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/2010/08/28/podcast-episode-062-mindmanager-9/ http://pm411.org/2010/08/28/podcast-episode-062-mindmanager-9/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:29:36 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=1693 http://pm411.org/2010/08/28/podcast-episode-062-mindmanager-9/feed/ 1 Communication,mindmanager,mindmapping,Organization,pm software Today I talk with Neil Mendelson, Vice President of Products at Mindjet, about their new version of MindManager, MindManager 9. Today I talk with Neil Mendelson, Vice President of Products at Mindjet, about their new version of MindManager, MindManager 9. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 16:01 http://pm411.org/2010/04/11/podcast-episode-058-virtual-team-tips-with-the-cranky-middle-manager/ http://pm411.org/2010/04/11/podcast-episode-058-virtual-team-tips-with-the-cranky-middle-manager/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 01:51:45 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=1277 http://pm411.org/2010/04/11/podcast-episode-058-virtual-team-tips-with-the-cranky-middle-manager/feed/ 21 Communication,cranky middle manager show,monitoring and controlling,pm software,PM Video,remote team,Teams,virtual team,wayne turmel Recently I spoke with the very smart, funny, and dare I say, Cranky, Wayne Turmel about virtual teams. Wayne Turmel is the president of Greatwebmeetings.com, as well as the host of one of the world's most successful business podcasts, Recently I spoke with the very smart, funny, and dare I say, Cranky, Wayne Turmel about virtual teams. Wayne Turmel is the president of Greatwebmeetings.com, as well as the host of one of the world's most successful business podcasts, The Cranky Middle Manager Show. The BBC, ABC and BusinessWeek Online have called Cranky Middle Manager one of the best HR blogs out there. And Wayne's book 6 Weeks to a Great Webinar: Generate Leads and Tell Your Story to the World is the leading web presentation book on Amazon.com. Wayne is also a contributor to BNET. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 36:23 http://pm411.org/2009/12/12/podcast-episode-051-is-the-wbs-just-bs/ http://pm411.org/2009/12/12/podcast-episode-051-is-the-wbs-just-bs/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:53:57 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=842 http://pm411.org/2009/12/12/podcast-episode-051-is-the-wbs-just-bs/feed/ 2 Communication,josh nankivel,mindmapping,monitoring and controlling,planning,pmstudent,project lifecycle,training,wbs,wbs coach,work breakdown structure 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. - Way back in Episode 004, 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. Way back in Episode 004, I discussed one of the key building blocks of a successful project, known as the Work Breakdown Structure or WBS.  However, it is pretty evident that there is still a lot of confusion in Project Management on whether we truly need a WBS on our projects, how to structure a WBS, and how to use it throughout a project’s lifecycle.  In this episode I welcome back to the show pmstudent.com blogger and WBS expert Josh Nankivel as we dive deeper into the topic of the Work Breakdown Structure. Josh  has recently published a set of training tools called the WBS coach to help those of us that need to know how to create a WBS or those of us that just need a refresher on WBS development.  So is the WBS just…  BS?  Josh and I talk about why more PMs don’t use the WBS, we discuss whether it really helps in project planning, and finally we talk about the right and wrong ways of developing a WBS. So what the heck is a WBS? The WBS is a special kind of outline for your project.  It is deliverables-based, focused on project results, and usually includes a graphic hierarchy and a WBS dictionary.  Basically, it is a representation of your project scope. However, the WBS is not a task list, organizational chart, and it shouldn’t be time phased. Why should teams use Work Breakdown Structures? A lot of project managers don’t use a WBS as a tool on their project, or they see it as just another piece of paperwork.  But the WBS is the representation of scope on your project.  All deliverables, services, outcomes of your project should be covered by your project WBS. The WBS also provides clear definition of what the project will be producing.  It provides a common language and helps to structure reporting so that there is a common understanding with stakeholders.  It also provides a strong foundation for your project. The WBS also helps with clear change control.  The WBS provides traceability if anything changes to help team members and stakeholders understand how changes impact the project. Parts of the Work Breakdown Structure The “WBS Graphic” includes some kind visual hierarchy of the scope and how the deliverables are related.  There are a lot of tools that can create a WBS hierarchy – mindmaps, Visio, and even Microsoft Word. The “WBS Dictionary” goes into detail on each deliverable of the WBS.  The key to the WBS dictionary is to first define what is included and then create the details of what that deliverable is.  Many teams also create an “exclusions list” that specifies what is not included in the project scope in order to provide additional clarity to what the team is planning on delivering. “Deliverables” can be defined as anything that is results-oriented (e.g. a system, a sub-system, etc.) Josh differs from the PMI on the definition of “activities.”  