Projerra Ponderings

Letter from a client

2012-01-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

Last month I received the following letter from a client. I thought I would share it with you.

I would like to make the very highest recommendation for Projerra's VisuAL PM Knowledge Area Charts. For a Project Manager who thinks graphically, I consider these an essential tool on your personal project management toolkit. Not just for passing the test, but for your ongoing project management needs.
http://www.projerra.ca/products.htm

I found them essential to my ability to organize the PMBoK info into a coherent structure and then mentally trace the flows to find the info that I needed to know during the PMP Exam. Afterwards, the digrams continue to be successful as I think through how to organize or obtain the info required to do the best job for presenting the info required to succeed in any one PMBoK area such as Integration, Scope, or Risk Management.

I admit it - I think graphically. Reviewing the flows allows me to relate the diagrams' interconnections to those I should make to build my project planning documents AND to assist in organizing the documents so that others can read them easily and effectively.

I feel that Stephanie has made a major contribution to project management education and ongoing practice through her organization's providing these diagrams at such a very reasonable price.

Thank you Stephanie.

Announcing new Product Logos...

2012-01-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Happy to reveal two new product logos that were created for me by the team at Cinnamon Toast New Media. Now to set to work to update the look and feel of the product line to match the new logos.

New Corporate Logo

2012-01-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

Over the past week, I've had the pleasure of working with the team at Cinnamon Toast New Media. I asked Bron and her team to design an new look and feel for Projerra's corporate logo and our website. Projerra is celebrating 5 yrs of operation next month. It was time to refresh the look. The new logo appears below. Stay tuned for the reveal of the new website.

Happy 4th Anniversary to Projerra

2011-05-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

As projerra management inc celebrates it’s 4^th anniversary, I’d like to take a moment to thank you for your support. Hard to believe that it’s been 4 years already.

Over the past year, here is what I’ve been up to:

- working with the OCCSC as a career coach/mentor and their instructor of IT Project Management… a great opportunity to work with some really cool technical people from around the world.

- worked on contract as Sr Project Management with both Transport Canada and Health Canada.

- had the pleasure of working with Grantium and RIM as a Senior Project Manager

- continued to grow sales in the VisuAL PM® line of products

- gained certifications as a CSM (Certified Scrum Master) and ITCP (Information technology Certified Professional) and

- I’ve renewed by ITIL and PMP certifications.

It’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to more exciting opportunities ahead.

Thank for your continued support.

Cheers,

VisuAL ITIL products out soon!!!

2010-09-27T22:01:00.001-07:00

For those of my followers that are interested in VisuAL ITIL products, I wanted to let you know that they will be out soon. I have been in conversation with the official body that licenses the ITIL brand and they have given me permission to produce a VisuAL ITIL Mind Map Explorer and VisuAL ITIL Mind Map Companion. Now it's just a matter of satisfying the product review committee.

Stay tuned.

VisuAL PM Mind Map Bundle now available

2010-09-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

It is with great excitement that I announce a new set of products in the VisuAL product line.

VisuAL Mind Map Explorer is a dynamic and interactive website that allows PMP students to explore through the processes, knowledge area, and key concepts defined in the PMBOK. Color and icons make it easy for you to remember and recognize input and output documents. Since it is web based, students will get updates as soon as they are posted.

VisuAL Mind Map Companion is a PDF file that contains images from the Mind Map Explorer. The Mind Map Companion is a great tool when you're not near a computer and still want to study for your exam.

And of course, the VisuAL Mind Map Bundle give you both products as one great price.

As always, your comments and feedback are welcomed.

A new VisuAL PM Interactive Product Coming

2010-07-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last year I was experimenting with web technologies to help be develop and idea I had to interactively explore the PM processes. I could not find a technology that would allow me to do what I wanted until recently. Thus, I've begun redevelopment of VisuAL PM Interactive. I'm predicting that it will be ready for use in the fall. Stay tuned.

VisuAL ITIL Products are coming

2010-07-30T19:06:00.001-07:00

Recently, I decided to upgrade my ITIL certification from v2 to v3. While in the process, I realized that ITIL students could benefit from a VisuAL experience just as PMP students have benefits from a VisuAL experience. Thus, I have begun developing an interactive and VisuAL study aid for ITIL. Stay tuned.

Scrum Experienced.

2010-07-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've been applying agile development techniques all of my career. Working on a multi-disciplinary team, where eveyrone pitches in , using iterative and incremental development just feels natural.

