Selling new tools is easy. Figuring out how to orchastrate all the resulting business process changes — including better coordination in customer support management — is more difficult.
All in Collaboration
In episode 72 they discuss three project management apps they are familiar with, Asana, Trello, and Basecamp. Veteran project managers will be amused — and will recognize — Gina’s comments at the end about her “Giant Life-Defining Spreadsheet”:
The Changing Culture of Big Data Management
In some ways managing “big data” tools and processes is no different than figuring out how to manage any other type of technological innovation. The technology is introduced, experts emerge and help control and shape evolving practical applications, and management eventually figures out what is worth keeping and what can be discarded.
A Project Manager's Perspective on the GAO’s Federal Data Transparency Report
While improving data transparency for both financial and non-financial data is an important goal, any effort requiring an enterprise level shift in data formats or associated business processes can also require a substantial early peak in required resources. If in fact we need to delay implementing data transparency programs, perhaps we can use our time wisely by doing a more detailed job of research and planning.
Understanding How Open Data Reaches the Public
In the long run, traditional top-down efforts at management control may be insufficient to ensure that both agency goals and the potential benefits of open data access — including unanticipated cponsequences — are realized in an efficient and cost effective manner. While leadership by the Federal government’s IT infrastructure will be necessary, it will also be necessary to ensure that ongoing efforts to advance open data access are managed efficiently both across agencies and in accordance with individual agency and program priorities; IT staff cannot do this on their own and will have to work closely with agency management.
How Project Management Roles Impact Use of Mobile Technologies
A project manager has a certain set of responsibilities and authorities, a project task leader has another, and a temporary member of a specific task team will have yet another. How individuals performing these roles interact with the project plan, with other project team members, and with project stakeholders and clients will influence — and be influenced by — how mobile technologies can support project management, communication, and collaboration.
One assumption is that a core set of project planning and task assignment information exists that can serve as a baseline model for structuring how data are organized, displayed and updated. Regarding the last point: the app needs to have the ability not just to organize and display information, it also needs to make it easy for participants to update and report status on actions and deliverables.
What I Learned About "Budgeting At The Brink"
I expect that adjustments to IT projects at some agencies and programs are going to be pretty messy, painful, and ugly as indiscriminate budget cuts continue to ripple down to individual programs.
Facing Reality and the Need to Recalibrate Sequester-Impacted IT Projects
In some ways this looks like a standard IT strategy alignment project where a small team helps gather and present data to enable a client to see a path forward whereby technology resources are defined and managed to improve support for accomplishment of a set of defined objectives. But…
Is the Project Management Office Evolving or Devolving?
If you’ve ever run a PMO, you know how much of your time and energy are devoted to gathering, analyzing, and distributing information. Perhaps we are seeing that the project management organization is changing because how people communicate and share information is also changing.
Learning from the World Bank’s “Big Data” Exploration Weekend
If you’re serious about data analysis there’s probably no substitute for getting “down and dirty” with real, live, messy data. Sometimes you just have to sift through the numbers with your “bare hands” if you really want to extract meaning from descriptive statistics, predictive models, and fancy visualizations.
Progress On Open and Collaborative Project Management
My friend Dave Witzel posted an article titled 12 Leadership Lessons of Internet Pioneers in which he summarizes the findings of a recent report he did for IBM’s Center for the Business of Government, Designing Open Projects: Lessons from Internet Pioneers.
What Are YOU Trying to Do with Mobile Technologies in the Enterprise?
I’ve been thinking about mobile technologies a lot lately and how they relate to activities like project management and collaboration.
How Will Mobile Devices In the Workplace Make People More Productive?
In 2010 I posted Sometimes a phone is just a phone and a web site is just a web site. It discussed what I thought at the time was important in a smartphone, e.g., phone service, web access, email — the basics — and was based on recent Blackberry experience and anticipation of getting an iPhone.
The EPA's Mobile Web Site is Great (except for one thing)
I’m impressed with the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s mobile web site.
Pankaj Taneja’s article The Microsoft Yammer Acquisition, Sharepoint, and Social Business speculates about Microsoft’s plans for integrating the social networking tool Yammer with the rest of Microsoft’s product line, including SharePoint.
Some Requirements for Using a Mobile Device to Interact with a Project Plan
This continues my series on enterprise mobile technology strategy and collaborative project management. Here I’m interested in how, in a project management situation, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers can support project-related communication and collaboration.
Developing a Collaborative Approach to Improving Project Management Practices, Part 1: Culture
In Agile grows up and new challenges emerge author Rick Freedman points out what project managers, sooner or later, learn from the School of Hard Knocks: changing and improving project management practices to improve the likelihood of project success involves not just improved management methods but also cultural changes within the sponsoring organization.
The accompanying image shows three laptop computers in use as we watched Game of Thrones last night. What’s wrong with this picture?
When the Cold War Was Winding Down, Could the Soviet Military Have Maintained Secrecy Had Social Media Existed?
“Would the Soviet Union have been able to maintain the secrecy of its nuclear and biological warfare development efforts had modern social media like Facebook and Twitter been available?”