Project Management

• Most Topular Stories

• Project Management Lessons From Dilbert

  ThE pM sTuDeNt

  Josh

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:06 am

• Managing Project Risk – The Easy Way

  The International Community for Project Managers

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  "Knowledge is learning something new every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." --Zen Proverb As with most Zen proverbs, the quote above is both complicated and simple. The concept is beautiful in its simplicity.  You can benefit by learning something new every day.  You can benefit by letting go of memories and beliefs that are not serving you. How is this complicated?

• Top Five Communication Skills for Project Managers

  Project Smart

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:09 pm

• Business cases aren't a waste of time

  ComputerWorld: Project Management

  9 Aug 2010 | 3:00 am

  Ford's unified vision, facilitated by IT, is bringing the company back to profitability without a bailout.

• MS Project: There Is A Tip For That – Part 2

  expiriance.com

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  Google News: Project Management

• Expert harps on project management as tool for development - Nigerian Compass

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:16 pm

  Expert harps on project management as tool for developmentNigerian CompassThis was the view of Mr Gbenga Adegbiji, Head of Network, Smile Communication Nigeria Limited, at the sixth annual project management lecture of the

• Project Controls Manager - Cootamundra Herald

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:36 pm

  Project Controls ManagerCootamundra HeraldTalent2\'s expertise in EPCM recruitment both nationally and internationally, has been called upon to recruit the position of Project Controls Manager for Senior Project Controls EngineerCootamundra Heraldall 11 news articles »

• Project management firm owner pockets $1.035M in Hollywood - Blockshopper

  7 Sep 2010 | 12:41 pm

  BlockshopperProject management firm owner pockets $1.035M in HollywoodBlockshopperKruse is the owner and president of k2PM, a real estate project management firm in West Hollywood. Previously, he served as senior vice president of design

• Reengineering, Analysis and Redocumentation for SAP with SaaS and SAP Solution ... - TMCnet

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:47 am

  Reengineering, Analysis and Redocumentation for SAP with SaaS and SAP Solution TMCnetTransWare Software Solutions AG, the pioneering provider of SAP (News - Alert) project management and system analysis and more »

• Meridian Systems Customers Honored at the 2010 Constructech Vision Awards - MarketWatch (press release)

  7 Sep 2010 | 11:06 am

  Meridian Systems Customers Honored at the 2010 Constructech Vision AwardsMarketWatch (press release)"We believe the Vision Awards confirm that investments in project management technology can deliver high levels of project control and significant ROI and more »

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  ComputerWorld: Project Management

• IT Fuels Ford's Dramatic Turnaround

  31 Aug 2010 | 2:28 pm

  Ford's unified vision, facilitated by IT, is bringing the company back to profitability without a bailout.

• Business cases aren't a waste of time

  9 Aug 2010 | 3:00 am

  Some people seem to think that business cases are a waste of time. Bart Perkins disagrees, though he acknowledges that some IT organizations may use business cases as a way to avoid work.

• Inside Chiquita's 'painful' finance system overhaul

  9 Aug 2010 | 3:00 am

  Chiquita's huge finance systems overhaul has run into software bugs, business resistance and delays, but it's getting closer to providing 'one version of the truth.'

• Top 10 Ways CIOs Can Prepare for Recession No. 2

  30 Jul 2010 | 10:44 am

  As Gartner warns IT leaders to be ready in case a second recession hits, CIO.com's Thomas Wailgum shares his thoughts on how CIOs can actually slash pesky budgets. Hint: Unpaid interns, meet Russian hackers!

• When good projects go bad

  26 Jul 2010 | 3:00 am

  Problem projects -- killed, euthanized or launched with disappointing results -- can leave techies with unresolved feelings that linger for years. Here are some suggestions for avoiding major pain.

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  Project Shrink

• No More Dharmas. Or. How Our Identities Shape Projects.

  Bas de Baar

  5 Sep 2010 | 3:38 am

  Almost two years ago I wrote “El Grande Post”. Outlining “El Grande Vision about Projects, The Universe And Everything”. It was one of many attempts to explain projects, your mind, identity, culture and all other things human. It was titled: “The Four Dharmas Of Project Management“. Can you imagine? Four dharmas! Wow. How about I try to explain it in one go? The essence is how our identities shape our environment. This is how I think it works. You have a perception of yourself. Your identity. A way to describe an identity is by group association. I am a…

• Groundhog Day. Happy Monks. Analyzing The Project Shrink With Adventure Maps

  Bas de Baar

  27 Aug 2010 | 8:37 am

  Can you use adventure maps to analyze the function of comments on blogs? Ali suggested I give it a try. Great idea! We are studying the effects of comments. I am experimenting with adventure mapping, the highly playful, interactive and intuitive way of communicating complex elements in your project. Why not combine them? Why not? So. Mapping The Project Shrink blog and the function of comments. See if it provides me with some insights. Every adventure starts with a quest. The purpose of the blog. Why am I writing? For me it’s a personal thing. I want to sharpen my mind around this…

• The Wizard Of Oz And Stakeholder Management. Oh. And Boundaries.

  Bas de Baar

  25 Aug 2010 | 7:16 am

  You wouldn’t expect a Stakeholder Management workshop to be called “We’re Off To See The Wizard”, would you? Talking about The Yellow Brick Road-technique, keeping the Wicked Witch of The West out of your project, and, well, going to see the Wizard. Ah yes. The Wizard Of Oz as a metaphor! for Stakeholder Management. I am preparing a Stakeholder Management workshop and it’s going to be awesome. For those that are into this kind of thing. For those who enjoy Adventure Maps over Grids, Judy Garland over bullet points, it will be a treat. If you want to fill in Excel…

• A Four-Pronged Approach To Study Comments on SlideShare

  Bas de Baar

  24 Aug 2010 | 1:19 am

  The “commenting”-function in social media is very powerful. You are not only able to motivate authors by providing encouraging feedback, comments also help evolve the original content, concept or idea (meme if you want). This is about feedback mechanisms in social networks, a topic I discuss frequently with Ali Anani. In “A Four-Pronged Approach To Study Comments on SlideShare” we looked at comments on an earlier presentation in more detail by creating a timeline, clusters, social network and spiral structure from the comments and the authors. A Four-Pronged Approach…

• Escaping The “Them vs Us” Communication Death Trap

  Bas de Baar

  22 Aug 2010 | 4:19 am

  “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are” – Anais Nin The Others. Them. Definitely not us. Ever find yourself in an discussion where your mind shifts into a “me-vs-him” or “us-vs-them” state? “What are they thinking?” “They must be joking.” “Why isn’t he as smart as I am?” The problem might be your conversation partner. Sure. Of course. But. We each have a specific way we view the world. This difference in view and interpretation can be the source of any problem or agitation. “The…

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  Pawel Brodzinski

• How Big Is Your Backlog?

  Pawel Brodzinski

  6 Sep 2010 | 3:46 pm

  Several months ago Mary Poppendieck visited Krakow, where I live, to give a speech. Mary delivered one of her standard pieces on lean software development, which wasn’t really an epiphany for me. However one thing sticks with me until today, so after all it looks like Mary did pretty good job. It was about backlog size and Mary’s point was it should be as small as possible, but of course not smaller than it still makes sense. I can’t recall the exact example now but it was like you should have about the same number of items in backlog as you have in ready-ready or todo stage. In terms…

• Implementing Change

  Pawel Brodzinski

  1 Sep 2010 | 4:26 pm

  The other day I was asked to discuss how we can improve the way one of our software development teams works. Well, actually it was rather something like “Pawel, help us to implement Kanban” but, as it soon appeared, it wasn’t that simple. A typical discussion about implementing Kanban Me: So where do we start? Colleague: Um, I’m not really sure if Kanban is really for us. Convince me. Me: I don’t want to. If something doesn’t suit your team I’ll be the last person to convince you to implement it. Colleague: So where do we start? Me: Maybe with problems you and the team have. I…

• TEDxKrakow or How to Learn Project Management

  Pawel Brodzinski

  30 Aug 2010 | 1:23 pm

  A subject of learning project management returns here periodically. When discussing this kind of issues I tend to share some raw ideas everyone has to adjust to their specific situation before applying. But today I have a complete recipe for those struggling with gathering first experience in project management. Of course a starting point here will be Scott Berkun’s: go run a project. And I do have a great idea for a project… For those of you who are aware what TED and TEDx are please skip next two paragraphs. For the rest of you, read on. TED is a conference which gathers top-notch…

• How To Suck As Project Manager

  Pawel Brodzinski

  25 Aug 2010 | 10:08 am

  Recently I answered a series of questions about the project managers in an organization I know a bit. One of questions was about least important role project managers fulfill there. After a thought I came out with being a keeper of procedures. I see it pretty often – people who care more about job being done according to procedures than about job being done well. If the person which comes to you mind is a PM who sees projects as a combination of budgets and schedules instead of people you know what kind of personality I think about. Actually keeping most procedures, not only…

• Top 5 Excuses to Stop Learning

  Pawel Brodzinski

  23 Aug 2010 | 2:24 pm

  It is said people don’t want to learn. Even more, they say we’re lazy. But that’s not without a reason. Actually there are lots of bad, bad things undermining our good intentions. There is too much work.You are buried under loads of work. New tasks come at much faster rate than you deal with the old ones. You can hardly deal with top priority stuff, let alone less important things. Learning is simply not an option. Sharpening a saw is a myth. If you stop even for a short moment the world will collapse. There is too little work. Actually you learn when you practice something. Theory…

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  ComputerWeekly: Project Management

• Dismantle Labour's IT to save £8bn, says Tory advisor report

  7 Sep 2010 | 8:11 am

  A think-tank close to the government has proposed dismantling the IT systems and business ecosystem established by Labour's drive to computerise government.

• Buyer's Guide to infrastructure: Three steps to IT reorganisation

  1 Sep 2010 | 1:00 am

  After a year of seeing deep cuts to infrastructure and operations (I&O) budgets, businesses are returning to a growth agenda. Most I&O executives say this is routine. As the vice-president of infrastructure at a large manufacturer summed it up: "I&O is always in a recession. We always have to do more with less. Did the global recession hurt us? I'm sure it did, but we didn't notice any unusual cuts in spending."

• Leveraging Software Asset Management to reduce software costs - Part 2

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:57 am

  In this white paper learn how to contain your software costs by analyzing your company’s software usage, identify underused software and allocate licenses efficiently. 2nd Part of our Software Asset Management series.

