Alec Satin's Shared Items

Need work? How to find your next IT Job with Social Media

2009-04-06T11:07:40Z

Are you out of work now? Working but concerned about the security of your job? If so, you’re not alone.

Social Media Networking has been the key to my current job search. I believe it can help you, too.

You may be thinking:

I have no time to learn one more thing.
I’m already on LinkedIn
I can always use Dice, Monster or CareerBuilder.
Recruiters want my skills.
I’ve never had trouble finding a job before.

Times have changed.

I’ve written up the very minimum you need do to position yourself well using social media. It appears today as a guest post on Bas de Baar’s Project Shrink site.

Take a look: Need work? How to find your next IT Job with Social Media

Need work? How to find your next IT Job with Social Media

APRIL 2009 LORI HAMMEL NEWS

2009-04-04T16:11:56Z

Alec and Lori will be on an upcoming episode of the New Newlywed Game (Game Show Network).

Alec and Lori goofing around before the cameras were rolling!

Stay tuned for details!

Watch me on CNBC On The Money - Fri 3 Apr 09 10PM EDT

2009-04-02T21:44:30Z

UPDATE: You can read a summary of the segment on the CNBC On the Money blog. The excerpt from the CNBC website is below. It will begin after a short commercial.

Full MP4 Version On the Money with Carmen Wong Ulrich Video Podct!

If you’re up at 10pm on Friday, you may be interested in watching CNBC’s On The Money. One segment will focus on Social Media Networking and how it has helped my job search.

This is a follow up to the advice Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, and the rest of the CNBC panel gave on the March 6th show.

Should be fun! If you decide to watch, would love to hear what you think.

Watch me on CNBC On The Money - Fri 3 Apr 09 10PM EDT

April Food Day

2009-04-01T04:01:28Z

Sometimes we are presented with opportunities which cost us little, yet provide great help to others.

Today, April 1, 2009, along with other bloggers, I’d like to ask you to consider sending $1 or more to help replenish local US foodbanks. You can give money directly to your local foodbank, or you can send it to Feeding America. Below is a short description.

Thanks for your help with this effort.
With kind regards,
Alec

Everyday, the news is filled with the dire news about the current economic climate and a lot of us use the blogging community to take a break from the constant drumbeat. However, we can not ignore the fact that friends and family members, and even some blogger friends have lost their jobs because of the recession. People who never had a worry in the world now have to think about where their next meal is coming from. People who never would have dreamt that they would need help are now showing up at the local food banks. But when they get there, the shelves are bare.

There is not enough food being donated to meet the sudden rise in demand. There is not enough money to buy the food for the food banks. There is not a general understanding that food banks need help to help fill their shelves.

Bloggers and their readers across our country are joining together to contributions to either their local food banks, or Feeding America, a group of more than 200 foodbanks in the US. Every dollar contributed provides seven meals or 10 pounds of food. A gift of $25 provides 75 meals. If everyone makes a donation on April 1, April Food Day, we will be able to make an impact on hunger in America.

April Food Day

Manage Your Least Favorite Stakeholder

2009-03-30T14:08:07Z

“Stakeholder Management” is one of those terms that could easily be removed from our project management vocabulary. The next time you hear it in conversation imagine that what was really said was “stakeholder manipulation”. Would the sentence still make sense?

People are smart. Manipulation seldom works in the long run, and especially in complicated group endeavors like most technology projects.

Stakeholder as Enemy

When did it become acceptable to have an US versus THEM attitude in regard to our stakeholders? I remember counseling a fellow project manager about a web content project he was managing. The gist of the conversation was how bad the stakeholder was because (a) she would never sign off on a deliverable and (b) she would constantly insist upon changing details of screens, organization of data (taxonomy) and even file naming conventions well after the requirements had been finalized.

Sound familiar?

While most of us have had similar experiences on one or more of our projects, there is a difference between normal project friction and toxic level project disorder. Part of being a good project manager is knowing how to bring together people with varying personalities, roles and ideas such that they can create a joint outcome much better than it would be otherwise.

On a normal project there are times when business needs will shift before the project has been completed. The tendency will be for the business owner to want the project to change to meet the new business reality. It is up to the project manager to work with the stakeholder to understand the impact of such changes. In a bad project situation, no agreement can be reached. In a worse situation, no such communication takes place.

Some stakeholders will always be difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, to do a competent job as a PM, you will need to find a way to present your best face and make the communication you have with him or her as best as you can make it.

Og Mandino to the Rescue

Og Mandino (1923-1996) is best known for his book, Greatest Salesman in the World. His books focus on helping people develop the skills needed to lead. Constant themes throughout are the essential values of patience, kindness and compassion. These qualities are as important to project managers as subject knowledge, tools and detail focus.

Og wrote a short book later in his life called, A Better Way to Live. One of the 17 sections of the book provides a method which might help to create and maintain these attitudes in us when dealing with those stakeholders who are particularly hard to deal with.

Dead at Midnight

For the rest of the day today, treat everyone you interact with as if you knew without a doubt that they would be dead at midnight tonight.

