special variables. These variables let you use things like the customers name, email, the title & URL of the discussion, and even suggested FAQs! This means users who submit issues to you via email can get suggestions from your Knowledge Base…
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Better Projects
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BA Symposium, Sydney
3 Jul 2009 | 7:58 amI'll be speaking at BA World's BA Symposium in Sydney on Monday about how a BA can migrate into a scrum Product Owner role and sharing some experiences from my life. If you are there drop by and say hello.(I'll also be at Melbourne the next week.)The draft of the slide deck is below. I'll probably be abandoning it though as I want to try out using a tool I saw at a recent Thoughtworks resentation called Prezi. When I have completed the prezi file I'll try to post it here.I'll also be sitting on a panel called BA-PM Turf wars. The theme is as follows;Ten years ago many… -
2 weeks of silence
30 Jun 2009 | 6:23 amI just checked my rss feed for Sydney project management jobs. It's been quiet for the last 2 weeks. Not a single pm job listed on Australia's leading job site.Potentially there will be a flood of postings tomorrow, July 1, but it has been spookily quiet in the market.In the meantime I just finished marking exams and loading up the scores on a borrowed computer. Next task, get my machine fixed and get back to posting here. -
Self managed self motivated teams
23 Jun 2009 | 4:00 pmThe management literature point at self directed and self managing teams as an optimal management style. It's also embedded into the agile and lean software development models I am familiar with.This is where you want to go. This is how you want to direct your organisation (or in our case teams.) And virtually all workers have the capacity to get there.But where is the pathway from here to there? You are running a project with a deadline and plenty of constraints. You need to set some goals for your team and you need to direct them in their tasks to keep them on… -
The Professional BA
23 Jun 2009 | 4:00 amKathleen Haas of Management Concepts deliverred this presentation last year. Found on Slideshare care of Tom Humbarger. It looks at a whole lot of stuff around defining the role and value of the busniess analyst. One particularly good features is a table defining competencies at various stages in your BA career.The Business Analyst: The Pivotal Role Of The FutureView more OpenOffice presentations from Tom Humbarger. -
Testing sacred PM practices
19 Jun 2009 | 6:17 amJeff Edwards carried out a survey of project managers, exploring some of the presumptions about project management practices. He has written up a series of blog posts on 9 PM areas and found only two of them had a really solid contribution to project success.A caution on the study - it was of a limited size. It is worth taking a look at. Start the series here, and finish here, with a short podcast.
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BrightHub: Project Management
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Metrics for Hierarchical Dashboards (Part 2 of 4)
30 Jun 2009 | 10:03 amIn the previous article in this series we explored the use of hierarchical process maps to understand business operations at various levels of an organization. Now we take a look at measuring process performance at different levels. This is done using a set of metrics referred to as a dashboard. In order to properly assess the succcess of a busines... -
Understanding How Project Monitoring and Controlling Integrates with Other Processes
30 Jun 2009 | 10:01 amProject monitoring and control is key in the project management cycle. Properly executing this process will contribute significantly to successful project completion. Monitor and Control to Keep Control As described in Part 1 of this article series, the purpose of project monitoring and controlling is to provide an understanding of and communicate ... -
Hierarchical Process Maps (Part 1 of 4)
29 Jun 2009 | 9:31 pmBusiness leaders need to know how their process fits into the big picture, as well as understanding of the details of their operational process. Learn how developing hierarchical process maps is a foundation for a sound process management system and promotes effective Six Sigma project management. Creating hierarchical process maps is accomplished ... -
The Future of Project Management
29 Jun 2009 | 9:24 pmProject Management is an applied science which does not have any physical dimension. But it does have a dimension which are governed by the factors of managerial and computational skills. It’s all about process development and activity generation and it will keep on gaining momentum in the future. A project is essentially a process that leads... -
The Mythical Man Month in Software Project Management
29 Jun 2009 | 9:13 pmWhat is the mythical man month? What are its implications for resource managers and how does it affect projects? Does it contribute towards effective resource management in companies or detract from it? These issues are addressed in this article. Origin of the Mythical Man Month The concept of the Mythical Man Month was initially given ...