• Guide: Structuring SAM to solve business challenges

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:57 am

  SAM allows businesses to police their system effectively and create a focused set of interfaces for continual process improvement. A strong SAM program becomes a strategic asset for meeting overall business goals.

• White paper: Cloud Security

  30 Aug 2010 | 5:00 pm

  For all the talk of cloud computing, a number of concerns persist in the minds of executives considering the adoption of this technology. Towards top of the list of concerns is the question of information security.

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  Project Smart

• Top Five Communication Skills for Project Managers

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:09 pm

  Research among project managers globally identifies top communication skills for leading teams. Leading people - the experiential side of project management - is as important as task-based skills according to project managers in Europe, the Middle East, India, America and Australasia. In recent research they said that communication is a critical skill for project success, both for keeping team members up-to-date and for winning the support of key stakeholders. But which skills make all the difference? Here are the top five respondents say have made all the difference to their careers.

• Understanding the Software Development Process

  5 Sep 2010 | 8:26 am

  The software development process has undergone drastic changes over the years. Initially only requiring a developer to write the code of the software, advances in the industry have expanded development into a more complex process. Involving architects, analysts, programmers, testers and users to develop code, it is now capable of delivering more advanced results. You can avoid some of the most common problems that occur with software development by understanding the three most common reasons for project failure.

• Leading Meetings with Multicultural Audiences

  5 Sep 2010 | 2:02 am

  With the increasing prevalence of virtual teams that span the globe, multicultural audiences are becoming more common. Meeting leaders must be poised to meet the unique needs of these groups. One of the key roles of any meeting facilitator is to create a safe environment where all participants feel valued and included. When the meeting includes participants representing a variety of different cultures and backgrounds, this can be somewhat challenging. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when leading a session with a multicultural audience.

• Facilitating a Requirements Validation Meeting with Ease!

  3 Sep 2010 | 12:41 pm

  Ensuring that a requirements document is accurate, complete and fully supported by key stakeholders can be critically important. Unfortunately, requirements validation sessions can be protracted and challenging. Oftentimes, the goal of the session is to gain agreement among various stakeholders on a lengthy, detailed requirements document. This can certainly be a tall order, but it can be done!

• How Do You Project Confidence Leading Meetings When You're Really Not?

  2 Sep 2010 | 1:27 pm

  Oftentimes we're thrust into situations where we're expected to lead a meeting, and we may lack the confidence we think we should have. Maybe we're not confident because we're new to the organisation, possibly we're not as knowledgeable about the subject matter, or maybe we're not as senior as some of the attendees. There are a whole host of reasons why we may experience feelings ranging from slight intimidation to downright terror!! Don't fret, here are a few simple tips to help you when you need to lead a session with confidence!

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  The Tao of Project Management

• 28: Warrior and Healer

  3 Sep 2010 | 3:09 am

  During the middle to late stages of a project there are often some battles to be fought. And at the same time will be a lot issues and problems and some team members will need help and encouragement to get their work done under a lot of pressure.The WayThe wise project manager can act as a warrior and as a healer. As a warrior, showing power and decision, he displays the Yang or masculine aspect of leadership. But most of the time the project manager acts as a healer in an open, receptive and nourishing way. Providing help and assistance to the team members and encouraging them to do their…

• 27: Beyond Techniques

  28 Aug 2010 | 7:21 am

  People who blindly follow PRINCE, PM-BOK or any other technique or methodology to the letter are not usually wise project managers. The wise project manager needs no guidelines or methodology to do the right things and steer the project successfully towards completion. Those guidelines and methodologies exist to teach and instruct the less experienced, for whom they were intended. However the good project manager should also set an example and therefore should be seen to follow those guidelines and methodologies where they are appropriate.The WayThe poor project manager may recognise that he…

• 26: Centred & Grounded

  20 Aug 2010 | 12:22 pm

  One of the things I love about Tai Chi is the feeling of being centred. Being centred means we can keep our balance in the midst of action. One of the things I also remember from one of the more vigorous of the martial arts I once studied was the stance of the Ox. Two feet firmly planted on the ground, fists clenched by ones side, rock solid, totally grounded and ready for anything. Being grounded also means being down-to-earth. A project manager who is centred and grounded can work with erratic people and critical situations without harm or fear.The WayThe poor project manager is not stable…

• 25: What is the Way?

  14 Aug 2010 | 7:08 am

  Describing the way is not easy. It is not a thing. It has no form or qualities. It is not divisible and it does not change. The way is the principle of how everything works. It is one, it is unity, it is everywhere and it determines everything.The WayThe wise project manager knows that he is dependent on the earth. The earth in turn is dependent on the cosmos. And finally the cosmos is dependent on the way. But the way is not dependant on anything, it just is. I know this for this is the way of the project manager.The TaoLao Tsu tells us:Something mysteriously formed.Born before heaven and…

• 24: Try Softer

  6 Aug 2010 | 8:09 am

  A project manager trying too hard is a sure sign of insecurity and incompetence. When we are in control and know what we are doing we are relaxed and at peace with ourselves and our project. The WayThe poor project manager tries to be flashy and hard and therefore lacks stability. He tries to appear clever and is therefore not enlightened. He tries to promote himself because he is insecure. None of this helps the project or the project manager’s health.The wise project manager knows that trying to rush things gets you nowhere. He knows that fame will complicate his life and compromise…

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  Gantthead: IT Project Management

• ISO on IT Governance

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:00 pm

  One of the most established standards organizations (and their pronouncements) is often missing from the IT governance conversation: the International Organization for Standardization. Did you know that the ISO has been very active in the governance and compliance space? Here is an update on the standards that you might find useful.

• The Customer Connection

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:00 pm

  Why involve project management before there's a project? Customer expectations are often out of whack before the services part of the organization ever gets its hands on the project. Here we look at the root of the problem--and provide some solutions.

• Formalizing Governance

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:00 pm

  Governance is the buzzword of the last few years, but is it being done properly? Our writer builds on a few experiences he's had with governance and considers some ways that we can improve things by bringing consistency to the process.

• Bringing Data Centers into the Green

  30 Aug 2010 | 9:00 pm

  IT is heading for greener pastures, but how soon, how fast and how green are questions that still need to be addressed. If you're planning to take your IT to the next level of energy efficiency, you need to take a look at your data center.

• The EV Meal

  29 Aug 2010 | 9:00 pm

  Need some help digesting earned value management? An EVM project that is "broken" before its completion is easier to reconstruct and make useful...so open wide and get ready to chew.

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  ITToolbox: Project Management

• Sample Proposal for Enterprise Wide Architecture Project – Part 2 - Intro

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:51 am

  2.      INTRODUCTION 2.1     Understanding of the Current Situation CONSULTING FIRM understands the following pertinent facts concerning Winnport’s current situation: ·   &#...

• Two Old Pals

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:09 am

  Organizations seem to change in one of two ways. We see organic change that appears to simply happen on it's own. It's like some form of collective magic. And then we see what I can only call inorganic change, where the organization would not have been able to change on it's own but changed anyway. One typical, recent example of organic change is the spread of instant messaging as a means to

• Sample Proposal for Enterprise Wide Architecture Strategy Project – Part 1 – Exec Summary

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:47 am

  1.      EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONSULTING FIRM (CONSULTING FIRM) proposes to Winnport Logistics Limited Inc., (hereafter to be referred to as Winnport), the services necessary to develop an Enterprise Wide Architectu...

• What Is Stopping You? Artificial and Real Barriers To Pursuit!

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:11 am

  "How you ever gonna know what it's like to dance. How you ever gonna know if you never take the chance..."

• COMMUNICATION COMPLEXITY

  6 Sep 2010 | 11:27 pm

  Understanding the lines of communications in an organization.

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  Project Management Articles - PM Hut

• Three Ways To Prepare For Your PMP Exam

  PM Hut

  7 Sep 2010 | 1:29 pm

  Three Ways To Prepare For Your PMP Exam By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP So, you’ve started the Project Management Professional (PMP) application process and are preparing to take the PMP Exam. Great career move! The PMP Certificate is a highly sought after career demarcations in both prosperous and challenging economic times. It is the recognition of “demonstrated knowledge [...]

• Even a Project Manager Needs Good Grammar

  PM Hut

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:18 am

  Even a Project Manager Needs Good Grammar By Global Knowledge The 32 Most Commonly Misused Words and Phrases: Accept/Except- Although these two words sound alike (they’re homophones), they have two completely different meanings. “Accept” means to willingly receive something (accept a present.) “Except” means to exclude something (I’ll take all of the books except the one with the [...]

• What It Takes To Become A High Potential IT Leader

  PM Hut

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:44 pm

  What It Takes To Become A High Potential IT Leader By Jim Anderson Although this article is not specifically targeted at Project Managers, PM Hut chose to publish it, as an IT leader can easily be/mean an IT Project Manager… What is it going to take to make your IT Leader career a success? Sure, you can deliver [...]

• Are Program Managers on the Career Path to the C-Level?

  PM Hut

  6 Sep 2010 | 8:08 am

  Are Program Managers on the Career Path to the C-Level? By Gary Hamilton, Gareth Byatt, and Jeff Hodgkinson The debate on whether Program Managers would make effective senior executives is one that has gained attention in recent years. However, for this article we thought we would pose this question and contrast it with the muses of a [...]

• 6 Principles To Avoid Project Screw-Ups

  PM Hut

  5 Sep 2010 | 8:32 am

  6 Principles To Avoid Project Screw-Ups By Lonnie Pacelli Project screw-ups mean wasted time and money and can irreparably damage your relationship with business partners if they perceive that you are at fault—in any way. If you’ve been through a post-mortem for a project that failed, you’ve likely heard one or more of these “we didn’t” excuses: “We [...]

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  Journyx Project Management Blog

• Stronger Together; Cultivating the Business Analyst and Project Manager Relationship

  Journyx

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:59 am

  Much has been written about the potential for a contentious relationship between the project manager and business analyst. If you have been a business analyst or project manager for any length of time, then you have probably experienced some of this tension for yourself, particularly if you have previously performed both roles. It can be difficult to find a happy medium when so many of the tasks seem to overlap between the BA and PM role. For example, PMs are used to managing relationships with customers and sometimes delve into requirements during status updates when the BA is not present.

