Happy 4th July

Happy independence day to all of my friends and visitors. 

On July 4th, 1776 US got independence from Britain and a democracy was born.  This is the land of opportunity and freedom.  This is the time of barbecue, picnics, and a bit relaxing.

Click here for some facts on July 4th ( USA.gov)

Here is a short quote from the address of President Obama on 4th July, 2009.

“We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

That is how this generation of Americans will make its mark on history. That is how we will make the most of this extraordinary moment. And that is how we will write the next chapter in the great American story. Thank you, and Happy Fourth of July.”

 

Anais Nin on Change

1. There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
2. Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
3. We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Happy Canada Day!

Wishing all my Canadian friends a happy Canada day!  July 1st is Canada’s birth date and it was originally known as Dominion Day.  Later in 1982, it was changed to Canada day.  Its 142nd birthday of Canada.  Here is the small list of Canadian Inventions (source – www,publicboard.ca booklet)

• 5 Pin Bowling – 1909 – T.E. Ryan
• Basketball – 1891 – James Naismith
• Chocolate Bar – 1910 – Arthur Ganong
• Electric Light Bult – 1874 – Henry Woodward (later sold patent to Thomas Edison)
• Electric Organ – 1928 – Morse Robb
• Goalie Mask – 1960 – Jaques Plante
• McIntosh Apple  – 1796 – John McIntosh
• Paint Roller  – 1940 – Norman Breakey
• Snowblower – 1925 – Arthur Sicard
• Television Camera – 1934 – FCP Henroteau
• Telephone – 1876 – Alexander G Bell
• Walkie-Talkie – 1942 – Donald L Hings
• Zipper – 1913 – Gideon Sunback

Have a happy Canada day!

Don’t Settle – Stay Hungry – Stay Foolish

Who does not know Steve Jobs? His vision and life has made a huge impact on our generation. I came across this post. He shares his life lessons with students at Stanford in 2005. No doubt he is wonderful person around and I wish him good health.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Text of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005)Posted using ShareThis

Changepoint and PPM

Last week I completed Compuware Changepoint training. I had read earlier that Changepoint is in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant (leaders) for PPM tools.

Changepoint is a web based tool for project and portfolio management.  The tool enables leadership make right decisions based on dynamic metrics of various initiatives and what value these initiatives add; and realignment of IT efforts with business strategy and vision.  Tool is very intuitive and scalable. 

In Project and Portfolio management, complexity is the key factor that makes changes difficult and time consuming. Just imagine multiple projects going on in  your organization with resources scattered around the teams (or Globe) and you are tracking the progress and reporting the metrics to the upper management.  Management wants to see  report on  status of all the projects underway, return on investment for each project, supply and demand, resource utilization, change management, issues and risks to the projects, etc. to make informed decision on project priorities, strategic planning and funding.

Changepoint makes all the aspect of program management easier by effectively managing your projects and applications, resources and client relationships.  You can find out more at Compuware website.

Imange from Gartner's Website

You can view Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for IT PPM.

Disclaimer – I am a Compuware employee and opinions expressed here are my own.

3-Rs for Leaders

1. Read more
2. Reflect more
3. Risk more

Leaders ought to read a lot to stay ahead.  Each day is blessed with new discoveries and useful information.  Using the 80/20 rule, find out what is out there that you need to know.  Co-relate how changes in the world going to shape your world. Read more = Plan

Leaders take tough decisions all the time, they are the face of the organization.  Leaders chalk out the course of action in the midst of challenges.  Reflecting on the decesions taken and the one you are about to take is going to determine if you are an authentic leader - who knows where his True North is.  Reflect more = Check

Taking new risks, coming up with new ideas and having the drive to materialize them, thinking out of the box, leading organization into a totally new direction are the key qualities leader has.  Listen more and observe more.  Taking calculated and smart risk is also creativity. Risk more= Do and Act.

These 3 Rs fit into Deming’s Plan > Do > Check > Act; a continous improvement loop.  Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.

Project Management – Useful Links

We learn a lot from the Internet these days and rely on up-to-date information.  Personally, I’ve learned a lot from my fellow bloggers and other websites on Project Management to stay ahead of the curve. 

