BUS558: Project Management and Collaboration

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.

Virtual Worlds enable New Business Opportunities

Submitted by dthoma7 on Wed, 2008-10-29 02:40
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Second Life Business GuideVirtual worlds enable whole new business opportunities. Have a look at this article about second life and how successful businesses are using the medium to make real money. Note that the majority of this business usage currently centers on marketing and fashion. Other common uses of the virtual world include social clubs and advertising. Second life businesses article on CNET

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