• Purchasing Project Management Software: 6 Tips for Success, Part 3

  Journyx

  29 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  5. Gauge the Learning Curve If your new solution will require a seemingly endless training process for you and your staff, what will that do to your strategic projects? You will need to weigh this against the benefit of the complex functionality you are receiving. Again, it is best to focus on what you really need rather than trying to have it all. Ask about the training you can expect to receive, and how long it generally takes customers to become comfortable with the solution. 6. Choose a Hosted Solution SaaS solutions save businesses both time and money. First, they have a lower cost of…

• Purchasing Project Management Software: 6 Tips for Success, Part 2

  Journyx

  26 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  3. Find Out Who Will Be Configuring Your Solution Is your vendor claiming that its solution does it all? Common sense tells us that those who do it all don’t often do it well. Those who specialize in a few core competencies, however, are in a much better position to excel. When a vendor claims it can do it all, ask specific questions about the functionality you need most (e.g. tracking actuals against project plans, resource allocation, etc.). You should also ask about the team that will be implementing your solution. Many vendors will send IT staff, but do you really feel that an IT…

• Purchasing Project Management Software: 6 Tips for Success, Part 1

  Journyx

  24 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Due to the economy, many businesses are now looking at project portfolio management solutions to help them isolate and execute mission-critical projects more effectively. These businesses have also found that Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are both more affordable and easier to deploy than traditional ones. Choosing the right solution, however, can be challenging. Here are several ways to ensure that you choose the solution that is right for your business needs. 1. Consider Price One of the first issues to consider with a PPM solution is the cost, especially during a recession when…

• Purchasing Project Management Software: How to Appraise References, Part 3

  Journyx

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  • The Right Fit Check the reference company’s website for business model appropriateness. Is this reference company similar to your business? For example, software used by restaurants may not be appropriate for your project management consultancy. Are you a company that mostly sells to other businesses, or do you sell directly to consumers? Does your company handle many transactions and customers per year or just a few? The references that the vendor provided you should be as much like you as possible. • Know Who You’re Dealing With Call the reference company’s main number…

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  PMPort News

• VIETNAM TO LINK UP THU THIEM TUNNEL

  7 Sep 2010 | 9:00 am

  Vietnam's East-West Highway Project Management Board (EWHPMB) and Japanese contractor Obayashi on September 4 poured final concrete to link up the Thu Thiem tunnel, the first immersed tunnel in Southeast Asia .

• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Reappraised at CMMI(R) Maturity Level 3

  5 Sep 2010 | 9:00 am

  Karachi, Sept. 05 -- An independently led team has rated Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Aeronautics at Maturity Level 3 against the Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development, or CMMI-DEV version 1.2, following an extensive examination of processes in the company's major aircraft programs.

• OMAN NATIONAL RAILWAY PLANS 25 COMMUTER, INTERCITY STATIONS

  3 Sep 2010 | 9:00 am

  Authorities overseeing the development of Oman's ambitious National Railway Project have identified locations for the establishment of around 25 commuter stations and intercity stations along the route of the network, the Oman Daily Observer reported Sunday. It added that the alignment of a roughly 1,000-kilometre-long rail system extending from Khatmat Malaha on Oman.s border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to Duqm on the Wusta coast, has already been finalised. Development of the network will be undertaken in four sections, with priority likely to be accorded to two key sections -- one…

• $6.12 Million Federal Contract Awarded to Booz Allen Hamilton

  2 Sep 2010 | 9:00 am

  WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 -- Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Va., won a $6,120,537.77 federal contract from the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service, Arlington, Va., for project management and and support services under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For more information about Targeted News Service contract awards please contact: Myron Struck, Editor, Direct: 703/866-4708, Cell: 703/304-1897, Myron@targetednews.com TNS 61Nehafir 100902-db-292187 EditorHarms

• Kuwait : Contract let for Kuwaiti water injection

  1 Sep 2010 | 9:00 am

  Kuwait Oil Co. has let a contract valued at $430 million to Petrofac for water-injection work in two northern Kuwaiti oil fields. The project will mix effluent water and seawater for injection into 69 wells in Sabriyah and Raudhatain oil fields. KOC said it s part of an effort to raise oil production in northern Kuwait by 1 million b/d by 2015. The work includes installation of a central injection pumping facility and modifications to three existing gathering centers and a seawater treatment plant. Completion is expected in 36 months. Petrofac will handle engineering design, procurement,…

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  entp hoth blog

• Inbound email issues in Tender

  will

  6 Sep 2010 | 1:19 am

  We are currently experiencing issues with inbound email processing in Tender. This is causing severe delays with incoming emails from Tender accounts. The problem appears to be with Google Apps, whom we use for our inbound email forwarding and processing. We are currently are working with Google to resolve the issue and will continue to post status updates as we learn more. UPDATES: Sept 6 @ 10:00am PDT - Email processing has been fully restored. We're still working to process backlogged emails.

• New density graphs in Tender

  will

  30 Aug 2010 | 11:23 am

  We rolled out a new Support Density graph in Tender reporting. The density graph shows you when your support load is at it's peaks, giving you the ability to scale and meet the support demands of your users. There is also a Supporter Activity graph that shows outgoing supporter comments.

• Reports for your Tender

  will

  17 Aug 2010 | 2:28 pm

  We just rolled out a new reporting feature for Tender. You can now access your account statistics, including discussion flow graphs, detailed response time data, and a full CSV export that encompasses advanced statistics for you number crunchers out there. Discussion Flow includes Open, Closed and Assigned (synced with Lighthouse) discussions displayed across the graph. The data can be can be broken down into week, month, and year views. Response Time provides a statistical summary of your overall response times. Detailed statistics for discussions are visible under the summary. Items in red…

• ExpressionEngine, WordPress and Drupal: Meet Tender’s SSO

  will

  3 Aug 2010 | 12:56 pm

  One of our main goals with Tender is to provide a customer support tool with the simplest implementation possible. Between Single Sign-On, Lighthouse syncing, web hooks, and a wide array of open source tools, getting a support system up and running and in use for your team is a snap. A few weeks ago, we set out to provide a number of tools to assist with implementing Tender’s Single Sign-On system for some popular systems. Sure, a seasoned developer can implement SSO relatively quickly, but it’s a huge win if you can get things rolling in as few steps as possible. Naturally, we’ve…

• How to Support 5,000 Customers with No Support Staff

  will

  2 Aug 2010 | 8:30 pm

  How to Support 5,000 Customers with No Support Staff (via @sweetlew)

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  Better Projects

• Question: When do you up the revision number on a document?

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:00 pm

  I've been kicking around a few ideas in my head recently as I put together a post on document revision numbering. As my thoughts have percolated over the last week or so, I realized that I'd like to put the call out for thoughts to the readers of this blog prior to posting my own thoughts. So here's your chance... what do you, readers of BetterProjects.net, think about document revision numbering? Do you do it? When do you increment it? Do you use major/minor numbering? Do you have any specific methodology is it really whenever you feel like it? What is your starting number?Post your thoughts…

• Projects are about people, now deal with that

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:28 pm

  I have to endorse Bas de Baar's latest post.  Bas is right into the sociology of projects and his latest post is another great reminder abut the human aspects of projects. Your relationships are more important than technical skills to both you and the projects you work on.   Sure, technical skills are both important and useful, but not nearly as important as your relationships with your team mates, customers and partners.

• pernicious relativism and logical positivism

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:21 pm

  We say that Project Management is about getting things done, which means that at the end of the day pragmatism beats all methodologies and theoretical models.Just what is pragmatism? And why does this approach to work bring so many of us into conflict in the workplace? It's been called 'pernicious relativism' by some and logical positivism by others. It seems to me that pragmatists are about getting on with things, but we operate in a world of people who seek 'one best way' to get things done. Maybe there is one, maybe there isn"t.Maybe the important thing to do is try something and…

• Managing expectations

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:01 am

  Success, at least the ephemeral success of a happy customer, is achieved through exceeding expectations. Set low expectations and it’s easy to succeed. Set high expectations, and even though you do an awesome job, nobody is really that impressed.You aren’t really in control of a person’s expectations. Despite all the effort you put into setting realistic expectations about your team’s capability, or the difficulties of the problem you are tackling, people will still be influenced by other extraneous factors.They’ve seen all their corporate projects run over budget and delivery…

• COTS Selection RESOLVED (You Make The Call)

  31 Aug 2010 | 12:22 pm

  In an earlier post we presented you with a situation about a COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) software package selection process. Here are some things that could have made this process better. Square OneThe first suggestion on improving the selection of a COTS product is the same as any internally developed application, namely a better understanding of the goals of the project. While your stakeholders feel that they could see labor and customer satisfaction increases with a new system, it wasn't clear (intentionally) from the description that the stakeholders wanted a COTS package, only that…

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  BrightHub: Project Management

• Critical to Quality (CTQ) Tree

  Gina66

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:30 pm

  CTQ trees are to help the customer of any company or business, used to measure the characteristics of any given product. Critical to Quality, or CTQ, trees are used to help see the characteristics of a product from a customer point of view. Having one for your business or company will help knowing what your customers are looking for. CTQ Tree Expla...

• A Review of Tom's Planner: An Interactive Web-Based Scheduling Program

  vaedwards

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:39 pm

  Creating a Gantt chart to monitor a project’s schedule doesn’t have to be a laborious task for a project manager. Tom’s Planner has developed a software program designed to take away the turtle approach of creating Gantt charts in spreadsheets, making those experiences a distant memory. Overview A project manager who understands t...

• Examples of Effective Delegation

  brucetyson

  6 Sep 2010 | 12:25 pm

  Examples of delegation help illustrate one of the most important skills in management. Done right, delegation provides for team development, motivation, and ensures survivability. Poor delegation examples can set the stage for confusion, frustration and failure. Read more about delegation here. Delegation Defined The delegation process in project m...

• Steps to Performing a Project Quality Audit - Intro and Planning

  chemuturi

  6 Sep 2010 | 1:33 am

  This article enumerates the steps in conducting project quality audits. Audits are primarily document verifications systems to ensure compliance of the project with the processes including procedures, standards, guidelines, formats and templates defined for the project. Introduction Project quality audits play an important part in project execution...

• Identifying Resistance to Change

  vaedwards

  5 Sep 2010 | 4:28 pm

  What are some of the early warning signs of resistance to change and how can a project manager identify them during a change management process? Read more to learn what you can do to alleviate the root causes behind most resistances to change. What Are the Warning Signs of Resistance to Change? Just as a physician relies on his or her steth...

