Better Manager, Manages Better (his own stress)

General advice from Prophet Muhammad (s) when you are in distress or suffering from anxiety:

In hadith #599 narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas in Sunan Abu Dawood, The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If anyone continually asks pardon, Allah will appoint for him a way out of every distress, and a relief from every anxiety, and will provide for him from where he did not reckon.

Real story abut real monkeys

Sad to be one of the monkey in the story. At least I now understand why those guys where beating me :)

Company Policies

In this experiment they put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon
enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.

One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put inthe room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and
beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.

A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him.

This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced, eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

AND THAT’S HOW VERY MANY COMPANY POLICIES & PROCEDURES GET ESTABLISHED

Source: http://charith.net/?p=181

Episode 048: Managing a PMO in Sri Lanka

Thushara Wijewardena, PMP (http://projectized.blogspot.com) who is the general manager of a PMO in a software development outsourcing company in Sri Lanka. We discuss the challenges that she faced in initially setting it up and how she addresses today's needs of her worldwide clientele who require her to utilize multiple project management methodologies concurrently throughout the company. We complement the interview with a look at 3 helpful resources that will make your project management office shine.

Episode 124: PMO Roundtable

In this episode of our program I am welcoming back Ron Holohan, PMP and Shawn Futterer, PMP to a roundtable discussion on the Project Management Office (PMO).

Ron works for a large consumer electronics company and a number of project managers directly report to him. He also created the company’s internal PMO portal. Shawn works for a telecommunications provider and is in charge of one of several large projects and also has other project managers who are reporting to him.

We begin our roundtable with Ron’s definition of what a PMO is, compare how this fits with all our understanding and then we discuss various aspects, tips & tricks from our PMOs.

http://www.thepmpodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=255&Itemid=9

Episode 110: The Advantage of Leadership

Everywhere you turn these days project management experts are talking about the need for us all to move from project management to project leadership. Here at The PM Podcast we have tackled this subject a number of times in the past and today we will continue this journey by taking a look at The Advantage of Leadership.

http://theadvantageofleadershipnow.com/



Episode link
http://www.thepmpodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=219&Itemid=9

Episode 115: Leadership Challenges of Complex Projects

One major factor that is making a larger project more difficult to manage than a smaller project is complexity. On a larger project you will have a larger product scope, a more extensive budget, a more intricate project schedule and not least of it all also a lot more people. All of these add to your project’s complexity.

Montcarlo simulation

A Monte Carlo method is a technique that involves using random numbers and probability to solve problems. The term Monte Carlo Method was coined by S. Ulam and Nicholas Metropolis in reference to games of chance, a popular attraction in Monte Carlo, Monaco (Hoffman, 1998; Metropolis and Ulam, 1949).

Computer simulation has to do with using computer models to imitate real life or make predictions. When you create a model with a spreadsheet like Excel, you have a certain number of input parameters and a few equations that use those inputs to give you a set of outputs (or response variables). This type of model is usually deterministic, meaning that you get the same results no matter how many times you re-calculate. [ Example 1: A Deterministic Model for Compound Interest ]

Figure 1: A parametric deterministic model maps a set of input variables to a set of output variables.

Monte Carlo simulation is a method for iteratively evaluating a deterministic model using sets of random numbers as inputs. This method is often used when the model is complex, nonlinear, or involves more than just a couple uncertain parameters. A simulation can typically involve over 10,000 evaluations of the model, a task which in the past was only practical using super computers.

Read more

http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/mc/MonteCarloSimulation.html

Episode 120: Sustainability... Why Bother?!

Companies and project managers have believed for years that their only responsibility was mainly a financial one – maximizing value for shareholders and finish your projects on time and on budget. Sustainability is a new idea, where the corporate sector incorporates social and environmental concerns in its strategies and plays a more responsible role in the world.



