I am happy to serve you and share with you my thoughts and knowledge. Thank you so much
2011 Report
Or
2011 Report – Copy Paste the URL Link Below in your Address Bar
http://1on1consultingfirm.wordpress.com/2011/annual-report/
I am happy to serve you and share with you my thoughts and knowledge. Thank you so much
2011 Report
Or
2011 Report – Copy Paste the URL Link Below in your Address Bar
http://1on1consultingfirm.wordpress.com/2011/annual-report/
The spirit of SCRUM is a power point presentation allowing you to understand the relationship between Agile, PMBOK, Waterfall, and SCRUM.
I started this presentation with the foundation of Agile which is Lean processes that has originated from Toyota Production Systems.
The fact is that they are all methodologies in approaching issues in a methodical and conceptual way. The philosophy behind it is that at the end one must be able to understand how one goes from point A to point B and are we able to reproduce, recreate, measure and improve.
Please click below link to open the PDF presentation:
Here are the list of methodologies and standardizations that are out there:
Agile, PM, ITIL, TPS, Six Sigma, HACCP, GMP, ISO series and many more………..
I am always asked this questions and my response has always been it depends. And really it does depend on several factors:
1. The Type of the Industry – Are in software development, IT service provider, manufacturing, R&D, food industry, financial industry….?
2. The culture of the organization. Is the organization ready to embrace this methodology? What is the need? And how will that help them? Will the new methodology add any value to the organization?
3. The leadership – Is the leadership 100% behind this new methodology. Have you been able to get their buy in?
4. The Employees – Are the employees ready for change? Are the
5. The Budget – Is there enough money to provide for training, and other support?
These are the attributes one should look for:
1. Metrics Driven
2. Repeatability
3. Reproducibility
4. Manageability
No matter what methodology you implement it must be able to:
1. Provide Results
2. Be Consistent
3. Be Adaptable
4. Be Scalable
At the end of the day I think it really depends on leadership and how much buy in you can get from them. You need their support not only monetary but as well as moral support in order to have an easy implementation with less headache.
Sincerely;
Amir Nasiri, MBA, MIS, PMP
ASQ Six Sigma Certified, Hyperion Certified
http://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnasiri
When one hears of waste it is right away assumed that we are talking about tangible products and it is related to production and manufacturing industry
In Toyota Production System (TPS) there are three distinguished wastes:
Muda, Mura and Muri
TPS also defines the cause of waste such as transportation, waiting, overproduction, defect, inventory, movement and inefficient processes.
TPS has also established certain metrics as well as measurement to not only identify waste but also minimize it. If a company is unable to control and measure the waste that it generates the cost are huge in a log term
In software industry the kind of waste we face are rework bug fixes and
inefficient utilization of resources at the same time the misalignment with IT and Business
The fundamentals of an Agile approach are iteration, integration, automated developer test and simple design. The focus in iteration is to reduce the time to the market by utilizing iteration backlogs in order to reach a solid Done state. Continuous integration allows the developer team to reduce the overall development time through identifying bugs and errors as early as possible in development and leverage the time to test vs. development more efficiently.
SCRUM an Agile methodology is a great approach to minimize waste. By applying Agile methodologies such XP or SCRUM. Many who are not familiar with SCRUM and know a little about it think that SCRUM is not scalable. They are actually wrong. Ken Schwaber who published a book in 2007 talked about managing scalability in an SCRUM approach in his book called “Enterprise SCRUM”. Jeff Sutherland also has applied what he refers to as meta SCRUM and has been using the Type C SCRUM at PatientKeeper.
But the most important factor in understanding how to minimize and measure waste one must be able to align IT goals and strategy with that of business. In many software companies that lack strategic alignment the waste is much great and in some cases out of control.
I believe waste can be minimized by applying the Agile methodologies such as SCRUM. At the same time been able to understand the goals and vision of the IT department including the software development and how that can utilized to leverage against competition. The alignment of Business goals and objectives can also help provide the company its competitive advantage. Thus applying a well planned approach and methodology and clear alignment between IT and business one can minimize waste even in Software Development companies.
Sincerely;
Amir Nasiri, MBA, MIS, PMP
ASQ Six Sigma Certified, Hyperion Certified
http://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnasiri
News from Internet Retailer:
- Groupon Inc. closed $950 Million in new financing amid reports that an IPO maybe on the way. It is estimated that Groupon can have a value of over $15 billion after the IPO. I think Google should have had offered more, what do you think?
