The Regenerate Web

At one time there was talk in the Project Management domain of "Communities of Practice." It didn't have legs.

Here one that has served me well over the years.

Acquisition Community Connection. This site, like all .mil extension sites, will complain about the certificate not being right. Ignore the warning and proceed.

Books.

More books.

And even more books.

Looks like Age of Conversation 3 is out and released so Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton can finally start breathing again.  Remember, all the proceeds from this book go to charity, and you won't find a more useful collection of social media essays ANYWHERE (well, unless you include Age of Conversations 1 and 2).  And by buying Age of Conversation 3, you'll find out the REAL reasons why I think social media ROCKS.

Speaking of books, my friend Jim Bouchard released his latest on Amazon.  This is a guy who has it all together.  It's hard to find that right combination of engaging, smart, and good looking (he sports the same "haircut" I do).  If you want to learn how to apply the concepts of martial arts to step up your business game (and life in general) a few quantum leaps, then invest in Think Like a Blackbelt.

And finally, the perpetually beautiful (inside and out) Rosa Say wrote a wonderful piece reviewing SWAT - Seize the Accomplishment.  What I truly love about Rosa is she is the consumate systems thinker... and she lives this stuff.  To receive praise from her is high praise indeed.  Mahalo, Rosa!

Finally, I'm a bit saddened to learn that Rita Mulcahy passed away recently following a battle with cancer.  Those in the project management community know firsthand the legacy this pioneer left on our profession.  She basically wrote the book (literally) on passing the PMP certification exam.  I've been honored that her subsidiary, The Project Management Bookstore, carries all three of my titles (Race Through The Forest, GUST, and SWAT).  Project management has lost a passionate beacon.

I think I'll curl up with a chapter of Walden tonight to finish up the week.  Nothing like a little Thoreau to cap things off:

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

“Volume is lower, but you are further behind, shipping late, back-ordering and allowing stock outs. You have a veteran crew and the same manager. The biggest difference is that you are working without two supervisors. Is that about it?” I verified.

“You got it,” Edgar nodded.

“So, what were the two supervisors doing that seems to make all the difference?”

“You know, supervising. Helping a technician who didn’t quite know what to do. Fixing a broken machine. Covering for someone on vacation. That’s why we figured we could do without them. I mean, we still have a machinist who can fix machines when they go down.”

“So, who schedules the technicians to work the production shifts?”

“We just put everyone on a regular rotation to work their hours during the week to cover one full shift and a swing shift. That way, no one has to really schedule the technicians.”

“So, you always have the right technicians scheduled to do the right production work?”

Edgar stopped. His eyes fluttered, but still no response.

“And who makes sure you have the right raw materials before each production run? Who checks to make sure an order is pulled from finished goods instead of making a production run to cover? Who is making sure machines are maintained on a PM schedule so they get pulled down only when they are idle?”

Edgar was still silent. “No one is doing any of that, anymore,” he finally replied.

“Edgar, there is a very specific role, this first line management stuff. It is between a production role and a systems role. To make sure production gets done, on time, to spec, working our strategic constraint. Many companies don’t see it, or don’t define it effectively. And that’s why, the harder you work, the behinder you get.”

- paraphrased from Alec Baldwin's commencement speech at New York University, May 12, 2010

Why do projects start with a plan, requirements, resources, and all the soft skills stuff? Why don't projects start with a list of risks and mitigation or retirement plans?

If we want to look for sources of failure in projects, look to how they start.

Risk Management is how Adults manage projects - Tim Lister

The management of projects of course includes what ever list of activities you choose. A pretty good list can be found in PMBOK of course. There are likely better ones focused on specific domains. Since PMBOK is not a method, the order of the list does not reflect the priority of the activities toward the success of the project.

Risk Management is down in the list in PMBOK. Moving it to the top and performing "Continuous Risk Management," in the manner described by the Software Engineering Institute's method of the same name, increases the probability of success for your project.

“How long has this been going on,” I asked.

