December 2011
1 post
Google "Copies" Flipboard; And {gasp} Innovates!
Okay, so Google is still a very dodgy organization with respect to your personal private data, dumping other people’s IP in new markets to dominate it, manipulating their search results to favor their own brands, stealing content from the likes of Yelp, anyway, you get the idea. Of late, they have been adding something to the stuff they “borrow”: Google+ comes to mind. Now...
October 2010
1 post
3 tags
WordPress iOS App Still Weak
The WordPress blogging app for iOS was updated to 2.6 a few days ago. Unfortunately, it is still unreasonably horrid.
This is quite surprising considering how well the WordPress platform itself works. I mean, as open as the WordPress platform is, with third-party plug-ins attached to the core application, here and there, like a massive yarn ball, it typically works. The iApp sharing the same...
September 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Project Management for the Legal Industry
Recently on a social network site, I read a question about if and how project management can be used in the legal industry to increase success rates. The question caught my eye because I had thought about this very thing several months ago. I wondered why in fact there isn’t more application of formal project management in the legal industry, especially among legal teams that handle larger...
1 tag
Of iPads & Project Management
Now that the Apple iPad super-hype has finally reached a crescendo and has sort of subsided, Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field (RDF) has once again collapsed until the next one more thing® moment, the all knowing tech industry analysts have given the new biggest thing from S.J. their thumbs up or down, and Apple fan-boys and Apple haters have all had their say, it’s time for us...
5 tags
The Trouble With Microsoft Project
Having conquered the desktop platform with its Microsoft Office Suite well over a decade ago, Microsoft has done very little to improve its project management software, Microsoft Project. But new alternatives to the de facto project management software for MS Windows PC’s means a better solution may be in your future.
Microsoft Project can be traced all the way back to a DOS version that...
October 2009
1 post
2 tags
The Big Dig, In A Nutshell
An excellent chronicle of the mammoth project’s triumphs and failures This archive provides a wealth of knowledge about the massive Boston construction project: Big Dig Project (Boston) News - The New York Times. There are many lessons to learn from the project. And, the teaching is there for the learning.
Before: Death, destruction, cost overruns, and legal wrangling
Was the vision...
April 2009
4 posts
2 tags
Effective Stakeholder Communication
In any relationship, communication is key. To ensure the relationship between all members of the project team, project sponsor, project owner, and all other stakeholders is productive, a sound communication plan must be developed and utilized. But how can this objective be accomplished?
Here is a brief overview of the proper process. The steps to develop effective and efficient communications...
2 tags
Why Bad Projects Are So Hard to Kill
Why is it hard to recognize impending failure?
The very nature of projects, something that has never been done before, means there is always a risk of failure. While some projects fail in pieces, cost over runs or late delivery, others fail in totality.
Because projects are often times close to the brink of failure yet they ultimately succeed, sometimes it is difficult to predict abject...
6 tags
Knowledge Management & Learning at NASA & JPL
Overview
Founded on October 1, 1958 by the United States Congress, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established to combat the threat of the Soviet space program. When the Soviet’s put the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, in space the “crisis” was a galvanizing force used by President Kennedy to rally the nation to meet the challenge.
Money was no object. It is...
2 tags
Enterprise Risk Management: Risk Static-Dynamic
Based on the enterprise risk management (ERM) philosophy, risks that may affect the organization’s strategies must be identified, quantified, and managed. In the ERM model, risks are not managed in “silos” but in a harmonized fashion. The goal is to reduce the cost of risk management, and increase the effectiveness of risk management while supporting the organization’s strategy. The...
March 2009
1 post
1 tag
Featured: Project Risk Management Slide Deck
Project Risk Management
The first part of our series on Project Risk Management (PRM) is now available. In this first installment, we introduce the key concepts, and provide practical advise on how to begin managing project risk like nobody’s business. The presentation can be downloaded in either a Quicktime file, here, or an Acrobat PDF, here. We recommend getting both. If you...