There are many other on-line resources but  I would like to share following list of blogs/websites that I frequently visit and would like to thank for their time and energy for sharing knowledge and doing the great service to on-line community.  Thank you and keep up the good job!

1. http://www.betterprojects.net
2. http://www.pmhut.com
3.  http://www.thepmpodcast.com  
4. http://herdingcats.typepad.com
5. http://www.ravensbrain.com
6. http://pmcrunch.com
7. http://www.allpm.com
8. http://www.amakar.com
9.  http://leadinganswers.typepad.com

I hope you will also bookmark these sites and learn about the profession. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Change : Three Fish Story

Change is inevitable.  In every person’s life, opportunities for change come and go.  If person avoids change, nature creates circumstances in one way or the other, and change becomes unavoidable.  As per human nature, some will embrace the change and act positively, some will accept reluctantly and some will  completely deny the fact.  I hope you remember the classic fable on change by Dr. Spencer Johnson ‘Who Moved My Cheese?‘. 

Here is one similar story* by Rumi, draw the conclusion yourself.

In a lake somewhere, there lived three big fish.  One of them was intelligent, another half-intelligent, and the third, stupid.

One day, some fishermen came to the lake with their nets and the three fish noticed them.  The intelligent fish decided at once to leave, to make the long, difficult trip to the ocean.  He thought, “I won’t consult with these two on this.  They will only weaken my resolve, because they love this place so.  They call it home.  Their ignorance will keep them here.”

The wise fish saw the men and their nets and said, “I am leaving.”  So the intelligent fish left and suffered greatly on its way, but finally made it to the edgeless safety of the sea.

Now about the half-intelligent fish thought, “My guide has gone, I ought to have gone with him, but I didn’t, and now I’ve lost my chance to escape.  I wish I’d gone with him.”

Second fish mourns the absence of his guide for a while,  and then thinks, “What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets?  Perhaps if I pretend to be already dead!”  I’ll belly up o n the surface and float like weeds float, just giving myself totally to the water.  So he did that.  He bobbed up and down, helpless, within arm’s reach of the fishermen.

“Look at this! The best and biggest fish is dead.”  One of the men lifted him by the tail, spat on him, and threw him up on the group.  He rolled over and over and slid secretly near the water and then, back in.

Meanwhile, the third fish, the dumb one, was agitatedly jumping about, trying to escape with his agility and cleverness.  The net, of course, finally closed around him, and as he lay in the terrible frying-pan bed, he thought, “If I get out of this, I’ll never live again in the limits of a lake.  Next time, the ocean!  I’ll make the infinite my home.”

Thank you for reading.  Everyone handles the situation in a unique way and that makes our world interesting. *paraphrased

Source: The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, 2004

7 Leadership Quotes

Here are seven inspiring leadership quotations from some of the world’s greatest thinkers. 

1. Greater than the threat of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come. – Victor Hugo
2. Failure, rejection and mistakes are the perfect stepping stones to success. – Dr. Alan Goldberg
3. You either have to be first, best, or different. – Loretta Lynn
4. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others? – Martin Luther King, Jr.
5. Always do right – this will gratify some and astonish the rest. – Mark Twain
6. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford
7. The mind is like a parachute.  It doesn’t work if it is not open.

Thank you and have a great day!

Leadership Sans Ego & Insecurity

Photo courtesy : cultivategreatness.com

Everywhere we turn our focus to, we hear something negative and how leadership should come forward.  Leadership at every level is already faced with some difficult choices.  It is of paramount importance that when leaders make decisions to change the course, decisions should not have been plagued by personal ego and due to insecurity.

As John C Maxwell says that Ego and Insecurity are the two greatest landmines of leadership; think about any world leader and if he stepped on these landmines or not.  Do you want to?  After a long time when we reflect on the decisions we make today should be matter of proud.

As a leader, we get a chance to serve our people, I mean serve genuinely.  In these times how we act will shape our organizations and societies.  Lets take the right actions while we overcome the short-term issues, we keep long term objectives in our minds.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Capture Planning Assumptions

Your boss approaches you and tells that workplan is very good but customer wants to know how can we deliver the project sooner than promised?  Now you have to come up with a new workplan or make some adjustments based on new findings.  You put your thoughts together and go on to make changes/update and deliver the final document with required changes. 

