Sunday, July 8, 2007
Adapter Draws Power from In-Flight Audio Jacks
Those airplane power adapters you can buy for your gadgets are useless without an actual power outlet for your seat—and unless you're in first or business class, you probably won't get one. Enter Inflight Power and its clever new adapter, which lets you draw juice from the headphone jack on your armrest. Pretty cool.The actual adapter ($35-$50, depending on the model) doesn't look like much—it's just a little box with a USB port and a short power cord. Simply plug the cord into your seat's audio jack, turn the dial to an in-flight channel with consistently loud sound (rock music works nicely, according to Inflight Power), crank the volume, and plug in your MP3 player or handheld (adapters are available for iPods, BlackBerrys, Morotola phones, or most any pocket device with a mini USB port for charging). It doesn't look like the Inflight Power adapters will work for laptops, but at least you'll be able to watch an entire season of "Lost" on your next long-haul flight without skipping a beat.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
by Jody Gilbert
Takeaway: Sending a less-than-perfect e-mail to a friend is one thing; mistakes aren't really a problem. But if you want to craft an error-free message that reflects your professionalism, be on the lookout for these common grammatical slip-ups.
These days, we tend to communicate via the keyboard as much as we do verbally. Often, we're in a hurry, quickly dashing off e-mails with typos, grammatical shortcuts (I'm being kind here), and that breezy, e.e. cummings, no-caps look. It's expected. It's no big deal. But other times, we try to invest a little care, avoiding mistakes so that there's no confusion about what we're saying and so that we look professional and reasonably bright.
In general, we can slip up in a verbal conversation and get away with it. A colleague may be thinking, Did she just say "irregardless"?, but the words flow on, and our worst transgressions are carried away and with luck, forgotten.
That's not the case with written communications. When we commit a grammatical crime in e-mails, discussion posts, reports, memos, and other professional documents, there's no going back. We've just officially gone on record as being careless or clueless. And here's the worst thing. It's not necessary to be an editor or a language whiz or a spelling bee triathlete to spot such mistakes. They have a way of doing a little wiggle dance on the screen and then reaching out to grab the reader by the throat.
So here we are in the era of Word's red-underline "wrong spelling, dumb ass" feature and Outlook's Always Check Spelling Before Sending option, and still the mistakes proliferate. Catching typos is easy (although not everyone does it). It's the other stuff -- correctly spelled but incorrectly wielded -- that sneaks through and makes us look stupid. Here's a quick review of some of the big ones.
#1: Loose for lose
No: I always loose the product key.
Yes: I always lose the product key.
#2: It's for its (or god forbid, its')
No: Download the HTA, along with it's readme file.
Yes: Download the HTA, along with its readme file.
No: The laptop is overheating and its making that funny noise again.
Yes: The laptop is overheating and it's making that funny noise again.
#3: They're for their for there
No: The managers are in they're weekly planning meeting.
Yes: The managers are in their weekly planning meeting.
No: The techs have to check there cell phones at the door, and their not happy about it.
Yes: The techs have to check their cell phones at the door, and they're not happy about it.
#4: i.e. for e.g.
No: Use an anti-spyware program (i.e., Ad-Aware).
Yes: Use an anti-spyware program (e.g., Ad-Aware).
Note: The term i.e. means "that is"; e.g. means "for example." And a comma follows both of them.
#5: Effect for affect
No: The outage shouldn't effect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't have any effect on users.
Yes: We will effect several changes during the downtime.
Note: Impact is not a verb. Purists, at least, beg you to use affect instead:
No: The outage shouldn't impact any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage should have no impact on users during work hours.
#6: You're for your
No: Remember to defrag you're machine on a regular basis.
Yes: Remember to defrag your machine on a regular basis.
No: Your right about the changes.
Yes: You're right about the changes.
#7: Different than for different from
No: This setup is different than the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is different from the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is better than the one at the main office.
#8 Lay for lie
No: I got dizzy and had to lay down.
Yes: I got dizzy and had to lie down.
Yes: Just lay those books over there.
#9: Then for than
No: The accounting department had more problems then we did.
Yes: The accounting department had more problems than we did.
