Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
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A New Online Benchmarking Tool
| Situation: You want better assess project risk. ITProjectMetrics.com is a rather crude looking online tool - but the people who put it together may have really hit on something. The site gathers project information (both demographics and performance data) from people like you, then lets you know how different factors might affect project success. At this point the sample size is too small (86 projects), but we could all help change that if we were so inclined. Everyone wants benchmarks and everyone wants to better understand risk from every angle. These sorts of things help you define success and make sure you don't stumble over common obstacles that should have been avoided. You only enter project data on completed efforts. Here's what the current breakout looks like:
Here are a few examples of the data you'll get back from the site:    |
Posted on: October 18, 2008 01:46 PM
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StrengthFinder 2.0
| Situation: You want to create a stronger personal brand. Being a Project Manager means you are in one of the hottest professions out there today. In the current economy, that's  a really good thing. So you have solid experience. You're either certified or "certifiable". -- but can you name your top 3-5 strengths? Even more importantly, is your every day work playing to those strengths? Sometimes the hardest part of this sort of self-reflection is finding an easy way to get started. Now, there's a quick and easy to do just that with StrengthFinder 2.0. About StrengthFinder 2.0 (from the website) "Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" — Benjamin Franklin Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder helped millions to discover their top five talents. In StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more. While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades. Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself — and the world around you — forever. A week ago, a friend (Jim Garrettson) recommended this book and described the impact it had on his life. He said,"Imagine being able to name your top five strengths - what a gift that is!" I think he had a point - most people can't do that. So I grabbed the book, took the test and ended up buying several for some of the folks in gantthead. In fact, I think I'm going to buy one for everyone that works with me. It's not perfect, but it only takes about an hour to read the book and another half hour to take the test. At the very least, it causes you to stop and think about your strengths and what you are doing to leverage them. |
Posted on: October 18, 2008 01:24 PM
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Corporate Twitter?
| Situation: You think that constant communication may make your organization more effective. At least ten times over the past month I've been asked, "Does gantthead offer the equivalent of Twitter?" To which I've  responded "no" repeatedly. For most people, Twitter is one of those things that you either get and love or think is completely pointless. I have a Twitter account that I've not used in a year, but every week more people "follow" me on it.For those of you who don't know what Twitter is - it's a "micro blogging" tool. This means that people with accounts are constantly texting short blurbs about what they are doing in to the system. They are also receiving "Tweets" from those who they are following. It's sort of a "Everybody knows what everyone else is doing" sort of thing. In theory, there might be some utility in this sort of thing within the context of your work environment. It could answer questions like: What does Joe do all day? or Is Sarah is finishing up that report? After a long hot day of "tweeting" it could also make you a touch more reflective about how you spend your own time. Looking at it as a running logbook or diary kind of makes you think about whether you should have spent an hour chatting in Mark's office or 15 minutes posting to your blog --- oh enough about me. Well at least one tool vendor believes that microblogging is in your future. Yammer is Twitter for corporate types. Here's how they describe their tool. Yammer is a tool for making your organization more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: "What are you working on?" You can use Yammer to:
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Posted on: September 11, 2008 03:36 PM
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Enterprise PPM Best Practices - What's Important?
Situation: You are coming up on a PPM implementation and want to focus your efforts. We recently spoke with the folks at HP who have very significant experience and tools with some of the largest scale PPM efforts out there. A quick look at some of the analyst reports will show you the scale that they work on, which is complex and often high risk. They were kind enough to share the following list of best practices with us. I'll give you the list and share some of my personal opinions on the topic. I'd certainly love to hear yours as well. A list like this can be dry to those who haven't experienced the importance of some of these things first hand. The war stories are what make them come alive - so please share them. My personal pick of these is under team structure. I think that most PPM implementations fail because they lack ongoing commitment - a long range plan and most importantly PEOPLE that will see it through long-term. Organizations often invest heavily in tools and up front implementation, but resist investments in the people who can really make it all work. Tools only facilitate these sorts of solutions. People make it happen. What's your pet best practice in PPM?
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Posted on: August 29, 2008 01:12 PM
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Trends in PPM Tool Selection and Implementation
| Situation: You are thinking about how PPM fits at your org... I recently spoke with Demian Entrekin, CTO of Innotas about the trends his organization is seeing in the marketplace. Although every tool vendor obviously has an angle to sell, Demian isn’t your typical product pusher. Together we worked through what's going on now (at a high level) as more companies take on serious PPM efforts. Hopefully this will be helpful if you're in one of those companies where PPM is a promising new approach or you're giving it a second try after a lackluster first effort. SaaS vs In-house Implementations A key choice up front in the selection process is whether your organization is biased toward SaaS or in-house solution. Take a look at each of the drivers listed and see which way our company inherently leans. Some say that people don't change. The same sometimes holds true for companies. So this table could give you a real view into the future. Based on our conversation, here are some key drivers.
This is, of course, just a high-level review of selection criteria. Hopefully enough to “get smart” quickly as you begin your search. If you want a more detailed look at selection criteria, take a look at the selection tool published on Projects@Work. Who Feels Your Pain? Demian tells me they see three basic problems (pain points) when they approach a new customer. They try to focus on ONE at a time. If you think about the pain points in the chart below, it’s very much a question of maturity. It's likely that the success of your first efforts will depend not on having project prioritized right away, but on achieving that next level of maturity. So as you look at tools, think about the maturity of your organization and how well each candidate tool will support your efforts in that next critical area. This applies not just to the tool itself, but to the services and best practices that come with it. Many of these efforts are half tool and half process. As you narrow your search, map out how you will tackle each pain point and think about which has the greatest chances for success.
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Posted on: July 18, 2008 03:21 PM
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