And then your boss asks, why this task is due this particular day and why are we taking this long to complete, etc., etc…

You might have answers for most of the questions your boss has asked but it is of prime importance that you document all the assumptions you made while planning, does not matter how small or evident those assumptions are.

I would capture following -

• why are you making these changes or what is the objective and if these objectives are aligned with customer expectations;
• what are high-level or global assumptions for the plan being put in place (standardized assumptions);
• why making change to time/scope/cost;
• what are risks that can derail the work;
• what are the opportunities that you are counting on;
• who are the critical resources you have based your work on;
• what exceptions from standard process did you make;
• what compromises are built into the plan;
• what is the impact on existing process (if any);
• for budget tail of it : dollars spent per month; and
• what are the key milestones.

I hope these are the basic questions that we should be able to answer from a Project Management perspective when talking about assumptions.  Let me know what your thoughts are and what else could be added to the list?

Thanks for reading it, appreaciate your feedback.

Quotes of Gandhi

Someone sent me an email with quotes of Mahatma Gandhi. Here are some I wanted to share.

• There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.
• There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.
• I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.
• Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

How true! Have a wonderful day.

Choosing Team Lead

“People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone could ever hope  to bring about.” – FD Roosevelt

Each team members has unique work style, personal goals, skills, background and experience.  Each team member’s unique qualities and different attributes make a team complex unit where conflict, confusion, criticism will grow and finally bring the project to failure  if team is not led the proper way. 

In many I.T. projects,  Project Manager (PM) has a team leader who assists him or her in coordination of work, driving the team effort, listening and resolving team issues, guiding in making the appropriate tactical decisions, and above all providing expert advice on subject matter, among others.  Synergy and cooperation among team members are the key things for success of the project and for that,  a good team lead should be in place.  If you got a weak team leader, team will not perform and you will be spending all of energy in team issue management.  As a PM, you need to understand that your team leader should -

1. understand the whole project along with project objectives and goals;
2. be expert of the overall process who can guide team members;
3. be able to handle pressure and conflict situations;
4. understands the team dynamics and works to promote productive working conditions;
5.  be a good team player and can get status of work from team members;
6. be capable of resolving minor issues without your involvement;
7. be able to negotiate and communicate with technical as well non-technical people involved;
8. be proactive with qualities of a mentor and a coach and
9. able to provide realistic and accurate feedback on time.

Hope this helps in making you decide whom to choose to lead your team.  Let me know what else can be added to the list.  Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Life is bigger than that!

2008 is nearing the completion of business work days and it was one of the eventful year.  We have seen all from US election to Canadian elections, Wall-street meltdown to Automotive bailout, Saturday Night Live comedy to economic worries.  All the stuff, never thought of. 

But when it comes to our professional life, one needs to make sure there are no unexpected surprises.  I have mentored and provided guidance to few people over the year and have also asked for advice from my peers.  Some people either make small issues into big problems or do not even have clue what is wrong.  Here are some of the points to consider-

1. Get feedback from your boss; have 1 on 1 regularly (weekly or monthly) to align objectives.
2. Grow your professional network by volunteering at work, in community or join any organization.
3. Understand that everyone is different; workplaces are diverse.
4. Totally messed up? If you are honest, you’ll get another chance.   Life is bigger than that!
5. Do not just focus on getting credit of everything you do or say.  Give credit where deserved.
6. Be careful about sarcastic sense of humor.  It may be wise to stay quiet.
7. If you do extraordinary job you get promotion as a result. Its not the other way.
8. Help others grow and learn.  Don’t be afraid that someone will steal your idea.
9. Take vacation or take time out.  Its must to revitalize your energies and focus.
10. Try to listen.  Pay attention to your superiors and peers.
11. Dress according to your job profile, at least.
12. Do not make ‘difference of opinions’ at work your personal issue.

I firmly believe if we are serious to improve ourselves, we can start afresh anytime.  Its never too late and Life is bigger than that! 

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

Communication Skills for Managers – Learning From Barak Obama

I was looking into posts on Mr. Barak Obama’s communication style and how it contributed towards Obama’s victory.  Did Obama address people in all 4 categories of DiSC Model?  These categories are Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. 