Note: Here's a sub-peeve. When a sentence construction begins with If, you don't need a then. Then is implicit, so it's superfluous and wordy:
No: If you can't get Windows to boot, then you'll need to call Ted.
Yes: If you can't get Windows to boot, you'll need to call Ted.
#10: Could of, would of for could have, would have
No: I could of installed that app by mistake.
Yes: I could have installed that app by mistake.
No: I would of sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.
Yes: I would have sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.
Bonus peeve
I'll just throw one more thing out here: My current burning pet peeve. At some point, who knows when, it became common practice to say that something is "hit and miss." Nuh-UH. It can't be both, right? It either hits or it misses... "Hit OR miss." Granted, it's a small thing, a Boolean-obsessive sort of thing. But it's nonetheless vexing because it's so illogical. Okay, that's mine. If you've got a peeve of your own, share it in the discussion (or post a comment and tell me to get over it).
Page: 1
by Jody Gilbert
Takeaway: Sending a less-than-perfect e-mail to a friend is one thing; mistakes aren't really a problem. But if you want to craft an error-free message that reflects your professionalism, be on the lookout for these common grammatical slip-ups.
These days, we tend to communicate via the keyboard as much as we do verbally. Often, we're in a hurry, quickly dashing off e-mails with typos, grammatical shortcuts (I'm being kind here), and that breezy, e.e. cummings, no-caps look. It's expected. It's no big deal. But other times, we try to invest a little care, avoiding mistakes so that there's no confusion about what we're saying and so that we look professional and reasonably bright.
In general, we can slip up in a verbal conversation and get away with it. A colleague may be thinking, Did she just say "irregardless"?, but the words flow on, and our worst transgressions are carried away and with luck, forgotten.
That's not the case with written communications. When we commit a grammatical crime in e-mails, discussion posts, reports, memos, and other professional documents, there's no going back. We've just officially gone on record as being careless or clueless. And here's the worst thing. It's not necessary to be an editor or a language whiz or a spelling bee triathlete to spot such mistakes. They have a way of doing a little wiggle dance on the screen and then reaching out to grab the reader by the throat.
So here we are in the era of Word's red-underline "wrong spelling, dumb ass" feature and Outlook's Always Check Spelling Before Sending option, and still the mistakes proliferate. Catching typos is easy (although not everyone does it). It's the other stuff -- correctly spelled but incorrectly wielded -- that sneaks through and makes us look stupid. Here's a quick review of some of the big ones.
#1: Loose for lose
No: I always loose the product key.
Yes: I always lose the product key.
#2: It's for its (or god forbid, its')
No: Download the HTA, along with it's readme file.
Yes: Download the HTA, along with its readme file.
No: The laptop is overheating and its making that funny noise again.
Yes: The laptop is overheating and it's making that funny noise again.
#3: They're for their for there
No: The managers are in they're weekly planning meeting.
Yes: The managers are in their weekly planning meeting.
No: The techs have to check there cell phones at the door, and their not happy about it.
Yes: The techs have to check their cell phones at the door, and they're not happy about it.
#4: i.e. for e.g.
No: Use an anti-spyware program (i.e., Ad-Aware).
Yes: Use an anti-spyware program (e.g., Ad-Aware).
Note: The term i.e. means "that is"; e.g. means "for example." And a comma follows both of them.
#5: Effect for affect
No: The outage shouldn't effect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't have any effect on users.
Yes: We will effect several changes during the downtime.
Note: Impact is not a verb. Purists, at least, beg you to use affect instead:
No: The outage shouldn't impact any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn't affect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage should have no impact on users during work hours.
#6: You're for your
No: Remember to defrag you're machine on a regular basis.
Yes: Remember to defrag your machine on a regular basis.
No: Your right about the changes.
Yes: You're right about the changes.
#7: Different than for different from
No: This setup is different than the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is different from the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is better than the one at the main office.
#8 Lay for lie
No: I got dizzy and had to lay down.
Yes: I got dizzy and had to lie down.
Yes: Just lay those books over there.
#9: Then for than
No: The accounting department had more problems then we did.
Yes: The accounting department had more problems than we did.
Note: Here's a sub-peeve. When a sentence construction begins with If, you don't need a then. Then is implicit, so it's superfluous and wordy:
No: If you can't get Windows to boot, then you'll need to call Ted.