- LivingSocial flexed its muscles by running the most successful marketing campaign in one day, selling Amazon gift cards at half price. It is the No 2 daily deal site in US by traffic. It has also acquired a majority stakes in LetsBonus provider of daily discounts.
- Google has purchased e-book publishing assets. The acquisition came about after Google opened its eBookstore e-commerce. The consumers can access over 3 Million Free Books and purchase hundreds of thousands more titles. This is a move that can perhaps help Google to compete with Amazon.com Inc.
- Basket Lady and m-commerce
- Amazon has expanded its distribution network overseas
- m-commerce is the next e-commerce from Amazon to Disney the only thing is that many designers and software companies are struggling to provide the same look and feel as their e-commerce site.
Interesting Statistics from PM Network Magazine:
- Nearly 60% of PM say they don’t have formal benefits measurements and realization processes in place.
- 68% of companies don’t consistently have an effective sponsor to provide clear project direction or to escalate problems.
- 50% the portion of companies say their projects don’t consistently achieve what they set out to.
Good Quotes for PM:
“We have to stop seeing change as something that must be resisted and limited. Change is the only constant and Agile is a great way of handling it.” – Jeff Smith, SunCorp Business Services (PM Network Feb 2011)
“In Agile, the change management decisions should be delegated to the people on the ground – the team, product owner or project manager – unless the project is threatened in terms of cost or time.” – Steven Thomas, BBC, London, England (PM Network Feb 2011)
References:
- PM Network Feb 2011
- Internet Retailer Feb 2011
Agile Approach
Agile methodology is based on group of methodologies or frameworks used in software development that is based on iterative development between self organized and cross functional teams. Here are some Agile methodologies or frameworks:
• Extreme Programming
• Scrum
• Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
• Crystal Clear
• Dynamic Systems
• Development Method (DSDM)
• Feature Driven Development (FDD)
• Lean software development
• Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF)
• Agile Unified Process (AUP)
A while ago I wrote in my blog about cloud computing and I did suggest that the trend of cloud computing will be moving towards mobile industry. Using cloud computing with your mobile technology that trend will have much added value to consumers than anything else.
But can cloud computing help Project Managers? Many businesses spend thousands of dollars on project management software and training but they can’t even understand the value that is adding to business. Just recently our business upgraded our project management software from 2007 to 2010. We just acquired the previous version last year.
However, is that the software that should define the project management or should the project managers themselves be able to understand the fundamental methodologies and tools in project management?
I mean what is so important that one must spend all these money to buy a project management software application and upgrade it because of one or more added futures by Microsoft.
Is that not how Microsoft makes its money? Every two years adds one or more futures that probably they should have added in their previous versions.
That is why I think cloud computing such as Google Docs and other open source applications are handy especially for small and mid size businesses who can’t afford the hefty licensing fees. As a project manager you can utilize Google Spreadsheet customize it and create your own project management tool and no you don’t have to be a programmer.
By using cloud computing applications such as Google you can share that information with anyone anywhere as long as they have access to Internet. Google also offers free websites and it hosts it for you for free. You can acquire a unique domain name and forward that address the Goggle Site. The Google Site has project management customized page that allows project managers to track their projects.
So next time you plan to spend thousands of dollars on licensed application try to look at open source applications out there that are free and consider cloud computing. In addition, try to become creative and use your skills to add value instead of relying on expensive tools.
Amir Nasiri, MBA, MIS, PMP
ASQ Six Sigma Certified, Hyperion Certified
http://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnasiri
The recent past year social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitters, LinkedIn, Plaxo and more have shaped our daily life’s, in the way we interact or communicate with one another. Some people are so addicted to these social networks that they actually get help for it. There are even disease name after it such as Twitter Twitch syndrome or Facebook Junkie, I actually made those up, but really people are hooked on these websites. Again like anything else if it is over used it can have negative impacts.
However, I would like to talk about the positive aspects of social networking and how that can help project managers. If anyone remembers two years ago, the green movements in Iran and as a result of rigged elections thousands poured to the streets and given the government’s strict security, people were still able to meet and stage protests against the rogue state of that country. These coordination and synchronized development was all done through social media. Protestors were able to communicate with one another using various social media means and outside help poured in to help break firewalls put in by the government so that the protestors can easily communicate.
So can Social Media have a positive impact on Project Management and PMO? I have noticed from my past experience if an organization wants to leverage its assets which is mainly its resources as well as become competitive it must take advantage of technology trends. Each functional department can analyze its strengths and weaknesses and utilize that information in order to become competitive.
