Trevor Snyder: Infofilters

Stop multitasking

root@trevorsnyder.com (Trevor Snyder) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:38:47 GMT

If you are reading this, chances are that you are awash in a sea of information. Most of that information is useless data. Some of it is highly refined junk. If this information were a food product, it would be filled with high fructose corn syrup. A human being can only digest so much information. The human brain is not designed to process the amount of raw data that a modern 21st century lifestyle tends to bombard all of us with. Information overload is a reality for many modern workers. In my experience, long-term exposure to information overload has lasting negative consequences on productivity. Although probably not permanent, these effects are detrimental to an organization's decision making power and to its ability to move projects forward towards successful completion. The solution to this problem is simple.

Project management fundamentals

root@trevorsnyder.com (Trevor Snyder) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:08:01 GMT

What defines a project?

Simply put, a project is a unique and time limited endeavor with a defined beginning and end. Projects have specific goals and objectives.

What defines project management?

Project management is the discipline (or art or science, depending who you talk to about it) of planning, organizing and managing resources with the goal of meeting specific objectives related to the project. These objectives are often referred to as constraints. Constraints generally involve a magic triangle with three points - scope, time and budget.

Project management best practices

root@trevorsnyder.com (Trevor Snyder) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:24:44 GMT

Poor project management is a deciding factor in the failure of many companies. Some projects fail because they are spectacularly stupid ideas. A finishing school for future game show hostesses is an idea that deserves to fail. On the other hand, many projects based on viable ideas also fail. One of the most spectacular information technology project failures in recent history is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Virtual Case File project. It's not every project manager that gets to waste between $100 to 200 million dollars of the taxpayers' money.

When information follows you around

root@trevorsnyder.com (trevor snyder) — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:02:50 GMT

As human beings, we lose little pieces of our reality all the time. Names, phone numbers, the mental image of what someone looks like. These things all disappear over time. For some of us, it happens faster and more frequently than for others. I am writing this article in 2009, and as of this date, I am unaware of any technology that can enhance the built in Random Access Memory I was born with. However, my brain can be prodded and refreshed externally. In a world where I am expected to demonstrate peak processing power at any given moment Evernote is a stopgap solution.