Yes: If you can't get Windows to boot, you'll need to call Ted.
#10: Could of, would of for could have, would have
No: I could of installed that app by mistake.
Yes: I could have installed that app by mistake.
No: I would of sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.
Yes: I would have sent you a meeting notice, but you were out of town.
Bonus peeve
I'll just throw one more thing out here: My current burning pet peeve. At some point, who knows when, it became common practice to say that something is "hit and miss." Nuh-UH. It can't be both, right? It either hits or it misses... "Hit OR miss." Granted, it's a small thing, a Boolean-obsessive sort of thing. But it's nonetheless vexing because it's so illogical. Okay, that's mine. If you've got a peeve of your own, share it in the discussion (or post a comment and tell me to get over it).
Page: 1
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Team Evaluation
Team evaluation
The team that I chose to evaluate is the working team of the first semester in MIST that was part of the assignment. The team players were pre-assigned by the instructor, so the selection process was already decided for the team. That bypassed the process of matching capabilities of professional and putting a team together to perform a certain task or a project. It was the first time for all the group members to be formally introduced to each other. In all honesty, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the idea of jumping into a group of people, strangers if you may, that is required to work as a team and produce results on weekly basis that none of us knew anything about. The first thing we did was to get together and have the opportunity to match names with faces. The very first assignment we did as a team was to set a time and a place to meet. This was harder that it seemed in the beginning. Finally, after several vigorous attempts, the group was able to decide on a time and place. Unexpectedly, it went real well, mainly due to the efforts of some of the members that had a good handle on team work and they were willing to do more than their part to prepare the team for the coherent spirit and working attitude. This is crucial to every planned process that we undertake whether that was in our daily lives or as a responsibility at our place of employment.
The following rating will be conformed to the following four capabilities; Problem Analysis, Decision Making, Conflict Management and Continuous Learning. Evaluation will be based on an easy to understand methodology for ranking a team’s IT related activities. This ranking system is know as CMM that has five levels from 0-5 as follows:
Level 0 � Not Performed Level 1 � Performed Informally Level 2 � Planned and TrackedLevel 3 � Well-Defined Level 4 � Quantitatively Controlled Level 5 � Continuously Improving
Problem Analysis
The first problems faced the team was task assignments within the group. The team worked real well in spite of many obstacles. Their positive efforts and attitude in solving the problem earned a full 5 rank.
Decision Making
The need for making decisions faced the team frequently and on daily bases for a wide spectrum of obstacles. These decisions ranged between times for meetings to final touches on the product of the week. The team came though in more that one occasion. Everyone worked very hard on this; however, we as a team fell short of meeting some of these challenges. I gave the team a rank of 4.
Conflict Management
This was the area that troubled the team most. Several of the members were new to the nature of the assignments. Although they weren’t new to team work, since all were professionals in their perspective fields. However, misunderstandings and miscommunications were unavoidable.
That didn’t last long, the team was able to collectively improvise and responsibilities were flexibly reassigned accommodating the players’ needs and other responsibilities also implementing good communication practices. That worked like a charm and the team was able to meet all the deadlines and deliver the assigned tasks as instructed. The team ranked 4 on this capability.
Continuous Learning
The learning process never ends, that being within a working team or on individual bases. Yet the trial and error strategy of acquiring knowledge never fails. The team working skills that the group picked up during this experience came real handy later during other team assignments through MIST. The team ranked 5 on this capability.
The team that I chose to evaluate is the working team of the first semester in MIST that was part of the assignment. The team players were pre-assigned by the instructor, so the selection process was already decided for the team. That bypassed the process of matching capabilities of professional and putting a team together to perform a certain task or a project. It was the first time for all the group members to be formally introduced to each other. In all honesty, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the idea of jumping into a group of people, strangers if you may, that is required to work as a team and produce results on weekly basis that none of us knew anything about. The first thing we did was to get together and have the opportunity to match names with faces. The very first assignment we did as a team was to set a time and a place to meet. This was harder that it seemed in the beginning. Finally, after several vigorous attempts, the group was able to decide on a time and place. Unexpectedly, it went real well, mainly due to the efforts of some of the members that had a good handle on team work and they were willing to do more than their part to prepare the team for the coherent spirit and working attitude. This is crucial to every planned process that we undertake whether that was in our daily lives or as a responsibility at our place of employment.
