Beyond Development

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see."

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:40:03 -0400

“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.”

- Winston Churchill. In Project Management this is a rule, and the consequence to this rule is that the further into the future we try to plan, the less reliable plans become. However we still must plan, and be agile to react to changing circumstances.

Happy Birthday Peru! Feliz 28 de Julio Perú! This amazing place...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:43:00 -0400

Happy Birthday Peru! Feliz 28 de Julio Perú!

This amazing place located in Peru’s high-altitude jungle, has been visited by millions of people, and continues to be a landmark of the Inca Empire that flourished over 800 years ago. It’s capital was in Cusco, the same region where Machupicchu belongs to. Today it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Peru has an amazing geography: thousands of beautiful beaches, the second highest mountain range in the World (the Andes) and is the birthplace of the Amazon river. Now add to that great food, and good people and you get a great place to visit!

EFF wins case: jailbreaking an iPhone and video mashups are legal now.

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:11:00 -0400

EFF wins case: jailbreaking an iPhone and video mashups are legal now.:

Before the the Electronic Frontier Foundation won this case it was a grey area that Apple chose to ignore, but others on the video front of fair-use opposed vehemently.

On a related subject the court decided that selective ripping of DVDs, or using video clips for “noncommercial works for purposes of criticism or comment” is permissible under US law.

Music is that wonderful invisible force that touches our...

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:27:00 -0400

Music is that wonderful invisible force that touches our souls.

Photos from last weekend’s Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto.

Netflix is coming to Canada this Fall!

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:41:06 -0400

Netflix is coming to Canada this Fall!

"Do not confuse activity with accomplishment… [you must engage in] specific, clearly..."

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:14:00 -0400

“

Do not confuse activity with accomplishment… [you must engage in] specific, clearly identifiable objectives, you gotta have goals!

You will never make it as a wondering generality, you must become a meaningful specific.

A goal properly set is halfway reached.

”

- Zig Ziglar.

All of us have experienced how time escapes from our hands, and literally disappears from sight. Why? Because when there is a lack of goals with their associated target dates, and action plans we live hour after hour doing things, the problem is we accomplish very little.

People without goals sail the ocean of time without a compass or a map. We travel to nowhere land, but feel very busy. In the process we get distracted by the sights, the boat and the people we meet in the ocean. No wonder time seems to disappear!

Realize goals are not dreams. Yes we need dreams, they are the visions, the inspirations that motivate us to sail. But without goals our cherished dreams will never materialize. Remember the time to start is always now.

In Project Management this comes naturally: make a plan, set key milestones and dates, break process into meaningful phases, identify roadblocks and account for them, do proper risk management, etc. Guess what: those skills and best practices help with your daily life too!

Spain wins the World Cup! This Sunday Spain has finally made...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:05:00 -0400

Spain wins the World Cup!

This Sunday Spain has finally made the miracle, and ended this World Cup with a well deserved win over Holland, that proved a very tough opponent.

South Africa was a wonderful host, and this last game in Johannesburg was the perfect ending for a great event. Over 15 heads of state attended the match including Queen Sofia of Spain, and the prime minister of Holland Jan Peter Balkenende. Also in attending were Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, tennis star Rafael Nadal and from South Africa actress Charlize Theron. Last but not least, Morgan Freeman was probably delighted to be there, after portraying the great Nelson Mandela in the movie Invictus.

However this final game itself was a bit disappointing, mainly because instead of fair play the Dutch got desperate, and did not play their fantastic “total football” but frequently resorted to very aggressive fouls that frequently made the game look like a Martial Arts fight instead of a football final. Fortunately refereeing was solid, and eventually things did calm down a bit, but the game was slow, the Spanish dominated, but the Dutch had several good counter attacks that proved dangerous.

Three people proved fundamental for Spain’s victory: Vicente Del Bosque the coach whose strategy proved decisive, he stopped Holland from playing their game, and created a team that was almost unstoppable. Iker Casillas who as goalkeeper and captain motivated the team and saved several shots that could have been goals for Holland, and finally Andrés Iniesta who in spite of being fouled multiple times, never stopped trying, and on the 116th. minute scored a beautiful goal.

