Or

2011 Report – Copy Paste the URL Link Below in your Address Bar

http://1on1consultingfirm.wordpress.com/2011/annual-report/

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:

The Spirit of SCRUM

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

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

- 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 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)

To read the article in full please click here ………………

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

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

1. Enthusiasm

2. Disillusionment

3. Panic

4. Search for the Guilty

5. Punishment of the Innocent

6. Praise and Honors for the Non Participants.

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:

ApproachtoAllignPMO