Each person in his/her category wants to hear in a specific manner.  Some people need direct answer while others need some encouragement and hope and so on.  Please see the table at the end of the post and read more about DiSC Model. 

While doing so, I found very interesting Wall Street Journal video on the topic titled  ”Learning From Obama’s Effective Communication Skills“.
 

To summarize, what project manager can do -

1. giving good positive message
2. clear and compelling tone
3. giving substance along with style
4. speaking with confidence and authority
5. not in hurry to speak- patience
6. pause between sentences: at least 3-4 seconds
7. stress the right words
8. relate to people and places
9. make it simple to comprehend
10. identify what is not right with other approach

Here is the table what people mainly like to hear/communicate around- 

Major Category	Like to hear words and actions around
Dominance	challenge, power, direct answer, authority, assertive, active
Influence	empathetic, people focused, receptiveness, accepting
Steadiness	stability, methodical, calm response, careful approach, thoughtful
Conscientiousness	logic focused, skeptical, clarity and quality, questioning

What are your findings?  What did you learn? Lets share.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.

Power Quotes – 3

We got to refuel our thought engine each day.  When things we read, hear, feel or experience seem tough (relative term); refule with positive quotes.

1. Pray to God but continue to row to the shore. – Russian Proverb
2. Opportunities just approach those who seek them. – Charles Nikol
3. If winter comes, can spring be far behind? – Percy Bysshe Shelley
4. Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.  - Madame de Stael
5. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

Have a good day!

Elected – Board Member @ PMIGLC

When  I checked my inbox this morning, I found an official email from PMIGLC election committee congratulating me that I have been elected as Vice President – Communications for the 2009-2010 term.

Some of you might know that I volunteer at  Great Lakes Chapter of PMI (Project Management Institute) in Detroit. I started volunteering as ‘Director of Webservices’ almost over 2 years ago. 

It is very unique and enriching experience when you are leading a team of volunteers for an organization that is non-profit; and I hope I will be learning much more next year when my term begins as Vice President.

I am delighted that I will have the opportunity to work with highly accomplished professionals at the board-of-directors and to contribute to the project management community. 

Thank you!

Scheduling & Three Types of Tasks : MS Project

If you are new Project Manager or new to using MS Project,  when putting workplan together one of the question you may ask is – what type of task should I choose?

MS Project has 3 options -

1. Fixed Duration;
2. Fixed Units;
3. Fixed Work. 

The choice will decide how MS Project schedules the work, in other words, which one of three remains fixed and other two change.  To make things easier to remember, Duration is in days, Work is in hours and Units are resources.  And formula to keep in mind is ‘wud’ i.e.   w(ork) = u(nit) * d(uration).

Summary table – Left green column is task type in MS Project; top red column is what we change; blue colums are rescheduled by MS project.

	Change Duration	Change Unit	Change Work
Fixed Duration		Reschedules Work	Reschedules Units
Fixed Units	Reschedules Work		Reschedules Duration
Fixed Work	Reschedules Units	Reschedules Duration

Basically, 1day duration has 8 hrs of work with 1 unit or resource working 100%.

The Laws of ….

I got this humorous email today from one of my friend with subject “Newton’s Unpublished Laws” and found it quite funny, I thought of sharing with you all to kick-off  the weekend on a lighter note. 

I have ready many laws (including Murphy’s law) but these are quite unique someone came up with.  And credit goes to whoever wrote it…

1. LAW OF QUEUE: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.
2. LAW OF TELEPHONE: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.
3. LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
4. LAW OF THE WORKSHOP: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
5. LAW OF THE ATTRACTION: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
6.  BATH THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
7. LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.
8. LAW OF THE RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will!
9. LAW OF BIO-MECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
10.  THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the farthest from the aisle arrive last.
11. LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Don’t you find some of these actually true? Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

… life is how you react to it!

Today I heard first time of Charles Swindoll.  He is an author of over 70 books, educator and a preacher.  I have not read or listened to him but his quotes (found over the Internet) are very valuable. 

I am believer of the fact that where ever we get life lessons, learn from them and implement in life.  I save the motivating quotes so that I can refer again and again to align myself.  Here are 5 quotes to start the work week.

1. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
2. The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.
3. Alleged impossibilities are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.
4. We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
5. We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

Thank you for reading and wish you a wonderful week.