Project Shrink

by Ali Anani and Bas de Baar Times are changing. The world is getting smaller. World orders are shifting. The ocean is turning into a pond. That is the whole idea behind the Fish Pond Metaphor. In this posting we will have a more detailed look about the globalization, into people interacting on a global [...]

This is a guest post by Craig Brown. He usually writes in a more serious tone about project management, requirements management and business analysts at www.betterprojects.net. Are they really? Probably not everywhere and probably not all the time but there are force at work that keep our project mangers scowling. Other peoples money: Dealing with [...]

First attempt I will be starting with a few short videocasts like this one to accompany the creation of “The Fish Pond Metaphor“. Other people who liked this article liked these tooFree ebook: The Fish Pond Metaphor: Complexity of ManagementTwo years ago I wrote a series of posts together with dr Ali Anani about The [...]

by Ali Anani and Bas de Baar As a Project Manager you are now more than ever faced with the fact that part of your team is at the other end of the world. Different cultures, different time zones, different languages, different customs. You hardly see them, let alone know them. A part of the [...]

Is Project Management Passe? “Gartner isn’t saying that PM is going the way of the Dodo Bird as a discipline or skill set; to the contrary, they are saying it has/will essentially become commoditized as a common element of the general management repertoire ” think more along the lines of gulls and starlings. I have [...]

by Ali Anani and Bas de Baar Turn on your television and try not to look at CSI Miami, NYC or Tonopah. It is amazing how popular crime series are, crime series where the technicians will save the day. It must be a universal thing, as the series are as popular in Europe as in [...]

Why Reality Will Not Stick To Your Plan by Ali Anani and Bas de Baar Project life can be quite frustrating when one day after another turns out not how you planned it. The software should be ready when you said it would. It has to. Otherwise you have people waiting, customers complaining and bosses [...]

What Do We Know “The capacity of humans to deceive each other is well documented by history and personal experience. Less well known, however, is the capacity of most living things to deceive each other – species deceiving other species, members of their own species and themselves. We are, it seems, not that different from [...]

I recently had a chance to read a paper by Allan L. Scherr of IBM on managing highly effective software projects. In brief, the premise of the paper is that creative breakthroughs can be induced by setting a highly aggressive schedule and doing whatever is necessary to meet deadline. Basically the method calls for inviting [...]

Six months ago I was ranting over the concept of Social Project Management, a term coined Leisa Reichelt. Although I still stand by the content of my posting, I must correct one thing. I finally found the original presentation and wow, she is absolutely right and on the money! I do apologize… Look for yourself. [...]