This is your whole assignment.

It will work.
(Photo credit: lsirtosky)

Manage Your Least Favorite Stakeholder

PM Twitter Tweets?

2009-03-22T14:33:43Z

Twitter Tweets - Week 12 (March 2009)

Do you twitter?

Twitter, a microblogging platform, allows you to send and receive free short messages of up to 140 characters.

Tweets can be private (called direct messages) or public. Twitter is 21st century CB Radio.

Here are selected project management and career twitter tweets from the last few weeks.

How can you use these?

Look for project managers to follow @ravenyoung @sreejith_gce
Scan the topics (Project Management Tools, Efficiency and Productivity, etc.) for subjects of interest to you
Read some or all of the twitter tweets!

Take a look - you might find something that could help you on your project, with your career, or in your life. Have a great week. -Alec

Project Management Tools

Agile and Scrum? Brief review of Pivotal Tracker Project Management Tool by Andy Volk http://is.gd/opzqabout 1 hour ago from TweetDeck
@wefrahm have you looked at deskaway project management software? Looks promising http://www.deskaway.com/8:18 AM Mar 18th from web
New guest post by Paul O’Brien - Free Project Management Tool - Delivery Status Grid http://is.gd/neBA Clients and executives love it.10:17 AM Mar 13th from web
Free Project Management Tool - Paul O’Brien’s Promise Keeper. Dare you to use it and not improve your project metrics! http://bit.ly/Vd6N36:10 AM Mar 9th from web.

Efficiency and Productivity

Are you losing 28% of your productivity every day in “switching cost”? Myth of multitasking on cranky middle manager http://is.gd/o0CW4:53 AM Mar 19th from TweetDeck
Reading How to increase the value of your mind maps by up to 80 percent by @chuckfrey Refactor! http://is.gd/n5VN4:47 AM Mar 18th from TweetDeck
How Bill Gates is said to take notes http://is.gd/ntHn3:51 PM Mar 15th from TweetDeck
Five best (paper) note taking tools from Lifehacker http://is.gd/1N7a12:57 PM Mar 15th from TweetDeck
Reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The social life of Paper http://is.gd/nszv Do you take paper notes?11:57 AM Mar 15th from TweetDeck
Reading How to Take Notes Like an Alpha-Geek by Tim Ferris - http://is.gd/vTz - How do you organize your notes and information?11:45 AM Mar 15th from TweetDeck
reading: 8 ways to use twitter more effectively @mintblogger http://is.gd/mHBx9:11 AM Mar 11th from TweetDeck

Career

Seth Godin - what to do when you have slack time? http://is.gd/mvtv12:25 PM Mar 20th from TweetDeck
get help for your project - 6 Free Project Management Forums http://is.gd/nBdJ by @alecsatin5:26 AM Mar 17th from web
Shawn just added Making Project Management Better PM blog to the ICPM. http://tinyurl.com/ckjlll Thanks @TheICPM9:44 AM Mar 13th from web
reading: How to use twitter to job hunt http://is.gd/kUAi Thanks @ravenyoung Happy Friday the 13th everyone - Alec5:23 AM Mar 13th from TweetDeck
@ravenyoung @sreejith_gce It is good to see sreejith here. PM Karma is good stuff http://pmkarma.blogspot.com/8:57 AM Mar 10th from TweetDeck in reply to ravenyoung
Will Monster.com help your Job Search? I ask Jeff Taylor on CNBC On The Money tonight @ 10pm ET http://tinyurl.com/8s8lan2:50 PM Mar 6th from web

Quips and Quotations

For every complex problem there is a solution which is clear, simple and wrong! Jurgen Appelo on @projectshrink http://is.gd/oeSY11:53 AM Mar 20th from TweetDeck
RT @LimConsulting People don’t want a business opportunity; they want someone to lead them to success! So true.9:33 AM Mar 16th from web
@sreejith_gce: You’re in good company. Most of us are learning twitter as we go. Maybe twitter is learning itself as it goes along.8:55 AM Mar 10th from TweetDeck

News and Views

RT @RobertLGoodman @Hakicoma Google forced to black out Street View photos http://tinyurl.com/ce64ca6:22 AM Mar 20th from web

Blogging

Iris blog improvement program (now in beta) gives excellent advice. http://www.visionarybloggin… THX @easton10:59 AM Mar 7th from web
@SHurleyHall the wordpress Thesis theme and support are excellent. You won’t be disappointed. http://diythemes.com/thesis/4:10 AM Mar 18th from TweetDeck in reply to SHurleyHall

Video Podcasts

If you ever liked Jacques Cousteau - take a quick break and watch Sylvia Earle’s short video podcast on TED http://is.gd/k6AHabout 21 hours ago from TweetDeck
RT: @ptcraven @alecsatin this is Dean Kamen o TED, incredible http://tinyurl.com/5a8oy2 truly so. Thanks again Paul.12:32 PM Mar 16th from web
RT: @ptcraven and then there is this remarkable woman http://tinyurl.com/b8krtj - Fantastic!9:33 AM Mar 16th from web
@ptcraven BTW I am so grateful for TED. Did you see this one by Larry Brilliant on pandemics http://is.gd/nyal6:35 AM Mar 16th from TweetDeck

(Photo credit: Shovelling Son)

PM Twitter Tweets?

