Project Estimates = Educated Guesses

http://www.gantthead.com/content/articles/240866.cfm

 

Company blames a failed IBM -run ERP project for its bankruptcy

 http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=583#comments

Abstract : ALF, a leading manufacturer of firetrucks, ambulances and other specialty vehicles, experienced a disastrous project run by IBM. It has filed a claim against IBM, which alleges that it was problems caused by the project that forced it into bankruptcy. Meanwhile, IBM is suing to recover over $5m it claims it is owed.

 

We don't resist changes but being changed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management

 

PESTLE Analysis

http://www.rapidbi.com/created/the-PESTLE-analysis-tool.html

PESTLE is a simple framework that helps understand the big picture of the Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors of the environment we are operating in. It can be used in conjunction with SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Some examples are:
Political -
Trading policies
Funding, grants and initiatives
International pressure groups
Wars and conflict
Government policies
Government term and change
Elections
Inter-country relationships/attitudes
Terrorism
Political trends
Governmental leadership
Government structures
Internal political issues
Shareholder/ stakeholder needs/ demands

Economic -
Home economy situation
Home economy trends
Overseas economies and trends
General taxation issues
Taxation changes specific to product/services
Seasonality/weather issues
Market and trade cycles
Specific industry factors
Market routes and distribution trends
Customer/end-user drivers
International trade/monetary issues
Disposable income
Job growth/unemployment
Exchange rates
Tariffs (i.e. duties)
Inflation
Interest and exchange rates
Consumer confidence index
Import/export ratios
Production level
Internal finance
Internal cash flow

Social -
Consumer attitudes and opinions
Media views
Law changes affecting social factors
Brand, company, technology image
Consumer buying patterns
Major social events and influences
Buying access and trends
Ethnic/religious factors
Advertising and publicity
Ethical issues
Demographics (age, gender, race, family size,)
Lifestyle changes
Population shifts
Education
Diversity
Immigration/emigration
Health
Living standards
Housing trends
Fashion & role models
Attitudes to work
Attitudes to people doing certain types of work
Leisure activities
Occupations
Earning capacity
Staff attitudes
Management style
Organizational culture
Changes to education system

Technological -
Competing technology development
Research funding
Associated/dependent technologies
Replacement technology/solutions
Maturity of technology
Manufacturing maturity and capacity
Information and communications
Consumer buying mechanisms/technology
Technology legislation
Innovation potential
Technology access, licensing, patents
Intellectual property issues
Global communications
Inventions
Innovations
New discoveries
Energy uses/sources/fuels
Rate of obsolescence
Collaboration tools
Software changes
Learning

Legal -
Current/future legislation
Local/national/international legislation
Regulatory bodies and processes
Environmental regulations
Employment law
Consumer protection
Industry-specific regulations
competitive regulations

Environmental -
Ecological
Environmental issues
Environmental regulations

Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2007 – city rankings

By Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Last updated: 18 June 2007

Toronto, the most expensive city in Canada, has dropped 35 places to position 82 (score 78.8). Calgary and Vancouver have also tumbled down the rankings, sliding from 71st place to 92nd and 56th to 89th respectively. Ottawa remains the cheapest Canadian city in 109th position scoring 72.3. Canadian cities have traditionally rated favourably in the worldwide ranking. The new scores reflect a low rate of inflation and stable housing prices. In addition, while it has appreciated slightly against the US Dollar, the Canadian Dollar has depreciated nearly 13% against the Euro since last year’s survey.

Four of the world’s top 10 costliest cities for expatriates are in Asia. Seoul ranks in 3rd place (score 122.4), Tokyo in 4th (122.1) and Hong Kong in 5th (119.4) – all have been pushed down one place this year.

Chinese cities have moved down the ranking this year. Beijing ranks 20th and scores 95.9, while Shanghai is in 26th place with a score of 92.1. Over the past 12 months, the value of the Chinese Yuan has decreased by around 6% against the Euro. This factor, together with a low inflation rate and stable property rental prices, has kept the major Chinese cities from moving up the ranking. Accommodation costs have not escalated because, while demand is increasing, the availability of high-quality rentals in these cities is also good.

In contrast, elsewhere in Asia, the cost of international-standard accommodation has pushed some cities up the ranking. For example, sharp increases in house prices have contributed to Singapore climbing from 17th to 14th position. Rising property prices have also caused Indian cities to move up the ranking – for example, Mumbai has jumped from position 68 to 52 (score 84.9).

Mind, Meditation and the Project Manager

By Umesh Dwivedi, PMP

The most common challenges that generate a stress level are:

• Unrealistic Deadlines
• Project Risk Factors
• Management Pressure
• Conflicting Situations
• Project Environment
• Competition
• Career Expectations

Here are some simple meditation steps:

• Find a place where you can sit quietly and comfortably without any disturbance
• Close your eyes
• Start relaxing your muscles gradually from the top of your head to your feet
• Breathe slowly and start focusing on rhythmic breathing
• Witness everything and judge nothing
• As you inhale visualise that you are absorbing energy and fresh air
• As you exhale visualise that you are freeing your stress and tension
• Repeat this for ten or twenty minutes
• Open your eyes

How to Win Friends and Influence People

This is Dale Carnegie's summary of his book, from 1936


Part One
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

• Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation.
• Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Part Two
Six ways to make people like you

• Become genuinely interested in other people.
• Smile.
• Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
• Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
• Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
• Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Part Three
Win people to your way of thinking

• The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
• Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
• If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
• Begin in a friendly way.
• Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
• Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
• Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
• Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
• Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
• Appeal to the nobler motives.
• Dramatize your ideas.
• Throw down a challenge.

