Knowledge Project

Leverage online expertise ...

... "long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone. " ...

Wolfram Alpha Knowledge Engine

Scalable Project Discipline

Should we classify projects by size and scale project discipline using size (cost / effort) as the meter for project discipline? I've seen that more often, since investment size (cost / effort) at risk warrants discipline to improve likelihood of success.

But how about situations when various size projects (including small ones) are critical to business success and either time or quality of the deliverable is the key business driver. Business critical projects are worthy of a disciplined method of delivery.

Or, should we ignore size, etc. and achieve a level of PMO maturity that operates at such an efficient level of productivity and project volume throughput that the project management discipline is optimal across the full portfolio?

What do you think? ...

... "there must be a dividing line between projects that are complex and critical enough to require a full, rigorous methodology, and those projects that are simple and routine enough to be managed with minimal project overhead. The question is: Where is that line? " ...

Via TechRepublic: Project size classification determines rigor

Building Better Dashboards: A New Way to Promote Accountability

It's amazing the things you can find on Twitter. I saw an interesting tweet by Dr. John Estrella referencing his blog post on a new way to present dashboard information.

Rather that showing red/yellow/green status on milestones or work packages, Estrella suggests tying those status indicators to the teams or individuals on the project. This way, ambiguities are reduced and accountability gets distributed across the project team instead of leaving everything accountable to the project manager.

I could even see a hybrid, where team or individuals, along with their major deliverables are listed. So, a team or individual with multiple major deliverables would be listed multiple times. This still promotes distributed accountability, but keeps the focus on outcomes. Under this scenario, it's also important to list prerequisite deliverables (i.e. interdependencies).

It's an interesting concept that has generated positive results to date. Read on for more...

http://blog.johnestrella.com/2009/05/a-better-way-to-present-dashboard-report/

Certifiably Green

As IT sustainability objectives become more prevalent, the British Computer Society creates a certificate in Green IT to prepare IT professionals for development of a green IT strategy. ...

... "By the end of the three day course, candidates will have a fundamental understanding of the importance of IT when trying to achieve an organisation's green objective, an ability to identify their own green IT requirements and how to address them. " ...

Via British Computer Society: Green IT Qualification

Separation of Project Duties

The case is made for filling management roles with multiple resources. The first lesson is to recognize that these roles exist. The technical and project roles are filled routinely. Don't forget the client relationship role and optimizing the customer experience - especially on IT projects. ...

... "Every IT effort requires that the service provider play three distinct roles: project manager, technical manager, and relationship manager. While many independent project managers and consultants attempt to play all three roles, they do so at the risk to themselves, the project, and the relationship. " ...

Via TechRepublic: Roles in IT project