The following rating will be conformed to the following four capabilities; Problem Analysis, Decision Making, Conflict Management and Continuous Learning. Evaluation will be based on an easy to understand methodology for ranking a team’s IT related activities. This ranking system is know as CMM that has five levels from 0-5 as follows:
Level 0 � Not Performed Level 1 � Performed Informally Level 2 � Planned and TrackedLevel 3 � Well-Defined Level 4 � Quantitatively Controlled Level 5 � Continuously Improving
Problem Analysis
The first problems faced the team was task assignments within the group. The team worked real well in spite of many obstacles. Their positive efforts and attitude in solving the problem earned a full 5 rank.
Decision Making
The need for making decisions faced the team frequently and on daily bases for a wide spectrum of obstacles. These decisions ranged between times for meetings to final touches on the product of the week. The team came though in more that one occasion. Everyone worked very hard on this; however, we as a team fell short of meeting some of these challenges. I gave the team a rank of 4.
Conflict Management
This was the area that troubled the team most. Several of the members were new to the nature of the assignments. Although they weren’t new to team work, since all were professionals in their perspective fields. However, misunderstandings and miscommunications were unavoidable.
That didn’t last long, the team was able to collectively improvise and responsibilities were flexibly reassigned accommodating the players’ needs and other responsibilities also implementing good communication practices. That worked like a charm and the team was able to meet all the deadlines and deliver the assigned tasks as instructed. The team ranked 4 on this capability.
Continuous Learning
The learning process never ends, that being within a working team or on individual bases. Yet the trial and error strategy of acquiring knowledge never fails. The team working skills that the group picked up during this experience came real handy later during other team assignments through MIST. The team ranked 5 on this capability.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Project Management and Monkeys ...
A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there,another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll have a C monkey please." The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fitted a collar and leash,handed to the customer,saying, "That'll be $5,000." The customer paid and walked out with his monkey. Startled,the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said,"That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only a few hundred pounds. Why did it cost so much? "The shopkeeper answered, "Ah,that monkey can program in C - very fast,tight code, no bugs, well worth the money." The tourist looked at a monkey in another cage. "Hey,that one's even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?" "Oh,that one's a C++ monkey; it can manage object-oriented programming,Visual C++, even some Java All the really useful stuff," said the shopkeeper. The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000.The tourist gasped to the shopkeeper, "That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?" The shopkeeper replied, "Well, I haven't actually seen it do anything, but it says it's a project manager".
Posted by: Eric Tao
Posted by: Eric Tao
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Self Evaluation / Leadership
Self Evaluation / Leadership
A leader needs always to instill in his followers the sense of worthiness to create a personal interest in them to motivate them to be willing to undertake the project. It is of utmost importance that the objectives of a project to coincide with the individual own needs and wants of every member of the working team.
My leadership envisions my team members as fellow professionals and not merely subordinates. It allows my team players to be leaders in their own level that I pre-assign for them. This way my leadership will not be
Working as a part of a teaching team is a stride through an unpaved road, especially if it was the first time working with that particular team. During my three years that I have been working here, I encountered many changes. Although I have been teaching in California for the last twelve years, yet my experience in here is substantially different from that of the public schools. The objectives are better set and well defined at my new job. All the members of the teaching team are well aware of their role in the outcome of the team.
A new type of teamwork experience I was exposed to once I joined MIST. I will be discussing my experience working with a work team of students to produce a weekly product in the form of a cumulative report that the team needs to turn in on specific dates set forth by the instructor. I will be using the five stages of team development mentioned in Eric Verzuh’s book. The stages that every team goes through, the team leader has to adjust his or her style to accommodate these changes and address the goals of the project at hand keeping in mind the individual needs of the team players.
Forming:
As the group got together, we were not sure what to do or how to do it. So several face to face meeting were arranges to get the players to know each other and to get familiar with each other’s way of performing. The second step was to talk about the goals and objective set forth by the instructor. This stage was necessary to assure each member of clarity of vision when it comes to what is expected of us as a team.
Then it was important to share the vision of each team member on how to achieve these goals.