6 Free Project Management Forums

2009-03-17T12:00:04Z

Help is on the way!

Imagine the scene: It’s late. You’ve been struggling all day to figure out the best way to handle an issue on your project.

It could be that your organization has standardized on Microsoft Project 2007, and you need to update all your resource allocations.
Perhaps you are looking for the best way to make sense of the incomplete requirements you just inherited from a business analyst who was laid off.
Maybe you have been tasked with implementing Earned Value Management (EVM) on all your projects by the end of the year.

These are all situations which could happen to you in the course of your work as a project manager. Assuming your colleagues at work are tied up, where are you going to go for help? Your favorite free project management forum.

Why Project Management Forums

PM forums are generally frequented by experienced project managers, novices, and everyone in between. Excellent advice can be had for the asking. Of course it’s better if you’ve been in the habit of giving help to others along the way - though this is by no means necessary. You can learn even more by following one or two forums on a regular basis.

Here are some of the best to get you started. Most require you to sign up for free membership. Don’t let this requirement stop you.

Each is included in this list by unsolicited recommendation.

1. allPM.com

Note: Links to forums below require you to sign up for free membership. allPM.com refers to itself as The Project Manager’s Homepage™. Active forum areas include:

allPM.com also offers a PMs for hire section in which you can post your resume by country, continent or region. Very nice site.

2. gantthead.com

gantthead.com is a fantastic resource for project managers. Even if you already have a linkedin profile, you can benefit from creating a gantthead one. Gantthead profiles are listed on google search, so it may help your online branding when it comes time for your next career move.

An hour or two spent looking around gantthead is an excellent use of your time. Here are the gantthead discussion areas:

3. Project Management Knowledge Base

PMKB bills itself as a community of project planners and managers sharing experiences and knowledge. A somewhat less active forum, though still a good source of information.

Project Management Forum

4. Professional Project Managers Networking Group

PPMNG, the social network for project managers, seems to be focused largely on helping project managers find positions. This forum can help you be aware of what project management skills are in the most demand, and identify gaps in your own knowledge areas.

PPMNG Discussion Forum

5. Tek-Tips Project Management Forum

Tek-Tips has IT forums in various areas. The Project Management forum is low volume and good quality

Project Management General Discussion Forum

6. The ICPM

The ICPM is a project management site with a good reputation and great potential.

ICPM Project Manager’s Forum

Your Next Step

I challenge you right now to visit and join one of these forums. See if you can check in at least weekly. When the time comes for you to get assistance, you’ll know exactly who to ask.

(Photo credit: greg.turner)

6 Free Project Management Forums

Free Project Management Tool - Delivery Status Grid

2009-03-13T18:09:44Z

Delivery Status Grid

The Delivery Status Grid is provided here to help you in your project communication and reporting. It was designed by Paul O’Brien, an experienced project manager and the creator of the Promise Keeper.

The following post has been written by Paul O’Brien

What is it?

The Delivery Matrix for each project lists all the key work products (documents, contracts, test-plans, computer code etc) and has a set of columns showing progress through the life of the object. It covers the initial design meetings, doing the work, reviewing and sign off phases. I put the rough % completion status in for every object. Again its all brightly colour coded by conditional formatting to give an at-a-glance overview of everything. I add colourful speach-bubble notes and big red circles etc to highlight problems.

I used to drive things with this tool but it’s too crude. Now I just keep it as a communication tool and rely exclusively on AutoFocus and the Promise Keeper.

Why use it?

The clients love it for 3 reasons.
1. It looks official and shows we have a cunning plan
2. It motivates people to push for completion and show progress
3. It makes it easy for senior execs to tell what’s happening (they can’t read gantt charts)

How to use it?

I update it using a projector during my weekly project meetings - so everyone can see and debate what progress we are recording (or lack thereof).

These are quirky little tools I have created just for myself. I only explain them here because several people asked.

Respectfully,
Paul

Next Steps

The Delivery Status Grid may be easily duplicated using any spreadsheet program. If you decide to create one to use on one or more of your projects (highly recommended), please consider offering your version as a template for others to use. If you send it to me, I’ll post it here for others, and will give you credit as well. Thanks! -Alec

Free Project Management Tool - Delivery Status Grid

Favor Request - I need your help

2009-03-10T17:29:54Z

It’s been a pleasure to create this blog for you

Over the past year of writing Making Project Management Better, my goal has been to provide at least one solid post every week. The focus is to help you as a project manager become better at what you do - more effective, more skillful, and of more value to your employer.