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WordPress Tag: Project Management
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Knowledge and Project Management Dissertation
4 Jul 2009 | 11:27 amI am currently working on a dissertation proposal for knowledge and project management. Can a knowledge management framework reduce the number of IT projects that fail? What is your experience with knowledge management. -
Book Review: Right Brain Project Management
4 Jul 2009 | 9:12 amNingen (Human) = Person + Interval “The fundamental problem with project management is what is missing, and what is missing is life, what is missing is people. We need to breathe life into projects. Life animates – an individual, a team, a project, or a company. Giving life to a project involves making it more human.” – B Michael Aucoin For someone who started managing projects in highly process-friendly companies, that sentence was a fresh idea. Right Brain Project Management, by B Michael Aucoin, is a book that essentially says, hey PMs, we need to focus a little less on… -
How to Be an Effective CEO
4 Jul 2009 | 12:26 amWho ever want to be a CEO, the following article could help you to be effective via How to Be an Effective CEO – ReadWriteStart. First-time entrepreneurs are usually also first-time CEOs. When you look at your first business card that says CEO, don’t forget that it is not necessarily telling the truth. You earn the title of CEO through your actions and your results. You still have your training wheels on. Fortunately, there is probably more advice available on how to be an effective CEO than on almost any other subject. This chapter gives you a quick guide, but do invest the time… -
A Cautionary Tale : How projects fail!
3 Jul 2009 | 10:12 pmThe following story is taken from Acceptance Test Engineering – Volume 1, Beta2 Release 29 Following is the story a project where the person in charge of defining and accepting a product fails to rise to the challenge. It describes what goes wrong and why. It also provides an alternate outcome of how the project could have worked out if proper acceptance practices had been used. Bob Kelly is a mid-level manager in the marketing department at Acme Products. He is in charge of the Mid Sized Markets product group and is the product manager of its core product, the XCelRator. He’s just… -
Looking for www.vyrtunet.com?
3 Jul 2009 | 5:48 pmAround 11:10pm last night a fire interrupted data center power and communications at Fisher Plaza in downtown Seattle, WA. This location hosts the technical infrastructure and communications for www.vyrtunet.com. We await details and apologize for the temporary interruption of our website. For more information, see: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Fisher-Communications-Inc-NASDAQ-FSCI-1012899.html
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Staying on the right T.R.A.C.C
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Hyper-Productive Distributed Teams?
16 Jun 2009 | 12:29 pmAgile and distributed development are not supposed to be able to co-exist. Co-located teams are supposed to be one of the key tenants of Scrum.If you have this (mistaken) belief, then you need to watch this video and presentation. I actually attended this presentation at Agile 2008 in Toronto. If I remember correctly, there were a few skeptics in the room.The key points are:Ability to leverage benefits of distributed developmentFully transparent teamsSeeding new teams with talent from existing teamsAutomated testsContinuous integration, nightly builds, automated tests, performance testing the… -
Performance Reviews for Developers
12 May 2009 | 8:09 amIt is getting close to that time of the year again at Macadamian, that's right, review time. Luckily however, it is mid-term reviews instead of the full year end reviews. This time of year always gets me thinking about how we review our employees, and to look around for new ways on how reviews could work.This year I stumbled across the Cockburn-Boehm Levels of Developer's Competency. The focus of this approach is not measuring performance on generic skills, but rather in terms of how to approach software construction projects. It's not about the skills of developers; rather, it's about the… -
Leadership in hard times
5 May 2009 | 11:28 amIt is much easier to be a leader when times are good, when business is plentiful, when the sky seems the limit. The strains put on a leader in bad times are much greater, and this is where you you separate the leadership wheat from the chaff.A co-worker of mine sent me a newsletter that had a great article on how to lead when times are hard. I hunted around a bit to get the corresponding web page for this article so I could share it. If you are leading people in a company highly recommend that you read this article. If you are not responsible for leading anyone, read this article.When… -
Whatever it takes
13 Apr 2009 | 1:19 pm(Well almost.)Pawel Brodzinsk over at Software Project Management wrote a blog about why developers should work on crappy machines. To sum the article up, developers should use crappy machines to force good programming practices on them, and to some extent, good usability. I am sure that most of the reasons behind the post are related to the frustration users feel for having to deal with bloated, slow performing software, or software that doesn't display right on lower end resolutions; and in that, I wholehearted agree.However, where Pawel and I differ is how we should deal with that. There… -
The Fall of Agile?
25 Mar 2009 | 5:37 amSwitching gears a bit from the last post, I recommend you read "The Decline and Fall of Agile".I agree it is a common misconception that Agile is easy, that Scrum will solve all your problems. That daily scrums and sprints are the path to the rapid delivery of high value software. Many people and organizations say they implement Scrum, but in reality implement "Scrum but". Unfortunately the "but" tends to be the lack of strong engineering practices and a strong Product Owner. Now there is nothing wrong (in theory) with "Scrum but", as a service company, not all of our customers will accept a…
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Project Management Tips
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What Does Cloud Computing Mean to Project Managers?