Storming:
As the meetings became frequent, the diversity of visions start colliding and the different styles of member started to bang against each other. This was not out of the ordinary at all. This is the stage where members are still new to each other’s ways. The mutual trust is not built up yet. Some people felt confused and even were considering leaving the team all together. Although I was not selected to be the leader of this team per say, but I tried to make use of my experience in leadership that I acquired from running my own business for the last six years. These years taught me that the best way to approach a complaint is to ask the person to offer you their vision in dealing with that particular situation. It helped among many strategies that the other members were sharing and this stage was short lived because of that.
Norming:
The vision became clearer at this stage and the team started to work together. Although there were still quite few things need to be ironed out, yet, we were able to set some short-term goals and assign roles to different members and divide responsibilities among us. The team was still far from total harmony although it was getting to be fun and few tasks were accomplished. Trust was building up leading to mutual respect.
Performing:
As thing started falling into place, goals were better achieved and the weekly production was on track now. Out assignments were done on time. The communications among the member started to be clearer and uninterrupted. That by itself lead to open channels of exchanging assignments and substituting roles when the assigned member was not available to undertake the task assigned to them. Teamwork spirit was at its most when some member with strong writing skills offered to help other members in reports.
Adjourning:
There was a bittersweet kind of feelings among the team members. We were able to meet our goals and developed some new team working skills, also were happy that our patience and the will to excel took the team all the way to our goals and met the objectives. Yet it was time to disband and move on to new projects. We were able to separate our personal feelings from our professional commitment. As a leadership practice, I made sure to recognize each team member and the role that they play in the enrichment of our experience, thank them for bringing their own experience into the project, and wish them the best. It is mighty nice to part on a good note.
On the other hand, my leadership, sometimes, tends to focus more on goals and let the human side slips away. In the heat of the demanding objectives and the urgency of deadlines, it shifts attention to the big picture forgetting the small details. It is commendable that the leader focuses on the set goals of his or her project, but keeping in mind the needs of the players, prolong their endurance and hence their production. This can be achieved by catering to their individual interests and steering them back on track.
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A leader needs always to instill in his followers the sense of worthiness to create a personal interest in them to motivate them to be willing to undertake the project. It is of utmost importance that the objectives of a project to coincide with the individual own needs and wants of every member of the working team.
My leadership envisions my team members as fellow professionals and not merely subordinates. It allows my team players to be leaders in their own level that I pre-assign for them. This way my leadership will not be
Working as a part of a teaching team is a stride through an unpaved road, especially if it was the first time working with that particular team. During my three years that I have been working here, I encountered many changes. Although I have been teaching in California for the last twelve years, yet my experience in here is substantially different from that of the public schools. The objectives are better set and well defined at my new job. All the members of the teaching team are well aware of their role in the outcome of the team.
A new type of teamwork experience I was exposed to once I joined MIST. I will be discussing my experience working with a work team of students to produce a weekly product in the form of a cumulative report that the team needs to turn in on specific dates set forth by the instructor. I will be using the five stages of team development mentioned in Eric Verzuh’s book. The stages that every team goes through, the team leader has to adjust his or her style to accommodate these changes and address the goals of the project at hand keeping in mind the individual needs of the team players.
Forming:
As the group got together, we were not sure what to do or how to do it. So several face to face meeting were arranges to get the players to know each other and to get familiar with each other’s way of performing. The second step was to talk about the goals and objective set forth by the instructor. This stage was necessary to assure each member of clarity of vision when it comes to what is expected of us as a team.
Then it was important to share the vision of each team member on how to achieve these goals.
Storming:
As the meetings became frequent, the diversity of visions start colliding and the different styles of member started to bang against each other. This was not out of the ordinary at all. This is the stage where members are still new to each other’s ways. The mutual trust is not built up yet. Some people felt confused and even were considering leaving the team all together. Although I was not selected to be the leader of this team per say, but I tried to make use of my experience in leadership that I acquired from running my own business for the last six years. These years taught me that the best way to approach a complaint is to ask the person to offer you their vision in dealing with that particular situation. It helped among many strategies that the other members were sharing and this stage was short lived because of that.
