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Masters in Project Management..
If you are interested in project management, you will find that everybody is talking about the famous PMP ceretification.
But, if you wanna go in a much deeper study, you may think of having a masters degree..
There is a great site, that got a list for universities providing master’s program in Project Management. This site is really worth your interest. Just have a look at http://mastersinprojectmanagement.com
Project Delivery Estimate
For any project. we begin calculating the work items for the project and the estimate work time and force for each.
To have an accurate delivery estimate, you should also calculate a total buffer of 20 %.
PLUS
Add the calendar holidays and regular vacations for the working team on the project. You will then have a new delivery date that is a few months later than the original one.
Make sure that you verify all that stuff before giving a new delivery estimate after each change request.
Calculations:-
. If the work items estimate was by time then , just modifying your project management tool and adding the right values to it does it all.
. If you are using Agile or some other way to manage your project, estimates are given according to the business value.
You should then calculate the regular team velocity regarding the business values. i.e. If your teams delivers 100 business values in a 10 work days sprint.
Then if the whole team has a 10 day vacation , then you should add 100 business values for the vacations items before making your calculations.
Vacations should be calculated thoroughly according to your calendar and the work hours for each candidate and how that affects the whole team velocity. ( like having a team mix of full timers and part timers ) .
V1 vs. Agile Cards
In agile, people usually write user stories / backlog items ( whatever methodology you follow ) on sticky notes. They then put them on the walls in the right columns.
Afterwards, begin to pickup the sticky notes they like, move them to another one , like in progress or finished. ..etc
A software like Version 1 is really cool on that approach. You have your backlog items. You can have views that show your stuff as cards. The drag and drop features regarding those cards is really handy.
Plus, you will have lots of stuff that you can’t have by sticky notes, like, entering estimates, burn down charts, monitoring your team velocity ..etc.
Plus, of course, the flexibility of editing – copying the cards you have on the software rather than your sticky notes on the wall, and their availability anytime / anywhere for you ( regardless the team room issue on agile teams that is somehow against distributed teams ).
So , If the ON WALL CARDS / PAPERS won’t add a value, then it is a WASTE 🙂
Thinking Agile
For the last few months, I ‘ve been through Agile for the last few months. Pros and cons. But the best quote I got from that process was :
“If it doesn’t add a value then it is a waste “
I thought that this quote should be applied on every life aspect and not just the software industry.
Walk the walls ??? or browse the portal ?
We have two types of people: Internal Thinkers and Outsiders
The problem with outsiders is that they need to write everything on a paper, sticky notes, flip charts, white boards …etc
I don’t really know how those people concentrate ?? I guess some may use a pen to write on his hand where he parked his car.
Some others, just keep the idea in their brains.
Well…
One of the problem solving methodologies is to turn the problem / idea to a visual format.
I said VISUAL not PAPER !!
We can go and use PDAs, reminders , touch screens, wikis ..etc
I still believe that having an internal portal site on which the teams can collaborate on , share ideas is really good, easier to update and even more environmentally friendly. Even if the agile gurus still believe you have to WALK THE WALLS and use sticky notes.
We are almost 2010 where we can go on a digital paperless environment.
i liked this video
Sticking to the process
All computer companies follow a process.
MOF , ITIL are the most common for IT infrastructure Management.
MSF and some methodologies like Agile, Scrum, Waterfall,, Spiral, extreme Programming ..etc and lots of others for the software development lifecycle.
It is not about which process you follow. All have pros and cons.
Just remmeber that, that process was made to make people’s life easier. No waste of time and effort.
Make sure you really understand why the process tells you do so.
Sometimes sticking to the process requirements is a waste of time, effort and money and is really away from what it was really intended for.
I need to mention those examples for clarification:-
Documentation:-
Documentation is a core principle in software / IT. Vision documents and business proposals are intended to make a clear understanding of what the client really needs. Show what is to be included in the project and what is beyond the scope. Risk management …etc
Suppose you didn’t make that document and the project is near end. It will be very foolish to make it near the end of the project. It will be useless. It was intended to be the first step of your work.
Technical Design:-
On working on network designs. The MOF and ITIL for example need you to have a monitoring methodology, something for communication, something for deployment.
Imagine you have a 500+ users network. and around 20+ network admins in dsitributed locations.
You can follow the process recommendations:-
. Have exchange servers
. Have IP phones ( like cisco phones or whatever)
. Have MOM servers to assign tasks for the admins
. SMS Servers and RIS for deployments
. Have backup servers
…….etc
But imagine you have a 10+ network with two admins. If you follow the real process recommendations then you are really wasting a huge sum of money.
. You can use free email accounts
. Just use something like Skype instead of Cisco devices
. No need to use the MOM servers. You only have a limited number of admins. Monitoring and assigning tickets isn’t a big deal then
. Just use ghost or sysprep or whatever imaging to deploy your machines and edit the license keys. Why you really need to purchase something big like SMS ????
. why use backup servers. Just simple daily backups for one server people assign their work to will be enough.
that’s just an example.
THINK PRACTICAL
Remember that the process is a RECOMMENDATION and not a TODO mandatory list.
Design and Management is an art. Better understanding of your actual needs, funds and capabilities will decide what you really have to do not what the process states.
Tamer Maher 