4 Jul 2009 | 11:05 amI was watching an online video the other day where some IT industry experts were asked what cloud computing meant to them.It’s funny how it means something a little different to everyone and some of them were at a loss of words to describe which gives you an idea of how new it still is to everyone…and yet how simple the concept really is.And that’s mostly what it is…a concept.Like the flow chart that would have this big box that said “and something happens here” when no one could figure out the right process to show or how to solve the problem. Defining Cloud Computing Cloud… -
Startup Teams with HP on Cloud-Based Testing
3 Jul 2009 | 1:48 pmI received my latest copy of InformationWeek recently and found this article interesting – especially since all discussions these days seem to center on either Cloud Computing or Agile Development. Skytap is a startup that tabs themselves as the leading provider of cloud-based virtual labs that deliver 100% self-service provisioning of complex IT environments without any architectural changes.Cloud computing is poised to become the defining technology of the 21st century and Skytap’s goal is to make serving up virtual machines over the internet as ubiquitous as delivering html to a… -
A Quick Guide to Performing a Vendor Market Analysis for Your Large Project
2 Jul 2009 | 9:14 amThis is basically a “Quick Guide” version of the 5 part piece I wrote on “Performing a Market Analysis for your Sotware Project Solution.”In this scenario we assume your company needs a project handled and it’s going to require that an outside company has a hand in it and it’s important that you get the best because it’s going to be long and it’s going to be costly.It’s important to analyze the available options and make the right choice. I’ve broken down the detailed market analysis into the 7 separate phases detailed below.For the full detail, start with Part 1 and read… -
What to Do When There’s Nothing to Do
30 Jun 2009 | 1:11 pmWhether or not you’re ever in this situation probably depends a lot on the size of your own personal project portfolio and how your company handles projects.It’s happened to me a few times, but it’s not a constant. Here’s the scenario I’m talking about….You have a lot of projects on your plate.For me, when it happened the most is when I had maybe 12-15 projects on my radar at any given time.4-5 of those projects would be very active – moving ahead full steam. Another 4-5 of those projects would be moving along slowly – possibly experiencing some sort of delay but moving along… -
Project Management: The Art of Keeping it Real
29 Jun 2009 | 8:00 pmThe Formal Stuff We do a lot of ‘formal’ things on the projects we manage.Hopefully, if we’re good project managers following a reliable ‘process’, then we hold meetings, deliver status reports, track issues and risks, forecast resources and costs and have a detailed project plan up-to-date every week if not every day. We can formally project manage our butts off and still not have a successful project.Sometimes there’s nothing that can be done about that.Things go wrong, technology fails us, team members let the project down, executive management cans a project, or even the…
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Management House
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Sacred PM Practices – Trust
1 Jul 2009 | 5:40 pmTrust is the confidence one has that another will fulfill his obligation. Many of the respondents shared their conviction that trust among individuals was crucial to the success of their projects. These respondents reported that there was trust among senior management, the project manager, the project team members, the business community, and users. Others, like Dr. Keith Mathis, have found the importance of creating an environment of trust. His posting can be found here on Project Smart.One particularly interesting observation was that when there was trust in a project relationship, the… -
Sacred PM Practices – Ownership
29 Jun 2009 | 7:37 pmOwnership is a psychological bond between a project team member and the outcome of a project. The majority of respondents in the study volunteered their belief that a sense of ownership was critical to the success of their projects. Many discussed several perspectives on ownership. Respondents shared examples of project managers, project team members, the clients (both internal and external), and users exhibiting ownership of project outcomes. There was the consultant who volunteered to cancel his contract if a software release was not successfully executed at a critical time. I also remember… -
Sacred PM Practices – Project Leadership
25 Jun 2009 | 8:01 pmProject Leadership is the ability to use interpersonal relationships to stimulate and guide people toward the accomplishment of a project.Many of the respondents made a strong distinction between project management and project leadership. While there are various definitions offered, a leader seems to be the one who achieves goals by influencing others, has a respect for expectations and perceptions, and directs others with a shared vision. A project manager, on the other hand, simply manages a project schedule, checks on progress, and tries to contain scope. Other comments from respondents… -
Sacred PM Practices – Qualitative Factors Uncovered
22 Jun 2009 | 6:50 pmMy prepared questions were asked. Hundreds of pieces of information were organized. Trends were identified. When I asked the successful project managers what I was missing, most project managers shared a few ideas that had helped their projects to succeed. The following characteristics were discovered to be present, to a large extent, on most of the sample projects:Project leadership, as opposed to project managementOwnership of the project outcomeTrust among project members, stakeholders, and senior managementI was dumbstruck. In all of my project management courses and seminars, studying of… -
Sacred PM Practices -- Findings Revealed
15 Jun 2009 | 8:45 pmI thought the best way to share the findings and trends of the research project would be in podcast form. Please click the podcast listed on the right panel of this page to listen. The podcast, along with the graph below, provide a concise summary of what was found. Thank you for visiting Management House. I look forward to reading your comments.