At Magardi, we would release a new production quality build once a month. At Cognos, we applied other elements of agile techniques like product backlogs and sprints (though we didn't call them that).

So after years of practicing and applying various elements of agile and scrum, I took a course to become a Certified Scrum Master. Although I've been practicing elements of scrum for many years, I haven't seen them all work together on the same project, in the manner in which they were originally intended. It was a powerful experience.

Letter from a client

2010-02-09T19:20:00.001-08:00

Last week I received the following letter from a client. I thought I would share it with you.

I would like to make the very highest recommendation for Projerra's VisuAL PM Knowledge Area Charts. For a Project Manager who thinks graphically, I consider these an essential tool on your personal project management toolkit. Not just for passing the test, but for your ongoing project management needs.

http://www.projerra.ca/products.htm

I found them essential to my ability to organize the PMBoK info into a coherent structure and then mentally trace the flows to find the info that I needed to know during the PMP Exam. Afterwards, the digrams continue to be successful as I think through how to organize or obtain the info required to do the best job for presenting the info required to succeed in any one PMBoK area such as Integration, Scope, or Risk Management.

I admit it - I think graphically. Reviewing the flows allows me to relate the diagrams' interconnections to those I should make to build my project planning documents AND to assist in organizing the documents so that others can read them easily and effectively.

I feel that Stephanie has made a major contribution to project management education and ongoing practice through her organization's providing these diagrams at such a very reasonable price.

Thank you Stephanie.
Bernard Hayes, PMP

Storming, Norming, and Reforming with Existing Teams

2010-01-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Recently I was speaking with the leader of an organization. He was concerned about his team. The team had experienced significant growth over the past 6 months (from 2 to 6 employees) and he was concerned that some of the team members were not as independent as he was hoping they would be.

My first question to him was how much time he spent coaching the new employees about their roles and responsibilities and how much time he had spent working with the team to determine the new methods and techniques for working within the expanded organization. It turned out that he had not been spending much time with the team.

The Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing model (Bruce Tuckman 1965) of team work is well known and understood within the management and leadership discipline. It is also understood that long standing teams will re-experience these phases when there is a change in leadership or other environmental factors that affect the team (wikipedia). However, sometimes changes within the team itself cause the team to re-experience these phases. Whenever an organization goes through extreme changes (growth or decline) it is imperative for the leadership to get involved with the staff, to provide direction and guidance, to help them define the norms and standards of how the new team will operate. A team of senior or experience resources may be able to weather minor changes themselves, but a team of junior or inexperienced resources will need guidance and reassurance from their leader to handle even a minor change. The larger the change, the more involvement required from the management team.

The Importance of Coaching

2009-12-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey popularized the idea of the four quadrants of time management.

Steven Covey advises us that we should stay in the quadrants that deal with important matters and that we find a balance between managing those items that are important/urgent and important/non-urgent. Unfortunately, I’ve seen many project managers slip into the belief that it is imperative that they handle the urgent matters… that they respond to every email and every question so that the team/project can continue to function. Unfortunately, they spend a lot of their day dealing with things that are urgent but not-important, and at the end of the day, they do not have time to deal with those things that are important but non-urgent. Some project managers consider this to be “just the way it is”, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’ve spoken with a number of managers who say they do not have time to meet with their employees one on one – to coach them – to train them. Unfortunately, since the manager has not invested train the team members, the team members can not be self sufficient and regularly interrupts the manager for guidance and assistance.

How do you make this happen? How do you make time to spend on the Important/Non-urgent items when there are so many Non-Important/Urgent items vying for your attention? Project Managers need to be disciplined and make time for those things that are important. Schedule regular one:one meetings with team members for coaching and feedback. Schedule risk management/mitigation meetings so that risks can be mitigated and managed before they become a crisis. If you don’t schedule it - if you don’t make it a priority, it will not happen.

Web 2.0 and Project Management

2009-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I attended a PMI OVOC luncheon on Web 2.0 and Project Management. The seminar was quite enlightening. The speaker talked about the use of blogs and wikis for project/teams communications. He also mentioned web based project management tools to facilitate communication and status reporting about the schedule. I came away from the lunch feeling energized about the future of project management and how web 2.0 would help alleviate a number of the communication challenges that I have experienced in the past.

Then, I began to think about the organizations that I have worked with an realized that corporate culture plays a significant role in if, when, and how collaborative tools like those that have become popular with web 2.0 are utilized within an organization. Fundamentally, culture influnces how organizations communicate and how information is shared within teams. If the culture is dynamic and forward thinking, they will embrace these new technologies. Conversely, if the culture is conservative and regulated, they will be less inclined to embrace these new technologies.