It’s a soft skills blog

…because I believe project management is really about developing great relationships with people. Too little of our formal training helps us excel in this area. I want you to feel that by reading this blog, you are encouraged to better yourself little and often. A wise person said that teaching others is the best way to learn. By writing for you I continue to find areas for me to improve. It’s an exciting and energizing process.

It’s about colleagues

My hidden purpose in creating this blog has been to develop lasting friendships with other project managers throughout the world. Have you and I communicated through email, IM or twitter? I truly look forward to continuing our conversation in future.

It’s non-commercial

If you read something here, it’s because I believe it to be worth your consideration - not because I’m getting a kickback of some sort. This blog is my way to serve.

Usually I don’t ask for your help. This post is a rare and necessary exception.

Why this post

I’m getting ready to put up a separate hire me subdomain to help generate new work. Work has been off for me as well as others in 2009. I’m currently looking for a full-time project. I can work 1099, corp-to-corp, contract or FTE¹ with or without health benefits.

How you can help

Have you had a positive experience with me?

If you have anything nice to say about working with me, or about something you’ve gotten out of a post you’ve read, or from this blog in general,
please add it as a comment to this post.

You don’t have to write much. It can be unpolished. Specific is good.
Real is best.

Your comments will be helpful for prospective employers in identifying why they might want to hire me.

Job leads

I’ve been focusing my search in the New York City area, and would particularly appreciate any leads you might have for people who have the ability to hire project managers, or know those who do.

I can easily travel up to 4 days per week, and would be happy to work anywhere in the US and/or eastern Canada.

My rates are market competitive - neither cheap nor expensive.

Please tweet this post

Spreading this message may provide a lead neither you nor I can envision. Vive le social network!

Thank you

Your help will allow me to provide you with great content for many years to come.

(Photo credit: sidnid)

Favor Request - I need your help

Full Time Employee

Free Project Management Tool - The Promise Keeper

2009-03-09T14:08:13Z

Paul O'Brien's Promise Keeper

Does PMP certification make a better project manager? When Raven Young asked this question, opinions varied.

Does Microsoft Project, the de facto project management software standard, improve IT project performance? I challenge anyone to show me proof of a strong correlation between how good you are as a project manager, and the cost of the tools that you use.

Some of the best project managers use the simplest tools. Many of us who are efficiency software and tool junkies have come full circle and selectively reincorporated paper-based task systems into our personal workflows.

As part of the primary mission of this blog, I seek to provide you with tools and techniques which can increase your real skill as a project manager. This post is about Paul O’Brien’s Promise Keeper, a simple tool which can:

Improve team communications
Facilitate efficient meetings
Save you time

You can start using your own Promise Keeper today. Best of all, it’s free. The author and creator, Paul O’Brien, has given permission for you to use or modify it as you see fit.¹ If you decide to try it, please leave a quick comment below. Paul will be monitoring the list, and would be glad to hear your thoughts.

What is the Promise Keeper (by Paul O’Brien)

Several people asked about the Promise Keeper and the Delivery Matrix² These are quirky little tools I have created just for myself. I only explain them here because several people asked. They are not part of any methodology - I just made them up myself to help me do my job.

Project management (or all management now I think of it) is all about setting up an environment where busy people can make good promises and then keep them. A good promise is one where they are motivated to do the task, have not under-estimated it and the promise is made and recorded in ‘public’. If they can’t keep the promise I need to know in time to deal with it. I find the most important thing here is to eliminate all fear and anxiety from the environment - otherwise you get bad promises and poor promise-keeping.

I have a simple spreadsheet list with persons name, date of next review, what the promise is and the final deadline. I sort this by persons name so I can batch by person and remind them of all their promises. I use conditional formatting to highlight the ones that are due for review or completion.

How to Start

The best way to start using your own version of the Promise Keeper to to start a spreadsheet like the example at the top of this post. Include columns for:

Person who made the promise
Status (In Progress, To Do, Done)
Due Date
Next Review Date
(Calculated Field) Days to Due Date. Negative if due date has been missed.

Start with the current items you are tracking. If this seems onerous to you, an alternative way to begin is to bring an empty sheet to your next team meeting. You can then fill it in with your team.

In future team meetings or status updates, this promise keeper can be one of the main exhibits updated and used as a basis for the agenda.

I have started using a promise keeper myself, and am impressed with its elegance and clarity.

Thanks Paul, for your generosity in sharing. Paul’s delivery matrix will be presented for you use in a future post.

Free Project Management Tool - The Promise Keeper

Please do not publish it elsewhere without his express written permission. Thanks!
Will be presented later this week in a follow up post.

Lori Hammel March 2009 News

2009-03-06T16:11:41Z

CHECK OUT LORI’S ACTING REEL (press the “video” button when you get to the link)

*****************************************************************************************************

THE NEW NEWLYWED GAME: Lori and Alec were delighted to be contestants on the New Newlywed Game hosted by Carney Wilson. Air dates to follow.