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  WordPress Tag: Project Management

• Evaluate your consulting expertise using the Dreyfus model

  Oliver Schmid

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:53 pm

  I just came across this marvelous article that outlines the various stages of competency of an IT Consultant on TechRepublic. I highly recommend this blog article by Chip Camden. In a matter of fact, I encourage every IT Consultant to read it and to rate themselves very objectively. Maybe you also want to have somebody else who knows your work rate you and then you compare the results. Excerpt from the blog: To say that “a comment from Chad Perrin got me thinking” is redundant, but this one made me wonder how many consultants who call themselves experts could qualify for that title…

• Six “C’s” of Crisis Management

  StoneRoad

  7 Sep 2010 | 1:51 pm

  While in China I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman from China (he spoke English).  Our main topic was Emergency Management but when I mentioned I was in Business Continuity Management (BCM) we kind of strayed a little bit.  But as we discussed various topics there were a few things that we kept coming back to – maybe there was something in out green tea, I don’t know…  Still, I was taking some notes, as I like out chat and as someone who always likes to get new perspectives on things, I thought I’d eventually write a blog about it.   As we conversed, he kept making…

• What Makes a Good Project KPI Framework?

  saharconsulting

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:55 am

  I decided to mix a different flavor to my blog, by inviting 3 great professional guest bloggers on Project management.  It will be a series of blogs discussing different aspects of Project Management, this being the first one. The guest bloggers are: Gareth Byatt, Gary Hamilton and Jeff Hodgkinson. Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs as generally referred to by all of us, are a powerful tool at the project manager’s disposition that can, if structured appropriately: (1)    Play an important role in driving the behaviours and actions undertaken on a project (2)    Have a significant…

• A reflection on the power of UX

  Jordan Eschler

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:43 am

  “The user is not like you.” This is an essential mantra when designing user experience (UX) for technology-based tools, marketing strategies, and information retrieval systems. As students of information management, my iSchool cohort members and I have had to unlearn our own instincts for the purpose of better listening to users. Unless we do so, any new system or tool we design may not add sufficient value for the intended users. In an important contribution to thinking about UX strategy, Samantha Starmer (a lecturer at the UW iSchool and senior manager at REI for information…

• Tips for your PMP Preparation

  javaprasanna

  7 Sep 2010 | 10:27 am

  If you are preparing for PMP Examination, the following are some of the tips to strengthen your understanding of concepts and for practice exams. Tip#1. Sir Ganttalot videos are one of the fastest way to learn important aspects in PMP preparation. For example, Watch this video for calculating Critical Path. Tip#2. Though you have lots of practice exams available online. I found myself PMStudy.com free test is one of the good tests. Please enroll for free test. Free Practice Test I hope these tips will help you in preparing for better results in PMP Examination.

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  Project Management Tips

• Five Steps to Project Management Success

  Brad Egeland

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:26 pm

  In his book, “The Little Black Book of Project Management,” Michael Thomsett outlines five steps or actions that the project manager needs to take in order to succeed in leading teams and engagements.  He goes so far as to state that you will realize success when …  you do these things.  Keep in mind that much of this is written from the perspective of the project manager actually being a department manager thrown into the project management role.  I’d like to look at these five items and add my own discussions to them. Understand and practice the team approach Some people endorse…

• August 2010 PM Survey Results – Where are You Now?

  Brad Egeland

  6 Sep 2010 | 6:32 pm

  We went a different route on the August PM survey and tried to gauge where our project management community is employment-wise during this difficult economic downturn.  Unemployment is high, underemployment is high, and everyone is trying to do whatever they can to get by.  Although I kind of doubled-up on the first two questions – my oversight – the results are still interesting. #1 – Current employment status When unemployment is high, consulting is sometimes the way to go.  Given that, I thought it would be interesting to see what our readers consider their current status to…

• Why you need a decision log

  Elizabeth

  2 Sep 2010 | 1:01 pm

  On a long project, project managers, sponsors and teams make a lot of decisions.  How do you keep track of everything you have agreed?  A decision log can help. A decision log is simply a list of all the key decisions made on the project.  It includes: A reference for the decision Date decision made What was agreed and why Who agreed to it Where you can find more information or supporting documentation (optional) This is better explained by a screenshot of a decision log: A decision log is better than keeping discussions on email or in another enterprise collaboration tool.  All the…

• Overcoming Common Project Issues – Part 2

  Brad Egeland

  2 Sep 2010 | 1:00 am

  No matter how well you plan and no matter how organized you are, there are still some common problems that can rear their ugly heads and try to derail your projects.  Sometimes, no amount of lessons learned sessions will get you past these issues, so we need to examine them further and discuss ways to eliminate them or at least minimize their affects. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we discussed the first five of ten problems commonly experienced on projects.  In Part 2 we’ll dive further into these issues as we examine problems six through ten. #6 – Communication with top…

• #500 – What I’ve Learned So Far

  Brad Egeland

  1 Sep 2010 | 1:00 am

  Since this is my 500th post for PM Tips, I thought it might be a good time to look back and think about what I’ve learned and the experiences I’ve had writing in the project management and business technology communities. It has certainly been a nice creative outlet for me and I’ve enjoyed the writing far more than I thought I would.  500 posts have added up to nearly 400,000 words and more than 750 comments that contain yet another 75,000 words.  That’s a lot of reading for all of us.  The 400,000 words in the articles alone is the equivalent of more than five books.  Considering…

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  ThE pM sTuDeNt

• Project Management Lessons From Dilbert

  Josh

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:06 am

  Dilbert illustrates how project distractions can creep up on you without knowing it, and the reality of politics when giving status to different parties.

• Dear project manager, you suck.

  Josh

  2 Sep 2010 | 7:26 am

  AND Pawel wrote an interesting blog post titled How to Suck as a Project Manager that sparked this topic for  me.  In that post, Pawel spoke specifically about how keeping procedures is the least important part of the project manager’s role.  I have found this to be true as well. I know many people who believe the “Monitoring & Controlling” parts of project management are the real meat of managing projects.  It’s a piece, but a rather small one in the big scheme of things. So here is my attempt at a list of attributes you may want to avoid as a project manager.

• New Project Managers and the PMP Exam: A Rant

  Josh

  1 Sep 2010 | 5:32 am

  The PMI has done a magnificent job of marketing themselves and one of their certifications in particular, the PMP exam. If you are relatively new to the career opportunities that revolve around project management and start researching more about the field, it is likely you will know about the existence of the PMP exam immediately. And that is why I receive a lot of questions about how to pass the PMP exam. I tend to answer this question with another question, unless I am able to derive the answer from the context of the message. “Do you have the 3-5 years of project management…

• Sharing PMP Exam Lessons Learned

  Josh

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:17 am

  Hi Josh - Just wanted to let you know I passed my PMP exam this summer – actually August 6th at around 4:30 pm (est) I believe was when I saw PASS on the computer screen in front of me. Here’s what helped me: Your site and advice I did order PM Prepcast and honestly got more out of the emails – I did have trouble listening for any length of time Attending a 6 session (one eve a week for 6 weeks) study group hosted by my local PMI chapter The Rita Mulcahy book PMStudy practice tests Preplogic practice test Q&As for the 4th PMBOK Admittedly, I’m a neurotic test taker…

• The Start of Your Lean Journey (Lean Six Sigma)

  Josh

  24 Aug 2010 | 5:20 am

  Please enjoy this video from MIT, the first in a series on Lean Six Sigma.  In this video: Origins of lean and six sigma “5S” lean tool Lean, lean enterprise, and stakeholders Why lean six sigma principles are being implemented in aerospace Lean is a journey, not a state

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  Ron Rosenhead

• Project Managers need to delegate

  admin

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:50 am

  The project is in full swing; the project manager is so busy they cannot talk about the football match last night and was in early (again) today. The deadline for the procurement report (a significant part of the project) is a day late and you need it urgently. Meanwhile, you notice the project team are relaxed, not too busy and to be honest, there are strong indications that team members do not have enough work to do. You identify that the project manager needs to learn how to delegate. Far from the truth? No! Over the last 12 months I have had a lot of requests to train people how to…

• What project benefits really mean for the project manager

  admin

  2 Sep 2010 | 4:47 am

  I had a long and protracted email ‘conversation’ with a project manager based in Europe. He was adamant that the prime reason that anyone ran with a project was to deliver benefits. Our email ‘conversation’ went on for some time and we both agreed that there was not enough emphasis put on benefits management and benefits realisation in projects.  Our emails covered many aspects including what benefits realisation means to the project manager. We finally agreed that at its simplest, it means ensuring project benefits are clearly identified and articulated and realised in…

• We do not need a business case.

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 3:55 am

  Project Manager (PM) - I have looked at the ideas around the project you mentioned recently and wanted to talk about it. Project Sponsor (PS) - What, you haven’t started the project yet? PM - I have, but not in the way you are referring to. I have developed a business case which I want to talk through. PS - What’s a business case? PM - It is a process that among other things analyses; • the business benefits of carrying out the project • it looks at rates of return • looks at initial risks • looks at the priority of the project There are some interesting things coming out…

• Let’s bring back the real meaning of “deadline” in projects…

  Ron

  12 Aug 2010 | 1:20 am

  Do you know the real meaning of the word deadline? Its origins go back a long way. Dictionary.com suggests it is: “a boundary around a military prison beyond which a prisoner could not venture without risk of being shot by the guards.” I have spoken to many people who complain that the person “did not deliver against the deadline”. Issues such as the “figures did not arrive before the deadline,” or “the report missed the deadline.” It is the main responsibility of the project manager to check that whatever is due actually gets delivered. From…

• Where’s my whistle?

  Ron

  10 Aug 2010 | 7:59 am

  I was talking to my good friend Mike Clayton today talking about holidays and suddenly said; “hold it, where’s my whistle?” Of course, Mike could not answer, it was my whistle? Why do I need a whistle? Mike and I were talking about management of risks and I suddenly realised that my risk analysis for our forthcoming holiday was suspect! You see, my wife Sue and I are going walking along the coastal path from Penzance around past Lands End, Porthcurno and back to Penzance. The bags are (almost) packed and the discussion with Mike reminded me that we did not have a…

• 

  Karol Zielinski�s Blog - all kind of stuff around the web

• Blog Day 2010

  Karol Zielinski

  31 Aug 2010 | 6:50 am

  August, 31th is a special day for a blogosphere. It’s a Blog Day. What is a Blog Day? BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs. My recommendations Fubiz – great design blog. It’s in French,…

• How to Get Started as a Web Entrepreneur

  Karol Zielinski

  5 Aug 2010 | 6:32 am

  I would like to present really good presentation “How to Get Started as a Web Entrepreneur” made by Collis Ta’eed, CEO of Envato. It’s really worth to read. In the last four years of building up Envato I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about growing and building web companies. So I decided to put some of my learnings into a presentation I gave at WebDU 2010 earlier this year. The talk covered how I would approach starting up from scratch, and throughout I referenced a hypothetical new startup idea and how I might approach it. How to Get Started as a Web…

• Social Media in the UK

  Karol Zielinski

  28 Jul 2010 | 6:43 am

  Great animation presenting how big is social media in the UK. E.g. did you know that 29.4 million people have visited at least one social networking site? Worth to see.