Each functional department must act as if they are running their own organization; therefore, must think strategy and be able to transform their functional department into profit center instead of cost center.That includes functional departments such as the PMO. If PMO in an organization doesn’t take innovations as well as IT trends as part of their growth and competitive strategy they will not be able to become sustainable force within the organization.
How can social media help PMO? Here are some thoughts and feel free to add yours as well.
1. Searching for vendors
2. Searching for team members
3. Posting questions
4. Get public opinion for public projects
Six Phases of a Project
1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Innocent
6. Praise and Honors for the Non Participants.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to understand how to align the PMO with the strategic business objectives of Your Organization. The PMO will improve the throughput of business systems projects, lower costs, and improve resource utilization.
The PMO is the center of excellence for project management by providing project support services, and not overhead. It will increase visibility of the quality project management skills that Your Organization team will provide.
The main tasks of the PMO and the PM in preparation for and during an engagement are:
• Project Communication
• Project Planning
• Project Scheduling
• Risk Analysis
• Project Tracking/Measurement
• Implementation/Release
To Read The Entire Document please click on the Link below:
I thought you will like these web sites as well. Most of them should be free please always read the footnotes carefully.
Please note these are 3rd party web site and I don’t have any affiliation or partnership. Any usage by you or your company or anyone else is at your own discretion and I or my company bears no responsibility or liability. You are using it at your own risk.
1. Any kind of templates you need anything from writing a business plan, financial plan, a Will or any legal non-legal documentation and templates free at your disposal from the God Father itself: Microsoft
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx
2. If you want to have conference call with multiple users in different locations.
http://www.freeconferencecall.com/index.asp
3. Access to Web Page:
http://www.asp.net/community/projects/
4. Steps to Creating a Simple Form in FrontPage 2002:
http://www.microsoftfrontpage.com/content/ARTICLES/dbpower.html#_Toc517024652
http://www.surveymonkey.com/Default.aspx
6. To have share calendar. This tool is very useful if you want to use it for your social club so you can share meetings or dates of events with all the members:
7. Share PowerPoint presentations without email attachments
http://www.authorgen.com/authorpoint-lite-free/powerpoint-to-flash-converter.aspx
or slide share
8. Designing Flash Design
http://www.5min.com/Category/Arts/Digital
9. List of some free Applications
http://www.sharewareconnection.com/titles/find-the-difference.htm
10. Free Desktop remote connection must have skype installed. You can remotely connect to someone PC and have control. Both parties need to have Skype and Yugma on their desktop or laptop.
https://www.yugma.com/share_skype.php
11. To set-up a meeting web site for your cluc, social club or non-profit agency
12. Free Gantt Chart application to show the progress of your project
13. Free Blog page for any kind of blogger
14. All Kind of great free tools from www.google.com
http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/
I mainly use Book Search, Picassa and Groups

Five Forces Analysis helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products. For example, Dell would analyse the market for Business Computers i.e. one of its SBUs.
Five forces analsysis looks at five key areas namely the threat of entry, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry.
The threat of entry.
The power of suppliers tends to be a reversal of the power of buyers.
Just to let you know this the reference for this article if you needed more information:http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_fivefoces.htm
Have you ever successfully planned a birthday party, a wedding, a charity event? If so, aside from any embarrassing moments that may have occurred, chances are you’ve got a handle on the basic project planning and management process. Interestingly, these types of projects often experience the same basic issues that large corporate projects do. Even strong, organised and experienced planners have found themselves managing a project that ends up in chaos and results in missed deadlines and budget overruns.
While certainly not an exhaustive list, the following are some common pitfalls that projects experience and some tips to help make a project more successful and avoid the potential for chaos.
A shared vision (or goals) and expected project outcomes across key stakeholders is key to managing project efforts and avoiding scope creep.
Words of Wisdom: Facilitate your stakeholders to the creation of a common vision and ensure that they own the vision and the ultimate solution.
Strong planning and organisational skills are essential traits of a successful Project Manager.
Words of Wisdom: The devil is in the detail. Review your plans at least twice daily. It’s the best 15-20 minutes you’ll ever spend.
Words of Wisdom: Don’t assume that senior leaders are the only ones that should be in your sights. Keep a laser focus on decision makers and those who directly impact your project.
“Mum’s the word” is not a mantra any project manager should embrace. Project managers who are new to project management or are managing a different type of project than they’ve managed before can have a steep learning curve.
