http://pm411.org project management internet radio show, templates, and webtools Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:37:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The pm411.org Project Management Podcast is dedicated to help you at your job as a Project Manager or Program Manager, regardless if you have years of experience, or if you are just starting on your journey in Project Management. pm411.org is a place where you can come to find the latest in PM tools, PM Templates, PM tips, and PMI (PMBOK) methodologies that have been found to help others. It is a place where discussions can be had with project managers from around the globe and in every industry where project management permeates in our Project Management discussion forums. It is a place where you can find the best Project Management links to other sites dedicated to our wonderful profession. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no Ron Holohan, MBA PMP show@pm411.org show@pm411.org (Ron Holohan, MBA PMP) 2007-2012 Ron Holohan Project management internet radio show, discussion forum, methodology, templates, and webtools project, management, pm, prepcast, management, manager, pmi, pmp, team, management, schedule, budget http://pm411.org/wp-content/uploads/pm411logo_itunes.jpg http://pm411.org http://pm411.org/2011/08/25/podcast-episode-077-the-dirty-little-secret-of-business/ http://pm411.org/2011/08/25/podcast-episode-077-the-dirty-little-secret-of-business/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:07:02 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=2500 http://pm411.org/2011/08/25/podcast-episode-077-the-dirty-little-secret-of-business/feed/ 2 andy kaufman,behaviors,Communication,david allen,devora zack,ferrazzi,hillson,i-leadonline,networking,people and projects podcast,pm groups,pmi Recently I spoke with author, speaker, and executive coach Andy Kaufman. What I was interested in getting from Andy was what is behind what Andy calls “The Dirty Little Secret of Business” – you know, Recently I spoke with author, speaker, and executive coach Andy Kaufman. What I was interested in getting from Andy was what is behind what Andy calls “The Dirty Little Secret of Business” – you know, that one thing that can really make you or break you in your career as a project manager. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 41:24 http://pm411.org/2009/09/29/podcast-episode-047-schedule-killers-bad-multitasking/ http://pm411.org/2009/09/29/podcast-episode-047-schedule-killers-bad-multitasking/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:01:48 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://2086462238 http://pm411.org/2009/09/29/podcast-episode-047-schedule-killers-bad-multitasking/feed/ 6 behaviors,schedule killers,schedules,Teams Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast Newsletter delivered by email for free! - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented. - Today we continue our series on Schedule Killers – those tendenci... Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast Newsletter delivered by email for free! - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented. Today we continue our series on Schedule Killers – those tendenci... Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 22:56 http://pm411.org/2009/09/11/podcast-episode-046-schedule-killers-parkinsons-law/ http://pm411.org/2009/09/11/podcast-episode-046-schedule-killers-parkinsons-law/#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:08:22 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=666 http://pm411.org/2009/09/11/podcast-episode-046-schedule-killers-parkinsons-law/feed/ 8 behaviors,parkinson's law,schedule killers,Teams Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast Newsletter delivered by email for free! - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented. - Today we continue our series on Schedule Killers – those tendenci... Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast Newsletter delivered by email for free! - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented. Today we continue our series on Schedule Killers – those tendencies and traits of project teams that cause us to miss our deadlines!  Last episode we discussed “The Student Syndrome,” which is defined as “the phenomenon that many people will start to fully apply themselves to a task just at the last possible moment before a deadline.”   Today we talk about “Parkinson’s Law.” What is Parkinson’s Law? Parkinson’s Law, as it is known today, started as the first sentence of an essay that Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote for The Economist in 1955.  Parkinson was a British naval historian, public administration scholar, and author of over sixty books.  Parkinson’s claim that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” later was expanded to include how work expands in bureaucracies in his bestselling 1957 book, Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law is also often expressed as “The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource,” although the reverse is not true. I personally like to think of Parkinson’s Law as the “Ideal Gas Law” for projects.  No, I am not referring to the hot air that some project managers are famous for expelling.  But rather, if you think of the amount of work required to complete a task as a set number of gas molecules inside a sealed container, the gas would still fill the container if you were to make the container bigger.  Only the distance between the work molecules would be greater and there would be less pressure inside of the container.  However, if you were to reduce the size of the container or if someone were to apply “heat” to the system, the pressure would increase.  But if less “heat” were applied or if the container was allowed to grow, the volume of work would still expand to completely fill the container. So, what Parkinson’s Law states is that if you were to think of the size of a project task duration to be the analogy of a gas-filled container and you were able to successfully complete the work in 2 weeks, that same work would expand to fill 4 weeks if the task duration was expanded. So, if a team member finishes the required work in 2 weeks, they will typically keep the working on the task until it is absolutely required for them to turn their work deliverable over.  If they are given even more time to complete a task, they will still take the entire time allocated to them. The reason why this is a problem is because any “buffer” added to the individual task to protect the project end date is wasted by the effects of Parkinson’s Law extending individual task durations. Why Does Parkinson’s Law Occur? So why do people want to hang on to their work anyway?  You would think people would want to “get it off their desk” and start working on the next task, just like someone would with a “to do” list.  There are actually several reasons why Parkinson’s Law occurs. 1.)   People want to make their deliverable as good as possible. Unfortunately, people often equate this to improving the deliverable’s quality through adding additional features or performance even if it surpasses the task deliverable requirements.  Sometimes this is referred to “gold plating” or “polishing the apple.”  It has been shown that often times true quality is compromised.  A simple example is a presentation that someone continues to make “pretty” by adding a lot of extraneous graphics, colors, animations, and text that takes additional editing time and only serves to detract from the quality of the original presentation’s message. 2.)   People are afraid of turning in their work early.  Team members may feel that if they turn in their work early, Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 21:52 http://pm411.org/2009/08/22/podcast-episode-045-schedule-killers-student-syndrome/ http://pm411.org/2009/08/22/podcast-episode-045-schedule-killers-student-syndrome/#comments Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:01:58 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=610 http://pm411.org/2009/08/22/podcast-episode-045-schedule-killers-student-syndrome/feed/ 11 8/80,behaviors,schedule killers,student syndrome,Teams Today we will be starting a series on Schedule Killers – those tendencies and traits of project teams that cause us to miss our deadlines! And the first schedule serial killer of project teams that we will be discussing is called… “The Student S... Today we will be starting a series on Schedule Killers – those tendencies and traits of project teams that cause us to miss our deadlines! And the first schedule serial killer of project teams that we will be discussing is called… “The Student Syndrome!” In this episode we cover: 1.) What is Student Syndrome? 2.) What Causes Student Syndrome? 3.) How to Cure it Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 9:50