• Don’t be afraid of saying “no” to your customers

  Karol Zielinski

  21 Jul 2010 | 8:08 am

  After you gain users to your project, you will gain also those users who think that they know more about your project than you do. Don’t be afraid of saying “no” to all of them. There is an important truth about your project: It is your project. So… first rule: do not let others decide on how the project looks and works. Do not implement functionalities which has been reported by a single user (or few users). Do not work on the functionalities in which you don’t believe. Do not work on the functionalities that are not compatible with your vision of a project. If…

• Design is the most important “feature” of your start-up

  Karol Zielinski

  19 Jul 2010 | 2:36 am

  Why do people use this software (or hardware) instead of another? Why do they use this web-based app or this website? Why are they interested in this blog in spite of its weak content? In most cases answer is simple: because of its design. Lots of functionalities, thousands of servers, great code, phenomenal cache solutions, millions of lines of code… people don’t care about that. Geeks take care of that, average users don’t. So… what’s the most important “feature” of your project? Its interface or more specifically… its design. People take care…

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  Dot Connector

• Inspirational Quote about Feelings via Jonathan Mårtensson

  Regis Hadiaris

  5 Sep 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Feelings are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. - Jonatan Mårtensson See also:Inspirational Quote about Motivation via Jamie Oliver At some point you have to stop worrying about what... Inspirational Quote about Worrying [via John Power] Worrying is the same thing as banging your head against... Inspirational Quote about Communication You either tell your story or someone is going to... Inspirational Quote about Uncertainty [via H.L. Mencken] It’s the dull man who is always sure and the... Inspirational Quote about Your Energy…

• Inspirational Quote about Personal Growth via Brian Tracy

  Regis Hadiaris

  29 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment you can grow more surely toward the stars. - Brian Tracy See also:Inspirational Quote about Success and Selflessness [via Brian Tracy] Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.... Inspirational Quote about Perseverance [via Thomas Paine] I love the man that can smile in trouble, that... Inspirational Quote about Worrying [via Corrie ten Boom] Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrow – it empties... Inspirational Quote about Handling Interruptions [via Martin Luther…

• Inspirational Quote about Living a Meaningful Life via Gerard Arthur Way

  Regis Hadiaris

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching. - Gerard Arthur Way See also:Inspirational Quote about Meaningful Life via George Bernard Shaw A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable,... Inspirational Quote about Living a Life of Action and Purpose [via Lance Armstrong] Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning... Inspirational Quote about Finding Meaning in Life via Abraham Lincoln And in the end it’s not the years in your... Inspirational Quote about Quality of Life [via Vince Lombardi] The quality of a person’s life…

• Inspirational Quote about Making the Most Out of Life via George Bernard Shaw

  Regis Hadiaris

  15 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch, which I have got a hold of for the moment; and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. - George Bernard Shaw See also:Inspirational Quote about Meaningful Life via George Bernard Shaw A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable,... Inspirational Quote about Fear [via Gen. George S. Patton] Courage is just fear delayed another moment. - Gen. George... Inspirational Quote about Ingenuity [via General George S. Patton] Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what...

• Inspirational Quote about Finding Meaning in Life via Abraham Lincoln

  Regis Hadiaris

  8 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln See also:Inspirational Quote about Meaningful Life via George Bernard Shaw A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable,... Inspirational Quote about Quality of Life [via Vince Lombardi] The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion... Inspirational Quote about Living a Meaningful Life via Gerard Arthur Way One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make... Inspirational Quote about Making the Most Out of Life via George Bernard Shaw Life is no…

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  ThousandtyOne! - .NET, Life and Logical Thoughts By Rajiv Popat

• Leadership Tip: Too Many Drivers Will Not Take Your Car Anywhere.

  Rajiv Popat

  5 Sep 2010 | 2:25 pm

  We have all seen these emails. Emails from your Vice President where he wants a certain the famous architecture team story by Joel Spolsky. That kind of inputs. Before you know it, "consultants" with awesome at playing the jargon game and who have zero knowhow about the domain, zero understanding of your team dynamics and zero expertise in the technical space are meddling in every decision your team is taking. Well not exactly those meeting with external consultants you know exactly what I am talking about here. Every small change is questioned and discussed in check his track record closely…

• Working On Enterprise Software Is Not An Excuse For Building Software That Sucks.

  Rajiv Popat

  4 Sep 2010 | 1:30 pm

  Do you want to really see the worst of software that exists on the surface of planet earth? famous analogy of duck typing: "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck" and turns it into a rather interesting satire on enterprise software. He calls it: He explains: This is partly because enterprise software rarely gets critiqued the way even a US$30 piece of shareware will. It doesn’t benefit from the rigor of a wide and varied base of users, many of whom will freely offer merciless feedback, goading and demanding it to be better with each…

• Advice For Lurkers: Adding Genuine Value By Being Raw And Completely Real.

  Rajiv Popat

  3 Sep 2010 | 1:30 pm

  You there; if you are reading this you probably have something you can teach us; something you can a story to tell. Some insightful content, some meaningful software or a product that can change our lives in the tiniest of ways, maybe just for a couple of days. Maybe you can make us smile. Maybe you can make us laugh. Maybe you can make us take a pause from our routine, mediocre, mundane lives and nudge us to think. Maybe you can give us a tool or a utility that you were working on last week. The real question is, are you giving us any of that?  If not, why? You are afraid of failing.

• Programmer Tip: Find The Momentum That Keeps You Moving And Learning.

  Rajiv Popat

  29 Aug 2010 | 3:30 pm

  I have blogged out the importance of Kickass builders and story tellers keep jabbing. The metaphor is that of running or working out. If you are not consistently shipping, you are not in growing. Having said that, every single one of us, go through bouts of nothingness and depressions where we are just not in the zone. Seth Godin describes the problem and the solution in a rather articulate and concise way in his post on the topic. He explains: Some days, even the best dentist doesn't feel like being a dentist. And a lifeguard might not feel like being a lifeguard. Fortunately, they have…

• Leadership Tip: Avoiding Blind Spots For Stupidity Within Your Organization.

  Rajiv Popat

  28 Aug 2010 | 1:30 pm

  You look at the stupidity that happens in your organization and you tell yourself, "WTF! Why cant they see something as clear and stupid simple as this?".  And then after a few hibernation and start doing your 'job'. He explains: The big incompetence crime committed by VPs is leaving incompetent managers in place for too long. My theory: by the time the CEO knows a VP stinks, the whole org has known about it for months. The smart people have been making plans to leave or are working to cover their assses. By the time the CEO gets around to taking action, it’s way too late. And often…

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  the Intervals Blog by Pelago

• Time Management Activities and Results for Small Businesses

  John Reeve

  31 Aug 2010 | 9:16 am

  I recently read an interview with entrepreneur Chris Wanstrath of GitHub who quoted Cameron Moll saying “I don’t believe in work-life balance. I believe in priorities.” We should be focusing, instead, on priorities. After all, there are aspects of work that are just as enjoyable as those in life, and there are times in our lives when we’d rather be working. The two aren’t just opposite sides of the same coin. How do we establish priorities in such a way that we enjoy both work and life and don’t burn out? Stephen Covey formulated a simple 2×2 matrix for…

• Technographic Profile of an Online Project Management Application

  John Reeve

  24 Aug 2010 | 11:00 am

  Ever wonder what type of technology is used by a web-based project management application’s customers? What browsers do they prefer? What operating systems are favored? Where in the world they are coming from? We’ve got some of those numbers to share with you, based on our own online project management software Intervals. We’ve crunched Intervals’ numbers to give you an idea of what the typical technological profile of our customers — web design, web development, creative agencies and professional services small businesses — looks like. Keep in mind, these…

• A Few Tips for Developing Web-based Applications

  John Reeve

  17 Aug 2010 | 3:14 pm

  Take a quick look at the online productivity software landscape and you will see there are plenty of options to choose from. This as a good thing, after all, project managers, web designers, web developers, and creatives are a thorough and intelligent bunch and highly capable of vetting out the best web-based applications that will work for their needs. The large number of online software options available means any small business can find a unique set of features — time tracking, task management, document sharing, reporting, invoicing, and so on — to match their workflow. The…

• Intervals Online Time, Task and Project Management Updates

  John Reeve

  13 Aug 2010 | 11:53 am

  We are pleased to announce yet another round of updates to Intervals, our online time, task and project management application, launched this week. These updates combine some of our most-requested improvements with a few ideas of our own to continue in the tradition of keeping Intervals fresh, relevant and in a constant state of improving. The next time you login to your Intervals account you’ll find a few more ways to become even more productive… Upload Multiple Documents At Once There are many times in a project or a tasks lifecycle when we need to upload several documents at…

• Five Reasons NOT to Redesign Your Web Site

  John Reeve

  10 Aug 2010 | 9:44 am

  Web designers and web developers are tinkerers by nature. We love to fine-tune our creative ideas until they are somewhere close to perfection, despite our definition of perfection being in a constant state of flux. If our web site design does begin to approximate perfection, the inevitable happens. We come up with 101 reasons why we need to redesign our web site — good and compelling reasons why we should throw the old web site away and redesign, redevelop and relaunch a shinier and better web site in its place. I am telling you to ignore these inclinations. Yes, some web sites do need…

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  Project Management 2.0

• Critical Path is Easy as 1,2,3

  Andrew Filev

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:00 am

  In my previous post about the problem of telling what’s important on a project, I promised to share some thoughts and tips on how standard project management methodologies, particularly the critical path method, can facilitate your planning efficiency when applied to a project creatively. But first of all, it is worth discussing what the critical path method (CPM) is all about. What is Critical Path? CPM is a mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. The essential technique for using CPM is to construct a model of the project that includes the following:…

• Planning a Project: the Problem of Telling What’s Important

  Andrew Filev

  24 Aug 2010 | 12:00 am

  You’ve read and heard it so many times: “Efficient project planning is vital for your project’s success.” However, when you’re dealing with a complex project, building an effective project schedule may be really hard, to say the least. You have to first create a long list of tasks that should be completed to deliver the project, then assign team members to these tasks and also make sure you pay special attention to tasks that are critical for project success. Very often, identifying the tasks that need special attention turns out to be the trickiest part of the…