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ThE pM sTuDeNt
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What Everybody Ought to Know About Switching Careers to Project Management
2 Jul 2009 | 6:00 amI love it when this community connects with me. It helps me to know that real people are out there somewhere behind the screen of my laptop. I can’t believe you all fit in there. Technology is amazing. How do you break into project management when you have been running your own business for over a decade? How to get your foot in the door - photo by phos365 via Flickr C. D. from New York City wrote to me recently asking about this. I’m going to jump in and out of first to third person, and I’ve updated this to be much more robust than my original reply via email to C. D. -
Behavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- Results
1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amTable of contents for Behavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project ManagersBehavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- A pilot research studyBehavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- Results Predictors of Project Management Success The results were: Illustration 1- Behavioral Attributes or Traits that are reliable PREDICTORS of success (when combined with the other traits) Illustration 1 shows those attributes or Essential Traits that were reliable predictors of success within the Project Management Template. (other templates or profiles would have different attributes) That… -
Behavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- A pilot research study
30 Jun 2009 | 7:00 amTable of contents for Behavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project ManagersBehavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- A pilot research studyBehavioral Profiles of SUCCESSFUL Project Managers- Results I am a lifelong project manager with some 40 years of project management experience under my belt, most coming from construction project management. Over the years, I had noticed that some people are just naturally better project managers than others. Looking back over the years, it didn’t seem to matter whether they were engineers, nor did it matter if they were men or women, and having… -
Learning the Hard Way
29 Jun 2009 | 4:27 amLearn the Hard Way - by laverrue via Flickr When I started getting interested in formal project management, I was lost. I didn’t know where to start, and when I found some information I usually didn’t fully understand it because I was not familiar with the lingo. One of my goals for pmStudent.com is to save other people the pain I went through while trying to get into project management. I am working on some things now behind the scenes (top secret, sorry but this information is classified!) that will help me acheive that goal for everyone out there who is interested in… -
Run Away! (And Other Helpful Advice For A Career in Project Management)
24 Jun 2009 | 8:55 pmRun Away! by Cirofono via Flickr I am passionate about project management in general, and helping people new to the field more specifically. But let’s be honest. We’re all nuts. Not Everyone Should Be a Project Manager There is a specific form of gluttony for punishment that comes with the territory (some consider it a clinical condition). The decision to head down the project manager career path should not be taken lightly. When I started out, there was a specific resonance I felt as I learned more about the role of a project manager. Everything I had really enjoyed about my…
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Keeping the Peace
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Don’t Assume a Thing
29 Jun 2009 | 10:17 amIn one of the first classes I taught, I had a student who was always scowling at me. It would have been really hard to miss that scowl. He sat in the front row and it was a small class in a small room. He was friendly enough when he entered the class room and when [...] -
Your Boss is Human
22 Jun 2009 | 9:47 amThis just in, you report to a human being! Whether or not she lets you see her human side or not, she has pressures, stresses, fears, and insecurities just like you do. So don’t think for a minute that just because someone has a director or a vice-president in their title that they have no worries. Take [...] -
It’s Not Personal
15 Jun 2009 | 7:40 amSally looked at Mary Carol and said, “Wow how did you do that? How did you just brush it off, I mean Jim just got in your face and told you that he hates working with you. And you are just as calm and collected as ever.” Mary Carol looked at Sally and said, “Well [...] -
Be Impeccable with Your Word – Part 2
8 Jun 2009 | 7:49 amLast week we discussed the power of your words. Your words are a very powerful tool and expressing your thoughts as words is one of the strongest powers you possess. If you know me at all, you know that I like to see all of us using our powers for good. This is just one [...] -
Creatures of Habit
2 Jun 2009 | 6:33 amIt is true, our habits define us. Most of what we do and say each day is habitual. When you wake up a large part of your day is already defined and you simply follow your routine. This is not necessarily a bad thing, unless your habits are not serving you well.