********************************************************************************************************************

ONION NEWS NETWORK: Lori is a recurring political panelist on the comedy series IN THE KNOW. Watch Lori in action as Leslie Hillerman in these clips:

Onion: Experts Agree - Giant, Bioengineereed Crabs Pose No Threat
Onion: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?
Onion: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?
Onion: Are Politicians Failing Our Lobbyists?
Onion: Situation In Nigeria Seems Pretty Complex
Onion: Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?

*******************************************************************************************************

FOR ANIMALS INC: Alec and Lori are the proud kitty parents to two wonderful little rescue kittens. The kittens came through FOR ANIMALS INC,an organization that helps find homes for animals on the street. If you see stray dogs or cats in your neighborhood, please contact the ASPCA.

********************************************************************************************************

LORI as MRS. J

Mrs. J TV (2 minutes)

MRS. J sings the AUCTIONEER SONG

Visit Lori on Facebook

Jeff Taylor on Job Search and Monster.com

2009-03-06T19:06:56Z

UPDATE: Watch excerpt from the show. May take a minute or two to download.

Full MP4 Version On the Money with Carmen Wong Ulrich Video Podcast!

If you’re up tonight at 10pm (or have time to program your Tivo) you might enjoy watching CNBC On The Money. Jeff Taylor, the founder of Monster.com will be answering questions from people who are in the job market now, or think they may be in the near future. The information may be useful for you or someone you care about.

I’ll be one of the people asking questions!

The program is CNBC On The Money. Broadcast is March 6th, 2009 at 10pm ET.

Would be great to have you watch.

Jeff Taylor on Job Search and Monster.com

25 Free Resume Copies at Kinkos on Tuesday March 10th

2009-03-06T14:09:34Z

If you are deep in a job search, or contemplating one, you might be interested in this free offer from FedEx Office (formerly Kinkos). On Tuesday, March 10th, bring in your resume in hard copy or electronic form. FedEx Office will print 25 free copies on nice paper for no charge. This may be U.S. only - check with your local store if you are elsewhere in the world.

If you are working, this could save you from the potential embarrassment of being seen copying your resume on the office printer.

No word on how popular this offer may be. You might want to go early. Still, a kind offer. Thanks FedEx Office!

(Photo credit: Oliver Charavel)

25 Free Resume Copies at Kinkos on Tuesday March 10th

Simple Guidelines for Workday Quality Over Quantity [Email]

2009-02-27T22:00:30Z

This succinct set of workday guidelines is a nice blueprint for getting productive on the important stuff and ruthless about cutting the crap. Written on a ~~unknown~~ "major corp" whiteboard pictured here, they read:

QUALITY vs quantity, UX process.
Check email ONLY:

10AM

1PM

4PM

Send any time
Set email to check every 3 hours.
NO email on evenings.
NO email on weekends.
EMERGENCY? = Use phone.

FOCUS 1-3 Activities max/day
LOG 1-3 Succinct status bullets every day on team wiki

MINIMIZE chat
MAXIMIZE single-tasking

OUT by 5:30PM
~No excuses~

These common productivity edicts are worth repeating; recently I advised Harvard Business readers to use a daily three-item task list myself. I've been practicing this technique every weekday without fail for the last six weeks, and it's served me well (though I've gotten cocky and the list has started inching up to five or six items). On top of sleeping, showering, eating, working out, commuting, cooking, and communicating, the reality is that three things DONE is a bigger set of accomplishments than it seems. As for the rest of these–well, I'm working on them. Hat tip to Caterina.

Simple Guidelines for Workday Quality Over Quantity [Smarterware]

Smarterware is Lifehacker editor emeritus Gina Trapani's new home away from 'hacker. To get all of the latest from Smarterware, be sure to subscribe to the Smarterware RSS feed. For more, check out Gina's weekly Smarterware feature here on Lifehacker.

Grab a Skype To Go Number for Cheap Calls from Any Phone [Saving Money]

2009-02-25T21:30:00Z

Make cheap international calls from any cellphone or landline with a Skype To Go number, which works sort of like a supercharged calling card for Skype users.

Once you've got a Skype To Go number, you just call it when you want to place what would normally be a spendy international call. Instead of taking a hit on $1/minute calls, your Skype To Go number charges you the same low rate as it would if you had used Skype on your computer to call the international number.

The service supports creating your own little speed dial list, too, so you can dial up your Skype To Go number and quickly place a call to a favorite contact by hitting #1, for example. Skype To Go isn't a new service, but according to Download Squad, it used to require a Skype Pro plan. Now it's available to all users with a Skype account, provided you've got some Skype Credit or a subscription. It may not be for everyone, but if you make a lot of international calls, it seems like a winner.

Skype To Go now for all paying users [Skype Blog via Download Squad]

7 Free Resources for Eye-Popping Graphics and Animation

2009-02-27T13:26:43Z

Read about trends, technologies and best practices covered by experienced Giga Omni Media editors and writers. Participate in daily blog discusions and post your thoughts and opinions.

Coolest business card ever

2009-02-25T18:18:00Z

My Daily Project Management Task List

2009-01-21T23:33:55Z

In order to do a decent job leading projects I have found that there are several tasks that I need to do on a daily basis. Past projects where I was able to do the tasks consistently by far outperformed the projects where I was not.