• Microblogging in Project Management 2.0

  Andrew Filev

  1 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am

  A new tool came to our lives and greatly influenced the way we communicate. Twitter turned out to be next big thing of the social media world, and it looks like it’s here to stay. How can we explain Twitter’s immense popularity? Simplicity, convenience, speed? I’d say it’s all three of them that make the tool so sticky. In fact these factors even made many of us seek a similar tool to facilitate our project communications. But communicating with your team members may be quite different from chatting with your friends on the Web. When the first wave of enterprise…

• Project Management 2.0 Listed Among the Best Project Management Blogs

  Andrew Filev

  7 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am

  Last month, Business Computing World, a blog focused on business technology, published a list of the 10 best project management blogs. The author of the post, Heather Buckley, is the director and co-founder of a British IT and business training provider, Silicon Beach Training. She picked bloggers who offer something unique and engaging on project management topics. It’s nice to see my Project Management 2.0 blog on the list! The abstract provided in the post is right to the point: “As the name suggests, Andrew focuses on changes in contemporary project management thanks to…

• 5 Most Common Mistakes in Managing Multiple Projects: Learn to Avoid Them (Part 5)

  Andrew Filev

  16 May 2010 | 12:00 am

  Mistake #5: Poor interactions within your team and with clients The last, but not least, most common mistake project managers make when managing multiple projects is inefficient communications. Poor communications within a team lead to misunderstandings and therefore to mistakes in project work. If your project lacks communication with clients, you and your client might end up with two different project visions as a result.  In any case, miscommunication will result in loss of time and money, as well as in increasing your stress. Winning strategy #5: Enhance project communications You…

• 

  expiriance.com

• MS Project: There Is A Tip For That – Part 2

  Let’s get to the point and to right into the MS Project tips*. Related posts:MS Project: There Is A Tip For That – Part 1 Clarity-MS Project Best Practices Breaking The Work Breakdown Structure

• Help Wanted: Want To Write For Us?

  If you are reading this article you are somewhat fond of program and project management, perhaps even an addict. We are not too far behind and need your assistance in order to continue to provide excellent information about our profession. No related articles.

• Project Management: State Of The Union 2010

  Even though project management was recognized as a distinct discipline in 1950 I still remember it was only 25 years ago when there were no project managers per se, the resources executing the work would manage it at the same time. Some organizations still keep this “tradition”, but they are less every day. Related posts:Project Management: Art Or Science The Most Important Project

• 

  Utpal Writes

• Stop Being A Hero

  Utpal Vaishnav

  31 Aug 2010 | 9:20 pm

  Photo Credit: kchbrown's Flickr photostream When you were a child, your grandmother told you, “You’re special, you possess a unique charm; you’re like a hero!” First, you laughed…then you consciously started liking it and eventually started believing that you’re a hero… someone very special. Then, after years of education, you became a software professional and got a good job with one of the top IT organization, but still, in the back of your mind, you have treasured the old image, “I’m a hero!” That’s where the problem rests for many software teams. Since…

• Are You Heading Towards Ending-up At A Known Exit Point?

  Utpal Vaishnav

  28 Aug 2010 | 10:36 am

  To live a richer, more meaningful life, you need to become a source of thoughts and actions which provide meaning to your life. You cannot take control of your life just by following others. Instead, you need to play your own game. Perhaps most of us know that, but in practice it’s not commonly seen.  You surrender to the customs of the family, workplace or society at the cost of your singularity and start doing things which nobody cares about. Or you feel like being caught in an Unconstructed Action Space. (Photo Credit: Bill Ward’s Brickpile) A common pattern of world’s most…

• 5 Steers To Make Your Thoughts Well-Received

  Utpal Vaishnav

  16 Aug 2010 | 8:57 pm

  I’ve seen a number of unhappy-at-work individuals complaining about close-mindedness of their management who is not ready to listen to their thoughts. “Why’s that, why would a reasonable management would not be interested in a good thought?” I’d ask. “May be they don’t have enough intellect to understand ‘my’ thoughts, you know!” would be the answer. “Then how do you present your thought?” “Well, I would… I would… Ugh… I don’t know.” (Photo Credit: Eneas’ Flickr Photostream) So, here’re a few tips to ensure that your thoughts are…

• Are You Trapped In An Unconstructed Action Space?

  Utpal Vaishnav

  2 Aug 2010 | 9:06 pm

  If you feel that your life is not fulfilled or you have got trapped into the series of circumstances, here’s a very important question you need to ask: Given that the information you possess today, do any of your actions represent a commitment of vigor, time, spirit, or efforts that, you would not commit to again? Photo Credit: coolmikeol’s photostream Then consider few more questions like: Are there any products that you wouldn’t offer knowing what you know today – about the market conditions, quality of products, competition – anything? Are you working with an…

• Want To Get Promoted? Do You Know How To Navigate Without A Map?

  Utpal Vaishnav

  28 Jul 2010 | 2:15 pm

  When the performance appraisal happens and one colleague is promoted,  many of his co-workers don’t feel good. They compare themselves with him and conclude that their boss favors only who flatters her. Always, that may not be the case. For example, read the below story called Navigate Without a Map. Photo Credit: David Masters’ Flickr photostream Navigate Without A Map Background Peter and Scott – both joined the company on the same day as Analyst Programmers. Both were coming from different background but have two qualities in common. Both were hard-working and committed to…

• 

  RationalPlan News

• Project Management Suite RationalPlan Adds Budgeting Solution And Filtering Options For Its Server Product

  6 Sep 2010 | 9:16 am

  Stand By Soft announces the release of version 3.18.1 of RationalPlan Project Management Suite. The new version adds a budgeting mechanism for the Multi Project product and more filters for assignments in the web interface for the Project Server product. In the news: Added budgeting mechanism in RationalPlan Multi Project Added filters for assignments in RationalPlan Project Server Bug fixes For additional information, please visit http://www.rationalplan.com.

• RationalPlan Project Server Adds Support For Team Work And Collaboration

  4 Aug 2010 | 9:16 am

  Stand By Soft is pleased to announce the new released Beta 2 version of RationalPlan Project Server a free product for all users. The new version allows a better collaboration by adding a web module that gives users the possibility to see their assignments (start and end date, deadlines, completion percentage, etc.). Additionally the web interface got a facelift making it even more user friendly and more easier to be used. In the news: Added a resource module for users to see their assignments New look and feel and improved functionality (sorting, filtering and multiple selection for tables)…

• RationalPlan Project Server - free Beta version released

  17 Jun 2010 | 9:16 am

  Stand By Soft is pleased to announce the released of RationalPlan Project Server as a free Beta version for all users. RationalPlan Project Server is a multi user project management system developed to improve the existing suite of products by adding a server module that gives project managers concurrent access to a central project data repository when creating plans, tracking progress, allocating resources, managing budgets or analyzing workload. Besides the possibility to connect to the server the new version comes with an improved Undo/Redo mechanism, allows sending non ASCII characters in…

• RationalPlan Project Management Software 3.16.2 is available

  24 Mar 2010 | 6:20 am

  Stand By Soft just released RationalPlan 3.16.2, a project management software suite. In the news: Load task bar colors from MS Project files Bug fixes For additional information, please visit http://www.rationalplan.com.

• RationalPlan Project Management Software 3.16.1 is available

  14 Feb 2010 | 8:20 am

  Stand By Soft just released RationalPlan 3.16.1, a project management software suite. This release is just a fixing one For additional information, please visit http://www.rationalplan.com.

• 

  Free Articles for Project Management

• Change Management Process

  admin

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:20 am

  There is a change management process that every business precedes with whether is it a written document or just done. The reason more business are writing this type of procedure is because of the complexity of their business requires this so all that should be informed about the change are informed. The reason for a written change management process is because of all the different things that must be accomplished for this to be done correctly. In addition if it is documented, then there is a permanent record of the change. The change management process begins with the identification of the…

• The Basics of Risk Management

  admin

  6 Sep 2010 | 2:18 am

  The basics of risk management must first be known before this type of system can be understood and properly implemented in a company. This has to be a proactive type policy for it to do what it is intended to do, handle the risks associated with doing business in the best possible manner. To begin in the basics of risk management, a plan must be laid out or procedure written that can be implemented into a company’s business plan so it can be used. In this plan has to be certain elements. The first element in the basics of risk management is how are the risks going to be indentified and by…

• The Principles of Risk Management

  admin

  5 Sep 2010 | 2:04 am

  The different principles of risk management define this necessary process of business. For most types of business there are a total of 12. The first of the principles of risk management is the organizational context of the system. Since no two business or industries are the same, this area has to be modified for each specific application. The second involves the depth of the stakeholder’s involvement in the business. They have to be kept informed so any decision they make is with all relevant data. The third part of the principles of risk management involves the organizational objects that…

• Integrating Risk Management into your Business

  admin

  4 Sep 2010 | 1:48 am

  The integrating risk management into a company’s business plan is of a major interest in the market place today. By properly aligning a company’s business strategy and activities with risk management, the benefits are overwhelmingly positive on the economic integrity of the company as a whole. By proper integrating risk management into the business plan, the benefits that can be expected are many. Not only is the company better prepared for any risk it may encounter, but also it can be used to determine the root cause of some of the risks. Root cause analysis is important when a business…

• Project Management Templates

  admin

  3 Sep 2010 | 3:42 am

  The use of Project Management Templates by managers is very useful and common in today’s busy working atmosphere. Time is money and the less time a manager has to spend on a task, the more they can accomplish. This is the advantage of having highly detailed templates as a convenient tool for your project manager to use. There are numerous different Project Management Templates that are ready to be used that have already been preformatted to fit the business needs that are required of them. There are 13 different ones that are of the most usefulness. These are to be used in project…

• 

  Project Manager Tips and Hints

• Project Management Software Development

  admin

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:29 am

  The process for project management software development has come a long way since it was first introduced 20 years ago. First came along the Agile methodology then the off branched to Scrum. Both can be used as an approach to the lifecycle in the development of software very effectively. With the scrum project management software development system in place there has to be responsibilities designated. The scrum master is in charge of the different processes that will take place. Like with all projects, there has to be a financial backer or stakeholders that have authorized the project. In the…