Words of Wisdom: Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s better to ask for help then to place a project at risk. Let’s face it, every project has its ups and downs but it’s what you, as the Project Manager, do to handle the good and the bad that leads to project success and avoids project chaos.
Reference: From Internet an Article by Claudine Sirgant
Reference:http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/avoiding-project-management-pitfalls.html
some other good references:http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/news/column/0,294698,sid92_gci1344193,00.html
This article was from a website. Here are other good website related to this topic;
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/291023/Web_Site_ROI
http://mashable.com/2009/10/27/social-media-roi/
http://www.webpagemistakes.ca/website-roi/
The purpose of standardization is to compare things or people with a known standard. Standards can be found throughout our daily lives but why do we need them?
Rather than asking why we need standards, we might usefully ask ourselves what the world would be like without standards.
Products might not work as expected. They may be of inferior quality and incompatible with other equipment, in fact they may not even connect with them, and in extreme cases; non-standardized products may even be dangerous.
Standardized products and services are valuable User ‘confidence builders’, being perceived as:
As a result, standardized goods and services are widely accepted, commonly trusted and highly valued.
Standards provide the foundation for many of the innovative communication features and options we have come to take for granted, and they contribute to the enhancement of our daily lives – often invisibly.
We need look no further for evidence than the GSM™ standard which facilitates mobile communication the world over between (for example):
ICT standards are vital for efficient manufacturing:
Standardization brings important benefits to business including a solid foundation upon which to develop new technologies and an opportunity to share and enhance existing practices.
Standardization also plays a pivotal role in assisting Governments, Administrations, Regulators and the legal profession as legislation, regulation and policy initiatives are all supported by standardization.
Regarding publishing industry, standardization ensures consistency and comparability of knowledge in terms of its quality and content and ensures objective measurement and positive evaluation of knowledge. Participants subjected to the standardization process conform to a known standard that is widely recognized as acceptable and usable.
The landscape of publishing industry especially for higher education books and programs varies greatly, thus causing an inconsistent environment. Factors contributing to the variability include:
(1) proliferation of business schools and degrees with different reputation levels,
(2) different curriculum formats with uneven content and quality,
(3) educators focusing more on research (theory) and less on profession (practice),
(4) educators having work experience more in the classroom and less in the real world,
(5) variety of admissions standards, teaching methods, and learning outcomes, and
(6) number of degree formats and specialized programs with different timelines for completion.
The variability creates many uncommon denominators in management education, business schools, law schools etc.. Currently, graduate business education is inconsistent in scope, size, quality, and content thus making it very difficult to compare and contrast between business schools and educational programs they offer.
Standardization becomes more important when things are in a constant state of flux or where one person’s knowledge cannot be compared with that of another because of very few common denominators. Until now, employers and recruiters had no objective method of evaluating and differentiating job applicants.
Areas to standardize:
If companies fail to understand the importance of standardization over period of time chaos and miscommunication will overtake and company will start to see the setback.
References:
Various Articles from internet
m-Commerce vs. e-Commerce
In the past only a few retailers had that capability since only a few vendors had the market share to provide m-commerce technology such as Digby, mPoria Inc, Unbound Commerce. However due to the trend more and more e-commerce retailers are realizing the potential and are taking advantage of the low competition, such as IBM.
I think this is an interesting trend and one that I am excited to see where it is heading.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that’s often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams.
A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic — a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access). Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.
A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet. (Currently, Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud provider.) A private cloud is a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. When a service provider uses public cloud resources to create their private cloud, the result is called a virtual private cloud. Private or public, the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.
A few cool things I have found that you can share with anyone:
Here I want to share with you some of my power point presentations:
Introduction
After many years working here as a project manager I have come to a conclusion that many companies lack standardized processes in doing business. That lack of standardization and clear definition of process and WBS can cause many times confusion and miscommunication and mainly can hurt the end user (customer), who in most casse will drop you for the competition because of mere these reasons:
I highly recommend that companies or small businesses look into their processes by doing business process mapping which will enable them to identify each processes and the underlying task and recognize bottle necks and to rectify these issues before they lose more customers to competition.
What is Business Process Mapping (BPM)
Business Process Mapping is an approach to analyzing traditional processes in a business that combine IT and HR management. Business Process Management (BPM) can improve business performance.
Using technologies and a competent workforce, Business Process Mapping can be effective and starts with a commitment to a strategic vision from senior executives. Its scope can be broad but focused and can apply to cross multiple business functions. Its goals should be visionary and ambitious.
