the315

The thing that really makes some project managers better than others is the ability to successfully manage people (a type of resource) to complete the project within scope, schedule and budget. If your project team doesn’t perform as expected, then it reflects bad on you as the project manager. All the other stuff helps but people are the ones that will get you off-course.

Jared at Technotheory wrote about applying the 80/20 rule to your friendships. His post reminded me of the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) applied to management. As it goes, 80% of the work is produced by 20% of your people . I agree, there are definitely key people on every project team. The act of listing and analyzing a project team for the 80/20 rule could prove useful to some project managers.

So, what is the 80/20 response? Well, according to productivity theories that apply the 80/20 rule, we should look at the 20% of our time and effort that is getting 80% of our work done. Looking at our efforts to communicate, is only 20% of it aimed at those key project team members? Are we spending 80% of our efforts communicating to the other members who are only producing 20% of the work?

August 28th, 2008 | Category: project management | Leave a comment

I was reading the post on the Solutions Are Power blog (Network Solutions) about women in social media and it got me thinking about my experience as a female in tech. Christina Warren makes a good point that girls are perhaps discouraged early on from joining the tech industry. I don’t want to dive too deep into it either, but I have to agree.

And then, today, Aaron Brazell at Technosailor wrote a post about women bloggers which sparked an interesting discussion in his comments.

As for me, I had a technologically rich upbringing (thanks Dad!). So, it was a bit of a surprise when I entered the real world and was instantly challenged by males in tech. (Sorry to call you out like this, but its true.) I think that requiring peers to prove themselves to us is a natural tendency. However, I know the difference between proving myself as a peer and proving myself because of my gender.

But most of the time during my career pursuits, the issue of gender doesn’t cross my mind. I am definitely not going to dive into the psychology of this or any discouragement of women to enter tech. I just wanted to mention that I have both experienced it and not experienced it. To Aaron’s point, I really don’t think its in anyone’s interest to make it a gender battle.

I took a few moments to glance at the names of the contributors on my favorite tech blogs. Mostly male sounding names and definitely not a 50/50 gender split. There is definitely a lack of women contributors out there, especially on the tech blogs, and I really wish I had a good solution to propose. However, if you know of some good female tech blogs, send them my way!

August 21st, 2008 | Category: women in tech, blogging, about me, ideas | Leave a comment

“No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century”
by the Council on Library and Information Resources

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub142/pub142.pdf

This is a great read if you spend anytime wondering what society will do about the plethora of digital resources that are being created or how libraries should present themselves to the next generation. Although the title mentions research libraries, I think this type of thinking is groundbreaking in redefining the general belief that all libraries only house stacks of tangible publications and that they may not have a future in the digital world. The article identifies many gaps in society’s management of digital information and how libraries might and should fill them.

Focusing on digital media my whole career has caused me to reflect a lot on our management of it. We still struggle with the different types, where they intersect and how to persist them into the future. For example, we are all comfortable with digital photos and documents yet we still struggle with how to manage such content, along with corresponding metadata, in a way that we can be sure it will be easily discoverable, accessible and persist into the future. Interactive multimedia and integrating resources are in a completely different league. And I have no idea if anyone has thought about capturing the data that is fed through social aggregating services like Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed. Its a little more of a technical problem then newspaper on micro-fiche. (at least for now)

I am pretty excited to see how we - as in society, markets, industries, universities and libraries - respond to these changes.

August 19th, 2008 | Category: ideas | Leave a comment

I just set up a new WordPress blog on my site. I am taking care of the details. Here you see it - http://blog.the315.com. I am very excited!

August 15th, 2008 | Category: blog news | Leave a comment

Here is a quick outline of the advice I would give to start-ups intimidated by all out project management but know they need something.

1. Define your projects- Start with a simple list that includes what you are delivering, when you want to deliver it by and who is responsible for it.

2. Understand tasks- Once you have a solid list of projects start thinking about what high level tasks are required to complete the projects. Identify who is responsible for each task. Also note which tasks have to happen before another or tasks that can occur simultaneously.

3. Analyze your staff- Look for names that show up a lot on your lists or areas where you don’t have a name assigned.

4. Analyze your dates- Look for periods of time where there is a lot going on for everyone or just one person.

5. Check your budget- Make sure the above analysis matches your budget or what you are charging for the project.

The steps above should really give you a good idea of where you stand with your projects and how you balance them. It should also help you discover where and what your risks are. Being aware of your risks is very important and the first step in preventing them from becoming problems.