• Business Project Management Software that can be used

  admin

  6 Sep 2010 | 2:27 am

  There are many reasons business project management software is in use today as part of a company’s business plan. The leading reason is that it saves the company money in time spent on the necessary tasks of running the business and the projects that create the revenue streams. There are different components to business project management software that are utilized by a project manager. Each one has its own purpose and benefit if it is used to its fullest potential. Just having the tools available is meaningless unless they are used. One of the most used portions of a business project…

• Online Open Source Project Management Software

  admin

  5 Sep 2010 | 2:11 am

  There are many open source project management software program available to download for free. But how good can a system be if it is being given away? This is a question many people think about but it is not always relevant. The creators of the open source project management software programs have a reason for their openness of their computer code. Just like with the creators of Linux, it is the principal of the matter and not that their operating system is inferior to Microsoft. But this is not the only reason why there exist open source code programs. Many of the creators of the open source…

• Looking at a Project Management Software Review

  admin

  4 Sep 2010 | 1:56 am

  When looking at a project management software review, there are many items that should be noticed about the package. While most programs contain the same elements in them, their usefulness and details of each one vary. Because of the variations in the different manufacturers of the project management software, review the individual components to see just which one is the most use to your company. One of these areas is the different templates each program has to offer. The number of templates varies from program to program along with how they are preformatted. The importance of the templates…

• Best Project Management Software is Dependent on what you needs are

  admin

  3 Sep 2010 | 2:22 am

  The best project management software for your business needs is dependent on what kind of business you are in and what particular needs you have. For some of the smaller companies, the need is not that great and one of the many free programs on the internet may be adequate. The larger corporations that have greater needs, a complex program would be more suited. When considering which is the best project management software there should be a first step to evaluate what your specific needs are from a program and what features you need so you can utilize it in the most efficient manner. When you…

• 

  Project Management Methodologies

• The Project Management Training Courses for your Team

  admin

  6 Sep 2010 | 4:05 am

  Like with everything new that is introduced in a business, project management training courses are needed when this type of software is to be implemented into a company’s programming. This is a very complex program that no person would be expected to utilize properly without being shown at least the basic makeup of the functions. Most makers of this kind of software programming include project management training courses as part of the overall package they sell to their clients. This is a necessary item that should be expected as part of the deal. If it is absent or you get the response…

• Online Project Management Training

  admin

  2 Sep 2010 | 2:01 am

  The use of online project management training is becoming noticed and preferred because of the advantages in the present business climate. This is because of the need to cut cost by most business and the increased load of the workforce. With online project management training, the cost of traveling to seminars in airline tickets and then accommodations is removed from the budget. This is a significant cost savings for any business. While there is some cost to online of training, it is insignificant to travel costs. The other advantage with online project management training is probably the…

• Project Office to Manage Business Affairs

  admin

  30 Aug 2010 | 3:25 am

  A project office is a software management tool that is used to help a manager deal with the different processes and issues under his control. This is also where the standards of the different processes are laid out in a formal document to be implemented. One way of looking at what a project office program will do is by considering it as the foundation for the standards that your business model is run by. Depending on what industry you are in, it is the relevant factor to which set of standards you need to follow. The reason for standardization with a project office is because of the different…

• Project Management Office Program

  admin

  26 Aug 2010 | 2:48 am

  With a project management office (PMO) program, you will have tools at your disposal that will lead to success in the business world. With a PMO the process needed to do any assigned tasks will become easier and more efficient. The actual makeup of a project management office program can be of many different configurations. It is all dependants on the software creator’s idea of what is important to their conception of the business world. The reason a project management office is used in the first place is to reduce the costs of projects, improve their chances of success with improved…

• PMO or Project Management Office

  admin

  23 Aug 2010 | 1:40 am

  The acronym PMO is for project management office. This is a methodology tool that assists project managers with the performance of their daily tasks as leaders of a project. By utilizing a PMO, a business has accepted the principals and standards of their industry for the execution of their projects they have decided to undertake. The standards and methodologies are set by the recognized industry principals set forth in PRINCE2 and PMBOK. The reason most companies use a PMO is because of the known statistic that 90% of all projects that are undertaken fail to meet the targets in either…

• 

  Muecs Blog

• How to use Facebook for Marketing in 16 Ways

  17 Aug 2010 | 5:08 pm

  When Michael Stelzner started using social media to market his business, he focused exclusively on Twitter. “My first attempt at using Facebook for business was a big flop. I was pretty convinced I could just use Twitter for business.”Stelzner is a well-known white paper writer, author of the book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged and founder of Social Media Examiner.But he literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming onto Facebook. Read Full Story   

• iPhone app new version playing new location game experience

  10 Aug 2010 | 6:31 pm

  We are happy to announce Muecs latest iPhone app version released in iTune App Store.  The new version changes are mostly focusing on Quests.  We want to improve gaming experience for locations game, and this time we added Questions/Riddles, and Find & Snap play-flow in Quests.  For other location based services are mostly using Check-In as the geo-tagging feature.  In Muecs, we are putting more interactive elements in for people to share where are they, and also what you see in the place.  I do a little survey, I asked many non-IT background people who used other…

• Muecs 手機定位遊戲簡介 Video 第一個版本

  4 Aug 2010 | 5:27 pm

  Muecs 手機定位遊戲簡介己造好了第一個版本 , 希望大家睇完識點用來與朋友分享你的活動及玩 Muecs 手機定位遊戲啦!    Muecs version 2 手機定位遊戲簡介    

• Share moement of your feel in a place with iPhone - Ver. 2 Tour Part 4

  27 Jul 2010 | 6:19 pm

  This is a new series of post about Muecs version 2, we are going to tour around web and mobile app, showing you some new features of Muecs.  Ver. 2 Tour Posts : Explore Spots in your location nearby Ver. 2 Tour Part 1 Using geo-location for social game Ver. 2 Tour Part 2 Upload Snaps with location attach - Ver. 2 Tour Part 3   From the last tutorial article, we explored how to upload snap via Muecs website. That method is suitable when you go on a trip and do not have WiFi or 3G access in other country.  Then you can bring your camera back home and upload it later.  Share…

• Upload Snaps with location attach - Ver. 2 Tour Part 3

  11 Jul 2010 | 9:13 am

  This is a new series of post about Muecs version 2, we are going to tour around web and mobile app, showing you some new features of Muecs.  Ver. 2 Tour Posts : Explore Spots in your location nearby Ver. 2 Tour Part 1 Using geo-location for social game Ver. 2 Tour Part 2   Tell your friends action of the moment in snapshot, "I have..." As we are location base service, we are focusing in location information that bring to you for getting reach understanding of place around you. One of the main feature we have in Muecs are Snaps. Snaps are available in each place listed in…

• 

  Project Management

• Defining Project, Product and Solution Scope

  sweeseltre

  5 Sep 2010 | 10:43 am

  Defining product and project scope is an important framework for detailed requirements development. In order to define the scope of the project’s end result (the product or solution) and the project’s implementation needs (the project itself), it is critical to understand the difference between product and project scope and which one should be addressed first in the requirements development process. The product scope is the basis for determining the project scope. Typically, the project manager determines the cost and time based on the product scope, or the solution to the problem. Doing…

• Project Leadership: Being Politically Sensible

  Carl Sawatzky, Learning Tree

  3 Sep 2010 | 8:06 am

   Politics is neither good nor bad; it just is. And, politics plays a big role in how you effectively lead your projects. Political behavior is pervasive on most projects and it is up to you, the project leader, to minimize its potentially negative effects on your projects.  What is project management politics? It’s often tough to define project politics because it is more of a perception than an individual act. It includes the concepts of power, and influence. And, each teammate on the project team will have his or her own ideas and history–with different outcomes from their…

• 21 Project Leadership Tips to Build a High-Performance Team

  Carl Sawatzky, Learning Tree

  1 Sep 2010 | 8:53 am

  Ask your teammates about their goals for themselves and for the team. Agree on the goals Discuss what actions they intend to take Ask how you can help Schedule a follow-up meeting Do this quarterly Share your vision and focus with the team and facilitate a discussion. Agree on the objectives to meet the goal Define measures for performance At your quarterly meeting with each team member, ask how things are going. Listen and learn Always do what you say and say what you will do Follow-up… even if the answer is “no” Inventory your knowledge of each teammate. This will reap huge…

• Business Analysis Technique: Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria

  sweeseltre

  30 Aug 2010 | 9:38 am

  According to the BABOK® Guide, acceptance and evaluation criteria is one of the 16 required techniques in the fundamental knowledge base of an effective business analyst.   So let’s take a closer look at what this technique actually is and think about how we might apply it on our projects.  Acceptance criteria These define a minimal set of requirements that must be met in order for a solution or a solution component to be considered acceptable to its key stakeholders.   They are defined earl y in the project life cycle and must be met (pass or fail) in order to say that a solution is…

• The Project Leader as a Servant Leader

  Carl Sawatzky, Learning Tree

  25 Aug 2010 | 8:36 am

  “Traditional autocratic and hierarchical modes of leadership are slowly yielding to a newer model—one that attempts to simultaneously enhance the personal growth of workers and improve quality and caring through a combination of teamwork and community, personal involvement in decision making, and ethical and caring behavior … called servant-leadership.” —Larry Spears, Reflections on Leadership The project management world is changing and today’s project leader must raise the bar in both skill and character to succeed in delivering projects and building teams that…

• 

  The Planning Cafe

• I’m Still Here… Really!

  LoJo

  18 Aug 2010 | 8:52 pm

  To show you why I’ve been a bit MIA… I’ve created the following chart.  I’m in the final 10% right now.  It is fun, crazy, hectic and stressful… and totally worth it!

