As we wrap up 2011, I figure I would take this opportunity to lighten the mood and come up with a top 10 list À La “David Letterman.” So the category is the top signs your project is doomed to fail. Here we go…
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Posts Tagged ‘Project Planning’
22 December 2011 8:48 am
Letterman Top 10 Signs your Project is Doomed to Fail
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28 November 2011 9:15 am
Get your Pair of Adidas for $1! Process Improvement in your Projects is about the Journey, not the Destination
In our current global economy consumer products are dropping in price due to the maturity of organization’s that are schooled in the ability to leverage the best and cheapest resources around the world every point in the manufacturing process. In recent years we have seen remarkably low priced items seen with the launch of Tata’s Nano car retailed at $1900 and now Adidas’ recent announcement of launching a $1 running shoe aimed at India’s growing population.
19 October 2011 12:41 pm
The Power of the Plan: Why 1% of the Population Controls 40% of the Wealth
The recent news of the “Occupy Wall Street” grassroots movement in which demonstrators are congregating around the world expressing their defiance against the financial establishment and its impact on the “Average Joe” has brought to light the age old reality that money and power lies in the hands of a few who understand the power of the plan that keeps this inequality afloat. Throughout history kings and monarchs have exploited the majority by creating meticulously planned structures of power, wealth and governments to ensure their positions. Although the Occupy Wall Street movement is a modern phenomenon, similar strategies employed centuries Read More
Posted in PM Best Practices | No Comments
19 September 2011 9:07 am
Are you getting the most out of your project documents? Top 5 reasons why you need a document management strategy
It’s incredible how low the cost of memory has dropped! I recently purchased an 8GB mini SD card for my Blackberry for under $20, when considering I paid over $1000 for a PC back in 1999 with an 8GB hard drive. With today’s amazingly affordable access to cheap storage, organizations are increasingly drowning in the data they gather.
In today’s project environment capturing and storing project information is limitless. On the flip side, extracting and accessing relevant information quickly and efficiently has begun to pose a growing problem to stakeholders and project managers that are required to make informed decisions impacting Read More
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25 August 2011 2:06 pm
Project Vision: The “Apple” Never Falls Far from the Tree
With yesterday’s announcement of Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple’s CEO, the first thought that crossed my mind is the critical role leadership plays in any organization. As the story goes… after building Apple into an industry giant, Jobs was ousted as its leader in 1985. Following his departure, the company slowly deteriorated and by 1997 the company Jobs’ built was running at a loss of $1 billion on its $7 billion in revenue. Almost 15 years later, under Jobs’ leadership Apple has not only transformed its own DNA, but has revolutionized the music industry, the smart phone and the Read More
12 August 2011 12:49 pm
Poor Stakeholder Management: Dangerous Politics will Yield Undesirable Results
In recent weeks, the media has been inundated with stories about political turmoil in the US and Western Europe. We have not only seen the recent news of the US’s downgrade in its credit rating and its mounting budget deficit but we have also seen unprecedented social unrest in the UK, the French economy at a standstill and the Euro taking a hard hit due to Greece’s recent instability. Although a lot of these events are partially due to poor planning by governments, the reality is (and this should not be ignored) partisan politics, self-interest, and poor communication among stakeholders Read More
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20 July 2011 3:05 pm
The Model T Ford Project: A “Model” for Product and Process Innovation
Up until the early 20th century the world viewed the automobile as a luxury item built for the elite of society. Cars were complicated in their use and required a significant investment that the average person could not afford. Then in 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model T Ford that did not only revolutionize the world’s perspective on personal transportation for the masses but also re-invented the manufacturing process still applied over 100 years later. Although we have seen improvements to his original process, with the development of lean manufacturing, JIT, Six Sigma, Kanban, and others, the core philosophy of Read More
11 April 2011 10:08 am
Is Agile right for you? Top 5 considerations when implementing Agile Methodology
We often hear in software development circles how Agile development is taking hold of the industry. Created as a grassroots framework by developers for developers, the origins of Agile methodology began 10 years ago with a group of progressive software developers at a Utah ski lodge that established the Agile Manifesto aimed to establish a more inclusive, democratic and efficient system for running software development projects. As result, multiple Agile methodologies emerged including Crystal Clear, Scrum and Extreme Programming all designed to establish self-governing project teams that place equal accountability on all members that touch the project.
As this is Read More
18 March 2011 12:54 pm
Natural Disaster Recovery Projects: How serious do we take risk?
Probably the biggest wild card in any project is a project leader’s continuous handling of unforeseen events that can derail the project’s trajectory towards its goal. Although the unplanned is common to most projects, how often is there a risk management strategy in place to prepare for potentially damaging events? Depending on the nature of a project, the level of seriousness of risk will vary. In the most extreme cases, natural disaster recovery projects top the list. The inherent nature of these projects is to plan for the unplanned. A risk management strategy is the driving force behind the ability Read More
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4 March 2011 5:28 pm
The Power of Demand in Project Management
The other day I read an article on how Charlie Sheen set a new Guinness World record by reaching 1 million followers in the shortest amount of time. With the power of technology, Sheen opened a Twitter account and hit the “1 million” milestone in 25 hours and 17 minutes. My first thought was – it is amazing the incredible appetite people have to be connected to latest news covering their topic(s) of interest. Although the Sheen example is an extreme scenario, it does provide insight into the cyclical nature of humanity and the dynamic between people’s wants and needs Read More