The Hegemony of Large Numbers – Ignoring Common Sense
Ok, maybe I'm stretching the meaning there, but that's a cool sounding title, and what I see as an interesting phenomenon. People get excited about Large Numbers, and think they…
External Radiance Projection 2010: A Christmas / Upgrade Story
No, I'm not a Christmas fanatic - but when you live in Chicago, you learn to look for nice weather in the weeks approaching Thanksgiving, to put up the lights…
The Magic In the Middle – Practical Tactics for Digital Success
Most projects would be considered a failure if they only got 20% of their promised value. Then again, no one expects 100% success - some folks will never make the change. Is there a middle ground? Absolutely! Read on for practical pointers and targets to focus on - with examples of unexpected benefits.
If I Told You a Fractal Solution, Could You Change the CEO’s Mind?
As the new year approaches, debates over the "value" of IT and business projects intensify; it's not holiday stress, but the excitement of the approaching New [fiscal] Year. Lately, I'm…
Practical Applications of Twitter in Manufacturing?
Over the past few weeks I've had a couple of interesting discussions about the introduction of Twitter to Manufacturing. When someone poses a question like this to me, it throws…
News for Wombats: Taming Unreasonable Requirements
I've heard from a couple of friends about some "classic" project requests - dilemmas they have recently faced. These unreasonable requests can be turned into something achievable and, potentially, more…
Best Practices for Process Documentation: Use Cases (3 of 3)
I've been writing about iterative documentation and checklists, and it's easy to see how these are applicable to a number of common IT processes ... Build a server Apply OS…
Sample Interview Questions for MS Project
I still get interesting, unsolicited pings from the meebo widget on my blog site. I've got a Pidgin plugin that connects to meebo, so when it says I'm available, I…
Can you, should you, bother Executives with The Details?
In a recent post on Thinking Faster, Phillips expresses concern about the apparent propensity for project sponsors to skim over the details and jump to quick answers. He's talking about…
There ain’t much IT in IT Management
This morning, I caught myself looking back at the last week of meetings, e-mails, and conference calls, and I experienced a minor epiphany. If I published a detailed diary of…