To improve your application of project management, there are two additional things I recommend doing.

6. Analyze how your team works- Observe how your team gets stuff done. You have a current process, no matter how informal it is. Watch for how things go wrong and right. Listen to what people directly and indirectly say about the process.

7. Learn about project management software and practice- At least read a bit about it and think about how it could help you. And start using it when you find that you need it and are ready to adopt it in your process.

There is a ton of information out there about project management as a discipline. However, I find that bringing it down to these simple steps not only helps someone unfamiliar to it, but also helps to prevent practitioners like me from turning it into a mindless bureaucracy.

August 14th, 2008 | Category: start-ups, project management | Leave a comment

With all the talk about PR and personal brands, I have recently wondered how it is that one approaches creating their own brand. Do most people develop a personal brand strategy? Do they just analyze in passing on the Metro or do they actually write a strategic plan for themselves? And what drives them to desire a personal brand? Driving business, getting recognition or something else? Or maybe most people create their personal brand as an unintentional byproduct of their real goals.

This makes me reflect on my own personal brand. Not because I need one, but because I am someone with an online personality. But I don’t like to think of it as a brand. I just want to think of it as an accurate representation of me. Nothing strategic, just me.

Maybe I am off base. I would love to talk more about this with people.

So, in my reflection on personal brand I did a bit of soul digging. Here are a few core things about me:

* I love technology. I am particularly interested in how new advancements change our culture, use and approaches to developing technology. Getting an opportunity to explain this stuff to people is great.

* I like adventures. Through travel or outdoor activities, adventures provide the perfect balance and perspective in my life.

* I like to be organized. I like to see how I can be more effective and efficient.

* I like art. Anything aesthetically pleasing with meaning.

* I like to help and inspire people, especially in regard to technology.

* I love to learn anything about and related to any of the above.

Does that make a brand? I guess it is more of a list of interests that drive my actions that represent me. Hopefully, this comes through all of my other posts. But would anyone argue that a representation of one’s interests is still lacking the extra strategy that is fundamental to a personal brand?

August 13th, 2008 | Category: about me, marketing | Leave a comment

After numerous meetings between the customer and the creator, I have to wonder how many people really know how to write a requirement, how to read a requirement and why we use requirements. The thing is, I like formally written requirements for large formal projects (like when there is lots of money on the line). They work.

However, for smaller projects it is still a good idea to apply the fundamentals of requirements.

Things to think about:
* requirements are What not How
* stepping through use scenarios helps
* assumed functionality requirements are the most dangerous
* coming back to ultimate goals is key to having a full set
* use previously made scope decisions as hard limits
* again, what not how

August 6th, 2008 | Category: requirements, program management, project management | Comments (1)

I spend a lot of time reading requirements for various programs and projects. Have you ever read a requirements document? If so, you know how tedious they can, and need, to be. I like detail in light of the big picture, so, I think I do pretty well at creating comprehensive requirements and analyzing for comprehensiveness. However, it bothers me a little that my project teams don’t really read them. Everyone says they reviewed them and I believe most give it a good scan (at least their parts). But especially when you are working with contractors and/or budgets, a scan by everyone isn’t good enough. Yet, in their defense, I do sympathize that they have other job responsibilities and probably find the RD somewhat intimidating (or boring).

Well, this is where I feel the pressure as the program/project manager. The responsibility to make sure we have a comprehensive set falls on me. I am comfortable with this - yet this is where it is crucial that I know my scope and stakeholders before beginning the requirements gathering process. So, if you ever participate on a program or project team, please be patient through the initial steps. You may know your stuff, but the PM needs to get that information from you as well as possible.

Let me know if you want a 3,000+ requirements document to chill with and I will send you a link

July 31st, 2008 | Category: requirements, program management, project management | Leave a comment

Yeah, you may think you get stuff done without project management. But that isn’t the point - anyone can get stuff done. The key to sustainability and growth is to get stuff done efficiently and effectively. That is the purpose of project management to me. More effectively means a better product or service and happier customers. And more efficiently means quicker and with less resources.

I have been around the DC tech community for almost 2 years and I want to get some discussions going about how to get stuff done more efficiently and effectively. I don’t mean anything too formal or process heavy. I mean some simple application of the project management theories that work.

Email me, liz[at]the315[dot]com, if you want to talk about project management with me. This is what I do for a day job and I actually enjoy it.

July 29th, 2008 | Category: project management | Comments (1)