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Issue 2 - May 2005
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PROJECT NEWS: The Official eNewsletter of Project World & The World Congress for Business Analysts Welcome to IIR's second monthly issue of PROJECT NEWS. If you are receiving this newsletter, but have not yet subscribed to our complimentary newsletter, please click on the following link to subscribe: www.iirusa.com/optin If you have any colleagues or friends you think would be interested, please feel free to forward this email along! PROJECT NEWS JOKE OF THE MONTH --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Think You Are Funny? Know of Any Good Project Management or Business Analyst Related Jokes?
Send them to aioannou@iirusa.com and if we think they are funny we will include them in future editions of Project News! The hardware engineer went first. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living in a huge house in St. Thomas with no money worries." The genie granted him his wish and sent him on off to St. Thomas. The software engineer went next. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht cruising the Mediterranean with no money worries." The genie granted him his wish and sent him off to the Mediterranean. Last, but not least, it was the project manager's turn. "And what would your wish be?" asked the genie. "I want them both back after lunch" replied the project manager.
PROJECT NEWS QUOTE OF THE MONTH ______________________________________________ PROJECT NEWS RECOMMENDED READ OF THE MONTH --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reviews of and Excerpt from eXtreme Project Management: Using Leadership, Principles and Tools to Deliver Value in the Face of Volatility, by Doug DeCarlo --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS: "A wakeup call for the project management establishment." Wayne G. Dix, PMP, Axa Financial Today's new breed, eXtreme projects are different. They feature high speed, high change, high complexity, high risk, and high stress. While traditional projects follow the classic model of ready, aim, fire, eXtreme project managers succeed by shooting the gun and then redirecting the bullet while not loosing sight of their moving target. "Inspiration for all of us." Wes Balakian, PMP, President TSI "Concrete tools when traditional project management is cutting it." Victoria Tucker, President, Zero Boundary. Please follow the link below for more reviews: Click Here EXCERPT from Chapter One: DEVELOPING A QUANTUM MIND-SET FOR AN EXTREME REALITY
... the reality is that an eXtreme project is a squiggly line. It looks like the strand of despondent spaghetti I mentioned earlier. But most classically trained project managers have quite a different mental model, albeit unconscious, of what a project should look like. They want it to look like this: This is solid, left-brained linear thinking at its best and is the underlying cause of Newtonian neurosis: the compulsive need to make an eXtreme project into a straight line. Tim Lister, senior consultant and fellow of the Cutter Consortium, refers to project managers who think this way as "flatliners." Flatliners relentlessly attempt to bludgeon every squiggly line project into submission through the excessive use of project management tools, rules, templates, policies, and procedures. Sooner or later, flatliners realize it's not working. They typically complain that the organization is not properly supporting them and does not believe in project management. They also admit their own shortcomings. If you were to peek into the head of a despondent project manager, the self-talk you hear might go something like this: "The world is not conforming to my plan. I must not be a good planner or project manager after all. I'd better take more project management courses and get more PDUs [professional development units]. I will do better and promise to use more templates and tools." The world is not conforming to my plan. Let that sink in. Is the world supposed to conform to our project plan? How arrogant can we get? Newtonian neurosis leads to the futile practice of attempting to change the world to fit your plan, which is fiction in the first place. Why would anyone want to change reality to conform to fiction? Newtonian neurosis, that's why. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newtonian neurosis leads to the futile practice of attempting to change the world to fit your plan, which is fiction in the first place --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Traditional project management concepts are inappropriate for eXtreme projects. Percentage complete, for example, is the most basic measure of progress, but it is a silly measure for an eXtreme project because the plan for an eXtreme project is not a prediction. That means the end date, given our best estimate, is only fiction. So if we are four months into a so-called ten-month project, are we really 40 percent complete? Percent complete (4/10, as someone pointed out to me) is merely Fantasy divided by Fiction. ... To buy the book, Click Here PROJECT NEWS FEATURED EVENTS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project World & The World Congress for Business Analysts USA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us November 15-18, 2005 in Orlando, FL for the co-location of Project World and the World Congress for Business Analysts USA - the ONLY event in America to unite the project management professional with the business analyst, cross-industry. This year we have worked very had to bring together the best thought leaders in both academia and industry to participate. 2005 Keynotes that have already agreed to come are: Roger Berry, Senior Vice President & CIO - Walt Disney World, David Norton, CEO - Balanced Scorecard Collaborative & Co-Author, "Strategy Maps", and San Renta, CPO - Automobile Association of America, N.CA, NV & UT For more information on the World Congress for Business Analysts USA, please visit www.bawusa.com When registering please mention your priority code: PWBAWNEWS2 |