I'm reminded of Geoffrey Moore's book Crossing the Chasm wherein he speaks about the technology adoption life cycle. Organizations that have an innovative and early adopter style culture have been using web 2.0 applications to improve their productivity and collaboration for years. Early majority organizations are beginning to look at the new applications with curiosity. They are trying to figure out how to apply them effectively. As for the late adopters and laggards, it will be several years before web 2.0 applications will be adopted by these organizations.

So before you consider bringing web 2.0 applications into your organization, please take a moment to consider the culture of your organization and whether there will be a good fit between the technology, the communication style, and the culture.

Using Group Tweet for Project Management

2009-11-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

OK - so I've jumped on the bandwagon. A few weeks ago, I created a Twitter account and I've been sending and receiving tweets from friends, colleagues and groups every since. I've become fascinated by the real time nature of the communication, and thinking that this applications would be great in a group/project setting.

There are many times when I'm in a meeting and I want to send a quick message to a particular team member or broadcast a status up to the entire team. Sometimes I wait until I get back to my desk to draft a lengthy email... Other times I'll draft a note from my blackberry and send it immediately.

The problem is that urgent messages get lost amongst the large number of emails that one receives during the day and team members may not realized that a key piece of communication has just been sent.

So how can Twitter be used in an enterprise/corporate/group setting? It should be used for quick status updates and urgent requests. It should be used when the message can be conveyed in a matter of a few words and be informal in tone.

I believe that tweets fall somewhere between the urgency of a message sent on a pager and email that you read when you have time to concentrate and review detail. Given how fast some projects move, given the urgency of keeping the team up to date with key decisions and actions, Twitter has a place in the workplace. I'm looking forward to trying GroupTweet on a future project.

Using Google Wave for Project Management

2009-11-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Earlier today a friend sent me a link to a review of Google Wave. While the article goes on to explain why Google Wave is not ready for prime time, yet, I'm excited by the possibilities and I'm looking forward to using it on a project at some point in the future. There are several features that I find particularly interesting and appropriate for project management.

Record of thought (documents): Online collaboration tools are not new. Project teams that I have managed have been using wikis for many years. What I find intriguing about Google Wave is that the train of thought is embedded within the document. There have been many times when someone on the team remarks "why are we doing this feature?" or "did we consider that environmental factor?". If these questions are embedded in the wave, then the question and answer will be recorded for all project team members to see now and for historical reference. This feature could be particularly appropriate for requirements gathering, system architecture, and design documents. It can also be applied for change management, risk management, and practically any element of a project that needs documentation.
Planning a team meeting: Being an open, collaborative, workspace it is great place for team members to plan for and record the results of team meetings. It is nice to see who will be in attendance at a meeting and to offer ideas/topics for discussion at the meeting. In most teams, a single person is responsible for organizing the meeting and the agenda is a static document that is out of date as soon as it is published. Google Wave could replace the need to publish an agenda. And given the trend toward agile development methodologies, isn't it more appropriate for agendas to be dynamic anyway? It can also give team members some idea of whether or not to attend a meeting based upon the attendance of the other participants... or if the meeting should be cancelled because certain key people are not able to attend. Google Wave will enable the team to take ownership of the meeting, rather than the individual.
Facilitating geographically dispersed teams: The quasi-real time nature of the communication will help teams feel closer together, yet allows team members to participate in a timezone that is comfortable to them. Again, this is not much different from other collaborative tools that have been available for years, but the use of pictures and a threaded discussion will make it easier to see who said what and in what context. There will still be some occasions when it is necessary to participate in a conference call in the middle of the night, but these should be minimized.

I'm looking forward to the day when Google opens up this application for the rest of us to use.

Release of VisuAL PM® Interactive 0.01 Alpha

2009-11-27T12:53:00.000-08:00

Projerra is happy to announce the first release of its new product VisuAL PM® Interactive (www.projerra.ca/interactive).

VisuAL PM® Interactive is an online learning environment that will appeal to those project management students who like to explore the information that they are learning about. It is not a series of slides. It is not a series of questions or flashcards. VisuAL PM® Interactive contains text, tables, and graphics that are hyperlinked to allow you to explore through the 42 processes and related project documents in a manner that is dynamic. See and follow the path from processes to project documents to other processes. Discover how the concepts work together and how information is related to each other.