Part Four
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

• Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
• Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
• Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
• Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
• Let the other person save face.
• Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
• Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
• Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
• Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Common Omissions in Estimating Software Project Costs

• effort of QA and special testing requirements
• effort of paperwork/documentation
• travel and meeting costs
• requirements creep (1~5% per month)
• project management/support effort
• user effort
• post-implementation support
• effort of handover/transition

 

Interviewing Taken Up a Notch

www.notchup.com

 

If all those innovations don't get you excited, consider getting paid to go for a job interview. NotchUp is a free service, currently available by invite only, for people who aren't looking for a new job but wouldn't mind keeping their hats in the ring—for a price. The NotchUp service helps you set a fee for which you are willing to interview (typically based on your line of work and depth of experience), and companies that like your qualifications pay that fee in addition to a markup to NotchUp for facilitating the interview. Companies including Google, Yahoo! (YHOO), and Facebook are already using NotchUp in their recruiting efforts.

Good Project Managers are Hard to Find! - By Harley Lovegrove

The basic skills required for a good project manager are the following:

• A strong desire to solve other people's problems
• The conviction that they are the best person to solve them
• Extreme resilience, the ability to bounce back after any setback
• A high emotional IQ
• A good memory for faces and names
• A clear, structured approach to every task
• A natural ability to plan (a good interim manager is always making lists)
• A strong sense of priorities
• The knack to sell anything to anyone (needed for lobbying)
• A willingness to learn from mistakes

Inspiring the team

Communicate -

• set a clear goal with reasonable approach to achieve it
• regularly recognize contributions and recommend ways to improve
• regularly communicate the progress

Stay Positive -

• identify possibility and opportunity in every challenge
• always focus on the strengths and develop them

Take Action -

• remove obstacles
• remove under-performers
• get hands dirty when necessary
• be a role-model of accountability

PM R&R (sample)

• Providing project and program management expertise to multiple large Information Systems initiatives within the Department.
• Providing Data and Systems integration expertise to the Department.
• Providing Program Management guidance and support to Government PMs.
• Overseeing the management of complex, multi-track integration projects by balancing scope, time, cost and quality. Leading the development and tracking of integrated project plans.
• Overseeing the development of project deliverables. Identifying and managing project and/or program issues. Assessing and managing risk within, and across, multiple projects. Maintaining project tracking and reporting systems
• Responsible for ongoing client satisfaction and Manages Executive level client relationships (expectations, communications, negotiations, escalation, feedback etc). Develops relationships with, and ensures the appropriate participation of, key client stakeholders and client executives.

The largest IT service providers

IBM
EDS
Accenture
CSC

The One-Page Project Manager

MS Licensing Options

Ø There are two distinct types of licenses at Microsoft - internal use licenses and commercial services licenses.
Ø Licenses acquired through the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Full Packaged Products (FPP), Open, Select, and Enterprise Agreement (EA) programs are for the use by the contracting entity and its affiliates.
Ø Service Providers cannot acquire licenses through these programs in order to provide commercial or hosted services to their customers.
Ø The Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) provides 3rd party commercial use rights to service providers
Ø Customers Providing Own Licenses
o Service Providers can provide services to their customers by having their customers provide all the necessary Server and Client Assess Licenses (CALs).
o End users cannot use their own Client Access Licenses to access services from a server which is licensed by the service provider. These end user customers will retain licenses to their Microsoft software if their relationship with the service provider terminates. When end users choose to outsource services to a service provider, but acquire their own Select or Enterprise Agreement (EA) licenses, the service provider should have their customers submit a Hosting License Verification Form to Microsoft, then retain a copy for their records.

http://www.gantthead.com/

Virtual Team - Real Humans

Make sure team members spend time together at the beginning of a project. This will allow them to develop a sense of who their teammates are and of how to work most effectively with them.

Healthy teams are built on foundations of trust and understanding that allow team members to share and debate ideas, and to commit to shared goals. Humans are social beings and develop trust by interacting with one another, not by working in isolation.

The cost of getting together in terms of direct expense is easy to determine; the benefit of getting together to build trust is invaluable.

- PMI Community Post. Thanks to Brian R. King, P.Eng, PMP, for contributing this tip.

Communication Style

1. Back-office vs. front office
2. Client vs. customer
3. Dates - June 1991 or October 1, 2003, or Nov. 10, or the 12th of May
4. Dollars - CDN$12 million or US$10 million
5. e-words - e-business, e-government, e-mail
6. Healthcare (not health care)
7. Home page (not homepage)
8. Internet (not internet)
9. Italicize titles of books, magazines, newspapers while place "titles of shorter works" (e.g. articles, reports, studies) in quotation marks
10. Nearshore (not near shore)
11. Spell out a number (unless a calendar year) at the beginning of a sentence
12. Spell out whole numbers below 10, except $2 million or $20 billion
13. Use a hypen after words ending in "y" when large numbers must be spelled out (e.g. five hundred fifty-two)
14. Spell out "percent", use % where space is limited
15. Offshore (not off-shore) vs. onshore (not on-shore)
16. Offsite (not off-site) vs. onsite (not on-site)
17. Online (not on-line)
18. Telephone numbers - (123) 345-7890, ext. 1234 or 1-800-111-2222
19. Time - 9:00 a.m., 10:00 p.m., noon, midnight
20. Vice-president (not vice president)

Create a winning team

1. Start a WBS and see who and what you need
2. Make a list of the skills your resources need to complete the work
3. Start the work authorization process early so that time for your project is blocked out on the resource's schedule
4. Plan training that helps the team succeed
5. Plan groud rules
6. Set up work space
7. Clarify who will be responsible for hiring, firing and performance assessments
8. Choose your leadership style

Columbia Software Engineering Project Manangement