Have you dreamed about publishing your own newspaper? Here is quick way to publish one. Some days ago I got a link on twitter to an online newspaper about social media content. I was impressed and thought its lot of work put in by the author to compile so many sources and presenting in an attractive layout. LastContinue reading “How to Publish Project Manager’s Daily Newspaper?”
Category Archives: Productivity
How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Part 3
How To Prepare? Prepare your presentation based on self-evaluation questions in part 1. You need to spend time according to the ‘worth’ of your presentation. More planning and preparation are required if stakes are high. Brain-storm: Like any task, you need to brain-storm about the presentation. Write down the idea / topic of your presentation.Continue reading “How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Part 3”
How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Part 2
Part II – Cause Of Boring PowerPoint Presentations (This post is also published on pmhut.com as a complete article) The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. – Dorothy Nevill Knowledge: One does not knowContinue reading “How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Part 2”
How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Or At Least Not Suck
Part I – From PoorPoint to PowerPoint Presentations Have you attended any boring, too long to stay focused (even awake) presentation and at the end walked out dissatisfied without gaining something or giving out any useful input? Have you ever delivered any lengthy, fact loaded presentations with tons of tables, bullet points, graphs and evenContinue reading “How To Make PowerPoint Presentations Powerful.. Or At Least Not Suck”
11 Principles of Leadership
I came across 11 leadership principles of Marine Corps in Guide Book for Marines on the Internet and here is my interpretation of 11 principles. I am interested in hearing from Marines about their leadership experience. Take responsibility – we need to seek and take responsibilities if we need to grow; never shy away, whatever seems challenging willContinue reading “11 Principles of Leadership”
Changepoint and PPM
Last week I completed Compuware Changepoint training. I had read earlier that Changepoint is in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant (leaders) for PPM tools. Changepoint is a web based tool for project and portfolio management. The tool enables leadership make right decisions based on dynamic metrics of various initiatives and what value these initiatives add; and realignment ofContinue reading “Changepoint and PPM”
3-Rs for Leaders
Read more Reflect more Risk more Leaders ought to read a lot to stay ahead. Each day is blessed with new discoveries and useful information. Using the 80/20 rule, find out what is out there that you need to know. Co-relate how changes in the world going to shape your world. Read more = Plan LeadersContinue reading “3-Rs for Leaders”
Leadership Sans Ego & Insecurity
Everywhere we turn our focus to, we hear something negative and how leadership should come forward. Leadership at every level is already faced with some difficult choices. It is of paramount importance that when leaders make decisions to change the course, decisions should not have been plagued by personal ego and due to insecurity. AsContinue reading “Leadership Sans Ego & Insecurity”
Capture Planning Assumptions
Your boss approaches you and tells that workplan is very good but customer wants to know how can we deliver the project sooner than promised? Now you have to come up with a new workplan or make some adjustments based on new findings. You put your thoughts together and go on to make changes/update and deliver the finalContinue reading “Capture Planning Assumptions”
Life is bigger than that!
2008 is nearing the completion of business work days and it was one of the eventful year. We have seen all from US election to Canadian elections, Wall-street meltdown to Automotive bailout, Saturday Night Live comedy to economic worries. All the stuff, never thought of. But when it comes to our professional life, one needs toContinue reading “Life is bigger than that!”
Communication Skills for Managers – Learning From Barak Obama
I was looking into posts on Mr. Barak Obama’s communication style and how it contributed towards Obama’s victory. Did Obama address people in all 4 categories of DiSC Model? These categories are Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Each person in his/her category wants to hear in a specific manner. Some people need direct answer while others need some encouragement and hopeContinue reading “Communication Skills for Managers – Learning From Barak Obama”
Fast, Cheap AND Good
Can’t pick any two? You also need all three – fast, cheap and good? It has been very commonly used set of options in I.T. when offering an alternative or usually when dealing with issues from outsourced service. Someone will come and say – “Pick any two!” Sometime ago I was involved in a projectContinue reading “Fast, Cheap AND Good”
The 7 Habits For Managers
Stephen R Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is classic and most of us have read and learned from it. This week, I listened to his another audio book The 7 Habits for Managers: Managing Yourself, Leading Others, Unleashing Potential. Its based on ‘classic 7 habits’ and with focus on management. I would recommend toContinue reading “The 7 Habits For Managers”
DiSC model – Management Styles
I completed DiSC (stands for Dominance, influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness) training last week and fount it interesting. DiSC confirms one thing, different strokes for different folks. DiSC is a system to help you find out similar and unique characteristics among people. It also shows person’s behavioural preferences and helps to identify different management styles that can leadContinue reading “DiSC model – Management Styles”
Intro to Earned Value Analysis – Part 1
We got to measure the progress of the project and report it to upper management along with controlling it. Project might seem progressing well, tasks completing on time and we are spending money for that. Earned Value Analysis (EVA) gives us an integrated view of cost and schedule performance. Lets go over some basic definitionsContinue reading “Intro to Earned Value Analysis – Part 1”
Trust is very important for teamwork
When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality. – Joe Paterno. Who else can say better than JoePa? He is absolutely correct, but key thing is outgrowing individualism. When a team is motivated to work together, everything seems possible and there is quite a different feeling. I have beenContinue reading “Trust is very important for teamwork”
Cheese Moved? Doesn’t Matter.
