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Musings on Project Management
JUNE 30, 2022
There comes a point where more planning can not remove the remaining uncertainty, instead execution must be used to provide data and remove uncertainty. This quote comes from a nicely argued case -- from the agile blog 'leading answers' -- for mixing agile methods in rather traditional businesses, like the oil and gas exploration/production business If ever there was a business that. agile Teamwork Virtual teams
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 14, 2022
Daniel Messiler has an interesting essay about threats, vulnerabilities, and risks that is worth a quick read.He summarizes this way: A Threat is a negative scenario you want to avoidA Threat Actor is the agent that makes a Threat happenA Vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited in order to attack youA Risk is a negative scenario you want to avoid, combined with its probability and its.
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Musings on Project Management
JULY 5, 2022
If you are new to Agile (thus, perhaps, a late adopter. or a newbie to the software industry) read through this posting at LeadingAnswers. The big message is: Internalize the founding concepts and guiding principles before jumping into sundry Agile practices. Start left; move rightIn particular, understand this lecture: Absorb the idea of moving 'left to right' from the founding ideas to the. agile
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 13, 2022
In my experience, a lot of projects operate more or less on the edge of risk, with no real plan beyond common sense and a bit of past experience to muddle through if things go wrong.Problematic, as a process, but to paraphrase the late Donald Rumsfeld: You do the project with the resources and plan you have, not the resources or plan you wantYou may want a robust risk plan, but you may not have. Risk Management
Speaker: William Hord, Vice President of Risk Management and Compliance
Join us as we discuss the various tangents of data and the change management process that will help you make better risk-based business decisions to save time and money for your organization.
Musings on Project Management
MAY 2, 2022
To state a strategic principle is one thing; to reduce principle to a practical plan is another; but then to get stakeholders to approve and invest in both the principle and the plan is yet another.General Eisenhower had something to say about this, and one should be fully aware that not only did his strategic principles have to satisfy those with a focus on Europe, but also in the larger context acquisition Strategy
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 27, 2022
In project management school, the lesson on Critical Path includes Rule #2: Apply resources first to the critical path, and subordinate demands of other paths to ensure the critical path is never starved.But, of course, Rule #2 follows from Rule #1Rule #1, if you haven't guessed is: Create a schedule network so that the critical path is revealed.
Musings on Project Management
JULY 23, 2021
Number One: It's a bell, unless it's not For nearly all of us when approaching something statistical, we imagine the bell-shape distribution right away. And, we know the average outcome is the value at the peak of the curve. Why is it so useful that it's the default go-to? Because many, if not.
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 16, 2022
Are you doing a project under a contract from a sponsor?When When did you do the cost estimating for the price you signed up for?Is Is there a clause for "force majeure" (Look in the fine print in the contract's boilerplate)A lot of contractors (and their lawyers) are spending time on "force majeure"Three elements required:(1) unforeseeable event, (2) outside of the parties' control, that (3) renders. cost management Project Management
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 20, 2022
NSA, FBI, and CISA have jointly issued a significant report on China's cyber activity.A summary quotation is given below:This joint Cybersecurity Advisory describes the ways in which People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors continue to exploit publicly known vulnerabilities in order to establish a broad network of compromised infrastructure. These actors use the network to. Project Management Risk Management
Speaker: Rachel Rai Henry, Founder of the Creative Flow School
In this one-of-a-kind webinar, speaker, creativity expert, and educator Rachel Rai Henry will walk you through the evolution of hybrid work management through the lens of creative flow.
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Musings on Project Management
MAY 19, 2022
Ideas matter, but they do not matter as much as intellectuals and [market strategists] think they do. What matters far more is [project craft], which is about sensing, adjusting, exploiting, and doing rather than planning and theorizing. It is the skill of judo player who may have plans but who important characteristic is agility. It is what philosopher Isaiah Berlin called "understanding rather. Strategy
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 19, 2022
And expect a parachute to followFrom the Netflix series "Inventing Anna"Actually, in the book "The Network" by Scott Wooley -- which is a pseudo-biography of Edwin Armstrong (vacuum tube amplifier inventor, among many electronics inventions. 42 patents and IEEE Medal of Honor) and David Sarnoff (founder of RCA and NBC) there are many "Leap!" projects described, to include but not. acquisition risk decision
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 2, 2021
"In carrying out the task assigned. you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk. which you shall interpret as avoidance of [risk] exposure. without good prospect. as a result of such exposure. of greater [benefit]" (*)Admiral Chester Nimitz to his subordinate admirals, Battle of Midway, June, 1942"You will be governed by the principle of calculated risk"What does. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 14, 2022
Number One: It's a bell, unless it's not For nearly all of us when approaching something statistical, we imagine the bell-shape distribution right away. And, we know the average outcome is the value at the peak of the curve. Why is it so useful that it's the default go-to? Because many, if not.
