PMinFOCUS

People are still using Excel to create Gantt Chart, I wonder what’s the point when the web offer free options such as Gantter or  even Zoho Projects.

The riskiest thing a supplier can do is to NOT involve project management into the sales process. I wrote about it here and got reminded of it by reading this article by Mike Cunningham.

Have a read and try to convince your colleagues!

Off topic, but then again maybe not. A great read about Over The Top vs Mobile Carriers/Operators:

But most of this will come to nothing and the OTT guys will triumph until carriers realize that having software DNA is a necessary condition for innovating in the world of digital services that many carriers believe they occupy. This too, is an inescapable fact.

Paul Golding nailed it. I have worked with Mobile Operators for years and I always regret never seeing an operator building a software stack aimed at creating unique, differentiated services for their customers. That DNA is almost extinct in mobile carriers now.

Apparently there are 3 questions to be asked for Job Interviews:

1.  Can you do the job?
2.  Will you love the job?
3.  Can we tolerate working with you?

It’s that simple.

A nice article on Project Closure, Lessons Learned:

As in all aspects of Project Management, it is essential that you involve your team in your end-of-project analysis. They will have different perspectives on the project, and will also have noticed problems which you, and others in the team, have not. Further to this, it is important that the team understand any changes you instigate for the next project.

Sounds obvious but it does not hurt to repeat it.

A good article on Lifehacker On how to share bad news.

Interesting survey about IT and the business its supports misalignment from ComputerWeekly.com:

Only 3% of CIOs believe IT and business strategies are fully aligned despite 35% of boardrooms recognising IT’s critical role in the businesses performance.

The article does not explain the root cause for those results, there are probably a number of them including: separated budgets, business units silos, power struggles, lack of programme management at CEO level, etc.

Nice short post on ITtoolbox about sharing bad news.

Sharing bad news is an important task that the project manager has to handle himself. It’s paramount that trust is the least damaged as possible with stakeholders. That’s where you need to be open, explain clearly the issues and what you are doing about it.

By be open and by engaging with skateholders you will score “trust” points.

A great post from Pawel Brodzinski on estimation for software development:

OK, but what about majority of cases when we need some kind of real estimate? For example all those fixed price projects where estimates are basically a part of risk management, as the better the estimate is the smaller are chances that the project goes under water. I can’t deny that we need to have something better than wild-ass guess then.

Yes. Assessing the cost and make sure the schedule is right. The main two reasons estimates are needed in fixed price projects. Its’ also part of the planning process that helps identify the skills needed.

In other words, no matter the method, if you are just guessing how much something is going to take, you will likely to end up with way worse results when compared to a method, which uses your track record.

This is also about having estimates from people who are actually doing or have actually done the job. We are not machines and every development team works/is different. Everybody is different and I always found that  programmatic ways of estimating work could not be the best tools out there.

Excellent read: Tony Schwartz on HBR Blog Network about focusing on the task at hand.

It’s not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It’s the energy we bring to the hours we work. Human beings are designed to pulse rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. That’s how we operate at our best. Maintaining a steady reservoir of energy — physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually — requires refueling it intermittently.

Focus, focus, focus…moving that concept to project management and scheduling it means multi-tasking does not give satisfactory outcomes.