The Best Advice I’ve Ever Been Given..

Don’t ask for what you don’t want. You carry five balls in the air; all but one is made of glass. Glass is health, family, friends, spirituality. Rubber is career. Juggle well. Be passionate but not emotional. Master hard skills early in your career. Master soft skills to get ahead later in your career. KnowContinue reading “The Best Advice I’ve Ever Been Given..”

7 Step to Effective Networking At Any Event – For Starters

Networking is must have capability of professional growth these days. Sometimes with our shyness, limited beliefs or lack of knowledge puts us into disadvantage. Here are 7 steps to begin with.

15 Ground Rules for Project Team Management

People with diverse professional experiences and background have totally unique perspective on any issue.  When a new team is assembled for any project, its vital for the success of that project that all team member are aware of  the ground-rules for the project; similar to any sport.  You may have to read it to team and give aContinue reading “15 Ground Rules for Project Team Management”

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”

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!”

… life is how you react to it!

Today I heard first time of Charles Swindoll.  He is an author of over 70 books, educator and a preacher.  I have not read or listened to him but his quotes (found over the Internet) are very valuable.  I am believer of the fact that where ever we get life lessons, learn from them and implementContinue reading “… life is how you react to it!”

Practical Wisdom – three types of people

I attended “Practical Wisdom For Getting the Most Out of Life” seminar by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Detroit on July 9th.  It was good to see and listen him in person. His way of talking is like giving sutras (formula) for something.  I know condensing some information and giving it in the short form is notContinue reading “Practical Wisdom – three types of people”

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”

Know what to emphasize

PM Tips – 1 What points we emphasize make a big difference in our communications.  How do we do that? We got to know the expectation of the audience and what we want to convey.  Over emphasizing something or emphasizing meager issues may dilute the effect of conversation. We develop this skill with experience, paying attention to theContinue reading “Know what to emphasize”

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”

Stroke Warning Signs

My mother suffered minor stroke(s) last week and she is in hospital recovering as right side is affected by it.  Reason for my this post is to make readers aware of the signs of stroke so that if someone else has these symptoms, quick help can be arranged.  In my case, I was not aware of any symptomsContinue reading “Stroke Warning Signs”

Who is Planning Your Career?

I am satisfied with my career and I know where I am going.  I hope that you are also doing the right things for your career growth.  In case, if you are doing the same job for last 10 years and now frustrated that your boss (or human resources department) is not doing enough for you to get toContinue reading “Who is Planning Your Career?”

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.