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Musings on Project Management
MARCH 31, 2022
I'm a sequentialist.When planning a project, I think first about how to sequence the scope: do this first, then that. Or, do these things in parallel, followed by this or that.MS Project, and similar tools, are the sequentialists go-to tool for planning sequences and establishing the sequential order of the project. Not so fast!What What about cumulative, non-sequential, scope and effects?For For these, planning Project Management schedule
Musings on Project Management
MAY 12, 2022
"Link and Buffer" is a leadership concept for a leader positioned between a governing board, to whom they must link the project, and a project team which must be buffered from the whims and biases of the board.Fair enoughBut it's not that easy.In the "link and buffer" space live various skills:Vision and practicality: to the board, the project leader talks strategically about outcomes and risks; leadership Project Management
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 7, 2022
Is keeping project history valuable? Doesn't every project office have at least cost history? Isn't all parametric pricing based on history? Yes, Maybe, Yes. respectively, to the above! And, could there be parametric estimating without history (*)? No, definitely not.Or, could there be project, event, or risk statistics without history? (**) No! Ooops, perhaps everyone does not agree: " estimate
Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 21, 2020
Define counter-party: In a transactional relationship, the other party to -- or participating in -- the transaction is your counter-party. In project situations, there are usually many counter-party transactional arrangements, such as contractors and suppliers with transactional relationships. And within the business there may be transactional relationships among business units and the PMO. Oh business analysis contract Risk Management
Speaker: Peter Monkhouse, Founder, NewGenP
This webinar will introduce a strategy implementation circle, which will demonstrate the role that projects and products play in assisting an organization with strategy implementation. The webinar will emphasize the importance of using an iterative approach to product development and project execution.
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 11, 2022
"In carrying out the task assigned. you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk. which you shall interpret as avoidance of [risk] exposure. without good prospect. as a result of such exposure. of greater [benefit]" (*)Admiral Chester Nimitz to his subordinate admirals, Battle of Midway, June, 1942"You will be governed by the principle of calculated risk"What does. Bayes Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
MAY 15, 2020
Under stress, the biases come out Not only do the risks change, but risk attitudes change as well The stakes may be higher; the consequences greater. Now is the time to revisit the best book ever written on risk management -- in my opinion "Against the Gods, The remarkable story of Risk" by Peter L.
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 8, 2022
"The supreme misfortune is when theory outstrips performance"Leonardo da VinciAnd then there's this: During the technical and political debates in the mid-1930's by the FCC with various engineers, consultants, and business leaders regarding the effect, or not, of sunspots on various frequency bands being considered for the fledgling FM broadcast industry, the FCC's 'sunspot' expert theorized. estimate Project Management Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 11, 2021
There comes a point where more planning can not remove the remaining uncertainty, instead execution must be used to provide data and remove uncertainty. This quote comes from a nicely argued case -- from the agile blog 'leading answers' -- for mixing agile methods in rather traditional businesses, like the oil and gas exploration/production business If ever there was a business that. agile
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Musings on Project Management
DECEMBER 1, 2021
Applying agile methodology in your software project? Working for an organization large enough to be called an 'enterprise'? Probably that's good.Why so?Access Access to resources is the main reason. You may have heard that agile is all about small self-directing teams -- yes, that's part of the doctrine. But how many teams are needed for your project? Dozens? Hundreds even? Where do those people, Project Management
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 17, 2022
The first rule of data: Don't ask for data if you don't know what you are going to do with it Or, said another way (same rule) Don't ask for data which you can not use or act upon. And, your reaction might be: Of course! But, alas, in the PMO there are too many incidents of reports, data accumulation, measurements, etc which are PMO doctrine, but in reality, there actually is no plan for. data management
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 10, 2020
Ideas about extreme risk management have been around a long time. No news there, so let's press on. Here's a working definition: Extreme risks are those for which the consequences are nearly irreversible, and the impact is near-catastrophic.