PM board game
http://www.successfulprojects.com/Products/ProjectRiskBoardGame/tabid/68/Default.aspx

Visualizing Agile Projects using Kanban Boards

Three viewpoints and Kanban Board as a mapping of Task to Time

Read More

Project Management Software Preview

OnTime is a project management suite used by 7,000+ software dev teams. It takes care of bug tracking, scrum process automation, requirements management, the dev wiki, your support help desk, and more.
Free For Single User


© 2002 - 2009, Axosoft, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
===================================================================================
Plan. Track. Deliver.
Agile Project Management for Agile Development

VersionOne Supports Scrum XP DSDM AgileUP Custom/Hybrid Methodologies

VersionOne's web-based software can be quickly deployed to a single team or across distributed organizations - with either on-demand (Saas) or on-site (local install) delivery methods. VersionOne's configurable, methodology-specific products for Scrum, Extreme Programming, DSDM and Agile UP also allow companies to easily select which product best aligns with their own internal development process. VersionOne easily scales to support multiple projects, releases and teams and incorporates all key agile and iterative management practices such as release planning, iteration planning and tracking, burndown reporting, velocity and user story (or backlog item) and task management.

Contact us today and let us show you how VersionOne's Scrum, Extreme Programming, DSDM and Agile UP products have helped agile development teams all over the world minimize project risk and maximize project visibility, predictability and adaptability.

Copyright © 2009 , VersionOne, Inc. All Rights Reserved An Agile Project Management Company

Episode 118: Cultural Awareness and Cultural Intelligence

Many aspects of culture are invisible, yet culture has an enormous impact on our projects. If ignored, these aspects can lead to misunderstanding, stress and conflict. Alternatively, if attention is given to the invisible aspects, it can enhance productivity, improve project teamwork and create more joy on the job.



Second Edition The Invisible Elephant - Exploring Cultural Awareness (Paperback)

Episode 118 PREMIUM: The Cultural Mirror

The Cultural Mirror. An absolutely fabulous tool to visually display cultural differences between people and cultural groups.
Talks about how to use it on your project, how to interpret it’s results and translate them onto your project, and the importance of understanding your corporate culture for your project.

Premium!!! :(

Can anybody tell us whats in it?

The PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition

The PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition continues the tradition of excellence in project management with a standard that is easy to understand and implement.
The major differences between the Third Edition and the Fourth Edition are summarized below:
• All process names are in a verb-noun format
• Enterprise Environmental Factors were more clearly defined to avoid confusion with Organizational Process Assets.
• A standard approach for discussing requested changes, preventive actions, corrective actions and defect repairs was employed.
• The processes decreased from 44 to 42. Two processes were deleted, two processes were added and 6 processes were reconfigured into 4 processes in the procurement Knowledge Area.
• To provide clarity a distinction was made between the project management plan and project documents used to manage the project.
• The distinction between the information in the Project Charter and the Project Scope Statement was clarified.
• The process flow diagrams at the beginning of chapters 4-12 have been deleted and replaced with data flow diagrams.
• A data flow diagram for each process has been created.
• A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project.



Source: www.pmi.org

A complete list of changes can be found in Appendix A of the Fourth Edition.

Episode 119: SharePoint for Project Management

Have you ever seen Microsoft SharePoint? And after you saw it, did you feel like this was a tool that you’d like to use in order to manage your projects? If the answer is no then you are like most companies who don’t understand MS SharePoint’s power and use it simply to share documents or spreadsheets. That is where the book “SharePoint for Project Management” comes into play. It demonstrates how SharePoint can also help you organize and manage complex projects.



SharePoint for Project Management: How to Create a Project Management Information System (PMIS) with SharePoint (Paperback

Episode 121: Everything a Project Manager should know about Social Media

The number of social media websites is sheer overwhelming. There are Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Myspace, Skype, Google Chat, Plurk, Bebo, Xing, Hi5, Orkut, Pownce and LinkedIn. And these are just the more popular ones. But why should you as a project manager care about this?

Bas de Baar (http://blog.softwareprojects.org/)

http://www.thepmpodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=249&Itemid=44

Episode 123: The Lazy Project Manager

Would you like to be twice as productive on your projects and still leave the office early? Peter Taylor, PMP (www.thelazyprojectmanager.com) has a suggestion for you: Become a "lazy" project manager. In his book The Lazy Project Manager he reveals how adopting a more focused approach to life, projects and work can make you twice as productive.