My daily Project Management task list:

1. I have spoken with each member of my team.
2. I have spoken with my customer(s).
3. I have taken actions to remove any impediments highlighted by my team.
4. I have updated and published progress information.
5. I have updated and published minutes/action items for any meetings held within the last 24 hours.
6. I have reviewed project risks and taken appropriate actions.
7. I have had fun and feel confident about tomorrow.

The first two tasks on my list have to do with communication. If I was only to have two tasks on my list one and two would be the list. I need to know what is going on in the team and with my customer(s) in order to lead the project. Even just a small chat with each team member individually gives great indications on how that person and the project are doing.

The third task has to do with the fact that I consider being a servant to the team one of my most important roles. I can’t develop half as effectively as my team members and my time is therefore better used making sure that they have optimal conditions to be productive.

The fourth and fifth tasks also have to do with communication, but in a different sense than tasks one and two. In order to make sure the team and other involved parties are aware of the current state of the project they need to be informed. I prefer to use a burn-down chart to display progress information. I post it on the wall in the project room and on the project collaboration portal for anyone involved to see.

The sixth task has to do with making sure that the project does not run into serious trouble caused by an unforeseen event that could have been prevented. At least once a week I go over the physical (electronic) list of risks, but I try to give it some thought daily

The final task might seem silly, but I think it’s extremely important to be able to have fun on a project, but also to be able to go to sleep at night confident that you are well prepared to face whatever challenges are thrown at you the next day.

When I notice that I can’t perform the tasks on the list above every day, it’s an early warning that the project will suffer if I don´t do anything about it.

Photo credit: http://www.humphriesmortgage.com/pages/Checklist/images/checklist.jpg

Share and Enjoy:

5 Antidotes to Gloom

2009-02-24T15:53:16Z

Here’s Hope: 5 Antidotes to Gloom.

Last week while enjoying a relaxing dinner with some friends at GustOrganics (worth visiting), the conversation shifted to the subject of fear and negativity.

One normally upbeat person spoke of being overwhelmed with the amount of negativity she was hearing from the news. Another said that he had gotten so fed up with CNN that he turned it off a few weeks ago and hasn’t looked back.

As project managers we don’t always have the luxury of disengaging ourselves from what’s going on in the world around us. We are responsible for leading and inspiring our teams. How then do we stay involved, engaged and aware, while maintaining hope and realistic optimism?

It’s an interesting question.

The dinner conversation soon moved on to other subjects. Yet ever since I’ve continued to think about antidotes to gloom. Here are five concrete actions you can take today which will add a bounce to your step, a sparkle to your eye, new ideas to think about and best of all, a little more hope into your routine.

Get an iPod

If you already have an iPod, please skip this section. If you’ve never had an iPod, I want to encourage you to think about getting one, and specifically about getting a 2nd Generation iPod Touch.

Until I got my first iPod a few weeks ago, I never understood the appeal. How wrong I was! The iPod Touch is a fantastic tool for personal growth and productivity and a masterful implementation of technology. It’s easy to use, convenient, has wonderful sound and a clear picture in a small object that’s a pleasure to hold and operate. I’m sure the other iPod models are also very good.

If you can afford it, pick up a new iPod Touch 2nd Generation 8GB or 16GB. It will last you a long time. You’ll appreciate its beauty and elegance.

An extremely low cost alternative is to search eBay or Craigslist for a used iPod under $25. You can purchase inexpensive replacement earphones for under $5. Download and install iTunes 8 for free, and you’ll be good to go. This will enable you to try it for yourself with a minimum of financial outlay. If you find you like it, you can always get one of the new 32Gig iPod Touches when they come out later this year. And, you can make someone’s day by giving them a gift of your starter iPod.

1. Start Watching TED

What is TED?

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual conference which seeks to, “…bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).”¹ Each week, new talks are added for free viewing, sharing or reposting under a Creative Commons license.

Why TED is an antidote to gloom

Our world encourages high specialization on almost every level. As individuals we can easily become narrowly focused on our our business, industry or vocation. The term for this myopia.

Watching TED can open up your perspective. The presentations are varied, often surprising and uniformly excellent. You may be amazed at how the few minutes you spend viewing TED will enrich your ability to offer new strategies and efficiencies on your projects.

What to do

(Best Choice) If you have a video iPod, add this TED video podcast feed. Then you’ll have something ready anytime you notice yourself feeling dragged down or otherwise discouraged. For me, having new TED podcasts on my iPod is one of the non-guilty pleasures of my week.
You can also bookmark TED. If you do, I’d recommend adding a recurring event to your tickler calendar to remind you to take the time to check. If you use AutoFocus, you know just what to do.

Some recent TED talks you might like

Juan Enriquez on Mind Boggling Science (If you watch only one, make it this one.)
Bill Gates on Education, Malaria and Changing the World
Barry Schwartz on Practical Wisdom as Cure for a Society Gone Mad with Bureaucracy
David Merrill on Siftables: Toy Blocks that Think
And 200 more!!!