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 28, 2021
The worst error in scheduling is to have a milestone depend upon two or more tasks scheduled (planned) to finish at the same time.Here's a footnote to that witticism: It's assumed the two tasks are independent, meaning:They don't share resourcesThey don't have the same vulnerabilities to a common riskThe progress, or not, in one does not affect progress in the otherSo, what's the big error here? schedule
Speaker: Americo Pinto, Founder and Chair at PMO Global Alliance
In this discussion, Americo Pinto, Founder and Chair at PMO Global Alliance, will walk you through best practices for communicating with stakeholders.
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 27, 2021
Are you on one of those death march projects about to burn out. Want some time off? Perhaps it's in the plan Formula solution Google among others -- Microsoft, etc -- are well known for the "time off, do. what you want toward self improvement and personnel innovation" model; formulas like that lend objectivity to the process (not playing. favorites, etc). Note: more on this in the "6x2x1". human factors Teamwork Virtual teams
Musings on Project Management
SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
"In war [projects] nothing goes according to plan, but always remember your objective" Israeli generalGood advice. And, of course, your objective always is -- or always should be: Apply your resources to maximize their value added while taking the least risk to do so.But our general's admonition begs the question: Is "nothing goes according to plan" the same as there's "no value in planning"? And Bayes estimate planning Project Management Project Value
Musings on Project Management
JULY 29, 2021
You ask: What's he best thing I can do to manage risk?Answer:Make Answer:Make time your friend. Insert time buffers in your schedule around every uncertain event, around milestones that are critical to success, and around major blocks of scope that determine whether project objectives will be met.Time is your friend if it is allocated in your schedule to give you space to work, and rework, mitigations. Time Risk Management schedule
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 2, 2021
If there's no Plan B, then the first rule is "Make Plan A work!"And And it might require that you be aggressive about making Plan A work. no fooling around.No Plan BWait! Isn't there always a Plan B somewhere?A A general officer once told me: If there's no Plan B, invent it!Insure Insure for failure?Maybe Maybe you can insure against the failure of Plan A. Perhaps that's your Plan B -- just get your money back, human factors risk Risk Management
Speaker: Joe Pusz, President, The PMO Squad
In this discussion, PMO Joe will challenge your thinking and perhaps bring you to the conclusion that the debate doesn’t exist. He will discuss the pros and cons of each approach and examine if one is superior to the other.
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 5, 2021
Leading -- leadership -- without risk; without taking on risk?!It It can't be done.End of posting.Perhaps a bit more:To be a leader is to put yourself out front. exposed, as it wereAnd, out front you'll find there are no easy answers. If there were such, leadership would be more like management: Follow the rules; stay within the guides; take little personal risk to reputation and career; work for human factors leadership Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
SEPTEMBER 5, 2021
I was recently directed toward an interesting site (blog, presentations, etc) by Simon Brown, and his download presentation about "sketching the architecture" that more or less reinforces my idea that: "If you can't draw it, you can't build it." Box modelFrom this idea flows my "box model" approach to setting down high level narrative (business story with context), major functions (boxes) and. agile architecture system engineering
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 20, 2020
Most of us -- that is, all but the few formally trained in risk assessment -- really suck at risk assessment, a necessary first step toward managing risk. Why so? Bias, for one thing. Confirmation bias being a biggie: we all want confirmation that our thinking, experiences, and instincts are right for the situation we find ourselves in. But, of course, we know objectively, even if not. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
Are you busy building your project budget?Are Are you going to include a budget for training your project's working staff? New developer and testing tools; New frameworks; New process and workflow management?If If that's a Yes and Yes, have you thought about this? You may need to train your project robots also. Really?Really! Really! Robots, whether mechanical and real, or virtual, all depend on training data. AI cost management Project Management
Speaker: Jesse Fewell, Principal Coach, Fewell Innovation
Join this high-energy webinar with Jesse Fewell, author, coach, and project management trainer, to get practical answers and insights into what is propelling the profession into the future.
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