Read more and listen at
http://www.thepmpodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=253&Itemid=9

Amazon link:

The Lazy Project Manager: How to be Twice as Productive and Still Leave the Office Early
by Peter Taylor (Author)

Episode 122: Business Driven PMO Setup

Are you working in a Project Management Office (PMO) or are you currently trying to set one up? Wouldn’t it be great if you could read the lessons learned files of over 20 PMO executives and subject matter experts and learn from their experience? We can help you.

Listen to the podcast at
http://www.thepmpodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=9

Google wave
wave.google.com
Learn
Google Wave can make you more productive even when you're having fun.
Take a sneak peek.

Develop
Learn how to put waves in your site and build wave extensions with the Google Wave APIs.
Visit code.google.com/apis/wave.

Build
Google Wave uses an open protocol, so anyone can build their own wave system.
Learn more at www.waveprotocol.org

Project Management Podcast: part 2

This time I decided to use a different technique to keep in touch with the latest postings on the project management podcast and also selectively listening to the early postings that has interesting topics.

So for next couple of days I am going to listen to:

Episode 121 PREMIUM: Project Management 2.0 and Social Media
Monday, June 22, 2009 8:21 PM

PM Podcast 2005/10/15 - I Got A New Project
Sunday, October 16, 2005 12:36 AM
PM Podcast 2005/10/22 - P? M? O?
Saturday, October 22, 2005 6:27 AM
PM Podcast 2005/10/29 - PM Techniques
Saturday, October 29, 2005 8:35 PM
PM Podcast 2005/11/12 - PM Methodologies
Saturday, November 12, 2005 9:17 PM

Looking forward to comment on these!

Project Management 2.0

Found nice article about PM v2.0... visit http://projectized.blogspot.com/

This is kind fancy concept that comes along and goes away...

but Wiki concept was introduced by agile teams long before...

Episode 121 PREMIUM: Project Management 2.0 and Social

Know your value

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rupee 500 note.

In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this Rupee 500 note?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you but first let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rupee 500/-.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt
by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as
though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose
your value.

You are special. Don't ever forget it! Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams.

VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED

I am supposed to write a comment on the PMPodcast. Yet, I think its worth putting this on my blog for my remembrance and for others benefit.

Project Management Podcast: part 1

CHAOS

"The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task."
Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears)

I must thank Cornelius Fichtner, PMP for commenting on my blog.

So the whole day I used my mobile player to listen to the below listed podcast.

Firstly, I must say that Introduction Episode is just an overview on how the podcast will be. As a practice I usually read the instructions before I answer any questions in the exam. So I have no hesitation doing so in anything else. Episodes are OK, audible and the content is appreciable.

I would like to directly jump to the Episode 3 and I will give you some insight on the other two items in the latter part of the post.

Project Failure!!!
-----------------
Yes, most of the time even we feel that the statistics of project failures are take without proper survey, cos almost all of the project we do succeed except few customer hiccups. But statistics says that 70% of IT project in the world fails.

May be project however we handle not meant to fail or its plain luck.

THE STANDISH GROUP REPORT CHAOS

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NCP08083B.pdf

Project Success Factors % of Responses
1. User Involvement 15.9%
2. Executive Management Support 13.9%
3. Clear Statement of Requirements 13.0%
4. Proper Planning 9.6%
5. Realistic Expectations 8.2%
6. Smaller Project Milestones 7.7%
7. Competent Staff 7.2%
8. Ownership 5.3%
9. Clear Vision & Objectives 2.9%
10. Hard-Working, Focused Staff 2.4%
Other 13.9%

Project Challenged Factors % of Responses
1. Lack of User Input 12.8%
2. Incomplete Requirements & Specifications 12.3%
3. Changing Requirements & Specifications 11.8%
4. Lack of Executive Support 7.5%
5. Technology Incompetence 7.0%
6. Lack of Resources 6.4%
7. Unrealistic Expectations 5.9%
8. Unclear Objectives 5.3%
9. Unrealistic Time Frames 4.3%
10. New Technology 3.7%
Other 23.0%

Project Impaired Factors % of Responses
1. Incomplete Requirements 13.1%
2. Lack of User Involvement 12.4%
3. Lack of Resources 10.6%
4. Unrealistic Expectations 9.9%
5. Lack of Executive Support 9.3%
6. Changing Requirements & Specifications 8.7%
7. Lack of Planning 8.1%
8. Didn't Need It Any Longer 7.5%
9. Lack of IT Management 6.2%
10. Technology Illiteracy 4.3%
Other 9.9%

Don't forget to follow the case studies on the same document.

