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Visualizing Complexity. PMBOK 4th. edition is a great framework to organize a project using best project management practices, but in order to understand it well, I find that visualizing all the processes helps a lot.

This chart is a useful way to uncover the logical sequence of events that PMBOK recommends for a project. Not every process is always necessary, it rests on the experience of the PM to choose what is best for each situation, but it is good to know how the roadmap looks and plan accordingly.

I created this chart as an aid to see the interconnections of each of the 42 processes, within each of the 5 Process Groups, it even includes a reference to each relevant knowledge area. And is free of charge using a Creative Commons license. Feedback is welcome.

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♫ Up to the Mountain ♫

Inspiration comes from so many places, but the highest of them all is from above. Patty Griffen sings a song moved by a speech of Rev. Martin Luther King.

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“
Never take by sacrifice what can be gained by strategy.
Douglas McArthur. The lessons behind this quote are so vast, it would take many pages to go into details, but suffice it to say that they apply to project management, business and life.
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New York Times Infographic that shows how complicated it is for people to manage their privacy on Facebook. It definitely feels like Facebook wishes we make all our data public. The problem is their unique selling proposition has always been that they are the safe way to share our personal information with friends. That appears increasingly disingenuous. Click for high-res photo

New York Times Infographic that shows how complicated it is for people to manage their privacy on Facebook.

It definitely feels like Facebook wishes we make all our data public. The problem is their unique selling proposition has always been that they are the safe way to share our personal information with friends. That appears increasingly disingenuous.

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“Kisses mark the minutes in the dial of love.En el reloj del amor el beso marca los minutos.Sull’orologio dell’amore é il bacio che scandisce i minuti.” Anonymous. One of those great quotes from Baci chocolates. Photo credits: Sun Brockie. Click for high-res photo

“Kisses mark the minutes in the dial of love.
En el reloj del amor el beso marca los minutos.
Sull’orologio dell’amore é il bacio che scandisce i minuti.”

Anonymous. One of those great quotes from Baci chocolates.
Photo credits: Sun Brockie.

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Risk and Project Management  Whenever a disaster of major proportions occurs -like the one where British Petroleum’s oil platform is spilling thousands of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico- people ask themselves, could anything have been done to prevent this? As a Project Manager, I can say from experience that over 80% of risks are preventable. Now evidence of the Gulf of Mexico explosion shows that a $500K remote under-water emergency valve could have prevented this ecological disaster. These valves are mandatory in Norway and Brazil for under-water oil exploration but not in the US. Those $500K in savings now must seem ridiculous to BP which is facing over $6 Million dollars a day in cleanup costs, not to mention the damage to the affected areas in the Gulf. What can we learn from this? First that we can not ignore Risk Management. It is a central part of successful projects. Second, mission-critical projects do require regulation, simply because too much is at stake when lives and environment are at risk. For people in IT who are into Agile practices like Scrum is useful to remind ourselves that speed of execution is no replacement for risk management. We need to balance both of them to ensure success, we can’t just throw the PMBOK out the window. Ken Schwaber probably said it best: …as organizations and projects flee the existing controls and safeguards of waterfall and predictive processes, they need to recognize the even higher degree of control, risk management, and transparency required to use Scrum successfully. I estimate that 75% of those organizations using Scrum will not succeed in getting the benefits that they hope for from it. Click for high-res photo

Risk and Project Management 

Whenever a disaster of major proportions occurs -like the one where British Petroleum’s oil platform is spilling thousands of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico- people ask themselves, could anything have been done to prevent this?

As a Project Manager, I can say from experience that over 80% of risks are preventable. Now evidence of the Gulf of Mexico explosion shows that a $500K remote under-water emergency valve could have prevented this ecological disaster. These valves are mandatory in Norway and Brazil for under-water oil exploration but not in the US. Those $500K in savings now must seem ridiculous to BP which is facing over $6 Million dollars a day in cleanup costs, not to mention the damage to the affected areas in the Gulf.

What can we learn from this? First that we can not ignore Risk Management. It is a central part of successful projects. Second, mission-critical projects do require regulation, simply because too much is at stake when lives and environment are at risk.

For people in IT who are into Agile practices like Scrum is useful to remind ourselves that speed of execution is no replacement for risk management. We need to balance both of them to ensure success, we can’t just throw the PMBOK out the window. Ken Schwaber probably said it best:

…as organizations and projects flee the existing controls and safeguards of waterfall and predictive processes, they need to recognize the even higher degree of control, risk management, and transparency required to use Scrum successfully. I estimate that 75% of those organizations using Scrum will not succeed in getting the benefits that they hope for from it.

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Happy 5 de Mayo! Viva el 5 de Mayo! A time when many Mexicans and many friends of Mexico, celebrate an important historic victory where Mexico drove away an unexpected Napoleonic attack in 1862.  Cheers! Salud! Click for high-res photo

Happy 5 de Mayo! Viva el 5 de Mayo!

A time when many Mexicans and many friends of Mexico, celebrate an important historic victory where Mexico drove away an unexpected Napoleonic attack in 1862. 

Cheers! Salud!

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“
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
Benjamin Franklin.
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Protect your Privacy on Facebook Again

There is a new privacy setting in Facebook called “Instant Personalization” that shares your personal information with non-facebook websites without even asking you!

Once again Facebook has defaulted to a “over-share” setting, but you can fix this:

Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization > Edit Settings and uncheck “Allow”.

Tell more people about this.  Zoom on the image here.

Protect your Privacy on Facebook

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“
Only one thing turns a dream into an impossible task: the fear to fail.
Pablo Coelho. Brazilian novelist. Original quote was found in Spanish and it said: “Sólo una cosa vuelve un sueño imposible: el miedo a fracasar.”