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Category Archives: Project Management (PM)
How-To Get Educated in the Security Knowledge Area?
I have been asked by a fellow IT consultant about how-to get a solid education in the Security Knowledge Area – in the broader sense of both physical and IT – but not overly in-depth IT/computer detailed.
Short answer and what I think professionally is a good solid approach:
- certify in CompTIA Security+
- BUT first certify in CompTIA Network+, and I would further suggest CompTIA Project+
This gives you vendor neutral security service language. This way you learn anindustry standardized approach to security that has a strong requirement of network security knowledge area and provides a good knowledge base of physical security. (For more details to the my blog: http://i4Aid.WordPress.com/)
Why?
One CompTIA is basically vendor neutral. Most of the major software platform heavily bias their certifications course to their vendor service language and marketing language usage. In today’s market place most of the software have reached an on-par implementation of industry standard deployment. Thus, you avoid limiting yourself to one particular vendor current implemented platform approach and you can comply with many of the government security certification requirements. Furthermore, this industry standardized service language knowledge based education will last you into the foreseeable future (possibly 10+ years or more) and make you more flexibility for career advancement and changes.
AmConstitution – America Constitution
i4Aid is designing and developing AmConstitution.com as a hub website for AmConstitution organization to promote and inform American citizen about it vision and mission to inform people on the Internet about my the American Constitution is a citizen ratified document and offer classes to inform people about the American Constitution as well as providing books and blog issues in a public community forums.
SEM+SOA(Security+)+SEO Framework Methodology with Business Scaffolding Approach
i4Aid has enhanced their IT consulting practice to a short-hand expression of SEM+SOA(Security+)+SEO as a scaffolding approach to transforming business vision while integrating IT service capabilities. It works just like remodeling a building – you start by building a scaffolding consulting framework. Then point-to-point you start changing different parts of the business but start at the top by building a new enterprise vision, mission and goals for the business – then you develop framework for produce-lines or product channels – all the way to a single product and or service item by recasting service capabilities and maximizing SEO values for hub website and social networks. This moves a firm into the future of a fully actualizing there business vision in a cloud Internet environment – into an actualize, relationalized, modernized, futurized, and revenuizing business
This remodeling method stresses team goals not personal performance such that when a team goal is achieved the team is honored equally (it follows some Scrum rules) Also it promotes a choice cascading style of management such that empowerment is made policy at each level in a business or organization. This creates a growth pattern of management while promoting service capabilities and social networking possibilities for marketing and eCommerce.. Combining these team skills in a directed top-down approach – with a SEM+SOA(Security+)+SEO framework aligns business vision with marketing vision and integrates your vision into to very fabric of the service capabilities at all levels in the IT framework while promoting excellent SEO – thus achieve the business vision while promotng promoting cloud Internet actions.
Any Recommendations for Project Management Software?
One issue I have always had with most software project tool is load balancing between planning and implementing stages. The issue we need to plan the type of skill level with load balancing to project expected levels and types staffing per roles needed. Said another way, we use staffing by categories to forecast staffing by role needed – so we can consider roles needed in combination with learning level requirements. Consider, the skill level within a defined role of a given person changes very significantly between six, twelve, eighteen, and 24 months but is fairly constant from 2 years to 5 years. Thus, if your resources are limited to people with less than 2 years more training and supervision will be required with the six months level requiring the most. This same grading of level of experience applies equal to company knowledge (acculturation effect) level of experience, another significant forecasting issue that can increase funding levels. And so-on and so-on .
However, when we assign an actual person, they may fill more than one of these forecasted roles and they are usually over loaded (how about 120 for a 40 hour work week). Obviously you can’t avoid this overload skewing. It can be mitigated as long as it does overly skew monthly, quarterly or yearly manhour planning. Once the initial planning with overall WBS has been iterated a couple of times a guesstimate of actually staffing levels can be used, But this doesn’t guarantee the actual persons wanted can be acquired so recasting using a scheme such as PA1, PA2, etc can be used to possibly reduce the eventual skewing of actual person/role versus manhours forecasting. Also, one would like the system to keep this staff forecasting by role for comparison against actual staffing. More fun stuff…
LinkedIn: The Project Manager Network – #1 Group for Project Managers
Topic: Any recommendations for a project management software?