2. Put Mozart on Your iPod

When was the last time music lifted you? As I write this I’m being whisked away by “Jupiter”, a.k.a Symphony number 41 in C. Lest you think I’m some sort of high-brow classical music fanatic and use this judgment as a reason to disregard Mozart as irrelevant to you, consider this true story. It’s 8 pm at the Metropolitan Opera. The curtain is about to rise on Ponchielli’s 4 act La Gioconda. The theatre’s warm. The seats plush. My eyes close and open again at the first intermission… at the second intermission… at the third intermission… and again at midnight when we’re finally released. Lori still laughs whenever she remembers me trying unsuccessfully to keep awake.

Mozart’s Different

Happily for you, you need know nothing about classical music to enjoy Mozart.² There’s a good reason why Mozart is considered by some to be the greatest composer who ever lived. Whether this is true or not, his music is accessible. I challenge you to be able to remain gloomy and discouraged while listening to 10 minutes of Mozart.

Interesting Fact

Here’s something I just learned when looking up information on Symphony No. 34 in C. Allegro means quick, lively or cheerful. That’s how I feel whenever I hear it. Perhaps you’ll find a dose of Mozart the same way.

The Best Mozart Option

Philips in 1991 put together a collection of 45 boxed sets encompassing some of the best recorded Mozart performances. Most of these are readily available new or used. Take a look at the list of sets, pick one from sets 1 - 25, and put it on your MP3 player. Let it run whenever you need a little burst of something good. Some examples:

Mozart Vol 1: Early Symphonies [Box Set]
Mozart Vol 10: Quartets, Quintets, Etc [Box Set]
Any from the Philips Complete Mozart Edition

Free Mozart Option

Download no-cost recordings from the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart MP3 Page. The performances are good, and they are free. You’ll have to do a little work to find the ones you want.

3. Start a Gratitude Log

This may be one of the most significant things you can do. Very little effort is required - yet the benefits for many who try this are profound. Some suggestions:

Keep it private.
Add something “more days than not”.
Add at least one thing. If many things come to mind, write them all.
You don’t need a fancy book. Format is less important than just doing it.
There is a benefit for writing it on paper or keeping an electronic log. Just thinking about it is not likely to provide the same benefits.

You can read more about gratitude logs at the simple abundance site. But rather than read, I’d recommend you just start one, right now, today. If you have questions, leave a comment below or contact me.

4. Get Up Out of Your Chair

In the 1970s, there was a slang expression, Keep on Truckin’,which was perhaps inspired by an R. Crumb comic. In the cartoon image, a person is viewed from a low perspective, giving the impression of a very long leg walking forward.

It turns out that this is just what the doctor ordered. Recent research is showing that people who walk are healthier than those who don’t. The application: start walking a little more every day. Take the stairs. Park a little further away. Walk an extra block or two.

10,000 Steps

If you would like to try an experiment, purchase an inexpensive pedometer like this Omron Pedometer HJ 112 or this Omron Pedometer HJ 150 and wear it for the next week without making any changes to your daily routine. Many people walk only 3-4000 steps per day. If you can slowly increase your daily step count to 10,000 or more, you will be surprised at how much better you will likely feel.

You can read more about 10,000 steps at the PBS 20% Boost Page, the Walking Site 10,000 steps Page and Shape Up America.

(Happy photo credit: x86×86)

5. Find Something That Makes You Laugh

Laughing feels good, and is good for you. Have you laughed at anything yet today?

When was the last time you laughed so hard you couldn’t stand up? Has it been a year? Two? Longer?

Even small chuckles are good. While forced laughter may not be your cup of tea (or mine), it may be better than no laughter at all.

Start building in opportunities to laugh.

Think about starting with one or more of these:

Dilbert: Daily Dilbert Strip. Daily Dilbert by RSS.
Onion News Network: Video Podcast - Onion News Network. Onion Website (Explicit. These may be blocked at some offices.)

(Smiling Larry photo credit: spamily)

5 Antidotes to Gloom

Source TED website.
Though once you start listening, you might find The Compleat Mozart of interest.

Top 10 Tools for Landing a Better Job [Lifehacker Top 10]

2009-02-21T17:00:00Z

From the first Google search to the last interview, you can boost your odds at landing a better job with the right preparation. Here are our ten best tools and tips for job-seekers and career climbers.

Photo by lewis chaplin.

10. Cover all the search sites

It's not exactly a "hack" to suggest hitting Monster.com, or your LinkedIn network, to check out job offerings and work your connections. Each site amongst our five best online job search sites, however, puts you in a different pool of possibilities, and each has its own quirks and tools. They're somewhat perfunctory and broad, but wouldn't you feel bad knowing you missed a great opportunity simply because it wasn't in your super-specific Craigslist search?