Rationale for Business Process Mapping (BPM)
It is inevitable that small businesses must implement BPM at some point in time the sooner the better. The business climate requires constant process updates.
Many small businesses have to change constantly in order to adapt to their external environment are consistently being presented with the following questions:
1. Is the competition better?
2. How can we improve?
3. What things really need to be changed?
By giving answers to the above questions, small business owners are challenged to put new processes, procedures, and technologies into place to affect the profitability and future growth of their business.
Factors that require process change and improvement
We can define the following items as major driving factors for process improvement:
1. Customer Service Concerns
2. Daily Operations Costs
3. Employee Productivity
4. Work Process Cycle Time
5. Constant Advances in Technology
6. Competitive Challenges in the Marketplace
7. Organization Infrastructure
By looking at the above factors one can infer that there are two that can cause devastating damages if ignored and they are:
Competitive Marketplace Drives Process Change
The nature of today’s competitive business environment drives differentiation. Companies are challenged on a daily basis to watch and understand what their competition is offering. The following factors have a direct impact on this competitiveness and the efficiency a company has to meet these needs.
• Customer Satisfaction
• Customer Needs
• Productivity
• Products and Services
• Cost
• Document Usage
Business Process Mapping Methodology
Structured Approach
In order to achieve successful change in a process, a structured Business Process Methodology must be used. I have found the following four step methodology to be very effective.
1. Identify and Select the Processes
2. Map the Processes
3. Redesign the Processes
4. Implement the Solution
Conclusion
The muda, mura and muri that currently is present as well as the inefficiency and ineffectiveness to deliver is all as a result of lack of standardization and processes. The commitment to process improvement and Kaizen starts from the top to the bottom it is an attitude change towards efficiency and effectiveness that can result into productivity, motivation and increase in the customer attrition rate.
There is no excuse to produce bad product; however that is avoidable by implementing project management methodologies certified by PMI institution a swell as Six Sigma concept DMAIC.
The main support in successful implementation must come from the top to the bottom.
I always thought of IT as a tool as a cost center and an area where it is the back bone for a business growth and provides the competitive advantage that a business can leverage its competiveness and position in the market against other businesses.
IT department should never be placed in a position that can make decisions in a way that it defines the direction and visions of the business.
The argument is then what about in a software development organization?
I would answer the same thing.
Think of Software and Application Development Company as your Pharmaceutical companies where they rely heavily on the R&D department. The R&D departments in Pharmaceutical companies don’t drive the business they are the tool and the backbone to provide the support that helps the business and makes sure that it can align business goals and objectives with its mission and vision.
IT department should never be put in a position that can make key strategic decision to drive the business and define its direction in the market. IT must be looked as a service provider in any organization. If the leaders in the IT department don’t comprehend that position and have a false understanding of their role then they are making a big mistake. IT leadership must understand that they are there to support the organization and must align their goals and objective with the business goals and objective at the end of the day IT provides a service and as a service provider they are a cost center in the organization.
IT department needs to work collaboratively with other departments in the organization to provide the services and tools that is needed to make the organization to be competitive and become successful.
Many people who are placed as leaders in the IT department lack leadership understanding and usually lose perspective of their role. Thus put the IT department and their employees in great danger by creating waste, scrap and inefficiencies, from bad decision making in how to drive the department by purchasing technologies to bad hiring and poor planning.
After many years working as a developer then project manager in the IT setting environment I came to the conclusion that for an IT department to be successful it must understand that it is a service provider and a tool. That doesn’t mean that they have to stop innovation or continuous improvement, no , what it means is that they are there to be the backbone and one of the many pillars of the organization.
How many times you have been placed in an environment where the organization has never have had exposure to project management or has a wrong understanding of what project management is about?
First we must understand what the role of a project manager is. A while ago I tried to understand the role of a project and wrote a short blog with the title: “Who is a project manager and what their responsibilities are?”
Since then I came to the understanding that the Project Manager’s role is also defined by the organization’s culture and past experiences with project management and methodologies as well as the leadership acceptance of this role.
Let me make this clear as well that Project Management is not just Gantt Chart and setting-up meetings. Project management is the whole nine yard as defined by PMI. So, if the organization doesn’t have any PMO and has no prior project management experience refer them to the PMI and start implementing the PMI framework within the organization. PMI is a well respected entity and one that has hundreds of thousands of members globally.