Success for Projects – Anything Over 85% Complete
Success for many projects is anything over 85% complete. Why 85% – you need to read on. Also, 4 out 5 successes is great but I’m talking major IT development project over 2 years. Many projects are just called complete based on a time period of 1 year (we did this at Toyota Motors, USA). Why? The reality is that there is always scope creep as stakeholders improve their business knowledge base and their expectations. The 2nd year starts a “new” project with all the new expectations and new goals (and partly for financial reasons).
We literally took all the completion requirement sheets, turned them over, took them off the table, and put a new, blank sheet of paper out to emphasize the past/old was done and now they could start asking what they wanted for the 2nd/next year. It was amazing thing to do and watch the shareholder expressions – but works! There is also a physiological and mental characteristic that says making something “old” and it becomes an accepted fact; you can do this mental switch by starting with a fresh blank piece of paper (this also works in training). And wait – for the other side to start talking about what “new” goals and requirements they want.
One very important aspect of completing a project is giving the staff a definite stopping point because they will continue to attempt to improve or correct software they don’t “feel” is complete. So many projects, phases, and major task points are just called by the lead analysis. On the other hand, you need to have a transition work path that pulls the staff away from the “completed” activities and forces them to devote all their time on the new, transition activities. This is why it is important that leads and project managers repeatedly and decisively call “completion”.
Yes, it takes some courage, experience, and firmness but that is part of being a leader.
LinkedIn: The Project Manager Network – #1 Group for Project Managers
Topic: Is it possible that Project Management can ever reach a point where all projects succeed?
Collaboration a Must for Social Networking
There are numerous ways to collaborate within social networks but also there are some non-effective ways. This discussion will highlight some pros and cons – please feel to make you choice which is which.
This discussion will provide some details about i4Aid revolutionary shorthand notion: SEM+SOA(Security+)+SEM analysis and design approach. Other design paradigms that will be discussed are Internet Facing End-Points and Customer Facing integrated combination or IT and personal customer mentoring/coaching.
How can a PM Effectively Overcome a Project Handed to Them in the Red?
Eugene M Murray’s First Response on Linked
First, remember what a sunken cost represents – that is, funds that have already been spent. Many of my clients unconsciously seemed to assume that some how the completion of the project would not only earn the original expected benefits but recapture this sunken cost already lost!
Mike Ellison has very good advice. For several projects, I just started by implementing what is call a positive, forward looking weekly management reports process. The whole notion takes some explaining so I will just give the expected result. Have people report what they have completed for the last 2 weeks and report what they are expecting to complete this week and forecast the next week (submitted on Friday). Have your lower level project leads review these reports in a staff meeting on Tuesday morning (why – another long explanation). The basic result is to emphasis completion and thus success – personal success at every level.
1 – This keeps things moving
2 – Starts to develop an attitude of personal participation in the completion process
3 – Keeps the focus on positive, forward looking behavior while you minimize the “protect your a__” attitude that is usually a present hold over from the past (another type of sunken cost).
While this process is ongoing, review these weekly reports and ask that each groups manager summarize what their people expect to accomplish and how that aligns with their major business goals. Yes, your are asking them to repeat somethings but this simply re-enforces how their completion focus aligns with what their people are doing – more simplistically if you can’t write it down – you probably can’t do it. (If this process becomes a bit repetitious – you are making good turn-around progress by increasing the amount of work they are doing while reducing your time so that you can move on. Enjoy this, the real work with the big payoff is coming!)
Concurrently, review the risk factors in conjunction with major tasks – many times there are immediate results reported in the weekly reports that you can capitalize to make forward jumps in the completion process. Also, this gives you a fast chance to put your energy into supporting the best positive, forward looking near completion results. (Again, they increase their completions while you decrease you time so that you can move on.)
That usually take care of the first three weeks. Week 4 – you should start by partitioning the project into major business benefits forecasting so that you can make a positive, forward looking projection of how to bring the whole project to its final completion; the partition help with proper scoping of the project. This is called a re-targeting process – a heuristic estimate so that you can start realign completion work (now that you have gain more people’s participation) for completing the project.
This process was used to bring early success to the IT development of the Toyota Motors, USA National Part System in just one year. Revenues at start was $85 million and 3 years later revenues were up to about $500 million – but basically the IT goals where completed in the last year and the system accommodated the greater increase in business. The 4th year produced even more completions.
LinkedIn: The Project Manager Network – #1 Group for Project Managers
Topic: How can a PM effectively overcome a project handed to them in the red?
Check out this Free Project Management Checklist
Check out this Free Project Management Checklist.
Not sure where to start with project meetings. Start with this check list – then tailor it to your own, proven list that matches your project culture and environment.
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