“It’s funny,” Edgar replied. “Our production volume isn’t as high as in 2007, but we are further behind. My manager just can’t seem to get ahead of the eight-ball.”

“Besides your lower production volume, what else is different?”

“Since the recession, we have had to cut back on staff, but we have the same number of production people per units produced, so that shouldn’t make a difference.”

“What else is missing?”

“Well, we had to let go of two supervisors, but that’s only two people out of a production team of 50. And besides, our production people know the work, they don’t need that much supervision.”

“We’ve grown,” explained Edgar. “We have developed systems to make sure our product is consistently made. But we keep running into delivery problems, running behind, backorders, line shutdowns. There always seems to be a problem making sure things get done.”

“Which one person has that responsibility?” I asked.

“Well, that should be the manager,” Edgar replied. “But I wonder sometimes. Have you ever seen someone in the weeds?”

“What do you mean?”

“In the weeds. Like in a restaurant, where the waiter has too many tables. He can go as fast as he wants, but never catches up and every customer stays upset.”

“So, describe your manager’s role? What do you expect from him?”

Edgar paused, “He’s the manager, he’s in charge of everything that goes on out there. It’s quite a big job. We have several assembly lines, lots of machines, each a little different. We have raw material and finished goods inventories.”

“Where does the breakdown occur?” I pressed.

“There are two kinds of problems I see my manager facing. Sometimes he seems to fix the same problem over and over, one band-aid after the another. Other times, he can tweak our system to fix the problem once and prevent it from happening again. I call it a system fix.”

“And?”

“Sometimes, there is too much going on and he can’t study a problem long enough to make a system fix, so he is back to band-aids. And that’s when we get behind.”

FogBugz 7.3 is a pretty huge release, despite the modest version number. It has a bunch of features that almost everyone will find useful on a daily basis.

• The Case Event Edit Plugin now lets you edit cases (instead of just appending to them).
• Bulk Reply, so you can respond to multiple emails with the same response. You can even flip through the outgoing responses and customize each one if you want.
• Width of the case area is now resizable.
• We now support IMAP (in addition to POP3) for incoming email
• Project backlog editing (for scrum/agile shops) is now much faster.

What’s new in FogBugz 7.3?

Need to hire a really great programmer? Want a job that doesn't drive you crazy? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.

I am in Chicago at the ASTD conference, which is always a great source ideas and inspiration. Yesterday's keynote was from Dan Pink on motivation. He did a great job sharing about the power of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Check out his talk on Ted.com for a similar talk.

I did a presentation on middle management training and was thrilled to see the room packed. Many organizations are struggling to determine the best strategies for how to develop their middle managers. It was a great group and I enjoyed sharing ideas. Here are the skills I suggested they consider to be part of their middle management development program.

Today I will be doing a second session on how to use a salon concept (conversational salons) for management development. Here's a wee paragraph about salons:

Salons, which originated in 16th century China and flourished in 17th and 18th century France, continue in spirit today as organized but small gatherings intellectuals, artists, and writers. The name derives from the salons, or sitting rooms, in which the gatherings were typically held. After becoming established in France, concept spread throughout Europe and many scholars believe that salons played an important role in the development of the public intellectual sphere and the Enlightenment. Salons were moderated by women, known as salonnières in France, who historically had few other alternatives for organized intellectual discourse. Held for either amusement or education, or both, salons consisted of carefully selected small groups of like-minded individuals who exchanged ideas and news within a framework of politeness, civility, taste, and wit. Conversations could easily become spirited and animated. As time progressed, salons became more inclusive and less aristocratic events.

“If the flow of talk is to get anywhere, if it is to reach a conclusion, it must be confined within a rather narrow channel, or it is certain to dissipate itself.” Chauncey Brewster Tinker - The Salon and English Letters

Meet-ups and self-directed brown bag sessions can be modern-day salons if they create high-quality conversation. Even nontraditional conferences, like pal Terry Starbucker's SOBCON have salon-like vibes.

Having a great time connecting with colleagues!