My view on Risk

(click to enlarge)

All risks are conceived at the start of a project, you will never identify them all and the majority will not occur - but the more effort you put into managing risk the greater probability of project success.......is this a true statement?

• Does a project with an effective risk management process in place have any more or less risks then a project without? no.....
• Does the cost assoc. with risk management provide for greater project value? no.....(it may reduce project cost OR identify what the project costs will be)

So - risk management does not reduce risks or increase benefit - it reduces costs (potentially) - so to have an effective risk management process, one needs to understand the cost of that process and ensure it does not exceed the potential costs of the risks being mitigated.
Effective Risk Management is when:
(risk management costs) + (mitigation plan costs) + (costs of risks that have impacted) < (costs that would have impacted without risk management and mitigation plan costs)....I think

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS (1863)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

Project Management Social Networking??

Social Networking for the masses!
Very interesting! A social network for each project? Each Company? What level of chaos will occur? What will top management think? If there could be a hierarchy of social networks - so you can travel from one to the other as they're related (Mind Mapped Social network visualization??)!

In reading TechCrunch.com - I ran across Social Networking sites that you can setup for yourself (watch out MySpace.com). I ended up using Ning.com - and developed this site: http://itprojectmanagement.ning.com/

It's a brave new world out there!

What is project scope

Project Scope - if it's true that a project succeeds or fails at the start/inception - then one of the prime factors in that is the project scope. Many projects begin without a well defined scope and often varying definitions of it depending on who you ask. SO - to increase the likelihood of success - take the extra time to properly define the scope and communicate it out well. Thinking through it - a project scope should consist of (notice the mind map above...):

• Deliverables
• Boundaries
• Impacts
• Costs
• Success Factors

Drilling down on deliverables a bit (as an example) - sub items to deliverables should include:

• product list (HW, SW, delivery mechanism)
• in/out list
• quality level (no one expects perfection - state what the realistic goal is in some meaningful language)
• training
• artifacts - aka documentation
  

(you can click on the above mind map for more detail)

Project Manager Responsibilities

After reading 'The True Role of a PM on Agile Projects' from Mike Griffiths - I started to think about what a PM does (at least from my experience) and (of course) put a mind map together (above) - first draft. If you click on it, you'll see the detail. I'm sure I'm missing about 25% of the activities - and it's focused on software development (most of it could be applied in other efforts...). So, where I am a very big proponent of Agile, I have some doubt about the limited list provided in the article.

Being honest about what's to come........

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph - Thomas Paine

Perhaps, prior to putting a plan together to solve a major problem, we first need to address the emotional stress that it has caused and what the emotional road ahead will look like. Compared to walking around bare footed, leaving a trail of blood - working a few extra hours and eating a few less bagels isn't that bad. I'm pretty sure that the 'love and thanks of man and woman' isn't waiting, but the thanks of our clients and sponsors is. Most projects are not dealing with glorious causes, but the tougher the road, the more the knowledge gained and confidence built.

More Impressed then ever - ConceptDraw

I was using NovaMind - but now I think I'm ready to switch to ConceptDraw - http://conceptdraw.com/en/. It took about 2 minutes to get use to it (once I was able to install it - all my own fault). The first thing I attempted was a mind map looking web site: ITProjectGuide.com. Right now I'm hooked on Mind Mapping and have been using it for proposals, approach documents, discussions, etc...and it really helps think through the ideas and expose gaps, etc. NovaMind was good - ConceptDraw is GREAT! I'm looking to get a demo of their Web Wave to test out the ability to design and layout websites. I think this company really got it right. There's other tools such as project planning, etc. As I try them out, I'll provide reviews. But for ConceptDraw MindMap - all I have to say it WOW!