We, as a professional, are hired by organizations to deliver results and perform. As time passes, our daily job becomes our universe. We spend our energies resolving problems, improving processes, saving money and many other good things. Sometimes we are ignorant and sometimes we are so busy handling all the situations at the job, we do not realize that wholeContinue reading “Cheese Moved? Doesn’t Matter.”
Leading Creative Employees
There are always some special people in teams who are very much techie, creative and loaded with specific knowledge. Lets call these employees creative people in this post. These creative people provide tremendous value to organization through application of their knowledge and expertise. These really smart and creative people need nurturing environment and motivation. When leading these creative people, keep in mindContinue reading “Leading Creative Employees”
How to Have Project Kick-off Meeting
Kick-off meeting is the first meeting of the project where you give all the team members good news that project is ‘go ahead’ from the sponsors and also set the tone of your project – is it going to be a success or a failure. Many hours and days have gone into preparation before youContinue reading “How to Have Project Kick-off Meeting”
Keeping in touch with direct reports?
Workplaces have transformed a lot in last few years from people working in same office building to team members scattered over different continents. This poses some benefits and challenges. As we all know that we are all connected via communication and our communication skills and capabilities play a major role in our success. Keeping theContinue reading “Keeping in touch with direct reports?”
The Toyota Way – 14 Management Principles
I completed listening ‘The Toyota Way’ audio-book by Jeffrey Liker. The book talks about 14 priciples of Toyota Production Systems (TPS). There are many gems that I think could be of use in Information Technology Project Managment. Here are 14 TPS management principles – 1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expenseContinue reading “The Toyota Way – 14 Management Principles”
Positive interpretation of other people’s actions
It is very simple thing to do and results are excellent and enriching. Often we interpret other people’s actions or behavior negatively when we do not have enough detail about their actions or behavior. My approach is to give benefit of doubt in such case and interpret the action positively instead of taking it otherwise. It savesContinue reading “Positive interpretation of other people’s actions”
10 Steps of Project Success
Whenever IT project failure is talked, people refer Denver Airport project that failed big time and costed a lot. I have also seen project that failed or cancelled or shrunk. Why is it happening when so many intelligent people are working and we know all the ingredients of project success. Here are some commonly known factorsContinue reading “10 Steps of Project Success”
Importance of TimeOut
We have seen in various sports when a play or a pass is not developing the way expected or falling out of bound, timeout is called. After timeout, team regroups and turns the outcome for that instance or break the momentum of the opponent team going for score. It give opportunity to re-focus, re-think and re-group.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution
Execution of ideas/goals makes the real difference. Any one can set goals and objectives but when it comes to implementation, it is totally a different game. You might have seen excellent concepts being converted into highly visible projects and later the project being cancelled or product being shelved. Its all how you execute. As Will Weider saidContinue reading “The 4 Disciplines of Execution”
How to Attend Team Meetings
Once I was approached by a team member and enquired why she is not being given special tasks or not being involved that much in comparison with her another colleague. Since I had led both team members and knew where she is falling behind. I suggested few points to follow, she was no longer feelingContinue reading “How to Attend Team Meetings”
Leadership Secrets
Leaders are not only people with heavy-weight designations like CEO, CIO, Vice President or say Senators, Member of Parliament, or something with power and authority. We all are leading in some shape or form and making things happen by our leadership. Some people with their role and authority can have big impact and can lead aContinue reading “Leadership Secrets”
Situational Leadership
I completed Computer Based Training – “Situational Leadership II” developed by the Ninth House. I was amazed with the technique used to give lessons; it kept me involved till the end and I did not feel disconnected or bored. It is kind of movie that you watch and your decisions dictate the way story develops. Continue reading “Situational Leadership”
You had problem pronouncing long Indian name?
You might have seen that some Indian names are little complicated to pronounce (particularly by our American and Canadian fellows – may be Europeans too). Now-a-days, Indian names are very common in workplace as offices are quite diverse and multi-cultural. Some have changed their long (or complex to pronounce) Indian names to short ones, the same way William isContinue reading “You had problem pronouncing long Indian name?”
The Art of Getting Work Done!
When managing a project, it comes down to managing work and leading people; and everyone is different; we cannot apply a single rule to get the work done. Enthusiasm of doing the work depends greatly on the type of job or assignment or things involved. It does not mean that in I.T. all the teamContinue reading “The Art of Getting Work Done!”
Leadership and Management 