The scope of the this release is quite limited. This release is intended as a proof of concept... to collect feedback from PMP students about the learning environment and identify features that they would find valuable. Please leave your thoughts and comments about this release on this blog or mail them to us at info@projerra.ca.

On recruiting & interviews...

2009-11-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've been a manager of application development teams for a number of years. I've managed small teams and large teams. I've managed in start-ups as well as multi-nationals. And over the years, I've noticed a disturbing trend. When it comes to recruiting, hiring managers seem to be more concerned about what one has done in the past rather than what one can do in the future. I realize that the global economy has changed, and that past performance is a good indication of what one might/could do in the future... but when an exact match to a list of key words is the primary criteria used for considering candidates, many worthy candidates can be discarded.

Although it may take a little more time, I still believe that there is value in skimming every resume. When I review a resume I look to see what hard skills they have (i.e. what technologies)... but I also look for demonstration of a broad skill set, broad interests, enthusiasm and creativity. I'm looking for someone that can bring an special dimension/character to the team... Someone that is not going to be more than just a 'programmer'.

Projerra is looking for Partners

2009-11-02T20:14:00.001-08:00

Projerra is looking for Partners who would are interested in:

reselling VisuAL PM® products via their web store for a percentage of the revenue or
receiving a referral bonus for every client that you refer to Projerra who buys a product from the Projerra web store, or
offering their PMP® study aids for sales on the Projerra website for a percentage of the revenue.

Please contact us at info@projerra.ca if you are interested in learning more about this revenue generating opportunity.

Focus Group for new VisuAL PM Product

2009-10-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Would you like to participate in a focus group providing feedback on a new product by Projerra? Simply commit to reviewing 3 iterations of the product and I will send you a copy of the final product for free. You will be sent a copy of the work-in-progress-product by email. Within one week of receiving the new draft, send me your insights, comments, suggestion and feedback by email. When the product is complete and made available for sale on Projerra's website, you will receive your copy via email - free of charge. If you're interested, please contact me directly at stephanie.lachman-doucet@projerra.ca. The first 25 respondents will be selected to participate in the focus group.

Dress for the Crash, Not for the Ride

2009-10-14T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've always believed in project documentation as a source of team/project memory, but more than just documenting the 'what' of what was decided, I like to document the 'why' it was decided. Jennifer Whitt's article Dress for the Crash, Not for the Ride presents a similar perspective on the value of project documentation... but presents it using a different metaphore.

Am I every glad I got into the habit long ago. More PMs need to understand the value of documentation of decisions, actions taken, and related explanations/justifications... Too many PMs believe that a task list is all that needs to be recorded and managed.

Real communication equals syngergy

2009-08-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

A team that likes working together is more productive. This is a well known fact.

But how does one build the team spirit? How does one help a team get to know and like each other?

Sure there are team building event like BBQs and pizza lunches, but in order to really get to know each other, team members need to share their inner thoughts and feelings. If team members are reserved, keeping their professional and personal perspective to themselves, communications will be strained and superficial. It is when team members feel comfortable enough to share their personal thoughts and fears, successes, failures, and eurekas, that team members begin to feel association with the team and support from within the team.

Sure, as a project manager, you need to provide challenging assignments and clear lines of authority/responsibility, celebrate the successes and minimize hostilities... but it is only when team members really communicate, in a heart felt manner, when they truly appreciate the value that each team member brings to the project, that the team will work together in a synergistic and collaborative way that accomplishes truly amazing results.

Redesigned web site now available

2009-08-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

We're happy to unveil our new, easier to use, website. Your comments are appreciated.

VisuAL PM Knowledge Area Charts Detailed Edtion under development

2009-08-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Intended to compliment the summary charts, the VisuAL PM Knowledge Area Charts - Detailed Edition for the PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition will present a separate data flow image for each process and descriptive text that describes the process as well as the tools and techniques associated with each process.

VisuAL PM Knowledge Area Charts Summary Edition now available

2009-08-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

Our flagship product the VisuAL PM® Knowledge Area Charts - Summary Edition have been updated to reflect the processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. A sample chart is provided here for reference.

The charts may be purchased directly via the Projerra website at www.projerra.ca or via the TenStep Store.

We've been so busy with product development that we haven't had time to update our website yet, so if you're interested in purchasing the Knowledge Area charts alone, please send email to info@projerra.ca. Alternatively, you can order the VisuAL PM® Bundle (which includes both the Knowledge Area Charts and the Input, Outputs, Tools and Techniques) directly from our website.