And I would not hesitate to copy the blow conclusion in the chaos report.

There is one final aspect to be considered in any degree of project failure. All success is rooted in either luck or failure. If you begin with luck, you learn nothing but arrogance. However, if you begin with failure and learn to evaluate it, you also learn to succeed. Failure begets knowledge. Out of knowledge you gain wisdom, and it is with wisdom that you can become truly successful.

PMI Leadership Seminar:

At the moment it's a real time feeling I attained by listening to the two clips Although its still a dream for us.
Thank you Cornelius

Well guys looking forward to download all the other clips. And advise you to do so.
Please make your comments on the clips.

Project Management Podcast: part 1

I started listening to project management podcast to strive for my first 15 PDU's.

below are my first four item which is obviously the first four items in the list.

Episode 004: PMI 2005 Leadership Meeting Part 2
Episode 003: Project Failure
Episode 002: PMI 2005 Leadership Meeting Part 1
Episode 001: Introduction

I wish to comment on my experience on these items in my next post.

These items are published in 2005.
Get 15 Free PDUs!

Information system project management

What is project management?

Definitions of Project management on the Web:

* Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

* The delivery and management of projects - it is usually performed by Program Management specialists.
www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/qgcio/resources/glossary/Pages/glossaryp.aspx

* application of the knowledge, skills, tools and techniques during the project activities in order to meet or surpass the needs and expectations of ...
www.unizg.hr/tempusprojects/glossary.htm

* The methods and disciplines used to define goals, plan and monitor tasks and resources, identify and resolve issues, and control costs and budgets for a specific project.
www.bridgefieldgroup.com/bridgefieldgroup/glos7.htm

* PM is a business process of the project-oriented company. The PM process starts with the project assignment and ends with the project approval. It consists of the sub-processes project start, project co-ordination, project controlling, project discontinuity management and project close-down.
www.sovnet.ru/pages/Glossary.doc

* Project management is the process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled and delivered such that the agreed benefits are realised. Projects are unique, transient endeavours undertaken to achieve a desired outcome. ...
www.apm.org.uk/Definitions.asp

* is a critical skill required for execution. It is an essential organizing and managerial discipline in getting things done. ...
www.marketright.co.nz/Site/definitions.aspx

* The techniques & tools used to describe, control & deliver a series of activities with given deliverables, timeframes & budgets.
www.etpconsulting.co.uk/Business%20Continuity/business-continuity-glossary.htm

* Planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance (Alternative definition – The controlled implementation of defined change).
www.brunswickis.co.uk/project-management-glossary.asp

* A management philosophy that says that efficient management will yield effective results. Specifically, efficient management of resources and constraints to perform tasks in order to achieve a desired result.
krypton.mnsu.edu/~tony/courses/609/PERT/defs.html

* Support of initiatives through the provision of project management.
www.icreb.com/compprof.html

* The leadership role which plans, budgets, co-ordinates, monitors and controls the operational contributions of property professionals, and others, in a project involving the development of land in accordance with a client's objectives in terms of quality, cost and time.
www.mahadeonirman.com/glossary.asp

* Project Management is a formalised and structured method of managing change in a rigorous manner. It focuses on achieving specifically defined outputs that are to be achieved by a certain time, to a defined quality and with a given level of resources so that planned outcomes are achieved.
www.wrasmussen.gov.ck/index.php

* is there the right balance of activities?
www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/~DELL/teaching/isc_0708s/dell_isc13a.ppt

Critical Chain Project Management