Many organization who ignore the project management methodologies and think that PM are just here to negotiate and set-up meetings then they should hire project coordinators and not project managers.
Project Managers are involved from the beginning of the project to the end of the project. They might not be involved with all the facet of the project the 9 knowledge base areas but they are there to add value and making sure that the project is coming to the completion within the budget and on time.
Companies that lack Project Management are the ones that lack process and standardized way of implementing a project thus they are more likely to deliver a project over the budget and not on time. Most this organization also has inefficiencies through out the organization and has lack of understanding of their customers.
Project Management is more than just delivering a project it is to add value, it is to make sure that project managers can help improve processes or introduce standards and bench mark against other companies with the same field.
If an organization has a PMO makes sure to implement their processes and principles. It is the PMO’s job to ensure that all project managers adhere to the principles and standards of the PMO and everyone is implementing in consistent fashion and norm.
So going back to answer the question of what you do as a project manager within a non-project management environment I would say adhere to project management principles and philosophies set by PMI then try to customize it in order to fit to the organizations need and demand for project managers.
Other Related Articles by Amir
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 5 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 12 posts. There was 1 picture uploaded, taking a total of 21kb.
The busiest day of the year was January 13th with 53 views. The most popular post that day was m-Commerce vs. e-Commerce & Cloud Computing.
The top referring sites in 2010 were linkedin.com, lmodules.com, 1harga.com, bigextracash.com, and facebook.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for pest analysis, pestel analysis, pestle analysis, pest analyse, and pest analysis diagram.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
m-Commerce vs. e-Commerce & Cloud Computing January 2010
1 comment
Free Web Tools April 2009
How can Project Management implement Project Management methodologies in a non-project management driven organization? November 2010
1 on 1 Consulting Firm LLC Providing Quality IT Solution April 2009
How to gain/retain your customer? March 2010
1 comment
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Sun Tzu
“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.” Sun Tzu
“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.” Sun Tzu
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” Sun Tzu
“Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before.” – Shigeo Shingo
“Are you too busy for improvement? Frequently, I am rebuffed by people who say they are too busy and have no time for such activities. I make it a point to respond by telling people, look, you’ll stop being busy either when you die or when the company goes bankrupt.” – Shigeo Shingo
“All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the time line by reducing the non-value adding wastes.” – Taiichi Ohno
“The only place that work and motion are the same thing is the zoo where people pay to see the animals move around” (not exact phrase) – Taiichi Ohno
“Where there is no Standard there can be no Kaizen” – Taiichi Ohno
“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” ……………………… VOLATIR
“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.“
W. Edwards Deming
“Information is not knowledge. The world is drowning in information but is slow in acquisition of knowledge. There is no substitute for knowledge.” W. Edwards Deming
“If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” Henry Ford
As project managers we work with projects that require a great deal of personal decision making as well as judgments. Our actions and behaviors can have great impact on the delivery of the project.
I always argue that as a project manager one must adhere to highest level of ethical behavior and do things that is always right. As a project manager we must always follow PMI standards and stick to PMBOK as well as our company’s ethical standards and the organizational culture.
One way one can achieve this is by been very objective and use common sense.
But what do you do when another project manager is not following the ethical standards. Do we as project managers report such a behavior to our superior or approach the project manager him/herself?
You must have had come across a project manager who is involved in conflict of interests, his/her projects are way over the budget and as a contractor is benefiting tremendously from the late delivery of the project. So what should you do as a project manager who notices this kind of behavior?
Then what do you do when not even your superiors respond to your complaint.
Do you know I am always reminded about Enron, Global Crossing and not to mention the recent economic fall out and financial disaster that has caused millions of people to be without jobs and in some cases without homes? I am not suggesting that in all these case it was project management involved. But there were employees involved who knew about something and didn’t have the chance to speak or didn’t speak out by choice which left their company and a whole country in turmoil.
How can one create awareness in situation when one’s intuition is suggesting things are not right?
If the upper management and the business doesn’t support open communication and does not value high standard of ethical practices, what can one do? Should someone sacrifice his employment and career for the sake of others and putting his own family in harm by raising the alarm? Or protect himself and his career while disregarding all the signs of unethical practices?
As human beings we always have that dilemma to fight against these questions and coming up with the right answers.
One thing I can suggest is that doing the right thing is never the wrong thing.
Sincerely;
Amir Nasiri, MBA, MIS, PMP
ASQ Six Sigma Certified, Hyperion Certified
http://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnasiri