What is “watermelon” green? Watermelon.  A great treat in the  summer. The dark green rind, the yummy bright red center. Recently I had lunch with an IT friend named Phil.  We were talking about checklists and determining project “status” when he mentioned the color Watermelon Green.  I chuckled.  Then I continued a bit afraid to […]

I comes as not surprise that I follow other bloggers. One of my favorites is a word press blog of Tisquirrel.  She has recently posted “It seems that I hate estimations. Really?” that I thought very telling. The trouble with Estimates The trials she describes happen very frequently. The truth is, estimates are just that […]

What is severity? We have been spending considerable time on risk in preparation for our up coming Piedmont Triad PMI Risk Management event.  Our last specific risk blog we discussed risk and probability.  That is only a part of the equation.  We are interested in probability, but we also need to know the severity.  Severity […]

 TIEMPO – Test, Inspection, Evaluation Master Plan Organized by Jon M. Quigley and Kim Robertson PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEST, INSPECTION AND EVALUATION Ensuring product quality is not accomplished solely through testing and verification activities. Testing is but a fraction of the techniques that are at an organization’s disposal to improve their development quality.  Good planning of the […]

Cell phones and Laptops, Tools – or the Distraction to Success Ever think your not getting the most out of your team due to distraction.  The greatest invention perhaps is the smart phone.  Now it is easy to check all of our email accounts, text message our friends, post on Facebook, blurt on Twitter, connect […]

Risk Reduction Via Outsourcing? Perhaps. Many times it seems that companies believe they minimize risks to their project simply by outsourcing. There is a kernel of truth in that approach with a caveat.  Consider the implications on the project if the outsourced work package is not delivered on time or at the right cost and […]

A discussion of risk would not be completed without a discussion of probability and severity.  When we are looking at risky event, we are in essence establishing or assessing the probability of some undesired event coming to fruition.  However, even our desired events, for example the completion of a task on the critical path at […]

Survival of the fittest is not just a biological concern.  Our business must constantly adapt to external stimuli and find better, quicker ways of performing our work.  One way to accomplish this growth is through actions sometimes referred to as project post mortem, or an after action report.  We have a plethora of tools of […]

Check lists are a time honored way of keeping track of breaking down an objective and monitoring progress.  There are a number of benefits to using check lists.  Check lists should not be confused with a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).  A WBS is a form of a check list of all of the tasks required […]

What are we trying to accomplish with a communications plan?  Effective project management is the efficient achieving of an organization’s objectives.  To do that, we have to keep our project team informed and working toward the target.  That includes our project sponsor and other stakeholders.  Ultimately our plan should be able to quickly answer the […]