• Laying It Out

  LoJo

  20 Jun 2010 | 12:22 pm

  Because I like to see all the components at one time. It’s all right there on my wall, in front of me… The steps the user will go through when using my product have been close to finalized for one component.  In order to really ’see’ it, I printed out each page/step and then put them on my wall in the order they will be seen by the user.  There is something about looking at the full story, printed out and in front of me that gives me a sense of what changes need to be made.  I love looking at each step and analyzing how it can be made more simple, less cumbersome,…

• Swimming

  LoJo

  16 Jun 2010 | 7:56 pm

  Literally. Taking care of myself at least one hour a day… I like to swim laps, and haven’t had the time to do so for some time.  I finally made the executive decision to block out an hour each day to go to the pool and swim laps.  That hour is somewhere between 9 and 11AM, and I started this week.  Now that I have my own business, I can actually get to the pool at a decent time in the day when the lanes are clear.  This. is. most. amazing! My times are sooooo off… I have a lot of rebuilding to do as far as my times go, but a person must start somewhere.  I was around a…

• The Past Few Weeks…

  LoJo

  14 Jun 2010 | 4:27 pm

  If it was easy, everybody would do it” – Tweet by @venturehacks that was a great reminder! I have made it over the mountain of doubt… I am now completely entrenched in my product and business.  It is no longer an either/or question.  It is now about… when will this be done? When can we go into alpha? When will the product be ready for show and tell?  When can I start to announce this to a broader audience? Development changed everything… There is a big difference between thinking about an idea and moving into developing the idea.  For me, it has taken the project…

• Confirmation

  LoJo

  24 May 2010 | 10:59 am

  There is nothing like real life hitting a person right between the eyes to confirm some things.  I had this moment last week… all is good now, and the best part is that I came out of it with some very clear confirmations. I am absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, doing the right thing Taking the risk of starting my own thing is the best thing I can be doing My husband is amazing, awesome, and my partner through everything I am going to schedule time for myself so that I don’t forget to move, breath, take it all in There are some amazing people in this world who don’t…

• 

  The International Community for Project Managers

• Knowledge and Wisdom

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  "Knowledge is learning something new every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." --Zen Proverb As with most Zen proverbs, the quote above is both complicated and simple. The concept is beautiful in its simplicity.  You can benefit by learning something new every day.  You can benefit by letting go of memories and beliefs that are not serving you. How is this complicated?

• Managing Project Risk – The Easy Way

  22 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Question: How can you spot profitability leaks and cost overruns in technology projects before your peers – and then fix them?  Answer: You can do it the hard way or the easy way. The path you choose depends to some degree on the consequences of failure and your budget.  

• Best Practices in PPA

  19 Aug 2010 | 10:00 pm

  Introduction:  Yes, History does repeat itself. One can see it repeat in every project in the organization, unless the organization learns from its experiences and leverage from those learning’s in future projects. Post project analysis (PPA) is one such task in the project lifecycle that provides an opportunity for the Project Manager (PM) to stop and reflect upon the good and bad experiences he/she had observed in the near past, on the project. An attempt has been made in this article to summarize some of the best practices observed in setting-up an effective culture of learning from…

• Open Letter to Authors of PMI PMBOK Guide V5 Regarding Green PM

  9 Aug 2010 | 5:59 am

  TenStep, Inc. and EarthPM share a common interest in green project management, and how project management processes may be enhanced to consider the environment.  In conversation with EarthPM, TenStep was invited to review and provide additional thoughts in support of the proposal to change PMBOK® Guide V5 to include environmental aspects. GreenPM (green project management), coined by Tom Mochal and Andrea Krasnoff, is a concept in its infancy with a goal of incorporating an organization’s environmental aspects into project management processes. It is a model where we think green…

• Green Project Management and the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill

  9 Aug 2010 | 5:55 am

  There are many examples of projects undertaken to produce some deliverable with environmental implications. In fact, one may assert that in fact, any project, since it uses resources, has environmental implications.  This varies tremendously, based on scale and the direct impact on the environment.  One project that clearly has environmental implications is the Deepwater Horizon drilling project and what is often called “the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster”. Important note: We do not purport to say that any specific single action or philosophy that we enumerate below…

• 

  Strategic Project Management

• "That Which Doesn't Kill Us..." — 6 Project Challenges

  7 Sep 2010 | 7:33 am

  It was the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "That which doesn't kill us makes a stronger."I look at project challenges this way. Over the years I have come to appreciate that regardless of the project management methodology, the PPM software, or the training of the project manager, there are some pretty common challenges that need to be addressed by every project leader. It doesn't even really matter the nature of the project, if you neglect the following, the odds are against your success:Unrealistic Deadlines: The success of some projects might…

• Does a Project Sponsor Guarantee Project Success?

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:44 am

  I think it's pretty safe to say that most of us believe that sponsors are critical to project success. Let me clarify that. Most of the time a project sponsor is critical to project success. There are some projects that probably don't need a sponsor (like ongoing infrastructure projects) and would probably find difficulty attracting a sponsor anyway.That being said, there are projects that are doomed to fail without a sponsor. But remember, simply having a sponsor isn't enough. Let me share a couple of sponsor issues that contribute to project ineffectiveness:The sponsor's role is not clearly…

• Are Project Team Members Ready to Take Responsibility for Their Work?

  1 Sep 2010 | 6:29 am

  Over the last year or so we've talked a lot on this blog about how empowering project teams with some autonomy and control over the work they do will help improve the project management process. With that being said, we should also talk about the need for individual project team members to step up and take responsibility for the additional autonomy.As Uncle Owen said to Peter Parker in the Spiderman comics, "With great power comes great responsibility."Over the last several months, I've talked to a number of project managers who have questioned the wisdom of giving individual…

• The Linchpin for Project Management Success

  31 Aug 2010 | 6:19 am

  Over the years I've read dozens of articles (and even written a few myself) about what it takes to plan and execute a successful project. However, over the years I've discovered that opinions are like belly-buttons, everybody has one and they're all different. Although there's no doubt in my mind that sound project management methodology includes a number of considerations like risk, reward, resource needs, and stakeholder buy-in, I'm convinced that the linchpin for project success is the end user and how he or she interacts with the project management process.What's more, without end user…

• Effectively Managing Project Teams: What I Learned From Man's Best Friend

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:57 am

  About this time last year my Boston Terrier Cosmo passed away. He was, in my humble opinion, the best dog that ever lived. He was a gentle and loving companion who transcended his canine nature and became one of our family. It didn't matter if I had been gone for five minutes or a week, he was always glad to see me and truly exhibited unconditional love for me. As he got older he may have lost a step or two, but he was still willing to jump in the Jeep for ride, sit by my side on the couch, or chase a ball or stick thrown in the back yard.You might be asking, what made Cosmo the…

• 

  Instructing

• The Grumpy Project Manager: Work and Whiners

  Joseph Phillips

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:56 am

  I don’t want to hear about how busy you are. We’re all busy. Work isn’t a hobby – it’s what you’re paid to do, so quit whining. Learn to manage your time. Shut down Facebook. Don’t multitask – single task and get one thing done at a time. Yeah, yeah. I know that sometimes we’re all buried with too many assignments, but even these need to be managed, communicated, and prioritized. As a project manager I’m always stumped when it’s the same people that are late with work over and over. And, ha-ha, it’s the same people I see on…

• Upcoming Lifelong Project Events

  Joseph Phillips

  28 Aug 2010 | 2:38 pm

  There are some exciting events about to happen with The Lifelong Project! I’ll be speaking about goals, joy, and getting things done in Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and in Tampa, Florida coming up. In January of 2011 I just scheduled a presentation on using project management to achieve goals for the PMI Suncoast Chapter. You should make plans now to attend one of these events! I’d love to see you and speak with you about what your plans are for your life and how you’ll execute your plans. September 25 – Geist Christian Church event, Indianapolis This is a public event…

• Grumpy Project Manager: Changes

  Joseph Phillips

  18 Aug 2010 | 6:14 am

  Change in project management is inevitable, I get it. Things are going to happen, people forget stuff, new technologies come along, and even risks can cause us to change our plans from time to time. But that doesn’t mean I have to like change. When I manage a project I’m pretty adamant about first identifying everything that the project is to create. Yeah, I’m funny that way – I want to know what the hell I’m responsible for before I go about trying to create it. Maybe you’re different. Requirements must be known, identified, and agreed upon before a project…

• Lifelong Project Webinar

  Joseph Phillips

  13 Aug 2010 | 8:25 am

  What if you treated the next year of your life like a project? That’s a question Joseph Philips asked himself years ago and nothing has been the same since. Granted, your life is not a project, but you can use the principles of project management to make your life richer, more energetic, and full of joy. The first step to any project is defining the purpose to launch a project. Is your life so different? All projects begin with a vision: a mental image of how the current status can be changed into some distant future status. Do you have a vision for your life? What characteristics of…

• The Grumpy Project Manager: Why Customer Service Sucks

  Joseph Phillips

  11 Aug 2010 | 7:58 am

  It’s no secret when I tell you that customer service sucks. Go into a bookstore, call your phone provider, or dine out for dinner and you’ll probably experience some crappy customer service. I’m so tired, as I’m sure you are too, of experiencing not poor customer service, but horrible customer service. Customer service is simple: it’s the business doing what they promised. It is the employee doing what was promised. It’s a fulfillment of the scope of the agreement. In broader terms, customer service is really quality. Quality is the totality of the agreement: the business says…

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  Project and Portfolio Management

• Congratulations: You're In Charge

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:34 pm

  It was nice to read this great article: Tech Industry Managers: Little Men in Big Shoes? ...you can’t be born with the skills needed to plan projects, adhere to EEOC guidelines, and prepare budgets a...

• It Starts with YOUR Attention

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:58 am

  "The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I'd say that compassion begins with attention." - Daniel Goleman It seems like some days the most difficult thing for us to give to others is our attention. We can give them quick answers, we can send them speedy emails and…

• "That Which Doesn't Kill Us..." - 6 Project Challenges

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:57 am

  It was the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." I look at project challenges this way. Over the years I've come to appreciate...

• What Is Stopping You? Artificial and Real Barriers To Pursuit!

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:11 am

  "How you ever gonna know what it's like to dance. How you ever gonna know if you never take the chance..."

• COMMUNICATION COMPLEXITY

  6 Sep 2010 | 11:27 pm

  Understanding the lines of communications in an organization.

• 

  Project and Portfolio Management

• Congratulations: You're In Charge

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:34 pm

  It was nice to read this great article: Tech Industry Managers: Little Men in Big Shoes? ...you can’t be born with the skills needed to plan projects, adhere to EEOC guidelines, and prepare budgets a...

• It Starts with YOUR Attention

  7 Sep 2010 | 6:58 am

  "The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I'd say that compassion begins with attention." - Daniel Goleman It seems like some days the most difficult thing for us to give to others is our attention. We can give them quick answers, we can send them speedy emails and…

• "That Which Doesn't Kill Us..." - 6 Project Challenges

  7 Sep 2010 | 5:57 am

  It was the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." I look at project challenges this way. Over the years I've come to appreciate...

• What Is Stopping You? Artificial and Real Barriers To Pursuit!

  7 Sep 2010 | 2:11 am

  "How you ever gonna know what it's like to dance. How you ever gonna know if you never take the chance..."

• COMMUNICATION COMPLEXITY

  6 Sep 2010 | 11:27 pm

  Understanding the lines of communications in an organization.