Josh sees activities as a special kind of deliverable that are service-oriented (e.g. “project management,” “configuration management,” etc.) The “work package” is the lowest level of your WBS after decomposition.  You will later want to use your work packages to do activity definition, duration estimations, cost estimations, etc. “Control accounts” track your costs and progress on a particular piece of the WBS.  However, again, tasks are not part of the Work Breakdown Structure. So, why is there so much confusion around the WBS? One reason is because the WBS is typically understated in many PM textbooks and PM classes.  Whenever it is mentioned, it is usually just presented as a basic overview rather than providing details on how to create and manage a WBS.  Also, there is quite a bit of disagreement on how to create and use the WBS.  Unfortunately, Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 50:01 http://pm411.org/2009/11/20/podcast-episode-050-wrike-and-pm-2-0/ http://pm411.org/2009/11/20/podcast-episode-050-wrike-and-pm-2-0/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:34:05 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=806 http://pm411.org/2009/11/20/podcast-episode-050-wrike-and-pm-2-0/feed/ 0 collaboration,Communication,software,Teams,wrike Today we talk with Andrew Filev.  Andrew has been managing software teams since 2001 with the help of new-generation collaboration and management applications. His best practices are based on implementation of Enterprise 2. Today we talk with Andrew Filev.  Andrew has been managing software teams since 2001 with the help of new-generation collaboration and management applications. His best practices are based on implementation of Enterprise 2.0 software in project management. Now Andrew is an expert in project management, a successful software entrepreneur and the CEO at Wrike.com, online project management software. Andrew is also the author of some influential project management articles, including works for Cutter IT Journal, Web 2.0 Journal and Agile Journal. Andrew is often invited to speak at conferences, symposiums and seminars. Andrew has given speeches on new trends in project management and on implementing Enterprise 2.0 strategies. He spoke at such events as the PMI Silicon Valley Tools and Techniques Forum, Office 2.0 Conference, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Project Management Symposium and others. Andrew’s ideas about improving traditional project management are reflected in his popular Project Management 2.0 blog (http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement). In today’s episode we find out more about Wrike and what Project Management 2.0 is all about.   Plus we are giving away some more freebies! Project Management 2.0 So, what is the difference between traditional project management and Project Management 2.0.  Traditional project management is focused on the project manager being the center of the team’s communication hub. It places the manager in the center of the project work, as they need to collect all the information from team members, process it, and then communicate to various project stakeholders, including upper management.  Project planning can especially be hard and time consuming since all the project information is concentrated only around a single person — the project manager.   This contributes significantly to what a project manager spends 90% of their time doing – communicating. New-generation project management tools make it possible to create a collaborative team space, and everyone involved in the project is able to contribute to the project work in this space. Project planning and communication is distributed around the whole team, and each team member has the full information on the project. Project progress is visible to everyone on the team. The project manager’s role is transformed from the traditional taskmaster to become a project visionary as they focus more on the right direction for the project development. The new-generation tools take away part of the typical traditional burden of project management and allows the project manager to focus more on leading the project team. With Project Management 2.0 collective team insight and collaboration driving a project, people and businesses are accomplishing much more than when they did with traditional project management information funneling.   With Project Management 2.0, the project management of a project is built around the work, rather than the work being forced to conform to a particular project management system.   Collective intelligence systems, such as wikis, mashups, and dekis have allowed teams to share information more easily. Now, New-generation technologies have brought collective intelligence into the project management process.   