Spain’s win, is a win for football, not only because they were playing better, but because they chose to honor fair play, to remind us all that “el juego bonito” the beautiful game, is the right way forward. They never gave up, they did not became disillusioned in spite of an elusive goal, and a relentless opponent, instead they just pressed on, believing that the final goal would come any minute, they persevered and reaped the rewards: Spain won!

Bravo Spain! ¡Viva España!

Photo Credits: ABC España
News Sources: Miami Herald, Clarin, ABC España.

"The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they..."

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:24:11 -0400

“The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”

- Peter Drucker. The renowned authority on management, makes an excellent point.

Every WorldCup Country Flag in Twitter #HASHTAGS The biggest...

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:44:00 -0400

Every WorldCup Country Flag in Twitter #HASHTAGS

The biggest sporting event in the world is ongoing now, the FIFA WorldCup 2010! And it was a very fan friendly surprise to see Twitter recognizing every participating country flags!

It works only with the web client, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other Desktop clients will support it too.

The hashtag flags above are ordered sequentially by group, here is an easier way to find them all:

Group A
South Africa - Mexico - Uruguay - France
#RSA - #MEX - #URU - #FRA

Group B
#ARG #NGA #KOR #GRE

Group C
England – U.S.A. – Algeria – Slovenia
#ENG #USA #ALG #SVN

Group D
Germany – Australia – Serbia – Ghana
#GER #AUS #SRB #GHA

Group E
Netherlands – Denmark – Japan – Cameroon
#NED #DEN #JPN #CMR

GROUP F
Italy – Paraguay – New Zealand – Slovakia
#ITA #PAR #NZL #SVK

GROUP G
Brazil – North Korea – Ivory Coast – Portugal
#BRA #PRK #CIV #POR

GROUP H
Spain – Switzerland – Honduras – Chile
#ESP #SUI #HON #CHI

And last but no least, Twitter has a live feed covering each game, and all the news from the Worldcup online here.

The iPad Revelation. On January 27th 2010, Steve Jobs took the...

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:54:00 -0400

The iPad Revelation.

On January 27th 2010, Steve Jobs took the stage and introduced Apple’s latest creation: the iPad. Unlike other “revolutionary products”, it did not get as much media attention or enthusiasm from experts. Pundits would find several issues with it: “it doesn’t have a camera”, “there is no USB port”, “it’s just an oversized iPhone” etc.

But something started to change in late May and June. People, regular people actually started buying them, and having the experience of using a totally different device, definitely not an iPhone, but dangerously close to their regular computer.

Users everywhere would report that this thing was changing their life, they would leave the laptop behind for days, and most couldn’t explain what was the iPad advantage, but they knew this experience was better, much better than the “old laptop days.”

Last week, I also took an iPad for a spin. After a few minutes it dawned on me: this is the future, and the beginning of the end of the PC era. Nothing I have ever used was so seamless, so simple and yet so “computer like” as the iPad.

Except the original Mac from 1984. When the Macintosh was introduced to the world it was also far beyond it’s time, and lots of pundits said it was not ready to take on regular business PCs of the day. But it brought irreversible change to the ways computer work: graphical interfaces, user friendliness, and a mouse.

The iPad is very much like the Mac of old, it shows us the things to come: Touch interfaces, instant on boot time, carry anywhere Internet and unbelievable simplicity. And that’s the big revelation few have seen about the iPad yet: it’s like 1984 all over again.

Visualizing Complexity. PMBOK 4th. edition is a great framework...

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:31:00 -0400

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.

♫ Up to the Mountain ♫

Tue, 25 May 2010 21:16:00 -0400

♫ 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.

"Never take by sacrifice what can be gained by strategy."

Fri, 21 May 2010 18:17:11 -0400

“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.

New York Times Infographic that shows how complicated it is for...

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:54:00 -0400

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.

“Kisses mark the minutes in the dial of love.En el reloj...

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:17:00 -0400

“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.

Risk and Project Management Whenever a disaster of major...

Thu, 06 May 2010 18:20:00 -0400

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.

Happy 5 de Mayo! Viva el 5 de Mayo! A time when many Mexicans...

Wed, 05 May 2010 20:10:00 -0400

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!

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:30:58 -0400

“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”

- Benjamin Franklin.

Protect your Privacy on Facebook Again

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:28:00 -0400

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.

"Only one thing turns a dream into an impossible task: the fear to fail."

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:14:00 -0400

“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.”