Norming:
The vision became clearer at this stage and the team started to work together. Although there were still quite few things need to be ironed out, yet, we were able to set some short-term goals and assign roles to different members and divide responsibilities among us. The team was still far from total harmony although it was getting to be fun and few tasks were accomplished. Trust was building up leading to mutual respect.
Performing:
As thing started falling into place, goals were better achieved and the weekly production was on track now. Out assignments were done on time. The communications among the member started to be clearer and uninterrupted. That by itself lead to open channels of exchanging assignments and substituting roles when the assigned member was not available to undertake the task assigned to them. Teamwork spirit was at its most when some member with strong writing skills offered to help other members in reports.
Adjourning:
There was a bittersweet kind of feelings among the team members. We were able to meet our goals and developed some new team working skills, also were happy that our patience and the will to excel took the team all the way to our goals and met the objectives. Yet it was time to disband and move on to new projects. We were able to separate our personal feelings from our professional commitment. As a leadership practice, I made sure to recognize each team member and the role that they play in the enrichment of our experience, thank them for bringing their own experience into the project, and wish them the best. It is mighty nice to part on a good note.
On the other hand, my leadership, sometimes, tends to focus more on goals and let the human side slips away. In the heat of the demanding objectives and the urgency of deadlines, it shifts attention to the big picture forgetting the small details. It is commendable that the leader focuses on the set goals of his or her project, but keeping in mind the needs of the players, prolong their endurance and hence their production. This can be achieved by catering to their individual interests and steering them back on track.
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Putting Discipline to Work
Putting Discipline to Work
Enterprise Project Management
Ch 13
Introduction:
Only in the last 15 years or so has the development of project management as a skill, and supplementary project management skills really taken shape in the corporate world, or in any field, for that matter. We should take full advantage of all the new perspectives in project management available to us. One dramatic change that has taken place is the use of competition to focus projects and their end goals. Since then focus on end project-driven projects as a result of competition has greatly increased.
Defining enterprise project management:
What is enterprise project management, exactly? Enterprise project management (EPM) is the conscious integration of processes, technology, organizational structure, and people in order to align strategy with the execution of project. EPM ties together project resources and organizational strategy. Similarly, all the enabling components of EPM work together. However, the term EPM can only be applied in certain situations, situations in which the business is project driven, and usually where some sort of external competition is involved.
Defining practices requires assigning responsibility and authority
Authority determines almost every factor in a project: whose responsibility it is to assign tasks, whose responsibility it is to complete those tasks, whose responsibility it is to make sure that tasks are being completed promptly and accurately, and whose responsibility it is to manage the project. Assigning responsibility is just as important as assigning the authority which administers such responsibilities. Assigning authority begins by defining the manager and the sponsor, as well as any other relevant roles. An organization chart showing where authority lies and the escalating steps to that authority can be very useful to a project team.
EPM technology Capability
EPM covers an expansive range, from managing smaller, individual projects to monitoring project progress. EPM can be summarized by eight common capabilities. Project management, the most basic, consists of the plan for a project, from costs to scheduling. Team collaboration is the correct assignment of responsibilities and authority for a group to work together to reach their common goal. Visibility of interproject dependencies is the perception of common resources needed by different projects, and the correct utilization of those resources to all projects that need them. Visibility of resource use across all projects ties in to the previous point, in that common resource use can be seen within several projects. Project portfolio summary is quite simply the summary of reports for all factors concerning a project. Project status reporting is the frequent and accurate reporting of the status quota of a project regularly. Cost accounting is the management of all financial aspects of a project. The utilization of interfaces to complementary systems can also help take the work load off of accounting staffs
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesics
Enterprise Project Management
Ch 13
Introduction:
Only in the last 15 years or so has the development of project management as a skill, and supplementary project management skills really taken shape in the corporate world, or in any field, for that matter. We should take full advantage of all the new perspectives in project management available to us. One dramatic change that has taken place is the use of competition to focus projects and their end goals. Since then focus on end project-driven projects as a result of competition has greatly increased.
Defining enterprise project management:
What is enterprise project management, exactly? Enterprise project management (EPM) is the conscious integration of processes, technology, organizational structure, and people in order to align strategy with the execution of project. EPM ties together project resources and organizational strategy. Similarly, all the enabling components of EPM work together. However, the term EPM can only be applied in certain situations, situations in which the business is project driven, and usually where some sort of external competition is involved.
