TEST

wiki style projct managment

Streber is a free wiki driven project management tool written in php5. Freelancers and small teams can easily setup projects and keep track of tasks, issues, bugs, efforts etc. Project-User-Rights can be adjusted e.g. to provide clients a limited view of the current project state.

this is an interesting app that i must review in more details. not sure how the app handles security for resources and workflow. however , as an open source app,  Streber requires a PHP5 enabled web server + MySQL as the databbase.

PMXPO 2008:

All project managers face challenges that seem insurmountable, but Russell Brice and his team face the world's highest peak. Success for this project team is literally a question of life or death. Hear how Russell has applied his project management experience to conquer Mt. Everest time and time again, and find out how to manage your biggest, scariest, most challenging projects with the same principles.

Russell Brice, CEO of Himalayan Experiences, has been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974. He now has a regular team of sherpas who are, without doubt, the most respected in Nepal. He has led clients to the summit of Everest and Cho Oyo, and also Himal Chuli (7,540m), Shishapangma (8,046m) and Ama Dablam (6,856m).

In 1991 his ability to manage a team and overcome extreme technical difficulty at high altitude triumphed as Project Coordinator for the successful Star Balloon Over Everest Expedition.

Individually, he has the world record for the fastest single solo ascent without oxygen of both Cho Oyo and of Ama Dablam. In 1988 he was the first climber to cross the infamous Pinnacles of the NE ridge of Everest. He is now widely reputed as one of the most professional leaders of all guided expeditions to the Himalayas and has earned worldwide recognition through Discovery Channel's Everest: Beyond the Limit, now in its second season.

This is sounds an interesting seminar to attend

Being a Green PM !!

I just got a very interesting read. To me this is a new dimension of awareness that a project Manager and EPM folio also needs to consider while going thru thier day to day work That is, Being a GreenPM.

"Similarly, if you're practicing GreenPM, you should first look to see if your organization has an environmental management policy or something similar. If so, then you should make sure your project aligns to these environmental policies and standards as well.

The second aspect of quality is the specific quality criteria that make sense for your specific project. The project's quality management plan focuses on the stakeholders' expectations (i.e., requirements) of quality, and the resulting activities needed to meet these expectations.

If a project manager is practicing GreenPM, he or she should seek to expand this discussion of quality to discuss the environmental considerations of the project. This doesn't mean that every project will have environmental considerations.

However, if you start to ask the questions and start to raise awareness, you might be surprised to learn that there are green areas of interest to your stakeholders."

To the best of my knowledge the PMI is not promoting this to within their methodolgies practices. This Consideration certainly falls under the Quality management. However, what are the question that need to be asked by a PM when engaging and becoming active as a GreenPM ? I'll cross post this question on Linkedin

[update] Posed question on Linkedin and got a couple of response

alternatives to Basecamp

Nice list 9 (Via Anu)

• Goplan
• Unfuddle
• OnStage
• Harvest (time tracking and invoicing)
• TeamWorkLive
• ActionThis
• 5pm
• DeskAway
• Collabtrak
• ActiveCollab (self hosted)
• ProjectPier (fork of older version of ActiveCollab, selfhosted, opensource)
• ClockingIt (timetracking, opensource)
• Lighthouse
• Copper
• Wrike
• Intervals

IT cost Cutting as per the Bible of Gartner

"Gartner believes that as concerns increase for the near-term health of some of the world's largest economies, those responsible for IT budgets can expect to receive mandates from senior executives to cut IT costs as part of an enterprisewide cost-cutting program. It recommends that organizations begin establishing ground rules for complying with such a cost-cutting mandate by following a six-step plan" [ source ]

What are these 6 steps ?

1. Don't Wait for the Cost-Cutting Mandate from Management
2. Choose the Best and Brightest IT People for the Team
3. Don't Allow Finger-Pointing or Second Guessing
4. Report Results on a Weekly Basis
5. Identify a Liaison from the Legal Department
6. Enlist an Internal Auditor as Scorekeeper

My question is if Gartner is sending out such messages, this will certainly impact  the innovations space. Less thinkers and developer's make the Enterprise move behind the eight ball and leaves the market open to geolocations like Singapore, India and Russia. After all, IT has to perform and produce, they just do it by outsourcing now- at a lower cost. However, the consequences is the innovations is now driven externally !!

Project Management Job listings translator

This is a classic fro PM who are looking for gigs' ! Thanks to   Nick Matteucci for making my Day /evening :)-

Project Management Job listings translator

Job posting says:	What they really mean is:
Competitive Salary	We remain competitive by paying project managers less than our more successful competitors.
Join our fast-paced company	We have no time to train you or send you to PM conferences.  Please introduce yourself to your project team members and co-workers as well.
Immediate opening	The project manager who used to have this project gave notice and left the company a month ago with no information on what they did or how they did it. We're just now running the ad.
Self-motivated	Project sponsors won't answer questions or provide requirements.
We offer great benefits	We'll allow you to fund your own 401(k) if you survive the 3 year project that got the last PM fired.
Seeking enthusiastic, fun, hard working, people	Looking for young project managers with no training, certification, or experience who won't mind our internship-level salaries.
Casual work atmosphere	We don't pay enough to expect that you'll dress up.
Dynamic environment	Your project team will be yanked from your project every 3 months or 3 weeks before a major deliverable (whichever happens first)
Fun work environment	Your project team members will be insulted if you don't go out and buy them drinks 3 nights a week.
A drug-free work environment.	We booze it up at company holiday parties and base bonuses on ability to hold one's liquor.
Must be deadline oriented	Your project will be four months behind schedule on your first day.
Some overtime required	Some overtime each night and some overtime each weekend will be required.
Requires team leadership skills	You'll have the responsibilities of your boss without the pay or respect.
Good communication skills.	Management communicates what they want from your projects in vague terms that are impossible to decipher, you listen, figure out what they want and do it under budget and ahead of schedule.