Project Management and Project Tools Blog

Learning Scrum – Staying up with the latest project techniques

2012-02-04T14:32:32Z

The more I work within the Scrum project framework, the more I appreciate its practical and simple concepts. I am also interested in the expertise required to be a Scrum master. Like any skill you seek to master, the path may be harder than you want and take longer than you want. I am convinced [...] Read More......(read more)

How to Help Management Make a Better IT Decision

2012-01-26T21:12:52Z

Decisions that directly affect Information Technology (IT) projects or IT services within an organization are not always made in the IT (or Engineering) department. That is not bad thing; it is just the way things are and how business runs. Like what? Management decides it is in the company’s strategic interest to form a partnership [...] Read More......(read more)

Project Manager Travel Guidance

2012-01-19T22:08:06Z

I am sure there are people who enjoy traveling as part of their job, although I have not met any of them recently! Travel to current or potential customer sites, subcontractors, giving a conference presentation or receiving training is sometimes necessary for the project and the organization. Who knows, sometime you might even get a [...] Read More......(read more)

Cognitive Science Insights into Decision Making

2012-01-12T18:39:01Z

Those of you who know me understand how my company relies on cognition principles and experts to make our projects successful. Dr. Karen McGraw, the founder of Cognitive Technologies, has said on many occasions that “Cognitive is the first word in our company name because if you don’t focus first on the way people think, [...] Read More......(read more)

Asking for Help

2012-01-06T17:41:00Z

Do you ever ask for help or assistance? I don’t know why so many people (And organizations!) feel like they cannot go get help when they need to. Perhaps because people see asking for help as a sign of personal failure, they are reluctant to do it. Instead, they continue to struggle and hope for [...] Read More......(read more)

Reflections on Fear No Project PM Blog

2011-12-30T07:35:50Z

I have been writing the Fear No Project blog for three years now — over 150 posts. When I began, I was not sure that I had all that much to say or that I would have the time to create the kind of blog I could be proud of and others would find useful. [...] Read More......(read more)

Defending the Project Management Profession

2011-12-21T15:53:08Z

Project management is not just something you do when you cannot get a real job. Project management is a profession and project managers are professionals. I am probably preaching to the choir here, but having recently seen ads for fast, cheap and simple project management training and tools, I felt the need to state firmly [...] Read More......(read more)

Improving Productivity – Suggestions from PMI

2011-12-09T12:30:04Z

If you have not wandered through the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) knowledge center, you have missed an excellent source of best-practice thinking on a variety of issues relevant to project and corporate management. Recently I reviewed an article by Pradeep Patra, PMP and Sunitha Bartaki, PMP of Tata Consultancy Services Limited that I thought was [...] Read More......(read more)

Finding a Content Management System Solution – Part 3

2011-12-02T12:39:53Z

In part 2 of this series, I talked about selecting a content management system (CMS) and including the needs of people (stakeholders and users). I shared several great questions to ask when choosing a solution. So after you have done all the work of finding, selecting and implementing a CMS you can relax and take [...] Read More......(read more)

A Project Manager’s Thanksgiving Thoughts

2011-11-22T23:34:06Z

Are you like me? I go to the store, watch TV, and read the paper – but all I am seeing is “Christmas themes.” So, What happened to Thanksgiving? I like the Thanksgiving holiday. It provides a chance to get together with people you care about without some of the stress that characterizes other [...] Read More......(read more)

Finding a Content Management System Solution – Part 2

2011-11-17T21:49:16Z

Last week in part 1, I talked about selecting a content management system (CMS) (which has many names like records management or knowledge management) from a technical perspective. However, just as with any productivity-enhancing tool, the process does not end with getting the tool. Rather, the process begins by understanding the value of content management [...] Read More......(read more)

Finding a Content Management System solution – Part 1

2011-11-12T18:50:15Z

I am having a lot of conversations with people about “content management”, “knowledge management”, and “records management” these days. Some of this is because of products like Microsoft SharePoint® and OpenText. If you are having these conversations, you may be wondering “why it is so hard to find a good solution?” Part of the problem [...] Read More......(read more)

Professional ScrumMaster Class Offered in Austin Texas

2011-11-03T20:31:48Z

I have written and spoken in the past about agile and the incremental approaches to building solutions. I am learning more about SCRUM and how it can improve our ability to be successful in our projects. Scrum provides a framework for software development that is incremental and iterative. Scrum is based on agile principles that [...] Read More......(read more)

Happy International Project Management Day!

2011-11-02T23:25:17Z

Just want to say Happy International Project Management Day to all of you! It is November 3rd this year and many organizations are trying to raise awareness of Project Management. For those of you who were not aware : The international project management day (IPM day) is intended to encourage project based organizations worldwide or organizations [...] Read More......(read more)

How is the PMBOK like Wikipedia?

2011-10-28T17:33:26Z

When you are stuck in traffic, you have free time — just kidding — for random thoughts to bubble up into your conscious mind. On one such occasion, I found myself considering the similarities between the construction of articles on Wikipedia and PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK). At first, these [...] Read More......(read more)