Project Management

Consulting

Submitted by dthoma7 on Thu, 2010-08-26 14:25
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For several years now I have been consulting with a wide variety of clients to help them improve their processes and systems. If you bring me in, note that I am trained as a socio-technical systems analyst and make a couple of core assumptions:

1) Every system exists in its present form for some reason (nothing is totally irrational, there is probably someone with some power and control who wants things to be as they are)

Modeling: what we have yet to learn

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2010-08-09 03:18
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This week Bill Gates noted that we need better modeling tools for software in order to solve some of the persistent and hardest problems facing the planet. I agree, but I would suggest to him that we not only need better tools. We also need better concepts and techniques for modeling. Som research on modeling human-machine systems by my friend Andrew has indicated that modeling techniques still lack meaningful representation in complex systems [1]. I have reviewed a number of papers this year analyzing Gantt charts and their capacity to improve project management. In each case, Gantt charts tend to get used as eye candy with no impact on improving project outcomes. The idea is to have a representation a group can use to jointly visualize complex data and understand it [2], but these current representations are still inadequate. So, simply making software that add digitizations of current concepts will not be enough. We need new concepts.

The importance of organizational agility

Submitted by dthoma7 on Wed, 2010-07-21 11:51
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Over the past two years I have found myself increasingly involved in the movement to use technology to increase organizational agility. This movement had relied on manufacturing technology speed and precision improvements for the past two hundred years with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Recently, this is all changing as cheap access to high-speed internet and communications technologies are enabling true interaction and work product creation in distributed teams. A few weeks ago I participated in a small summit meeting at the Mountain Quest Institute (MQI) in Frost, West Virginia. MQI is a neat place, certainly restful and supportive of deep thinking.

Microsoft Project Favorites

Submitted by dthoma7 on Fri, 2010-02-12 00:23
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Codeplex is an open-source MS project site.  Here is a tool for exporting Earned Value data from Project 2007 to military and UN compliant software.

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/project/archive/2009/05/26/now-free-on-codeplex-earned-value-management-application-for-un-cefact-standards.aspx

Office 2010 Usability Manager interview

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2009-07-20 16:05
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Why did Google announce Google Wave when they did earlier this summer?  They were trying to scoop Microsoft with their conversations feature in Outlook 2010.  Microsoft Office 2010 is a major upgrade. The issue of usability is huge.  Here is an interview with the project manager.

Identity Management

Submitted by dthoma7 on Fri, 2008-02-01 19:46

Identity Management is a real problem facing many firms right now. Most still grapple with it from the perspective of enterprise security, but many are beginning to realize that the security perspective in isolation leads to suboptimal design of collaboration and options for sharing and access. Enter network access policies and directory services. The space continues to grow. Top products are diversifying. Little guidance exists to understand this space and how to manage the tradeoffs inherent in the decisions.

BUS 558 Project Management and Collaboration

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2008-01-14 22:05
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Project management used to be well-characterized as managing timelines to complete fully-specified goals within budget. Sometimes this characterization is still adequate when we conduct maintenance or standardized projects. On the other hand, recognizing that projects are the main vehicle for innovating and implementing strategy in business today has led to some new thinking at the Emory Goizueta Business School.

Project Management Software

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2008-01-14 16:48
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Project Management Software has been proliferating. Almost all do GANTT charts and some form of Work Breakdown Structure (which they may reference as PERT charts). But, most lack resource leveling and advanced tools for task reporting and status tracking as well as leader intervention guidance and targeting. In this space, I am building a list of available software packages and itemizing their features with an eye to a comprehensive database for evaluation.

How Fast Can you Build a House?

Submitted by dthoma7 on Tue, 2007-10-30 02:51
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Project Management requires careful planning of scope, schedule, and budget. This triple constraint guides management and allocation of resources. With modern techniques, we can speed up processes and jobs that used to take much longer.



So, how long do you think it might take to build a regular, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house?

Project Management - software considerations

Submitted by dthoma7 on Thu, 2007-03-08 02:39
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My dissertation research and prior work centers heavily on project-based work. I did not intend to study project management originally. It simply emerged that work life is getting organized around projects, particularly high tech work and strategic work - my areas of consulting and study. As a result, I have become a project management researcher. One basic project management resource everyone should know is the Project Management Institute.

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