Defining practices requires assigning responsibility and authority
Authority determines almost every factor in a project: whose responsibility it is to assign tasks, whose responsibility it is to complete those tasks, whose responsibility it is to make sure that tasks are being completed promptly and accurately, and whose responsibility it is to manage the project. Assigning responsibility is just as important as assigning the authority which administers such responsibilities. Assigning authority begins by defining the manager and the sponsor, as well as any other relevant roles. An organization chart showing where authority lies and the escalating steps to that authority can be very useful to a project team.
EPM technology Capability
EPM covers an expansive range, from managing smaller, individual projects to monitoring project progress. EPM can be summarized by eight common capabilities. Project management, the most basic, consists of the plan for a project, from costs to scheduling. Team collaboration is the correct assignment of responsibilities and authority for a group to work together to reach their common goal. Visibility of interproject dependencies is the perception of common resources needed by different projects, and the correct utilization of those resources to all projects that need them. Visibility of resource use across all projects ties in to the previous point, in that common resource use can be seen within several projects. Project portfolio summary is quite simply the summary of reports for all factors concerning a project. Project status reporting is the frequent and accurate reporting of the status quota of a project regularly. Cost accounting is the management of all financial aspects of a project. The utilization of interfaces to complementary systems can also help take the work load off of accounting staffs
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesics
Controlling the Project / Measuring Progress
Controlling the Project
Measuring Progress
Ch 12
Introduction:
It is imperative to track progress just as carefully all along the span of a project, for starting out strong ensures ending a project in the same manner. If we were to only start tracking progress towards the end, it would be too late to change anything anyways. This helps using up valuable project time only to help catch up to an earlier lapse in progress. This helps us to identify problems while they are still small so they can be dealt with more efficiently.
Earned value reporting
Keeping track of costs is paramount to running a successful project. However, simply comparing planned cash flow against actual cash flow may not be sufficient; it doesn’t tell whether or not the project will be under budget, or if the project will be over budget. With earned value reporting, you can develop a more complete overall picture of the project by combining schedule and cost status, thus giving a more whole viewpoint. Only tracking schedules or only tracking cash flow blocks your perspective of the project. There are many formulas you can use to employ earned value reporting in your project.
Escalating Thresholds
Sometimes certain situations within a project arise in which certain people must be granted more authority in order to properly deal with said situation. Such temporary shifts in authority or position as a result of situational necessity are escalation thresholds. Depending on a situation, one may be brought up to higher management or even brought to the attention of senior management. Such escalation thresholds separate the changes that can be made by a project team and those that can only be made by a change board. Problem resolution thresholds give arisen problems the proper attention they need in order to be dealt with promptly and efficiently. Overall project thresholds signal to upper management the necessity to be more directly involved in a project.
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesics
Measuring Progress
Ch 12
Introduction:
It is imperative to track progress just as carefully all along the span of a project, for starting out strong ensures ending a project in the same manner. If we were to only start tracking progress towards the end, it would be too late to change anything anyways. This helps using up valuable project time only to help catch up to an earlier lapse in progress. This helps us to identify problems while they are still small so they can be dealt with more efficiently.
Earned value reporting
Keeping track of costs is paramount to running a successful project. However, simply comparing planned cash flow against actual cash flow may not be sufficient; it doesn’t tell whether or not the project will be under budget, or if the project will be over budget. With earned value reporting, you can develop a more complete overall picture of the project by combining schedule and cost status, thus giving a more whole viewpoint. Only tracking schedules or only tracking cash flow blocks your perspective of the project. There are many formulas you can use to employ earned value reporting in your project.
Escalating Thresholds
Sometimes certain situations within a project arise in which certain people must be granted more authority in order to properly deal with said situation. Such temporary shifts in authority or position as a result of situational necessity are escalation thresholds. Depending on a situation, one may be brought up to higher management or even brought to the attention of senior management. Such escalation thresholds separate the changes that can be made by a project team and those that can only be made by a change board. Problem resolution thresholds give arisen problems the proper attention they need in order to be dealt with promptly and efficiently. Overall project thresholds signal to upper management the necessity to be more directly involved in a project.
Reference:
- Verzuh, Erick (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesics
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