9. Cover Craigslist like a glove

The same types of skills and always-there alertness that make someone a Craigslist power user can give them the edge on the site's job board, which has the benefit of (sometimes, not always) attracting relatively tech-savvy, with-it employers. Once you're getting text message and RSS alerts whenever "Micro-brew taster" shows up, browse these tips for applying for a job on Craigslist, written by someone looking to hire through Craigslist and looking for only the honest, direct, ready-to-work types.

8. Take the guesswork out of salary demands

There are a host of salary-obsessed sites that use a combination of math and insider info to compute what workers with certain skills and experience levels can expect in different cities and corporate firms. The most prominent among them—Glassdoor.com, PayScale, SalaryScout, and Indeed—have their own strengths and weaknesses, as we've previously detailed. If you're lucky enough to have an informed source inside a firm you're looking to jump ship to, or can cultivate one, that might be your best bet.Photo by AMagill.

7. Leave without burning any bridges

If you have a great estimate of exactly how many seconds are left until you can leave, it can be really tempting to email all@youroldcompany.com with exactly how liberated you feel. But if your dream job doesn't turn out quite so ethereal, or you ever find yourself needing a tip, lead, reference, or maybe even someone to hire at your new digs, you'll wish you'd kept things civil. To fake it until you make it, crib from eMurse's sample resignation letters, read from wikiHow's guide to resigning gracefully, and keep in touch over social networks like Facebook with the co-workers in the same realm you find yourself in. You never know when one of them might hear about a sudden job opening; alternately, you can ditch the civility and think about offering cold, hard cash rewards for job leads.

6. Walk into your interview without fear

From covering an oldie-but-goodie list like the 50 common interview questions and answers to mastering a few conversational Jedi mind tricks—how you prep for your job interview depends on how geeky you want to get. If you bore even yourself with your answers to 1950s HR Manual standards like "What's your greatest weakness," consider turning the interview around by talking about your first 100 days on the job, or tell the story of your career, and future. If you managed to escape without squirting mustard on the interviewer's shirt, dash off a quick, effective thank-you note. For more ideas, visit our tips for talking your way into a job.

5. Look the part

Unless your interviewer is Mark Zuckerberg, your newest sandals and fleece just ain't gonna cut it. Here's the shorter, job-focused version of our tools for dressing sharp:

Give the shoes a solid shine: In five minutes or so.
Dress sharp, but save: By turning a cheap-and-cheap-looking suit into one that's an expensive suit that wasn't expensive.
Don't you dare rock a clip-on: Take the time to learn with a basic tutorial and YouTube instructional clip.
Travel without ironing: You could take Fodor's advice and wield the power of plastic sheets to prevent wrinkles amongst your best-looking clothes. Or you can go a bit more eco-friendly and cross-cultural with a bundle wrap. For those who like a bit of extra security, a bit of DIY wrinkle releaser in a drug store spray bottle handles whatever gaps your folding and backing leaves open.

4. Use search-friendly words; skip vague generalities

Some large-scale employers deposit every single resume and CV into a giant, OCR-scanned database; others merely search out candidates on job sites using specific word criteria. Either way, having the right words on your resume prevents being cut in the first round like some warbly-voiced would-be Idol contestant. On the other hand, the humans who actually read through your cover letter, resume, and application want to see real numbers and results, not Career Services blather. So take a good long look at your text and kill at least six words from your resume.

3. Get better, faster, smarter alerts on job openings

A while back, we suggested just a few tools to nab a job with feeds and email alerts. Our commenters, though, had a wealth of links and suggestions that worked for them:

SimplyHired and its RSS feeds, which 72ba digs for its aggregation of the big job sites and local players, as well as the customized feeds.
Yahoo Pipes, the feed mashing/extracting/filtering tool we've created master feeds with and which Earth2Marsh used to monitor jobs at every grade school in Maine.
Feed43, which ain't exactly a five-minute job, but it can take pretty much any page on the internet and make a feed out of it, as Jay discovered.
Other tools: FeedMyInbox and UpdatePatrol.

2. Build your personal brand with a blog

By and large, no one-person blog is going to replace a salary, but it can help you find a new source of income. Blogger Adam Darowski believes the blog is the new resume, and at least one Lifehacker editor is really glad he built his up to help land a new gig. Write and post material related to the field you work in, and generally work it as if you were already employed in it. Your resume and clips can spell out that you're a great with Photoshop, but your blog's slideshows will definitely sell your clients or employers a lot more emphatically.

1. Write a killer resume for a new career path

With the economy lurching about like an over-tired Capoeira enthusiast, we recently decided it was a good time to look at taking the first step toward escaping one's endangered (or just plain boring) career for another, no matter what your experience level. We rounded up our favorite tips from our own resume posts and experience, and talked to a career specialist about how to score a great gig, even if you lack the supposedly mandatory "minimum requirements." Check it out, pull out the heavy-stock paper, and get to writing. Photo by emdot.

Go ahead—tell us which tools or skills were conspicuously absent from our Top 10. Tell us your experience on any of the above from the perspective of employer, employee, or current job-seeker, or offer up some links in the comments.