and open the way to another successful practice, emergent structures, where the one-to-many approach of conventional Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) is replaced by a many-to-many approach of work package delivery. Together, these powerful principles determine key differences between Project Management 2.0 and traditional project management: Bottom-up planning is utilized much more often and much more efficiently Tools help to communicate and reduce unnecessary burden Instead of using one work-breakdown structure that is designed before the project is started, multiple structures might be applied and they can evolve on the way. Wrike Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 29:39 http://pm411.org/2009/08/30/are-you-connected/ http://pm411.org/2009/08/30/are-you-connected/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:38:06 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=654 http://pm411.org/2009/08/30/are-you-connected/feed/ 1 http://pm411.org/2008/08/07/the-bigg-success-show-five-tips-for-more-effective-status-reports/ http://pm411.org/2008/08/07/the-bigg-success-show-five-tips-for-more-effective-status-reports/#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:49:15 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=300 http://pm411.org/2008/08/07/the-bigg-success-show-five-tips-for-more-effective-status-reports/feed/ 1 Communication,PM Podcasts,status reports,stoplight reporting,Templates Recently I was interviewed on one of my favorite podcasts, The Bigg Success Show, and I provided George and Mary-Lynn with 2 Tips for More Effective Project Status Reports. - Below I provide three additional tips for a total of five tips that will hel... Recently I was interviewed on one of my favorite podcasts, The Bigg Success Show, and I provided George and Mary-Lynn with 2 Tips for More Effective Project Status Reports. Below I provide three additional tips for a total of five tips that will help you write status reports that people will actually read! Tip #1 - Know your audience! Ask yourself these questions: Who will be reading your status report?  Team members? Management? Your customer? What level of detail does your audience require?  Don't make your audience dig through lots of details to get the information they really want. How frequently does your audience need updates - Daily, Weekly, Monthly? Tip #2 - Focus only on the exceptions! Look at just those issues that have changed since your previous report.  This will give your audience just the information that has changed since last report.  This will also help keep your report short and concise. Tip #3 - Make your report easy to read! Allow your audience to easily scan and find those details that interests them the most Use "Stoplight Reporting" on bulletpoints to communicate progress: - Green means everything is going according to plan. - Yellow means this particular item needs to be watched. - Red means that action is required. - Use Blue to indicate a particular issue has been resolved since the last report. Use short bullet points instead of paragraphs of prose to communicate information. Use tables to list the status of items like milestones, budget information, or product material cost. Tip #4 - Stay consistent! This means staying consistent in how you present your information as well as when you distribute your status reports. You want to stay consistent in how you present your information so your audience knows exactly where to find the information they need each time they read your report. Keep the sections in your report consistent. - Use a table of Project milestones with Planned completion dates and actual completion dates. - Provide a bulleted list of accomplishments since last report. - Provide a bulleted list of upcoming events and goals for the coming week or month. - Provide a bulleted list of current issues or risks - Provide a a table or list of links to other project documents like previous status reports, your project charter, your project budget, and project background information. Publish your status report consistently - Send it out on the same day by the same time every time. - If you send it out on Friday's by 4pm, always send it out on Fridays by 4pm. - With many mail clients, like Microsoft Outlook, you can even schedule the exact time when your status report is sent out.  However, mail clients have not figured out how to time travel, so you can't send out a status report in the past.  So if you are going to be late publishing a status report, send out a short email to your audience letting them know when they can expect it. Tip #5 - Ask your audience for feedback! Ask how could your status reporting be improved? Are your readers satisfied with the information you are providing? Could you provide any additional information? Is the frequency in which you publish your status reports adequate? Or Is it published too frequently and your audience has added you to their spam filters? You can download a free Status Report template, along with some other great templates, from www.pm411.org/templates. And be sure to check out The Bigg Success Show - it is published daily and provides some really great motivational ideas and techniques for your personal and professional life! Get the pm411.org Project Management Podcast delivered by email for free! - Your email address and personal information are confidential and will never be sold or rented. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 5:38 http://pm411.org/2008/03/23/the-front-fell-off/ http://pm411.org/2008/03/23/the-front-fell-off/#comments Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:26:29 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/2008/03/23/the-front-fell-off/ http://pm411.org/2008/03/23/the-front-fell-off/feed/ 0